B.O.A.T - Acronym for Bring On Another Thousand !

Cruising - Doing Boat Repairs in Exotic Places.

Genesis was hauled out, bottom painted, zincs changed, new water muffler flaps put on to prevent surge water from entering into the engines. Ken painted the boot stripe and the white from the rub rail down to the water.

Faye cleaned the teak and cleaned the stainless steel. She looks all new and sparkling. The boat not Faye.

Our boat is old but so is her crew. Old age comes with costs. The boat seems to have a slow leak in the water tank. Lots of depends could work BUT there is a product that can be sprayed in the water tank and seals the tank against leaks. We feel in the long haul this would be cheaper than depends. Luckily the crew doesn't need depends yet either. Ken is down cutting a hole in the floor to get at the inspection plate to be able to put the product into the tank. In the wisdom (pun) of the tawainese that made this boat, they put the tank in first then put the floor on top with the hatch in the wrong place. Imagine. No thought for any future repair.

We will be here for probably the 2 weeks so that the DREADED Root Canal can start tomorrow.

We have had lots of time to source out items we may need for future fixes, fuel changes etc. This allows us to walk, walk and walk. Yesterday alone we walked 53 blocks in total. This would be great exercise if you didn't have to stop for a cerveca or vino. We have seen way more of La Paz than we did in Dec.

We took our time and discovered some history.

1548 - The city of La Paz was founded by Spanish settlers on the pre- existing site of Choqueyapu, an ancient Aymara village. It was founded as Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace) by Alonso de Mendoza, commissioned by Pedro de la Gasca, to commemorate the "pacification" of Peru. It was started as a commercial city, lying on the main gold and silver route to the coast. The Spaniards came for the Bolivian gold found in the Choqueapu River that runs through present-day La Paz. At this time of year the river is more of a trickle. In July - August we have been told the rains in the mountains begin. The Spaniards took the gold mines away from Aymara people and made them work as slaves. The primarily male Spanish population soon mixed with the indigenous people, creating a largely mestizo, or mixed, population. The people here seem to have less a tan than us. It is very apparent the Spanish influence here. The land was transfered to Chilean and spain with many wars in between.

There were many uprisings between the wealthy land owners and the indigenous people. With rights being given back to the original people of this country.

1964 - Military revolution, with the help of the US, that established the dictatorial rule that would remain until 1980. The last dictator was General Hugo Banzer. He held elections in 1980, although, suspiciously, Banzar's candidate won and was president until the year 1982. Amazing just how much influence the US seems to have everywhere in the world.

La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur. Before becoming a state in 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. This area is abound with historical towns and villages that we will be visiting when we finally get to leave North.

The capital buildings are built around a plaza with the history carved into the stone arches.

The weather has been a warm 95 during the day, but at night the winds called Cozumals blow and can drop the temps to 59 at night. COLD. So much for putting the blankets away. This is just a phenominon around La Paz. As we go North it will be hot.

The saw down below has stopped. More importantly no swearing seems to be coming from below so I think it is safe to go see what an empty water tank looks like. Deséeme la suerte en la dentista. Wish me luck at the dentist (female).

Until next week.

Hasta la semana proxima.

Landed in the Lazarette

Bleeding Out the Fish(prevents harmful toxins occuring)

Mexico has two distinct seasons. November to June is classed as the winter, spring or dry season. June to October is classed as the Summer, fall season, or wet season.
We are now seeing the summer season approach. With it comes careful weather watching.
Summer in Mexico means low pressures dominate over the land heated by intense overhead sun. Lightning storms and hurricane season in Mexico. For yatistas the mainland where we have been traveling is a very dangerous section of coast to visit during this period.
Boats head north into the Sea of Cortez where you can get out of the reach of Hurricane Alley and the seas are more tranquil. There are several type of winds that blow at night cooling down the cabin. We are in the desert here so they still do not see as much rain as is observed on the mainland. We have pulled out our lightning protector. However the best protection for us is the nestle up close to a sail boat. They have a higher mast than us!
We left Mazatlan and headed to the inside Baja coast going North. In most part the 30 hr trip was uneventful. The waves kicked up a little nothing too serious but enough to make for very little sleep along the way. We were about 1/3 the way through when Ken caught the largest fish to date. A 48’ 40 lb Dorado. Awesome. We now have to give away fish as the freezer is beyond full. We will not fish anymore until we have consumed much of what we have.
We are now again in La Paz staying at the virtual marina. (Disco as loud as ever)

We had dinner with Kristen and Ned from Bristol Blue on board the Genesis. It was nice to see them again.

