Sunrise on Saturday, November 26. Very demur compared to some of the dramatic sunrises we’ve seen here in Baja.
We were shocked to find that today the tide was significantly higher than it had been yesterday. Yesterday, we’d tied up in front of the big restaurant. That wasn’t an option today since the big restaurant was flooded.
Sunrise on Friday (November 25). It was still super windy and the port captain for Bahia de La Paz was still not allowing boats to leave. In this photo, you can actually see the swell. Since this anchorage was protected from the wind, this was “wrap around” swell. Needless to say, it was an uncomfortable morning aboard Kosmos.
One of the things that Eric had bought at the boat store on Wednesday was bigger swivels for the paravanes. Eric had realized that the working load on the flopper stoppers swivels weren’t high enough and needed to be upgraded. Before deploying the flopper stoppers, Eric removed the swivels from the paravanes and put them on the flopper stoppers (the swivels that were on the paravanes were significantly larger than the ones that had been on the flopper stoppers). He’ll put the newly purchased swivels on the paravanes another day.
When we went to shore today, the tide was even higher than it had been on Wednesday.
On our way into town, we stopped by Marina Costa Baja’s marina office. The marina office, fuel dock and boat yard were disconnected from the rest of the marina/hotel complex. It had a separate entrance about a mile north of the entrance to the marina/hotel. To get from the fuel dock to the hotel/marina, one had to walk on the a dirt road that paralleled the highway or take a dinghy.
Since Christi wasn’t up for cooking, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 24) by eating out. Our friends on Oceananigans offered to drop us off in town on their way to their Thanksgiving festivities. This time, we rode into shore with them on their dinghy. The plan was that we would return their dinghy to their boat when we returned from town.
We all stopped for breakfast at a cafe in the Costa Baja resort.
Since it was too early for lunch, we had time to kill. Christi needed a haircut, so we had them drop us off at a hair salon near Chedraui that one of the cruisers had recommended. We were sad to see that it was out of business. From there, we went to another boat store, located near Marina de La Paz, looking for generator filters. Neither boat store that we’d gone to yesterday had them, nor did this one.
By now it was lunch time. We decided to go to a restaurant called Estrella del Mar primarily because it was close. The restaurant was literally the southwest end of the malecon, directly next door to Marina Cortez (and Marina Cortez was next door to Marina de La Paz).
On Wednesday (November 23), Christi was awoken at 0400 to the noise of big rig trucks, ships and pangas. We realized that in addition to the ferries, container ships and cruise ships also utilized this terminal. Here is a photo of the terminal in the early light of dawn.
Sunrise over the campsite
Oceananigans had rented a car yesterday. They called us in the morning and invited us to go into La Paz with them. We each tied up our dinghies to the end of the dock in front of the big restaurant. In this photo, Eric was throwing out a stern anchor to keep the dinghy from crashing into the dock.
Continue readingOn Monday, November 21, the crescent moon was still visible well into the fiery red sunrise.
The kids from Oceananigans came over to play first thing in the morning. They were leaving in the mid-morning, so they maximized their playtime. While the kids played, Eric fixed exhaust leak. This time he used a fiber glass wrap that was soaked in sealant. We’re hoping this fix lasts longer.
Eric took the kids back to Oceananigans when they were ready to depart. On his way back, he stopped and chatted with one of the other neighbors in the anchorage, who invited us to come to his boat for lunch. Then he went over to visit his former colleague, and Eric invited them over to Kosmos in the evening.
The lunch was fancy. The owner of the boat had three of his siblings aboard, in celebration of an important family event. All four were passionate about cooking. The food was amazing; better than a gourmet restaurant. As an appetizer, he served chocolate clams (called this because the shells are brown), which are a local delicacy. The clams were far and away the best clams we’ve eaten in our lives.
For dessert, Christi tried corn ice cream, which tasted like frozen sweet creamed corn. Being as she was a creamed corn fan, she loved it. Eric had flan for dessert, which was custard topped with a caramel sauce. The texture of flan was usually less firm than a creme brûlée and more firm than a pudding, but this flan was closer in texture to a cheesecake. They were a nice family and we had a lovely visit.
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