Five Weeks in La Cruz

Weve been enjoying our stay in La Cruz for the last five weeks, spending most of this time hanging out with friends and getting Finisterra reprovisioned and ready to head further south.  The boat is ready to go and the weather looks good for a Thursday afternoon departure so around noon well slip out of the marina and set a course for Cabo Corrientes. After rounding the cape Finisterra will head for Tenacatita where well spend a day or two before moving on to Barra de Navidad.

Scenes from La Cruz:

Philos Bar used to be the local hangout for the cruising crowd but as more and more people from colder climes, especially Canadians, call La Cruz home in the winter, the music has evolved to accommodate their taste.  The place is open during the daytime, but is usually pretty empty until around six in the evening, so there plenty of room for Philo to park his motorcycle.

Philos is basically a big palapa with a thatched roof. This is the view looking straight up from "our" table. 

Cruisers still inscribe boat names on the wall at Philos

On another note, the cruising community is always in a state of flux with boats arriving and departing every day. Some stay on the hook in the anchorage, others stay in the marina, some spent a few days or weeks in both places.  Finisterra stayed in the marina because I had several projects I wanted to finish. A new arrival, the Swan 60, "Thor" also elected to stay in the marina.

Brand new Swan 60. There is a 2011 Swan 60 listed on Yachtworld for $3.1 million. My guess is that this one came off the showroom floor for something more than that.

Designed by German Frers, the 60 is a good example of Nautors evolution from heavier to lighter boats, with perhaps some Italian influence since the firm was acquired by Leonardo Ferragamo in 1998. Drawing courtesy of Swan Yachts.

Over the last couple of weeks while I was busy varnishing the caprails on Finisterra, Thor was a few slips away with a crew of four or five guys getting her ready to sail. It was always interesting to wander over around sunset and have a look at their daily progress.

This boat has only four winches. All sail controls, including the vang and cunningham are managed by pushbutton.

Carbon fiber standing rigging. Each shroud is made up of multiple thin pultruded carbon/epoxy rods encased in a synthetic jacket such as Spectra fiber. Shroud terminations are usually machined titanium fittings. Here they are connected to under-deck chainplates.

I love it when excellent design crosses paths with superb craftsmanship.

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Three Weeks in La Paz

Finisterra took a berth in Marina Palmira on April 24th where I had planned to do some routine engine maintenance, the most important of which was to service the fuel injectors. Rob from Cross Marine did the injector work and gave the engine a complete inspection while I replaced filters, tightened belts and generally puttered around the engine. In the course of his inspection Rob discovered a slight leak in the raw water pump. Fortunately I had a rebuild kit in my spare parts cache and within a day or two that job was done.

La Paz  with Marina Palmira in the foreground. Its a nice hike up a rocky trail from the marina to the top of the hill where these pictures were taken. 

La Paz is the only city on the gulf coast of Baja California. It boasts a population of around 250,000 including nearby suburbs. Mulege, Loreto, and Santa Rosalia are also located on the Sea of Cortez side of the Baja Peninsula, but I categorize them as towns or villages with populations of  4,000, 15,000 and 12,000 respectively.

Because of its location La Paz is the place where cruisers gather before heading up the Sea. Of course there is a fairly large contingent of cruisers who have become more or less permanent residents of this area, some of whom anchor out in the channel between the city and the El Mogote Peninsula, which lies between La Paz and the Sea. Hurricane Odile ravaged the Baja Peninsula last year, passing just to the west of the city and wreaking havoc ashore and among the boats in the anchorage. As we sailed down the channel on our approach to Marina Palmira, we could see evidence of Odiles fury in damaged buildings and torn up docks in the marina. Odile did almost one and a quarter billion dollars worth of damage in Mexico and took over a dozen lives.

The pilings in the upper left are all thats left of the docks at the entrance to Marina Palmira. Notice the boats in the storage yard.

One day I helped deliver a boat out to the Tramper, a heavy lift ship that was anchored in the bay. The Tramper was on a voyage delivering yachts from one place to another. After its stop in La Paz, it was headed to Ensenada, then British Columbia.

