We called Max on his birthday and chatted with him for a while. Hard to believe he is 7 years old already!!
Jim and Megan Beekman arrived in La Paz on the 4th and we met them at their B&B about 4:30. We walked them down Madera Street, back to Marina San Jose. Unfortunately, La Paz was celebrating their Cinco de Febrero Constitution Day and everything was closed up. We dropped by Marina San Jose and picked up Russ and Janet, then went to Rancho Viejo for dinner. Had a really pleasant evening and thoroughly enjoyed the Beekmans. We made plans to meet them the following morning at Marina San Jose and we spent a great day together out in the Bay. Jim even donned a wetsuit and dove in, checking out the hulls. We had thought that it would be flat calm all day, but after a late lunch at Balandra, we picked up a nice wind and sailed back to the channel, arriving at sunset. After sundowners, Rog took our guests back and dropped them off at the marina. They came back to check on a few things a few days later and stayed for lunch. And then a few days after that, they came by in a kayak and said hi. They seemed to like NEOS and asked good questions. Unfortunately, they have to put off their plans to head around the world since Megan just got a promotion at work. But we shall see. Looks like NEOS is on another “short list”.
Carnaval hit La Paz by storm and their parade was outstanding. The theme this year was Mysteries of the Sea so the floats were full of Neptunes and sea creatures. They run the parade on three consecutive nights and we caught it on the first night. I think everyone in Baja Sur comes to La Paz for Carnaval. The streets are packed and the music blares into the wee hours of the mornings. This goes on for almost a full week. The main street is blocked off and lined with carnival games and food booths. We joined Russ and Janet for a tour of the booths before the weekend crowds arrived, so it wasn’t too bad walking around. I had one of the “mega” crepes with chocolate and peanut butter. Haven’t had one since Puerta Vallarta and it was delicious. I will say, the one in PV was better…but that could have been because they put Bailey’s in it as well.
We celebrated Russ’s birthday with a pizza dinner, then a lasagna dinner for Janet’s birthday a week later. I was then ready to start my major sewing project of replacing the dodger. Just as I was preparing to pull everything out, the local broker called and said he had someone coming to see the boat. So the dodger project was put on hold.
We have decided to stay in La Paz until Rock and Roll gets some medical issues sorted out. We also continue to work on renewing our FM3 visas. One more trip to the INM office to pay the fees. To pay your fees, you have to pick up paperwork at the INM office and pay at a bank with cash. The bank stamps your paperwork which you take back to the INM office. Unless you have an account at the bank, you have to get cash from the ATM; the tellers will not process credit or debit cards. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring the cash we had on hand with me and when we got to the bank after picking up the paperwork at immigration, it would only accept one of my credit cards. I was able to get my daily max out with that credit card, but it wasn’t enough to pay both FM3 fees. The ATM would not take either of my debit cards: I assume because I am in Mexico and my cards have no travel notice on the accounts. The bank is about 10 blocks from the immigration office (and not in the direction back to the boat) so we headed back to the boat, figuring we would have to return the next day. We passed another bank on the way home and decided it was worth a try in their ATM and for SOME reason ??? it worked. Money in hand, we went into the bank, paid our fees and hiked BACK to the INM office. The INM clerk was processing everything when she noticed that we had paid the fees under our first and last names only. Our passports include our middle names. Unacceptable. Back to the bank to have them redo the paperwork and then back to INM. This time, all was good and we were blessed and sent on our way to await the call for the next visit to give fingerprints. We were exhausted by this time, so made a stop at the McDonalds and treated ourselves to ice cream and lunch. We had left at 7:30 in the morning and got back to the marina at about noon. We dropped in and told La Paz Yachts that we were back in case their prospect came by and then headed to NEOS and crashed.
January and February are windy months in La Paz. As cold fronts dip down from the States with their northerly winds, we get hit for 2-4 days with constant cool winds. Bad “northers” can be pretty gusty with up to 40 knot winds. Usually it is in the mid 20’s. But it gets tiring hearing the wind all day and the waves splashing against the boat. When the wind DOES die, it is eerily quiet. Northers are great for energy though. We make ice and can use power without worrying.
We had planned a provision run to Wal-Mart with RnR one calm morning but Rog was worried about the outboard motor. The day before, it had spun a few times and Rog figured the pin holding the prop on the shaft had come out. He got out there early to replace the pin…and found that our outboard does not use a pin to hold the prop in place.
We called RnR and cancelled the trip into town and got hold of Jimmy on Sea Otter, the local outboard expert. He said we might need a new prop and he happened to have one and would be by at 2pm. He came over right on time with good news and bad news. The bad news was that the prop was for a different motor, but the good news was that he could fix our prop so that it didn’t spin on the shaft. He took the prop with him and came back with it an hour later. Good as new!!!
Well Google has changed the way they insert pics and I have NO idea why they did wrap around...sorry for the somewhat disjointed narrative!
