Enough of the boat dancing in La Paz, we headed up to Caleta Lobos, then up to Espiritu Santo. Russ and Janet joined us and we met Eagle, Compass Rose, and Beau Soleil in the anchorages. Funny how you can be in the La Paz anchorage for weeks with the same boats but you really don’t meet folks until you are in the smaller anchorages. Big city/small city stuff. We tried anchoring in San Gabriel again, but the northwest winds picked up making it a bit uncomfortable. San Gabriel is the same anchorage that we spent a night with Jim last year and rocked like crazy all night long. This time, we headed up to Coronado and tucked into the deep cove there. It was pretty windy. But no fetch. After a few windy days, we anticipated a nice sail back south to Caleta so we raised the main and headed out. As soon as we got outside the cove, the wind absolutely died. So maybe the coves were windy from land effects and not general weather. Hmmm…. Go figger. But it was a relaxing cruise down to Caleta.
At Caleta, winds were gentle enough for a morning dinghy ride to Balandra. Tom and Jeannie joined us with Russ and Janet … three dinghies plowing up the coast to the main beach of Balandra. We walked the beach and then snacked on fish tacos at the local roach coach before heading back to Caleta. It was Janet’s birthday, so I made won tons and brownies for the card game treat. Eagle came over for a drink toast, then headed over for a Farkel game with Shannon while we played the usual Baja Rummy.
We headed back to La Paz in time for the annual Club Cruceros Valentine’s Day Dinner at La Costa Restaurant. For cruisers, we were pretty dressed up and ready to party! Rog and I happily satisfied our dancing desires and the food was pretty good. Nice evening and we met Jack and Judy on Fantasy.
While in La Paz, Rog got a new starter battery for our starboard engine. On Russ’s suggestion, we went to a Quaker State place where the guy had great prices, spoke English and delivered the battery to the dinghy dock the next morning at no extra charge.
Russ and Janet also joined us in our quest for a physical. We all headed into Hospital Salvatierra Nuevo at 6am. We caught the bus, then hiked about seven blocks to get to the hospital by 7am. We were now first in line to make the appointment to see the doc that afternoon. At 8am, the desk opened and, even though we were first, we were not yet in the medical archive system so had to head over to medical records to have our information put in the system. Then back to the appointment desk where we were now #12 and 13 to see the doc. We were to return at 2:30 for pre exam stuff, so we hiked the mile to Soriana and walked through all of the shops. We had hoped to play cards and pass the time, but there was really no place to do that. So back to the hospital where we sat in the waiting room and read. Rog and I headed out for lunch at a taco stand across the street. Finally, it was 2:30 and we waited for our names to be called for the nurse to take our vitals. All very organized…everything goes by number. They put the information into the computer and then we waited again for the doc to see us. It was almost 5pm when we finally got into the doc. I had all of our “concerns” translated on a list for him and he was exceedingly patient with our language limitations. Somehow we got through it all and left with orders for additional tests and lab work. We caught the bus back and were on NEOS at about 6:30, just in time for our Skype call to the Blooms.
Carnaval hit La Paz and lasted almost a full week. La Paz is the capital of Baja Sur so folks come in from the entire state for the celebration. They close down the malecon (the street along the bay) and line it with booths. There are the large carnival rides on the beach and in empty lots, and the typical carnival booth games of ring toss and duck shooting. Games, food, music, dancing, and general mayhem for a week. They have a parade that marches the malecon for 3 consecutive nights. It was a great show with lots of floats and elaborate costumes. We have never seen so many people in La Paz at one time and Ina on Compass Rose got a shot of the two of us heading back to the marina.
We could now focus on the main event of the month: the arrival of the Bloom family on the last day of the month. We hiked to the other end of town with R/J for Janet’s mammogram. There are a number of stores in this area so we made a day of it. After her test was done, we checked out a store called Victoria’s, known for good canvas goods. Still shopping around for shade cover for our summer project. The place was huge and had a good selection, but was a bit pricy. Then we tried to find the acrylic shop. We ended up going in circles, but located the store. Russ was able to explain our needs to the owner and we left with the name of an installer to contact. We are setting up our next big project of replacing the salon windows. Still in the discovery stage of exploring possibilities and getting prices, etc. We then stopped in the huge Chedraui store and had some lunch before doing our major shopping for our guests. We grabbed a taxi, headed back to NEOS and had everything put away in time for the card game that evening. Rog has been working on the table for a short time every day as well…sanding it down to bare wood again. The Mexican varnish just didn’t work for us so we got some Minwax at Home Depot and will try again. He has it completely sanded and ready for varnish…but we don’t want to tackle this until after the kids leave. So I covered the table with plastic and tablecloth.
The boat was all ready, fully provisioned and all beds made. The Blooms flew into La Paz at 4:30 on Feb 29 and Rog met them at the marina at 5:30. The water was flat and they were all on board NEOS for their one week vacation. I served up a shrimp pasta meal to the hungry four and we all settled in for a great time. But that is all March news!!
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