Day After Tropical Storm Blanca

Morning after Blanca at Marina Palmira

Just a quickie to let everyone know that all is well in La Paz. We expected to feel strong winds yesterday afternoon as Blanca passed west of us. But other than a short period when the winds were in the high 20's - low 30's, things seemed to calm down. Temporarily. After I went to bed the wind started raging and Tom had to get up and close the windows due to dust swirling through the cabin. This morning the wind was still howling, again in the high 20's - low 30's, and we expect it to continue until around 5:00 p.m. (Although I think it is starting to abate already.)

There is dust everywhere inside the boat, and if I hadn't put a napkin over my morning cup of tea I would have gotten a bit of grit in every sip. Outside, Cinnabar is covered in a not-so-fine layer of dust, with little drifts of dust banked up in various areas. 

The electricity and water have been out on our dock since early a.m., and we had to run our generator to top up the batteries.

This morning was a good time to tighten up our dock lines and a few rattling halyards. I noticed during my morning stroll that numerous other people were checking their boats, and boats of absent-owner friends, to make sure everything was looking secure and ship-shape.

In the anchorage near downtown, the boat that went aground (which I mentioned in the previous post) was pulled off the sand by other cruisers in their dinghies and safely delivered to a boatyard for repairs. One of the red channel markers broke loose and drifted through the anchorage without hitting any boats. Two unmanned sailboats broke free from their mooring/anchors and ended up on the beach. 

We just got a report that the high wind speed was 47.6 knots at 02:59, and the lowest barometric pressure reading was 1001.2 mb (millibars) at midnight. (Low barometric pressure is usually associated with bad weather. It was up to 1015 mb during our idyllic anchorage in the island.) 

And our electricity and water just came back on!!

Cinnabar needs a bath!! But not until the wind stops.

Oh, and Armando Martinez, he of the campaign sticker plastered on our Tundra...he was elected the new mayor of La Paz! 


UPDATE NOTE: Amanda's comment prompts me to mention that our friends, the Teomans' (featured in last year's Bahia Concepcion pictures) oldest daughter Caitlin was in Cabo during Blanca. Yes, with her girlfriends enjoying their first hurricane! What a conclusion to their Cabo trip. I was emailing updates to mom Lissa about the storm and what the girls could expect. Lissa wisely rescheduled their return flights from yesterday to today (6/9/15), giving the storm ample time to leave the area. Lissa said the girls provisioned at Walmart and hunkered down in their hotel room with plenty of snacks and drinks. Smart girls!!

Hurricanes and Elections

It's a very busy Sunday for Baja California Sur...Hurricane Blanca approaches and the voting booths opened at 08:00. 

Today's Google doodle in Mexico - "vote here"

Las Elecciones: All of Mexico has been gearing up for today's midterm election which will choose all 500 seats in Mexico's lower house of congress, plus nine governorships (including Baja California Sur's) and hundreds of mayorships and local posts (also including La Paz and BCS's). 

We've seen lots of posters and campaign events taking place in the streets of La Paz. Even our Tundra inadvertently got in on the action.

The Tundra got tagged, or should I say "pasted" by some overzealous campaigners. I wonder if Armando Martinez will win the mayorship?

Mexican elections have a history of violence before, during, and after elections. Most of the problems occur in the southern states of mainland Mexico, not so much Baja. Baja still has to abide by the "no liquor sales" law, however. I went to the store yesterday for supplies and was amused by the huge amounts of booze people were buying before the Saturday 10:00 p.m. cut-off time. Nothing like a little prohibition to increase liquor sales and consumption! 

Notice on our marina store. Absolutely no liquor sales (stores and restaurants) allowed from Saturday 10:00 p.m. to Monday morning. 

Huracán Blanca:  Since we arrived last Thursday at the safe harbor of La Paz, Blanca has steadily raged toward Baja, increasing to a Category 4 hurricane, then dropping back down to Category 1 during last night. Luckily she has veered toward the northwest and hopefully the Baja peninsula will feel only Tropical Storm and Tropical Depression winds and rains. 

