Misc Stuff from around La Paz and Costa Baja Marina

First I want to say I am sorry that the following blog is not full of my latest adventures or photos of me catching a 450 pound Marlin on a 20 pound test line. That last statement on test line will be understood my long time fishermen or should I say fisherpersons.

I have been stripping varnish and sanding the teak on the outside of the boat. This is something I should have done while in the cool temps of the Bay area,,,,, but no!; I wait until I am in Mexico where and when the temperatures are 115 degrees. I drink about 5 gallons of water a day but I haven't pissed in two weeks. Instead I walk around looking like a man that has just stepped out of the swimming pool

I have taken some photos to share with you from around La Paz and the Marina were I and my boat stay. Mexico celebrated their Independence Day on September 16th having the usual speeches and parades. I also thought I would take some photos of one of the two cemeteries in town given that another celebration is approaching on November 2nd. That day all Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Let me begin by letting you see what I see everyday around the marina where I now live.







The marina is surrounded on three sides my restaurant, shops, condo's and a small hotel. The boat shown is Dolce Vita. She is at rest for a couple of months waiting for the hurricane season to end. The landscape is a photo showing that Baja is mostly desert. This is on the remaining side of the marina. It does now look somewhat green because of recent rains.

Mexico's Indepenance Day, September 16th.

I was disappointed in the parade having expected more costumes and colors. There were no bands, although all of the schools had students in the parade and of course let us not forget the military. Those of us that grew up in the Midwest would also be disappointed in that there were no tractors in the parade and they didn't throw candy towards the small children.

The next photos are taken at one of the two cemeteries in town. We all recognize how many of the cemeteries are laid out within the U.S. , and it does not at all resemble what these photo's show. Many, but not all of the grave sites are made up of what could only be described as a very small and colorful homes. I think it is beautiful and many of the sites are kept up very well with fresh paint and flowers. During the Day of the Dead, family members come down to the grave sites bringing items that the dead enjoyed as they sit around the eating food and playing games as they celebrate the life of the one they now visit.

In a couple of weeks, the weather will begin to cool and normal life here will return. I will be going north in a couple of weeks spending 10 days with friends on their boat as we sail south from Santa Rosalita to La Paz. In early November another friend is coming down and sailing with me across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan on the mainland of Mexico.

That is all until next time when I chronicle my sail south with my friends Bill and Jean.

Until then, be safe out there.

Tropical Storm Overhead and THEN>>>>

It was early Thursday evening. Tropical storm Lowell is off the west coast of Baja and headed our way to La Paz. The center of the storm was expected to hit us around midnight. Floods and winds were predicted. The winds were only going to reach 40 mph. Hopefully nothing more that a Minnesota thunderstorm.

I had cleared the decks of the boat to prevent anything from blowing away or breaking, closed all of the hatches, ate a sandwich for dinner and settled down to read a book about a ship wreck in the early 1800's off the coast of Africa. The title is "Skeletons of the Sahara". The book is an enjoyable read and I was getting into it when it happen...............

Smash!!!! Bang!!!! Knock Knock!!!! Crash. What the hell had just happened I thought? The sound was coming from the cockpit at the back of the boat. Again, Smash, bang, crash. I opened the hatch a small crack to see if I could see what this monster was. I couldn't see anything in the dark. All I could sense was the smell of death. What could it be?

I wasn't about to walk out there to get a closer look fearing it was waiting for me so it could strike. I locked the cockpit back up a used my light to see if anything appeared in the dark. Rain was coming down hard now and the winds were picking up. Again and again, the boat shook and rocked as the noise continued. Not as often as before but as load. I thought I heard, from the corner of the cockpit, a sound only a wild animal could make as it stocked its' kill.

All that I could hope for was that this unknown creature would soon die. The cockpit was filled with blood making it look like a fresh murder seen. I went back to my book and gave it another 30 minutes to see if the noise stopped. It did. I then sat up from my couch, laid the book down and started for the hatch to unlock it.

I stepped outside and carefully and slowly moved towards the corner where the sound had come from. There it was in a pool of blood, dead. It was clear that it had been chased my something further up the food chain from itself and seeing my boat jumped in to take refuge. The name of the boat is Dolce Vita. Sweet Life in english. Not a very fitting ending for the creature that you can now view below.