Still Life in La Paz.

24.15N 110.3W. Marina Palmira, La Paz, BCS, Mexico.


It has been interesting hearing all of your news from up north -- e.g. freezing temperatures, snow, canceled trips, and rapidly diminishing supplies of firewood... to name a few. By contrast, it is1100 as I write this and the sky is clear, the air is still and the temperature is in the mid-70s.

We are getting ready to shove off tomorrow morning -- Christmas Day! Steve is putting the car in storage and I am doing some last minute business on the internet.

We are heading across the Sea to mainland Mexico. At this point, we are not certain if we will do so in one long passage or break it up. It all comes down to the weather. There are Northers predicted. Some sources say there will be relatively strong Northers commencing in just a few days...while other sources say the winds will be a bit less and a bit more tardy. quien sabe?

So for now, it is fair winds and following seas....and, of course, feliz navidad!

The City of La Paz.

24.15N 110.3W La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

For the past three seasons, we have staged out of La Paz. La Paz is a real Mexican city. It is charming and busy and rich in history. On Sunday, we had some time to go out for a nice breakfast and take a stroll before the crowds hit the main square.

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Dec2008 La Paz

Surf Trip.

Pedrito Trailer Park.

We took a little road trip to Pedrito to catch a bit of surf. It is just an hour and a half from La Paz...with thirty minutes of that time just getting out of the La Paz sprawl. Up early and on the road at sun up and Steve was surfing by nine. We stayed the night and then headed back to the boat after another morning surf.

Here are a few more photographs of our day trip.

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Dec2008 Road to Pedrito

Old Mainsail.

24.15N 110.3W.

We needed a new mainsail when we purchased Gitano in 2002. In spite of that fact, our old mainsail drove us through six full seasons. She drove us through several Tehuantepec-kers of Mexico’s Hurricane Alley though we swore we would only sail through one. She drove us through the worse winds we ever faced -- being the Papagayos -- herself suffering some significant tears in the old fabric.

She is a large old style sail. She can make you proud when she is set right and full. She humbles you when you don’t quite know what you are doing and are getting overpowered and drug across wind waves rather than cutting gracefully through them.

I have learned to sail under her. I have sat under her shade while cruising through the day in the company of dolphins. In my many irrational moments while under sail, I have begged for wind to fill her up so that we could continue to sail without the engine. There were other moments when I have begged for the wind not to fill her up too much requiring us to turn to and reef her in. Always when underway, we were aware of her presence...under her tutelage. Her instruction was on occasion demanding...but more often subtle and forgiving.

So, I am sad today as we replace her with a new-to-us sail. Life in the tropics simply took its final toll on her fabric leaving it too easy to rip and tear. The re-cut sail looks like it will work well…but it will never be the same as our old (and we think original mainsail for the boat).

I will miss her...

Marina Life.

24.15N 110.3W. Marina Palmira, La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

We will be tied up here on the dock at slip #329 for the next two or more weeks for anyone passing through…

Clean Lines and Bottom.

24.15N 110.3W. Marina Atalanta Astilleros, La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

She's a beauty.

Back On The Hard.

24.15N 110.3W. Marina Atalanta Astilleros, La Paz, BCS, Mexico.

We arrived to La Paz late Wednesday, 19 November 2008, after an extra twelve hour layover at the LA Airport this day….following our aborted attempts to fly anywhere out of the Redding Airport throughout the day on Monday. All delays due to mechanical problems….requiring replacement planes to fly in to our airport from some other airport after long delays. In spite of the lengthy delays, it still beat a long multiple day road trip from the Northern California to Southern BCS.

So…here we are. Our first night back on Gitano – in spite of the fact of being on the hard – was very restful and peaceful. zzzzzzzzz

We have just a few projects before launching back in the water. The worst is a bottom job. The job entails sanding the most superficial of the old paint and growth off, scrubbing off a bit more and then painting the bottom with the most toxic, fowl bottom paint we can still find on the market. (The best paint has been outlawed and mariners in this part of the world now find themselves in a constant search for something that works better than the almost better-than-nothing bottom paint that we often find on the bottom of our boats…hosting the masses of barnacles and sea grass that we had been hoping to kill off instead.)

Our work is done in three days and we prepare to launch back to the water.

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Nov2008 La Paz