This is what Blanca looked like at 06:45 a.m.

For the past few days all the cruisers have been stripping sails, canvas and other miscellaneous items off our decks. A few days ago the port captain closed the Port of La Paz...

The port closure flag was hanging limp since Friday, today it finally started to wave in the breeze.

...and all the big motor charter vessels have been unable to take their clients out to the islands. The clients have either flown home early or gotten hotel rooms. Our Marina Palmira is now full to capacity with these huge motor vessels.

After the debacle of Odile in Sept 2014, Baja has tried to be more prepared for a hurricane. A couple of days ago we were surprised to see a fleet of electrical utility trucks rolling down the highway. Apparently they were ferried over from the mainland in anticipation of the bad weather. 

Most of the electrical utility trucks went to Cabo, but about 25 of them stayed in La Paz, parked at the nearby hotel.

Yesterday morning truckloads of additional military from the mainland unloaded from the ferry with more than 24 tons of hurricane relief supplies.


Last night, after working hard all day, we had a "Hurricane Party" with our friends Leif and Lisa, who are also stuck here. They are waiting for the bad weather to pass so they can begin their trip around the cape and up the western coast of Baja to the U.S. We were treated with some delicious, fresh wahoo that Leif grilled up for us, and dark chocolate brownies baked by Lisa. Even though we partied, we still take the hurricane very seriously.

Sylvia and Tom with Leif aboard the air conditioned Finisterra. Picture taken by Lisa Burford

This morning was still oddly calm, and while both restaurants were, surprisingly, hosting Sunday brunch, we cruisers were doing last minute checks to docklines, etc. The few working marina staff walked the docks to do their final checks and to tie the electronic gates open in case of loss of electricity.

So here we sit, as prepared as we can be. It's early afternoon and the wind is just now starting to pick up into the mid 20 knot range. Cinnabar can make her own electricity so there is no danger of our popsicles melting. Even though our water tanks are fairly full we can also make our own water, so we're looking good there too. 

She's ready! Sails and canvas removed. Surfboard and kayak tied down tightly.

The wind is now creeping into the mid 30 knots and Cinnabar is heeling over in her slip. I think maybe our "wind event" has begun.

Oh, and I just heard on the radio that a sailboat has run aground out in the channel and several people are going to launch their dinghies and try to pull them off!! Sounds like the Mexican Navy might get involved in the rescue as well. Not a great time to run aground. Never a dull moment around here.

We and Cinnabar are well-prepared and feeling safe. More later...

It's Not All Margaritas and Carnitas Here in Paradise

There we were, minding our own business, planning a languid and leisurely sail home from the Islands of Loreto, when what should start brewing in the Pacific? Tropical Storm Blanca! She was upgraded to a hurricane (Category 4) this morning and forecasted to head straight for Cabo and La Paz. Our choices were to go to nearby Puerto Escondido, or beat feet back to La Paz in time to get sails, canvas, and everything else off the boat before the maelstrom hits, if indeed Blanca maintains hurricane status and reaches La Paz.

We decided to head back to La Paz, where Cinnabar has successfully ridden out a previous hurricane (Odile, Cat 5, Sep 2014). Today we had a long sail (75 nm, a 9 hr motor in no wind, actually) from Bahia Candeleros all the way to Isla San Francisco. Tomorrow we'll leave Isla SF early and motor 44 nm to reach La Paz sometime in the afternoon and hopefully in time to carry out hurricane preparations. It's eerie how sunny, calm, and beautiful it is out here - it is easy to see how people are lulled into complacency and do not heed the possible hurricane threats until it is too late.

Fingers crossed that Hurricane Blanca will be downgraded and won't pummel La Paz, but we'll do our best to get Cinnabar ready just in case. Meanwhile we'll keep checking the weather reports to see what Blanca has up her sleeve. Stay tuned!
SS

Posted via Sailmail and SSB Radio

Illusion, Friends, Lips, Hearts and Sunsets

Happy Spring Equinox! It's already starting to feel like summer here in La Paz.