As far as I know, the Tramper picked up three boats in La Paz

This 40 racer/cruiser was picked up before our boat.

The boat comes alongside the ship, a couple of handlers descend the jacobs ladder and the slings are lowered aft of the boat. Then a pair of divers, which you can see holding the slings in this shot, align them under the boat, making sure they arent touching the shaft, prop or rudder. 

Before the boat is hoisted aboard the ship, they do a test lift to make sure it hangs in the slings the way they want it. If all is good, the boss gives the order to load the boat.

Our little boat was up next. It has spent many years cruising in Mexico and is headed home to Canada for a rest and refit. It got shoe-horned between the dark hulled C&C and the white boat with the black stripe.

With the job done, we climbed aboard a panga and headed back to shore.

La Paz is usually a hot place this time of year, with average daytime temperatures of 92 degrees under a usually blazing sun. But over the last couple of weeks weve enjoyed temps in the low eighties with cool Coromuel winds blowing almost every night. Its made hiking and exploring the city quite bearable and weve enjoyed the place more than ever. Of course, friends are what really make a place enjoyable and weve spent a good deal of time socializing with great people.

With Finisterra well provisioned, fueled and ready to go, were heading out tomorrow for the islands to the north of us. The rough plan is to spend a day or two in Puerto Balandra, then a few days in the coves of Islas Espiritu Santo and Partida before heading further north to Isla San Francisco and beyond.

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Three Weeks in The Vortex

Finisterra arrived in La Cruz on November 30th and we immediately entered a whirlwind of socializing with lots of friends, old and new. Some had recently arrived from the US and Canada while others spent the year more or less full time in Mexico, but everyone was pretty much in a partying mood and we enthusiastically went with the flow. Two days after we arrived here I was surprised to find that Caramba, a boat I had designed way back in 1977 was a few slips down from Finisterra. The owners, Terry and Jo Reish had sailed down from California last year and spent the summer in the Sea of Cortez. It is really nice to know they are enjoying the boat.

During her stay in the Sea of Cortez, Caramba acquired a full sunshade as well as an air conditioner.

While in the slip at the Marina Riviera Nayarit, I went aloft and scrubbed all the grime leftover from our stay in Los Angeles off of the mast, spreaders and rigging. After that, Finisterras hull and deck were polished and waxed, the engine serviced and bottom cleaned. We also got out the sandpaper and varnish and are in the midst of adding three more coats of varnish to the teak cap rails.



Off Cabo San Lucas the autopilot linear drive started making strange noises. I think it was trying to tell me that its getting ready to die. It lasted until we arrived in La Cruz, and is still working now, but the grinding sound it was making is still there. I ordered a replacement drive from Defender Industries in the US, which assured me that they ship to "Yachts in Transit" in Mexico all the time. A "Yacht in Transit" is a foreign yacht that is traveling through Mexican waters with a Temporary Import Permit.  Unfortunately the package got stuck in customs at Guadalajara. The paperwork from Defender was incorrect and incomplete and the Mexican authorities wouldnt release it. So it was eventually returned to Defender and I ordered the drive through a local distributor in Puerto Vallarta. It was a hassle getting the situation sorted out but eventually Defender did reimburse me for the parts I didnt receive from them. The lesson here is that its important to have your parts shipped from the US through a customs broker and not to rely on American suppliers that say they ship to yachts in transit in Mexico.

This will be our second Christmas season in La Cruz and the town really gets into the Christmas spirit. Last night we were walking up to a restaurant in town when we came upon a large group of locals who were watching a reenactment of the night Joseph and Mary showed up in Bethlehem looking for a place to stay. The kids did a beautiful job but I didnt have a camera with me so youll have to take my word for it.

Finisterra dressed for Christmas

A few days ago we drove through Puerto Vallarta toward Mismaloya and stopped at the zoo. It was a nice zoo as zoos go, but some of the animals, particularly the big cats, looked fairly miserable in their rather cramped quarters. Im coming close to making the decision to boycott zoos in the future.

We plan to sit tight here in the La Cruz Vortex another couple of weeks, until some parts I ordered from the States arrive. There are few places in the world Id rather be stuck in. Until then, Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo!

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