Jim and Megan Beekman arrived in La Paz on the 4th and we met them at their B&B about 4:30. We walked them down Madera Street, back to Marina San Jose. Unfortunately, La Paz was celebrating their Cinco de Febrero Constitution Day and everything was closed up. We dropped by Marina San Jose and picked up Russ and Janet, then went to Rancho Viejo for dinner. Had a really pleasant evening and thoroughly enjoyed the Beekmans. We made plans to meet them the following morning at Marina San Jose and we spent a great day together out in the Bay. Jim even donned a wetsuit and dove in, checking out the hulls. We had thought that it would be flat calm all day, but after a late lunch at Balandra, we picked up a nice wind and sailed back to the channel, arriving at sunset. After sundowners, Rog took our guests back and dropped them off at the marina. They came back to check on a few things a few days later and stayed for lunch. And then a few days after that, they came by in a kayak and said hi. They seemed to like NEOS and asked good questions. Unfortunately, they have to put off their plans to head around the world since Megan just got a promotion at work. But we shall see. Looks like NEOS is on another “short list”.
Carnaval hit La Paz by storm and their parade was outstanding. The theme this year was Mysteries of the Sea so the floats were full of Neptunes and sea creatures. They run the parade on three consecutive nights and we caught it on the first night. I think everyone in Baja Sur comes to La Paz for Carnaval. The streets are packed and the music blares into the wee hours of the mornings. This goes on for almost a full week. The main street is blocked off and lined with carnival games and food booths. We joined Russ and Janet for a tour of the booths before the weekend crowds arrived, so it wasn’t too bad walking around. I had one of the “mega” crepes with chocolate and peanut butter. Haven’t had one since Puerta Vallarta and it was delicious. I will say, the one in PV was better…but that could have been because they put Bailey’s in it as well.
We celebrated Russ’s birthday with a pizza dinner, then a lasagna dinner for Janet’s birthday a week later. I was then ready to start my major sewing project of replacing the dodger. Just as I was preparing to pull everything out, the local broker called and said he had someone coming to see the boat. So the dodger project was put on hold.
We have decided to stay in La Paz until Rock and Roll gets some medical issues sorted out. We also continue to work on renewing our FM3 visas. One more trip to the INM office to pay the fees. To pay your fees, you have to pick up paperwork at the INM office and pay at a bank with cash. The bank stamps your paperwork which you take back to the INM office. Unless you have an account at the bank, you have to get cash from the ATM; the tellers will not process credit or debit cards. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring the cash we had on hand with me and when we got to the bank after picking up the paperwork at immigration, it would only accept one of my credit cards. I was able to get my daily max out with that credit card, but it wasn’t enough to pay both FM3 fees. The ATM would not take either of my debit cards: I assume because I am in Mexico and my cards have no travel notice on the accounts. The bank is about 10 blocks from the immigration office (and not in the direction back to the boat) so we headed back to the boat, figuring we would have to return the next day. We passed another bank on the way home and decided it was worth a try in their ATM and for SOME reason ??? it worked. Money in hand, we went into the bank, paid our fees and hiked BACK to the INM office. The INM clerk was processing everything when she noticed that we had paid the fees under our first and last names only. Our passports include our middle names. Unacceptable. Back to the bank to have them redo the paperwork and then back to INM. This time, all was good and we were blessed and sent on our way to await the call for the next visit to give fingerprints. We were exhausted by this time, so made a stop at the McDonalds and treated ourselves to ice cream and lunch. We had left at 7:30 in the morning and got back to the marina at about noon. We dropped in and told La Paz Yachts that we were back in case their prospect came by and then headed to NEOS and crashed.
January and February are windy months in La Paz. As cold fronts dip down from the States with their northerly winds, we get hit for 2-4 days with constant cool winds. Bad “northers” can be pretty gusty with up to 40 knot winds. Usually it is in the mid 20’s. But it gets tiring hearing the wind all day and the waves splashing against the boat. When the wind DOES die, it is eerily quiet. Northers are great for energy though. We make ice and can use power without worrying.
We had planned a provision run to Wal-Mart with RnR one calm morning but Rog was worried about the outboard motor. The day before, it had spun a few times and Rog figured the pin holding the prop on the shaft had come out. He got out there early to replace the pin…and found that our outboard does not use a pin to hold the prop in place.
We called RnR and cancelled the trip into town and got hold of Jimmy on Sea Otter, the local outboard expert. He said we might need a new prop and he happened to have one and would be by at 2pm. He came over right on time with good news and bad news. The bad news was that the prop was for a different motor, but the good news was that he could fix our prop so that it didn’t spin on the shaft. He took the prop with him and came back with it an hour later. Good as new!!!
Well Google has changed the way they insert pics and I have NO idea why they did wrap around...sorry for the somewhat disjointed narrative!
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