The good life! La Buena Vida.

I don’t know why it’s always more fun to run into people from home when you are in a foreign country, but we always get very excited when we have the chance to rendezvous with people from the SF Bay Area here in Mexico. It’s not actually that odd, considering many of us are sailors/cruisers, but we were really surprised when we got an email from my ex-boss/now-friend Sally saying she and her husband Stan had left California, had sailed across the border and were hanging out in Turtle Bay having fun meeting other cruisers. 

When I first met Sally in 1998 she and Stan were “getting ready to cruise”, but one thing led to another, year after year, and they were never able to break away.

OK, to be fair, Stan WAS running a company, navigating mega-yachts, winning Volvo Cups, and creating viewing technology for the America's Cup. And he DID get me this great gig managing the antenna on top of the GGYC, where I got to watch the awesome AC action.

 But my, how time flies. And finally here they are in Mexico!

They let us know when they eventually arrived in Cabo San Lucas, so Tom and I decided it was a perfect opportunity for a road trip. We packed a few extra clothes just in case, hopped into the Tundra, and enjoyed a gorgeous drive down the west coast of Baja.

 A surprising Concours d'Elegance on the way to Todos Santos

We know that Sally and Stan take great care of their Cal 40, but we were still amazed to see that she was in pristine condition after her trip down the coast.

With Stan and Sally next to the beautiful Illusion.

We were having so much fun walking around Cabo that I almost forgot to take pictures!

I did remember to pull out my camera at the Dolphinarium,  where we were impressed with the parrot cage and their dedicated trainer.

The trainer was fantastic! He's giving her a High-5.

We mooched a bunk aboard Illusion for the night, and then spent the next day sightseeing and running errands.

Would you believe this great restaurant was at the food court at Walmart? Best  Mahi-Mahi burrito so far!

At the end of our busy day we said goodbye to our friends, who had plans to arrive in La Paz in a couple of weeks.

That night we looked for a campground that I had read about, but couldn’t find. We asked for directions at a tourist booth, and one of the local guys said he’d be glad to jump in our car and show us the way. REALLY? Was this going to be a set up for highway robbery? He asked us to promise to drive him back, which made us feel a little better…until we turned down a dirt road in questionable condition that went past a sketchy looking beer store with guys hanging around spitting and scratching their huevos. Hmmmm…  But our guide kept chatting amiably trying to sell us a timeshare, and soon he directed us into what appeared to be a dusty campground. We’d made it! Not quite to the place I was looking for, but it would do. We drove our guide back, tipped him which he greatly appreciated since he was unable to sell us a timeshare, and stopped at the scary beer store to stock up on beer and cookies for the night.

We pitched our tent in the dust under a huge cell tower that had survived Hurricane Odile, and were kept company by the owner’s two frisky Chihuahuas and one cat. Even though it was kind of sketchy, the place had GREAT showers!

Our campsite!

The next day we were skunked in the wind department, but we happened to stumble upon a famous surfing spot, Monuments, and after talking to some friendly locals who were departing, Tom had the whole place to himself.

Happy!

We continued up the East Cape through the wind-lovers mecca of Los Barriles (yes it means The Barrels). As we drove north, Tom remembered that El Triunfo is the home of a bakery famous for its authentic sourdough bread. So far we have not been impressed with Mexican sourdough, but this place made the real deal, almost as good as SF Sourdough. It smelled so good I wanted to stick my face right into it!

OMG real sourdough at last! Not SF Sourdough but close, very close.

We got back into La Paz just in time to hit commuter traffic, which gave us plenty of time to talk about what a great trip we’d had.

Typical commuter traffic in La Paz.

Album: Cabo Road Trip

The rest of February was filled up with Super Bowl…

Enjoying super bowl with our neighbors Manny and Lola.

Valentine’s Day…

Susan of Ross Marine wishes everyone a happy Dia de Amistad y Amor.

And of course our Valentine's Day fiesta.

Good-bye celebrations...

