Playa Pichilingue, Day 4

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.

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Playa Pichilingue, Day 2

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.

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Isla San Francisco to Playa Pichilingue

On 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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Second Trip to Isla San Francisco, Day 2

The crescent moon was also bright in the early light of Sunday, November 20. All the dots of light are boats in the anchorage. It was packed.

Sunrise

In the morning, Eric tried to fill another tank. It seemed a belt was slipping, so completely filling tanks still wasn’t viable.  

Some boats close to the shore left, so we moved Kosmos closer to the shore for less fetch. Even though it was quite windy out, it was calm in our new spot.

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Ensenada del Candelero on Isla Espiritu Santo to San Evaristo to Isla San Francisco

On Friday, November 18, the crescent moon was still shining brightly even as the day dawned.

Oceananigans in the glow of sunrise

Eric was eager to refill the tanks and dive again, so he spent some time in the early morning working on the dive compressor. He took apart the part he believed to be broken to the best of his ability to see if it could be easily fixed, lubricated it and put it back together. Still not working. He gave it Mike on Oceananigans, who also took it apart to look at it. It sounds like Mike didn’t do anything much different than Eric did, but after he returned the part, the compressor was kind of working. However, there seems to be an issue with another part. 

The wind died in the morning, and the tiny flies came out to the boat. The tiny flies didn’t bite, but they were super annoying as they tended to gravitate towards the eyes, ears and nose. We got Kosmos ready to go to sea and pulled up anchor at 10:45.

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