May 17th - La Paz
We left Marina Mazatlan Tuesday April 27 and anchored overnight at Deer Island which is right off the Malecon. We left the anchorage at 4:30 am the next morning on our way
to Muertos. Our buddy boats for this 180 mile trip included; Hooligan (Paula and Tim), Comanche (Peg and Tony), Joint Adventure (Rod and Patty) and Lovely Reta (John and
Deb) all had left before us, but were still within radio contact. Southern Belle left several hours after us.
Don (Summer Passage) had reported "flat calm" on his SSB net weather reports. Well, not really....more like 18 hours of chop - right on the nose. We took a lot of water over the
bow. Somewhere along the way, a majority of David's tee shirts (neatly stacked on a shelf in the bow) became soaked. It was a bumpy ride.
It final calmed down in the middle of the night. We were able to get our speed back up to 6.5 knots by 5:00 am. Hooligan was on their way nonstop to La Paz and Lovely Reta
had gotten into Muertos about 11:30 pm. Joint Adventure was actually sailing so it was hard to tell where they were with the continuous tacking they had to do to find the wind.
Southern Belle had caught up to us. Comanche was behind us.
The remainder of out trip was calm and we got into Muertos 4:30 pm April 29th. We went to shore and had dinner at the Giggling Marlin. It was great and it was great to be back
on the baja side. We spent the next day resting. I went swimming with my new Lycra suit we had made in Mazatlan. These full body suits keep the jelly fish (and other creatures)
away.
The next morning we set off again. Sweet Lorraine and Southern Belle followed Lovely Reta through the Cerralvo Channel. It was draft day and the Oakland Raiders had the first
pick. I was able to follow the proceedings on XM radio. JaMarcus Russell went first. Of course, I had to get on the VHF and inform George and Melinda that their LSU star
quarterback was now a RAIDER. They later taught me the LSU fight song - which contains several food references.
La Paz is beginning to heat up. It gets up to 95 +. Thankfully, it gets down to 65 or 70 at night, which is very nice. We are preparing for our summer in the Sea of Cortez. There
aren't many large towns up in the Sea so a lot of provisioning must be done in La Paz. It's time to leave La Paz, since there is no more room for any more food.