Farewell party for John of Time Piece; he got a great job with Caribbean Cruise Lines.

And Carnaval…

At the end of the month we got some insane Southerly winds...

Blue over gold means the Capitania de Puerto has closed the port!

...and as luck would have it Sally and Stan were heading to the East Cape from Cabo. Instead of trying to go into a rolly anchorage, they continued up on a spinnaker run with the favorable winds at their backs, and rolled into Marina Palmira during a morning calm.

We had a great time showing them around La Paz…

In front of my favorite statue on the Malecon, The Old Man and the Sea by G. G. Macias.

...and they introduced us to a fantastic couple they had met in Turtle Bay, Barry and Judy aboard Kiwi Three.

Happy Anniversary! So much for your romantic evening.

We invaded Barry and Judy’s anniversary, but it turned out to be a special night filled with jokes and laughter. Judy gave us our best quote of the month.

Tom: What were you before you were a cruiser?

Judy: Well, I was a child.

During the meal at a lovely outdoor patio, my watch alarm went off, reminding us that the ISS (International Space Station) was just about to pass directly overhead, and as we watched it we were awed to think that this extremely bright thing over our heads had humans in it.

Wow.

More Pictures in our: February Album

And Happy Anniversary to our friends Nancy and Rob aboard Shindig, enjoying the beautiful Mexican mainland. 

We miss you guys!!

Life in Marina Palmira - First Month in La Paz

Our Marina celebrated its 27th anniversary shortly after we arrived. Dig the cake!

It has been over a month since we arrived in La Paz and obviously we are not in a huge rush to leave. For the most part life is extremely pleasant here. La Paz is a beautiful and interesting place, and there are many things that distract us from the work we should be doing occupy our time.

There are several marinas in La Paz, and we prefer to stay in Marina Palmira which is a couple of miles from the hubbub of the city center. The harbor water does not seem too polluted and there is good tide action in and out every day which helps to freshen the water. There is much fish life here in the marina, which is an excellent sign. In addition to the ubiquitous Sergeant-Majors there are schools of good-sized mullets, some snapper-looking fish, some sort of schooling jacks that occasionally swim through, pargo, large bat fish, and many schools of small fry that help kick off a healthy food chain.

Batfish nibble on the algae growing on our dock.

I love to sit in the cockpit to read and keep an eye out for all the animal life. The Mullets like to slap themselves against Cinnabar's hull which can make for a noisy experience. We are at the end of the dock and have a good view of the channel where numerous fish leap out of the water in their attempt to escape their predators which are bigger fish, birds and the occasional seal. In fact, one day something thumped against our hull and, believing that we had been hit by another boat, I leaped up on deck and was surprised to see not a boat, but a large seal chasing fish underneath us!

There are many types of sea birds that visit the marina. It is a grebe's paradise with all the small fish and I have seen at least three different kinds of grebes, as well as four types of herons, egrets, numerous (but all loud) seagulls, pelicans, cute little sandpipers, coots, frigate birds, terns, and a pair of Osprey who like to fish in the mornings and evenings. There are many more marine and land birds here, but these are what I recall off the top of my head.

This young heron found a perfect spot to snatch up as many fish as it liked.

One afternoon while Tom and I were both on deck we heard a deranged buzzing sound that crescendoed until it was right over our heads, and then diminished as it headed out to the channel. "What was that?" we both exclaimed. When I looked up I saw the tail end of a swarm of bees that had passed over our boat. The only warning had been a solo bee scout I had chased out of the boat 10 minutes earlier. You just never know sort of animal life is going to show up here.

Every Wednesday morning La Paz Cruiser's Supply hosts a small farmer's market that sells organic produce, freshly baked breads, pies, smoked fish, German sausages, and jewelry. There are even a couple of ladies who come in to give haircuts.

It's always busy on Wednesday mornings.

We've really enjoyed getting to know many of the other cruisers who live here or who are just passing through. Most of them come from Canada and the U.S. Since marina regulations do not allow parties on the dock, we occasionally have "Safety Meetings", aka sunset appreciation meetings. 

