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We’ve learned from several sources you do not want to drive a rental car from Hertz or Avis in or around La Paz because you will be pulled over. There are several stories of Americans who rented cars to drive to the other side of the peninsula and were pulled over for various reasons by Baja police and were told they had to pay $200 USD on the spot. Most Americans comply. The alternative is to rent a car from Baja rentals because they don’t display a rental car sticker and their cars are seldom pulled over by corrupt police.

We met a couple, Jay and Carolee, who have lived in La Paz for 12 years in the marina next door to where we are staying. Someone in their marina drove this Canadian Firefly car down from Canada about 15 years ago and abandoned it when they moved out of the area. The marina residents quickly adopted it. This car hasn’t been registered or insured since it arrived. It is parked on the street, unlocked with the windows down and nobody bothers is. The marina folks all pitch in to keep the little car running.

Jay drove us across town today in this car to Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas to buy our national park passes. The park office was gated with a guard but they let us in thanks to Carolee’s ability to understand and speak Spanish. We went down a long hall to an office, knocked on an unmarked door, and were able to purchase our national park passes for 3600 pesos ($187). We need the passes when we sail to the islands next week. It was really difficult to find which agency sold the park passes. People must not purchase them even though they are required if you are visiting a national park.

On the way, Jay explained the driving rules. Alto (stop) signs don’t mean stop. They mean look while you drive through the stop sign. If someone hits you, don’t expect them to stop. If they hit you while you’re walking or riding a bike, don’t expect them to stop. It must have been your fault. If you are pulled over by the police do not admit you know any Spanish and act like a tourist. Don’t say anything or provide any documentation (you may not get it back). Most residents don’t have car insurance so the locals drive their cars no matter what condition they are in. The roads are bumpy, dusty and in need of repair. We noticed this the first time we rode our bikes to Chedraui to buy groceries. The main street in town has police officers directing traffic during rush hour.

The Mexicans in this town are very kind, friendly and resourceful. They seem to be able to fix anything that is broken or they know who to send you to. We are going to meet Sergio (once we find his house). He is the guy in town that does stainless steel welding. We would like to get davits made for lifting our dinghy out of the water.

It’s fun trying to figure out how to get things done. It’s all part of the adventure!

The marina makes its own fresh drinking water by way of reverse osmosis (taking sea water and running it through filters to remove the salt and other particles similar to the water maker on our boat). They do this to address perceived water quality problems in Mexico for the residents of the marina who are often American. Potable water is available to us through a garden hose (just like drinking from the hose when we were kids). We can fill water jugs or run it directly into our boat water tanks. I take it a step further and run my tap water through a Brita filter and refrigerate. We haven’t gotten sick so it must be working.

Most people around here drink margaritas and beer which brings me to talk about my search for the perfect margarita. Since we arrived in Mexico we’ve had many margaritas and they are all different. Some were good, some too tart, others tasted like cheap tequila or were watered down, etc. So I began experimenting and talking to Mexican bartenders to come up with a recipe for a margarita that I thought tasted perfect. The key to a good margarita is decent tequila and fresh squeezed key limes. Key limes are less acidic and less tart than regular limes. They are considerably smaller so you have to squeeze more of them but its worth the extra effort. Here is a recipe I came up with that I think is pretty good.

3 oz. of tequila (I use Jarana reposado or Casamigos gold but any decent tequila will work)

1 oz. simple syrup (easy to make your own 1/2 c. sugar & 1/2 c. water; boil & cool. Keep refrigerated).

Moisten edge of glass with lime and twirl glass rim in course salt. Pour the margarita over ice and stir. After drinking these you will not use a store bought bottled mix again.

The wind storm has past, the port is open, and the weather is beautiful so we booked a dive trip for today. There were 9 of us that went along with 2 dive masters and a boat captain. They took us 1 hr. 15 minutes North of La Paz to Los Islotes, a national park with a sea lion colony. There were several cute seal lion pups that would swim right up to you and if you held out your arm they would nibble on you. Some divers actually had little bite marks. Kevin had a sea lion pup bite on his arm several times. One of the other divers had a pup play tug-of-war with his head. The beautiful tropical fish would swim by and weren’t even bothered by us being there. It felt like we were swimming in a giant fish aquarium. It was a shallow 40ft. dive which allowed us to do a second dive.

The air temperature was 85F and the water was 77F so a wet suit was needed. The dive master led the way into a cave in the rock wall where sea lions were diving in the water above us. It was incredible experiencing the beauty of swimming with sea lions, their pups, and tropical fish. At one point a very large male sea lion (bull) glided by but didn’t even stop to take a look.

The second dive was a shipwreck. I didn’t go on this dive but Kevin and others said they swam in narrow passages through the ship and it was quite dark. Following other divers through the wreck, at one point Kevin was in a passage that was pitch black ahead – there were no more dive fins in front either – where to go? After several long seconds of hesitation, the dive master poked his head down from above. With a feeling of relief, Kevin exited the dark passage through the ceiling. They did see two sea turles and several species of tropical fish but the clarity of the water wasn’t as good as the first dive.

