Sat 29th October.
Just finished the main part of moving the computer system I work on in Latvia, to the cloud. It’s mostly been fun and very interesting. Decided to print everything off and stow the printer ready for my departure. However the macbook can’t see the wifi network of the printer, nor can the phone. Possibly the printer is at fault, but I suspect it’s down to Apple and the ventura upgrade I did on the mac and the IOS update I did on the phone, I bet apple have decided not to support old printers that don’t 100% implement the wifi standard the way they like, my printer could be a security threat after all and steal all my money, print off a few plane tickets and jet off with a handsome flatbed scanner down the road to somewhere nice. I’m furious, partly because I threw away all the old printer leads that had the big square USB V0.01, I’m so angry with Apple I may sell my shares in the business, that will get their attention once they realise I’m serious!. (P.S. in restrospect, selling my shares would have been a very smart move at that point [sad face] )
Monday 31st, Halloween I understand.
Just noticed a line in the Starlink dish warranty “.. not covered for damage due to: Lightning, electrical surges,fires, floods, hail, windstorms, earthquakes, meteors, solar storms, dinosaurs or other forces of nature”, I’m feeling comfortable on the dinosaur front. Now I don’t want you thinking I’m the kind of guy who routinely reads product warranties, it’s just I’m looking for evidence for a fictional row I’m having with a guy on facebook about using Starlink on boats. Thinking about it, that’s probably worse.
Just finishing stripping, sanding and applying two coats of varnish to the starboard rub rail. I was fascinated by the Greek myth of Sisyphus and his rocks after hearing a version on Radio 4 as a teenager.
Last night Peter and Marcia, who had the baba 30 along the pontoon from me, and now have a lovely tatoosh boat, invited me over for dinner. We celebrated the victory of Lula, I must say it was great seeing Marcia so pleased, she is from Rio, but lives in Chile with Peter now, He is from New Jersey. We discussed dialects and and how Spanish varies so much across latin America, and I made them laugh with some coarse scouse impressions like ‘yeritederlah‘ as a expression of concern for one’s welfare in true scouse (“Are you alright there lad”).
Skip ahead to the 7th December.
I took the boat out to the Islands to get a bit of snorkeling in before the sea cooled too much, it’s down to 24 degrees now, which is a bit on the cold side.
I stayed in Caleta Partida in between Isla Espiritu and Isla Partida. I was there for nearly a week, the starlink dish worked very well, and I had a relaxing time, kaying most days and doing a bit of snorkeling and I also cleaned the boat hull and prop. I decided to leave my boat scraper there for next time, it’s sitting nicely 5 metres down and is marked on the gps for my next visit.
At one point I dived into the water and found myself about 2 metres above a huge turtle that was slowly swimming away from me, quite a sight.
A strong northerly was forecast which would mean the port would be closed for several days so I headed back. I arrived in La Paz around the same time as the early Baja HaHa folks.
The Baja HaHa is a boat rally that travels from San Diego in California down to Cabo San Lucas at the bottom of the Baja Peninsula. There’s usually a few hundred boats, mostly sailboats, mostly Americans, that get together to travel as a pack, stopping off along the way twice for big organised parties. When they arrive at Cabo San Lucas, many of them travel on to La Paz and then explore the Sea of Cortez, others continue onto the mainland and explore there and many of them will continue into the south Pacific in the spring as the start of a much bigger ocean crossing. The rally didn’t run for the two years of covid so I expect the numbers where quite large this year. I can’t criticise people for wanting to travel as a big group, safety in numbers, comradeship etc, we did a similar thing on the ARC rally in 2006, but I couldn’t hack it now. Too many excited people all talking at once, and statistically, at least a third of them will probably be trumpers.
Back in my berth in La Paz, the marina is now full, thanks to the southern migration from the states, lots of excited people and the morning net is full of newbies asking where they can buy propane, who sells engine parts etc. The anchorage is quite busy too, but it could still take another 50 boats if needed.
November brought the annual day of the dead festival, again this was the first time the city had staged an event since covid started so I was very pleased to be able to attend the national theatre grounds to see some very strong visuals.
Then there was the parade to celebrate the revolution. Another event that hadn’t seen the light of day for a few years.
I took a bike ride up to the boatyard at the far end of town, known as Berkovitch. I need to find a place to haulout and paint the bottom some time soon, I went so I could speak to the manager direct and work out a price, however when I arrived, after a one hour cycle ride, I found out he was in Marina de la paz talking to potential customers there, oh well, I got some exercise, and got to see some old boats in various states of repair.
In three days time, I will fly to Mexico City to meet Kathy and accompany her back to La Paz, a few days after she gets back to the boat, we are signed up to take part in a christmas light parade where a few dozen boats, all lit up like christmas trees, literally, will parade along the anchorage in front of the Malecon, and I believe, a panel of judges. I have heard that it can draw crowds of spectators in the tens of thousands, seems unlikely, but we will see. I’m only doing it if it looks like we can get in and out of the berth easily, so let’s hope for light winds, gentle currents, and a christmas sale at the christmas light shop.
After the parade we are going to head over to the mainland to hook up with Arturo and his lady in topolobampo. After that, probably back to La Paz for Christmas, and soon after that we head back to the mainland for a three month lazy cruise down to Acapulco. I’m hoping it will be warmer down there.
Paul Collister.