Jim from "Prairie Oyster" wearing the official Safety Chairman day-glo reflective jumper.

Bringing one's own drink and a snack to share is a nice way to meet people and enjoy the sunset. And of course make us safer too, ahem.

This "Safety Meeting" was on Three King's Day. Whoever finds the baby in their piece of cake has to make tamales on Feb 2nd. The holiday festivities continue!!

There are many very good restaurants in La Paz, and we have been enjoying trying out new places in addition to our old favorites. 

Dinner at Rancho Viejo with Alameda friends Ben and Lucie of "Georgia".

Marina Palmira has two restaurants and bars, one each at either end of the marina. The best bar is conveniently located just outside our gate, which can be good or bad depending upon how you look at it. For New Year's Eve the cruisers pooled money and hired a fantastic band to play there. 

Happy New Year from Sylvia and Conchita!! The band gave her one of their T-shirts.

The band was surprisingly good and we had a great time dancing up a storm to tunes from the 60's, 70's and 80's.

The fun lasted until 9:00 p.m. which is known as "Cruiser's Midnight" since cruisers have well-deserved reputations for hitting the sack early. And if you think 9:00 p.m. is early, the La Paz Marina in town hit their climax at midnight Greenwich Mean Time which happened to be 5:00 p.m. local time. Compared to them we are party animals! 

We've also enjoyed a few day trips and overnighters.

We took a day trip up to the very long Tecolote beach.

Last year we went to La Ventana where Tom took some kiteboarding lessons. Since we returned he has been to La Ventana several times to continue learning this sport. 

Tom inflates his kite that reminds me of a bat wing.

All the colorful kites waiting for the wind.

Instructor Molly and student Tom

While in La Ventana we were able to meet up with Steve Cameron, whom we know from sailing in the SF Bay Area. He is an avid surfer and windsurfer and every winter hauls a trailer filled with surfboards and NINE windsurfing sails down to Baja. He sets up a compound in the La Ventana campground where he spends the entire winter. He windsurfs in the winter and sails in the summer. What a smart guy! The La Ventana Campground is packed with people who are doing the same thing.

Steve and his "garage" filled with his toys. His camper is on the right with the big flags.

In addition to all the fun and games we are completing various boat projects. It's a lot of work recommissioning a boat for the upcoming cruising season. Our friend Rob on Shindig did a blog post of his projects with 116 line items that he had completed so far!  

One of the big items we hauled down is a new, 77 lb. spade anchor. It took us a while to remove the old 55# anchor and feed the huge shank of the new anchor through our bow roller without incident. But we did it!

New anchor (left) and old anchor (right). Will the new one fit?

Success!

And I am not sitting on my butt eating bon-bons and drinking Finlandia Vodka tonics EVERY day (although I would like to). 

Finlandia does a booming business in Mexico with its mixed drinks.

I got in on the boat work action by borrowing a sewing machine and attacking a big cushion project that has been nagging at me for a while. 

Yes, I am using my headlamp!

In addition to the nice people and good food, the weather here has been lovely. There was a week when we had chilly winds, 64 degree weather, and we were reduced to wearing long sleeves or sweatshirts. Frankly we were traumatized. Luckily things warmed up again. Today the sun is out and it is a pleasant 80 degrees.

There are many more things that we have experienced in La Paz. Maybe I can get Tom to list all the projects we have been working on so people will think know we have been hard at work, and not just sitting in the cockpit reading, watching fish jump, and enjoying the superb sunsets.

More pics from our first month...Life at Marina Palmira.

Our cockpit is the perfect place to watch the sunset.

Driving Down the Baja Delivering Boat Gear

We are finally back in La Paz aboard Cinnabar!! We elected to drive here from northern CA and overall, it was another good road trip. 

It is expensive to ship goods into Mexico, so with a truckload of new boat gear, we decided to just deliver it ourselves.