It had been over 30 years since I last dove and about 20 years for Kevin. We were surprised it was like riding a bike (once I got over the initial anxiety).

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with friends and family. We all have so much to be thankful for.

Mr. & Mrs. Howell (pictured) and Gilligan, the dog, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner on their beautiful catamaran “Queso Grande II”. Turkey wasn’t available but we had a nice barbequed shrimp dinner.

I decided this morning I wanted to try and make pumpkin pies in my boat oven. First we needed flour. Kevin rode his scooter around until he was able to find wheat flour. Most of the flour around here is mesa flour. I got two pies made and now comes the hard part . . . baking them in a little RV oven. In a matter of minutes the oven can go from 200-500 degrees. The pies turned out great with constant management except one fell off the rack in the back of the oven while I was trying to remove it. It’s still good to eat but not much to look at 🙂

We were missing some fellow sailors today at dinner. There is a wind storm blowing into the area in the next day or two. Many cruisers who were anchored out in the bay left the area over the past few days to find a safe harbor further up in the Sea of Cortez to wait out the storm. We are fine where we are at since we are in a marina tied to a dock. Kevin added extra dock lines and cinched them up as an extra precaution. The port is closed today so nobody can arrive or depart by water. The panga and fishing boats have stopped running. Each marina flies a blue and yellow nautical flag which is the international code the port is closed.

We’ve been here for a couple of days and we are still adjusting to the culture. It is much different that Cabo San Lucas. It’s not touristy. The locals speak Spanish and very little English and use pesos not USD. We’ve had to come up to speed quickly on the money conversion. The Marina in La Paz had a welcome party for all of us that cruised here in the Baja Ha Ha. These are some of the dancers. Their costumes were beautiful!

We were anchored out in the bay for one night and we were told about the “La Paz Waltz”. This is where the boat dances around its anchor because the wind is blowing in one direction and a strong current is moving in the opposite direction. Because of this many of the boat were dragging anchor, including ours. This can be dangerous! We didn’t realize it was happening because we were at a party. We came back to the boat in the dark in the dinghy and found our boat very close to bumping into the dock at Marina Cortez in heavy winds. We quickly moved it and tied it up to a dock that was not available to use. Security arrived within minutes and let us spend the night for what ended up being equivalent to $85. Marina slips here are hard to get because there are so many people in this area this year. We lucked out and got a slip right in the heart of La Paz for 30 days.

The local knowledge that has been shared with all of us has been useful such as don’t rent a Hertz or Avis rental car because you will be pulled over by the Baja police and fined $200 USD for speeding (even if you weren’t). Instead, get a Baja rental car. They leave them alone. Don’t rely on “Alto” (Stop signs) when driving or riding your bike. Stop signs don’t mean anything here. Don’t be in a rush when eating at a restaurant. They will allow you to sit there for hours and relax. You must ask for the check or they will never bring it. Even after asking its always about 30 minutes before it arrives.

The mornings start out with listening to the Cruisers Net on VHF 22A. They start by asking if anyone has a medical emergency or needs a referral to a doctor or dentist. Next, is anyone having boat issues or need boat parts? My favorite is “does anyone have any items to trade for coconuts”. The Mexican government does not allow selling items over the radio for money so the cruisers refer to their money as “coconuts”. I am in the process of working a trade for 2 paddle boards for coconuts from a couple that is leaving in a few days for Mazatlan!

When the Cruisers Net is finished, its coffee time at Club Crucerous (Cruiser’s Club). It is a club we are in that raises money for children in the area that cannot afford school uniforms. All children here wear navy blue and white uniforms to school. They sell coffee every morning for 10 pesos (50 cents) a cup. There will be a Thanksgiving dinner, a rummage sale and a bake sale within the next 2 weeks. They also sell club memberships, t-shirts and Mexican flags which all cruisers in Mexican waters must fly.

We have met so many nice people. A couple had a rental car today so they invited us to tag along to the grocery store and bank. Most all establishments take only pesos so we’re constantly going to the bank. Unfortunately, the bank ate Kevin’s debit card yesterday and he was not able to get it back 🙁

We left Bahia de Los Muertos as the sun was rising this morning at 6am. There was 19-20 knots of wind for a few hours today but it was on our nose. As a result, we were not able to sail so we motored 65 NM to La Paz through the beautiful Sea of Cortez. The Sea of Cortez is known for its abundance of marine life (whale sharks), turquoise waters, calm seas, world-class white sandy beaches, snorkeling and scuba diving. This area is unique because it’s a sandy coastal desert. Wind has formed sand dunes over a hundred feet high. The latest craze is sand boarding where one can use a board to ride down the dunes.