Tomorrow we will have the boat hauled and begin the yearly maintenance of bottom painting, zinc changing and a few other projects. Living on the hard is not fun. You are in a shipyard climbing a ladder into the boat. Lots of noise, dirt etc.. The shipyard has armed guards at night and as the lyrics of Eileen Quinn says “Hopefully I don’t bite it going for a pee.”
We figure we will be here for at least 2 weeks as I have to get some dental work done. A filling fell out. Since I am sure it will turn into a root canal I estimate having to stay longer than we wanted to stay. The plus side is that work done in Mexico is very professional and is Wayyyyyyyyyy cheaper than Canada. Actually affordable. I would suggest that a person take a vacation to Mexico, have their dental work done and still come out cheaper than going to a dentist in Canada. Bonus a free vacation.
I have put up a chart of the Sea of Cortez. We will be heading clockwise staying close to hurricane holes. As we will be in the wilderness the blogs will come through the SSB and pictures will have to be attached when we are within internet service.
There are several towns and we plan to also do a lot of in land travelling. I am looking forward to this section as it will be a lot of swimming, sea kayaking, hiking, in general getting in shape.

We will be travelling clockwise around the Sea of Cortez

What Would a Typical Day Look Like?

When we were in Canada a common question seemed to be: What is a typical day like in your life?

A resort Day

They really do vary from being super busy to just hanging out. I have decided to give you three different scenarios in just 5 days this week. (Filler until we arrive at new destinations and I have something new to write about)
Firstly we are finally ready to leave, ant left La Cruz.
The boat has been under construction, we made a trip home (thereby giving away some staples in the fridge) and we have been here for 6 weeks. One grows to the ground.
An insight to just 2 days before a departure:
0730 – Ken gets up and makes coffee, goes up top to read emails and news on the internet. Usually adding his opinions to a CBC blog about a subject. (You can be away from home and still be connected.)
0800 – Faye gets up and pours a cup of coffee goes up top asks what’s new on the internet, gets informed sometimes adds my opinion to a news blog. (More often than not)
0930 – Faye prepares breakfast, eat, clean up dishes.
1000 – 1200 – Ken (Blue Job) does an oil change on the genset, checks different systems on board to check to make sure all is well in his engine room
Faye – strips the bed gets all the laundry together, walks into town and drops off the laundry. (A luxury to have someone else do the laundry for $7.50)
Comes back and cleans the outside of the boat.
1200 – Faye prepares lunch. We eat then I clean up (Pink job)
1300 – We walk up to the highway and catch a chicken bus into Mega Supermarket to buy provisions. We take a taxi back.
1500 – Arrive back to the boat.
Ken continues doing things to the boat, and rechecks email and internet.
Faye removes all the cardboard (may contain cockroach eggs), cleans all fruit and veggies in a iodine solution (get rid of bacteria) Farming methods our different than ours. Put away groceries. Get rid of all packaging (no trash to keep on board when underway) This time it only takes an hour as I have no meat and do not have to weigh or repackage.
1600 – Faye checks the weather reports – 3 different sources. Confers with Ken. Decide the weather will be right to leave in 2 days.
1700 – Faye sets up requests for weather reports to come to the SSB for the next 7 days.
1800 – I am not sure what Ken is doing as I am prepping dinner. He is doing something! He’s touching up paint on the outside of the boat
1915 – Done dinner and cleanup
1930 – We go up to have showers at the marina showers. (Doesn’t put humidity in our boat)
2000 – Get back
2020 – Walk into town for an ice cream cone
2040 – Burning 2 CD’s for fellow boaters.
2100 - We decide to watch a movie (Usually we would play cards )
2300 – Go to bed. Do basically similar tasks the next day.