The Mexico/Baja section was the big unknown. It seems that most cruisers who drive down the Baja, trying to get back to their boats, do it in three days, but we decided if we pushed hard, we could probably make it from San Diego to La Paz in two days (which we did), via Highway 1, aka The Trans-peninsula Highway, aka Carretera Peninsular Benito Juarez.

We left Cupertino, CA on Dec 1st and it took us a couple of days of running around the SF Bay Area to purchase and pick up some last-minute items. We finally broke free on Dec 3rd and left Salinas in the pouring rain (yes, that's correct - rain in California). 

Could Baja be more treacherous than this??

At least we had a bag of homemade cookies courtesy of our friend Dayna. Weather was wet off and on that day and we arrived in Long Beach just in time to pick up our new dinghy and life raft. 

We spend the night aboard Ciao Bella in Seal Beach and Tom shares a beer with his old friend the Pirate Chicken.

The next morning the weather had cleared and we made our way to San Diego via Costa Mesa and Dana Point, where we were scheduled to pick up a few more items. That day was super busy as we sped around San Diego purchasing more items at West Marine, Pacific Offshore Rigging, and Trader Joe's. We even visited the local library so we could apply for Mexican auto insurance and print out the proof.

Miraculously, we seemed to finish most of the items on our "to-do" list just before everything closed for the night. Barely. We rolled into good old Sweetwater Regional Park where we pitched the tent and fell asleep to the dulcet tones of our extremely loud and verbose neighbor yammering away in profane Spanglish. 

I felt like I had just fallen asleep when Tom woke me at 4:30 to break camp and cross the border. We were a bit nervous about crossing with our truck absolutely packed with boat gear. Would they make us take everything out and declare it? Would we have to pay customs duty on it? If MX Customs happened to question our import of gear, we were prepared to legitimize it (and no duty payment) with the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for our boat. But still, it would be time-consuming.

Our friend Mike told us that 5:30 a.m. was the best time to cross and he was right! Tom told the Mexican customs agent "Nothing to declare", even so, the customs agent did ask to see the inside of our truck. Tom told him we were going to Baja for camping and de vacaciones, and I guess the agent figured it would be too much hassle to inspect our heap of gear at 5:30 a.m. so he waved us on through. We pulled a hard right and parked the truck at the immigration office, got our 6 month tourist cards and were on our way!

We wondered how the roads would be after the hurricane and rainy weather. They were generally in good condition, but partway along the toll road from Tijuana to Ensenada we had to take a detour through the mountains because the highway was closed. We finally hit Ensenada and stopped for a coffee pick-me-up and some internet.

The Tundra's first time in Ensenada. We stop at Starbucks for some caffeine and internet. Two years ago we 'lived' at this Starbucks while our boat was being painted.

It was slow-going as we drove through all the little beach towns along the west coast, and we were absolutely amazed to see the vast acreage of agriculture! We saw acres and acres of tomatoes, brassicas, lettuce, vineyards, and berries. Next time I buy berries from Driscoll farms, or tomatoes from MX, I'll know exactly where they came from.

You know you're in Mexico when you see the ubiquitous Pemex gas stations.

 

Agriculture that went on for miles and miles, watered by underground aquifers.
(In the desert, this does not seem sustainable/prudent.)

Most people who drive down the Baja stop in El Rosario to spend the night, but when we passed through it was barely 1:00 p.m., so we pressed on as we drove eastward into the heart of Baja toward the vast Vizcaino Desert. The terrain in this area was, to me, some of the most interesting and beautiful. The landscape was covered with all kinds of cactus, and sometimes huge boulder fields would appear and seem to go on forever.

A very impressive Cardon cactus, which is the largest cactus in the world.

Highway 1 can be dangerous, as evidenced by the numerous memorials along the road.

We've been told by many people that it's extremely dangerous to drive in Baja at night due to the livestock that like to wander onto the roads, as well as all the semi trucks that travel at night. As the sun set we approached our destination of Guerrero Negro, famous for its salt mines, and it did seem like the volume of trucks on the road was increasing. Just prior to arriving in Guerrero Negro we crossed the 28th Parallel which signifies the time change from Pacific to Mountain Time, as well as leaving the state of Baja California and entering Baja California Sur. As we crossed this border we were cheerfully relieved of 20 pesos (about $1.35) in order to fund an agricultural spray on the Tundra's underbelly. 

