Isla San Francisco to Marina Costa Baja (in the outskirts of La Paz)

On Monday (January 30), the wind shifted again. We knew that the rolling in anchorage would increase and soon it would become comfortable. It was time to move again. We also knew that there was a storm coming. We’d decided that we wanted to ride the storm out in a marina. We were excited to be able to procure a “real” slip at Costa Baja, complete with water, power and pump out!

We pulled up anchor at about 0830, right after One World did, and followed them towards the La Paz area. It was a 6.5 hour ride to Costa Baja. We were in small 1 – 2 foot (.3 – .6 meters) head seas, so it was mildy uncomfortable. The day started out mostly sunny with some clouds, but as the day wore on, the clouds steadily increased. By the time we arrived, it was mostly cloudy. The temperatures were cool, but not cold, in the high 60s Fahrenheit (about 16-ish Celsius). Thanks to the wind, we did need our heavy jackets to sit outside when the boat moving. Eric saw two whales while he was on watch, but he didn’t get a close enough look to tell which species they were. 

At the turn off into the channel to Costa Baja, we saw that the world’s biggest sloop was on the fuel dock. When we’d booked the reservation, we’d asked about getting fuel on the way in, and the marina had told us the fuel dock was booked for the day. Now we knew why.

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Marina Costa Baja to Ensenada del Candelero on Espiritu Santo

Sunrise on Tuesday January 10

In the morning, Eric was sore from the inverter project. We added bleach to our water tanks before we topped them off, which is something that needs to be done every few months when consistently making your own water. We also turned our big freezer back on, which had been off since well before we’d left for San Diego.

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The Inverter Failure

Monday, January 9, continued... When we went inside, we noticed that the refrigerator/freezer was off. Eric realized that the inverter had shut down. He started the generator and realized there appeared to be something seriously wrong.

The inverter reported that there was 1.6 volts in the battery connection; but the battery said it had 13 volts. Eric measured the voltage at the inverter and the 1.6 volt reading was correct. He measured the voltage on the other side of main fuse and it registered at 13 volts. It appeared the main fuse was blown. 

Eric tried the inverter by-pass switch so we could power the inverter circuit with the generator, but it didn’t work. This created a new set of questions: was the by-pass switch defective or wired wrong? Or was there a bigger problem with the inverter? 

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Chores and Errands While at Marina Costa Baja

Sunrise on Thursday, January 5, 2023

We took the 0900 shuttle into town. Our plan was to rent a car and go grocery shopping. We’d noticed that there was an organic market called Nomada Fresh and Organics near the church, so we decided to walk over there and check it out before heading to Chedraui. It turned out to be a restaurant, not a market. So we had breakfast there.

A street vendor came by selling sweets, and we bought one. It was shredded coconut covered in caramel. It tasted just like the Samoa Girl Scout Cookies.

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