. By Monday the wind had died and the seas were flat calm. Captain Kenny picked up Eric at about 8:30 and he was off on “Mojo” for a day of fishing. The rest of us packed up and moved NEOS over to Balandra. We spent the morning walking the beach and had a picnic lunch under the palapa. Max raced up and down the dunes and hid a treasure with Pops. Back to NEOS for naps and Eric returned about 4pm with a huge yellowtail and a couple of bonitos. He was stoked. Caught the big one with the last live bait aboard. Awesome! The kids made one more trip to the beach before the fish dinner Eric provided and prepared for us.
The day after the Blooms left, we got up early and went in for our follow-up visit with the doctor. Russ and Janet joined us and we did the usual routine: bus into the hospital at 7am, make the appointment for 3pm. This time, the hospital had finished the cafeteria and had a nice area in an atrium with chairs and tables. So we spent the morning playing cards. At lunch, we headed across the street to a small taco stand, then headed back for more cards before our appointment time. This time we saw the doc about 3:30 so we were done and had all of our prescriptions by 4pm. No huge surprises, more of the same. But he only prescribes meds for 2 months. Then we need to return for new lab tests. The next few days we reprovisioned and got ready for our next project; hauling out at the Bercovich Yard for new bottom paint. We did make a trip to Home Depot and Wal-Mart where we picked up shade material for an awning to cover NEOS this summer.
By Monday morning, we were ready and headed to Bercovich’s. It was flat calm and no wind, so no problems. Rog made large circles in the bay while Abel got the trailer ready. When we got the signal, Rog pulled NEOS up on the trailer and then we slowly got winched in. Not much clearance on the side…maybe 1 to 2 feet, but we were fine. They made a little ramp for us to get onto the large boat next to us. It had stairs down to the ground, so we were able to get off and on easily. Monday not much happened, but by Tuesday afternoon the first coat of paint was on, Wednesday the saildrives were done and by Thursday at noon, we had three coats of paint and were ready to splash. Rog and I had time to wash under the boat and wax the inside hulls. So she was looking pretty sweet. We splashed at 2pm and were amazed as we started down the channel how fast she was moving. We were doing almost 7 knots down into La Paz with very little RPM. I guess she likes her new paint job.
While in the yard, we got a few coats of varnish on the table. Once back in La Paz, we picked up some more foam brushes and found that they made it easier to apply the varnish without getting bubbles. The table is looking really good. We did a lot of stocking up for our next guest. My sister, Laur, arrived March 21 and stayed until March 28. She always seems to get the challenging deliveries to Neos. Lest she forget the time that she brought the 9 foot box of trampoline materials to Belize, we asked her to bring the tracks for the new shade. I never imagined how stiff they were. Somehow she and David got them inside her luggage but it was sort of exciting trying to get them back out again! She is a real trooper.
We spent one day in La Paz hitting the usual spots and had lunch at Super Burro. As a special treat, we were able to return later that afternoon for a free show on the beach off of the commercial pier. The Papantla Flyers performed their pre-Hispanic ritual dedicated to the Sun God. The Papantla Flyers climb a 90 foot pole to the eerie and haunting sounds of a flute and a drum. Dressed in their magnificent native costumes these men lash themselves to the pole with a leather binding and soar off into space backwards and upside down in the ultimate leap of faith. The Papantla Flyers are Totonac Indians performing an ancient fertility ceremony. As they slowly descend to earth, the 13 revolutions made by the four flyers equal the 52-year span of the Aztec century. The flyers represent earth, water, fire and air, and the interweaving of these four elements symbolizes the creation of new life. A fifth man is left on top, dancing on a tiny nine-inch platform while simultaneously playing both a pre-Columbian flute and drum. Fabulous show! Of course, we celebrated the occasion with an ice cream from El Fuente and then went back to Neos with Russ and Janet for an evening of card games.
The next day, we headed out to Balandra where we spent four relaxing days. Well, one day was not quite so relaxing. We ended up taking about a 4 mile hike up to the top of the highest hill to find Laur’s geocache. It was a gorgeously warm morning which made the climb all the more challenging. But we made it, then took a short cut back to our beach at Balandra. It took us almost 2 hours up, 30 minutes down. After a day of relaxing, we did return to the beach and walked the length of it.
A lot of book reading, relaxing, sunbathing, card playing, and chatting rounded out her visit. A delightful week. On Wednesday, we headed back to La Paz and took Laur back to the marina to catch her taxi just after lunch. Then Rog and I made a couple of runs to the fuel dock to fill up our tanks. Then we paid our storage locker fees and headed to Chedraui to stock up for our trip north. It was a hectic afternoon and we were exhausted by the time we got done. The next morning, we met RnR at the dock to pick up a few things out of the storage locker. Goodbyes to the staff at the marina, we headed back to our boats and left La Paz to spend the summer months up in the Loreto area. We reached Isla Partida and nestled in a nice spot protected from the north winds. The coromuel blew in the early morning, but not nearly as bad as they get in Balandra. We ended the month with a relaxing dinghy ride through the cut to the east side of the islands. At the first sea cave, we shut the engines off and rode the current slowly back to the cut. We saw more fish than we have in a long time. The water is still too cold for a real snorkel, but with the flat calm surface, we saw plenty from our dinghy. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning and we were glad to finally be heading for new adventures.
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