La Paz is the capital of Baja California Sur, a Mexican state on the Baja California Peninsula. It’s known for its seafront Malecón promenade with beaches, parks, art, seafood and Mexican restaurants.

Upon arrival Kevin was required to radio the port captain to check in. Since his Spanish is better than mine he got the honors of making the radio call. He knew it was going to be challenging but he also knew what to say in Spanish. He was off to a good start until the port captain started asking him questions which quickly got him confused. He did his best to answer the questions but the port captain hung up on him! We’ll try again tomorrow when we go into the port office to pay our port fee. Hopefully, the conversation will go better than the radio conversation did today. There’s always Google Translator if all else fails.

Bahia de Los Muertos means “Bay of the Dead”. The name was changed to Bahia de Suenos “Bay of Dreams” when a new resort was planning to be built at the site of the former fishing camp but locals preferred the original name.

We left early this morning from Los Frailes and sailed/motored 45 miles. After several weeks we finally saw a pod of dolphins. It was a big pod swimming on both sides of the boat. They are so fascinating to watch!

I decided to do a load of laundry while underway. All of a sudden all the lights were flashing on the washer. The boat was heeled to one side when the washer cycle was trying to spin and the machine freaked out because it couldn’t balance the load. My idea of washing clothes while underway didn’t work so well. Now I had a washer full of water that is sloshing all over as the boat is moving from side to side through waves. Good thing Kevin was on it and could fix the problem. In the future, I will have to do laundry when the boat is not moving.

We arrived at Bahia de Los Muertos about 6pm. In the distance I saw a restaurant and could hear music. Yes, on this deserted island pictured above there was a restaurant called “1585 Restaurant”. We unloaded the dinghy from the foredeck and went to check it out. There really wasn’t a dock or beach for the dinghy so we had to jump out into shallow water near shore and find a place to tie it up. You learn quickly to wear water shoes whenever taking the dinghy to shore because you’re usually jumping out into the water.

It’s hard to believe there would be a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. It was a large open-air restaurant with a thatched roof and yes, it was open for business. There were 15 worn tables and chairs. I noticed off to the side a glass door with weathered lettering that read “Sales Office”. Apparently, years ago, there was a plan to develop this area with time-share condos and a restaurant but the time shares never sold but the restaurant managed to thrive. Four tables were occupied this Friday evening and there was only one menu for the entire restaurant. It was handwritten on a board and propped up on a big easel that the server would carry to each table. The menu was authentic Mexican and very good. Kevin had tamales wrapped in corn husks that were neatly tied on the ends as if they were gift-wrapped and the margaritas were made from fresh squeezed limes. It was a great way to end the day. We plan to leave by 6am tomorrow morning and sail 65 miles to La Paz.

After spending a fun week in Cabo, we pulled up our anchor and sailed 45 miles North to Villa Los Frailes. We checked the forecast prior to our departure and saw a 24 knot head wind but decided to go anyway. Bad idea! Because there was a head wind, we ended up motoring the entire 45 miles, the wind was blowing right on our bow, the waves were steep and often they were breaking over the bow and spraying us. We didn’t see any other boats the entire day until we got close to our destination. Out of the darkness appeared a small boat with 2 fisherman. It looked like they were catching squid. The waves were so tall the little boat would disappear behind each wave when I tried to locate them through the binoculars. I can’t imagine how frightening it would be to be in such a small boat out in the Pacific Ocean in the dark being tossed around by huge swells.

After 11 hours of beating our way up wind, of which 5 hours was in total darkness without a moon, we arrived at our destination. I was tethered on the bow with a bright light looking for shrimp traps or other debris in the water and Kevin was at the helm being guided to our anchorage by Navionics. It was a long day without any dinner. It was too rough to even think about preparing food. Lesson learned: when predict wind shows ‘red’ on the wind map, wait a day or two. Your schedule is not more important than your comfort.

We got back from spending the day on shore to see this huge Holland America cruise ship anchored very close behind us. We can hear all their announcements as if we were on the ship ourselves. Cabo is a busy port-of-call for 8 cruise lines with each ship carrying 3,000+ passengers. Right now there are 2 ships docked and 3 anchored in the bay with tenders running their passengers back and forth to shore. We noticed the special food and drink prices in the bars and restaurants disappear as soon as the cruise ships pull in. Imagine that!

Kevin has finished his battery installation project and is very pleased with their performance (for more details about the batteries you can check his predict wind blog 🙂 Now we can put the boat back together. Projects turn the boat into a complete disaster. You’re stepping over parts and finding tools piled high on the galley counters and tables not to mention the batteries reside under beds so the mattresses have to be moved and shoved to the other end of the boat 🙁

It has been fun spending the past week here in Cabo. We feel more like locals than tourists probably because our home is out in the bay. The fresh guacamole and margaritas are a real treat as well as the pretty blue water and sunshine!