Welcome to Baja California Sur! Now prepare to get sprayed.

Our very comfy beds at the new Hotel Terra Sal in Guerrero Negro

The next day was another early start as we left Guerrero Negro before dawn. We experienced some dense fog as we hit the middle of the peninsula, so we stopped in San Ignacio to make coffee and have a little breakfast.

Look at that packed Tundra! It all seemed important when we put it in.

The numerous military check stations helped break the monotony, even though they all asked the same questions: Where are you coming from and where are you going?

Once we passed hurricane-damaged Santa Rosalia and neared Mulege we really felt like we were back in the hood, so we had to drive into Mulege for some treats and to check out the hurricane damage.

We visit Mago's in Mulege for a snack and internet. Mago even remembered how Tom likes his coffee!

Water Purification building destroyed by hurricane (we used to buy bottled water here). 

Casa de los Suenos had a bit of damage.

We even stopped at our favorite Casa de los Suenos to look at the hurricane damage. If we had chosen to take 3 days to drive down this would have been our second stop, but since it was only noon we kept going.

We sped past Loreto and approached the very mountainous areas of Baja. It was a long climb up from Puerto Escondido, as we turned westward and once again headed back into the heart of Baja. 

We were surprised at the number of cyclists on the road! (12 in 2 days)

After Highway 1 takes a left turn south, we drove through the metropolis of Ciudad Constitucion. Since Constitucion is only 210k (130miles) from La Paz we were really starting to feel like we were "home". It was in this area that most of the road work was taking place. We don't know if they were doing repairs or simply upgrading the road, but there were long stretches of dusty dirt road to contend with. 

A tight fit.

Finally, at about 4:30 p.m., we popped up over a mountain and could see the Bay of La Paz below us. At last! It felt very familiar to drive into La Paz and along the Malecon as we made our way to Marina Palmira.

In spite of still unrepaired hurricane damage, they were decorating the Malecon for Christmas.

Of course, we did have to stop at Harker Board for a glass of cold Baja Brewing amber, a burger, and some first-hand hurricane tales from the owner Vanessa, but we eventually arrived at Marina Palmira with full stomachs and happy to be reunited with Cinnabar.

Cinnabar was waiting for us, and the next morning we pretty much verified that she'd had nearly zero damage from the hurricane. We had left her in good hands with our boat managers Susan and Dennis Ross, and there was only a small patina of grit on Cinnabar's counters and floors that showed she'd weathered Hurricane Odile. Even her anemometer is intact and still working! 

Photo courtesy of Nancy on Shindig

Now, we have to reverse our trip and get the Tundra back to the Bay Area. That will be the next adventure. 

More pictures of our trip can be found here in our DRIVING DOWN THE BAJA album. 

INFO: 
- 1570 Miles including our 2 days of errands around SF Bay.
- 6 days (5 nights) duration.
- Beds:

• Sailboat Eyrie in SF (thanks Synthia!)
• Dayna's house in Salinas (thanks Dayna!)
• Sailboat Ciao Bella in Seal Beach (thanks Joe and Kitty!)
• Sweetwater Campground in San Diego
• Hotel Terra Sal (550 pesos/$37 US) in Guerrero Negro

- Boat stuff hauled down:new 77 lb Spade anchor, new liferaft (old one condemned due to delamination), new dinghy (upgrade to Hypalon Achilles 10') with dinghy wheels, new genset head, new snubber and dock lines, 7 gals engine oil, new foam for cockpit cushions, 20 yds Sunbrella Toast for new bimini and wheel cover, Sunbrella furniture fabric for cockpit cushions, 3 cases of wine, lots of microbrew beers, good stuff from Trader Joe's, Jib for Cinnabar, and gear for fellow cruisers (spinnaker, battens and sail slides, solar charger).