On our return to La Paz we caught the tail end of an arts festival with Australia as its theme, then experienced a few days of the annual "Bayfest", put on by Club Cruceros. Two outcomes of the Bayfest worth noting are that I won in a raffle a 30% reduction in the cost of my next boat haul out, and for the first time the Club Cruceros volley ball team defeated the Mexican Navy. Jokes were made about the navy retaliating by increasing the number of boardings and inspections, and whether they could continue to rescue Gringo boaters in trouble with the same diligence and dedication that they've shown in the past.
Brenda and I developed colds, but by then we had already decided to spend 3 days at anchor in the local bays to give Brenda a last visit to these great places before her departure for Australia in ... less than a week now.
Cold or not I had to spend 45 minutes in the water yesterday cleaning the propeller, shaft, and water line which had grown "beards" of sea grass. Cleaning the propeller was important because a matting of grass will destroy the laminar flow over the propeller surfaces and result in loss of drive. (My first boat Chiquita almost wound up on the rocks at the Fishing Boat Harbour in Fremantle because of a fouled propeller and was saved only because Reg Kelly just managed to reach a reach a fishing boat's rail with the boat hook as the wind drove us toward the rocks. Unfortunately Reg then blotted his copy book by refusing a direct order by the captain shortly after dawn the next day to go over the side and clean the propeller. "This is Mutiny!" I protested, as I slid into the cold winter waters to do it myself.) I also ran the engine for 45 minutes to make sure that all was well after six weeks of dormancy. (It started and ran like ... well ... a new Volvo engine.)
We motored out this morning at 10.30 AM in a gentle breeze and falling tide, which would assist us in the La Paz Channel. I noted that the volt meter was reporting a satisfactory 14.2 V (with no fault alarm!) and 65 amps were being delivered to the batteries. After rounding the Pemex oil facility we spotted a small boat up ahead and when we got close saw that it was a navy panga instead of a fishing boat. I thought little of it since I had already been boarded twice and after the second time (in 3 days) had been told that Pachuca's details would be recorded and there would be no more boardings.
I hadn't reckoned on the Club Cruceros volley ball team defeating the Mexican navy.
The young man seemed more anxious than me. No doubt I was relaxed because I had cracked open my first cold beer shortly before the boarding. In response to his question I had to ask Brenda my age. I then came very close in telling him in Spanish that my age was 670 instead of 67. I then told him the individual numbers, "seis" and "siete". He then asked me Brenda's age and I got mockingly serious and shook my head saying "No, Amigo". We both turned to Brenda and I said "twenty one" as he said "twenty".
We had a gentle head wind throughout our passage to Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Santo, 18 nm north of La Paz. Pachuca's slippery hull moved effortlessly through the calm water at just under 6 knots. Brenda said that she could not neither hear nor feel the engine when standing at the bow.
We worked our way along the right side of the bay, into circular section of deeper water that allowed us to go much farther into the bay than usual. It was Dave's "DJM Questor Software" that made this possible for me because with it I could see the progress of the boat against a close up Google satellite photo of the bay, which showed the depths very well. We dropped anchor at 3 PM in 4.2 meters of water. As usual, it is splendid holding ground of pure sand with no weed, mud, or rocks - the foundation of a relaxing night at anchor.
At the Bayfest festival Brenda had attended a session on Mexican sauces and learned how to make three sauces, one of which is "Ranchero" sauce, which can be made without a blender. Brenda made a Ranchero sauce while we motored and we both enjoyed a lunch of "Huevos Ranchero" soon after dropping anchor.
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1 comment:
Bet the mexican sauce was delicious. Hope the colds vanish...fluvax is helping me!
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