New Summer Plan

La Paz, BCS, Mexico

Yes, we are still here in La Paz!

It turns out that this is just the best place in Mexico to get things done on the boat.  There are real live marine chandlers (stores full of boat gear) and lots of businesses that cater to the boating industry.  And it is very much easier for us to get around to these businesses here than in Mazatlan, because most everything is in walking distance from our marina.  Since we don't have a car, this is a big bonus.

Although the marina seems full, we were able to persuade them to give us a slip for the summer.  It is quite a bit more expensive than it would be in Mazatlan but we feel that will be made up for by the easier access to parts and service, and the less expensive connection to San Diego via Tijuana.  We will be making use of this in the near future to try and locate some parts that are either too much hassle or too expensive to get here in Baja California Sur.

This is a view of the Canal de La Paz leading into the town.
You can clearly see the darker blue of the dredged channel
that you must follow to avoid going aground.

The weather in La Paz during the summer also promises to be better than Mazatlan.  It will probably get a little hotter here but there will be less rain and humidity.  The only real issue is with hurricanes, but both places have that risk.

The docks at Marina de La Paz appear to be very solid and well thought-out, mostly because they had to be extensively rebuilt after hurricane Marty hit La Paz on September 22, 2003 (some 82 boats were lost in that storm).  In addition, they have added some substantial breakwaters to try and lessen the storm surge and they now insist on a much higher level of preparedness from the cruisers in the marina.  This all paid off during hurricane John in 2006, when they suffered virtually no damage.  Our hope is that we just don't get any hurricanes this year.  I'm not sure if it is a good sign or a bad sign that the season started off with two hurricanes (Aletta and Bud) in mid-May, an actual record for the earliest hurricanes ever recorded in the eastern Pacific.  Fortunately these early hurricanes stay much further south and are no threat to us, and there has been absolutely no activity since.

The big bonus of staying in La Paz is that we just really like it here.  It is a very pretty town with a huge variety of stores and restaurants and such.  It is very safe to walk anywhere at any time and the people have been great.  It is easy to see why so many Americans and Canadians have made this their home.  Here are some pictures from our walks around town...

The ritual cleaning of the head sail!

Work has begun on some of our boat projects.  The self-deflating dinghy floor is at the dinghy floor repairing place.  Our head sail is at the sail loft for replacement of the UV protective strip, which has been shredded since we got into the Sea of Cortez.  Apparently the problem is that the thread that was used to sew the strip onto the sail was not UV resistant itself - a common problem for boats that come down the coast from cooler climates like California (or Canada in our case).

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