A Motoring Day
0500 – Wake up, Ken puts on coffee, gets ready to cast off. Unplugs the power cord and stows everything on the bow. Starts the engines to let them run for a bit, changes from shore power to inverter, takes out the final garbage.
Faye gets the navigational laptop up and running. Radar and charts up and running. Have all the navigational books up on the bridge. Puts the extra coffee in a thermos brings it up top. Faye then goes down to the bow. Ken casts the lines off and gets on board. As we are headed out of the marina I am stowing the ropes and fenders. That being done I take my seat up top. For 10 hrs we motor watching the sun rise, the dolphins, pangas, and what ever else might be out there. Ken checks the engine room hourly to make sure everything is doing what it is suppose to be doing. I make the various meals and cleanup along the way. We both drive the boat.
We listen to music as we go.
Once we arrive at an anchorage. I go below turn on the winch, undo the anchor and get ready to anchor. Ken from above drops the anchor and I let him know when it has dug in. He then will put more chain down.
We put on our swim suits and dive into the warm bath tub like water. Swim for awhile, relax, watch what is happening around us and continually pinch ourselves to make sure we are really living this life style.
We have dinner, clean up, play cards, go for another swim then shower off in the lazarette, have another hand of crib then go to bed.

A Resort Day
0900 – Wake up and spend the whole day relaxing by the pools (3 to choose from), swimming and more swimming, eating, catching up on the blog, catching up with other cruisers, checking weather reports to continue on.
2200 – Go to bed.

Now days do vary, some days I read and ignore Ken. Knowing that he is going to be ignored while my nose is in a book he will occupy his time usually reading manuals for different devices on the boat or loading his hard drive ( brain) with more information from the internet. Some useless some not so much.
There you have it. Days go by real fast and it is hard to believe it will almost be a full year since we departed on this journey.

Home Again

As much as it was nice to get back to Vancouver it is nice to be back at the boat. Our main regret is that we could not visit our friends in Calgary. Next time.

We visited with Ken's cousin and husband in Seattle, visited his sister and family in Pitt Meadows, and had a visit from a long time friend of Ken's from Calgary. Connie.

Connie, Ken, Alain, Kim and I played tourist visiting different places around Vancouver.

We were asked to present a power point presentation for the yacht club about our journey around Vancouver to Mexico. A lot of hard work was put in by Antonio, as I know nothing about using powerpoint. Thanks to all that attended.

Ken was very busy running all around the place picking up this and that for the boat that we have a hard time finding here. I was busy picking up books and charts for the next phase of the trip.

We took a side trip to Sydney to stay the night with Wendy and Wayne. Corrie was also in town so as usual we were treated to a wonderful musical night. Not to mention wine.

The swine flu did end up causing a small problem for us. Our flight home was cancelled and had to be re-scheduled with a different carrier.

Upon boarding the flight to Mexico the true effect of the media was apparent. The plane was lucky to be 1/3 full of which 1/4 of the people were Mexicans returning home. Once at the airport we had to get scanned to see whether we had a fever. I knew I would have no problem ( I wonder if hot flashes turn up as a fever?), but Ken had caught a head cold. Luckily he passed also When we arrived the taxi driver took us to the boat for 1/2 the fare. It was his first one all day. He was beside himself as he is quite worried how he is going to pay for his family. Worry was written all over his face.

One of the truly unique things about Mexico is the sidewalk places to eat. Not regulated TO DEATH by government. Due to the swine flu they are all closed down. The streets look like a ghost town. Hopefully the recovery from this incident will not take to long. The Mexican economy was already showing a slow down due to the American slow down this just wasn't needed.

There has not been one case of flu in this area, yet they are feeling the effects of a much publized over reacted situation.

We spent the entire day cleaning the outside of the boat as it is caked with bird shit, sand and salt. Nothing was left untouched. It is amazing we were only away for 2 weeks.

We will spend the evening tonight with some boating friends from Canada. Babeeze, Morgana and Saphire playing Mexican Train.

Tomorrow we will reprovision the boat, book out of La Cruz with the Capitana de Puerto for Tues, and hopefuly will be heading North. The stay here has been long and a lot of hard work. The weather is changing. Rain clouds appear in the sky just to forworn that the wet season is just around the corner.

We are ready to catch a new fish, see different sites, meet up in the Sea of Cortez (I got it right Antonio) with new aquaintances, swim, kayak and hike.

We have our new Mexican Tourist Card for the next 6 months so we hope to continue learning and having fun.