A New Season Begins

The Haul-Out Rig at Marina Atalanta

While Sally stayed a bit longer in Seattle, I returned to La Paz and Marina Costa Baja on November 14. Norwegian Steam was waiting, looking better than ever, due to the excellent deck and teak refinishing performed by Geovane and Alberto before we left and the monthly cleaning they did while we were gone. All my hurricane preparation turned out to have been for naught since no tropical storm came anywhere near La Paz in 2011. There was also no hint of moisture damage, mildew, pest infestation or any of the other problems that I had worried about. Very nice welcome.

Easy Does It!

Our refrigeration gave out in April. In Seattle, I purchased a replacement system from the very helpful folks at Boat Electric. Then I traveled to Mexico ahead of Sally to begin the complicated bureaucratic dance necessary for foreign cruisers to bring in repair parts for their boats duty free. I flew in with all the invoices, went to an office in the nearby port of Pichilingue and had the items added to the Temporary Import Permit that we had received when the boat entered Mexico, then emailed copies of this paper work to Sally. She then flew to La Paz with the parts, on November 26, and presented the papers as she went through airport customs. It still took her over an hour to get through as the customs officials checked every item and every serial number on the list, but it was worth all the trouble because import duties would have been quite substantial.

NS Gets a Lot of Support

Marina Costa Baja is an excellent facility. Its main drawback is that it is a long way from town. Fortunately, there are several excellent restaurants there. La Barcaccia, where I ate quite frequently in the summer, is Italian-Mexican. I got to know the waiters, especially Benjamin, Israel and Sam. At first, they attempted to practice their English on me, but when they learned that I was working hard to learn Spanish, they were willing to switch to their native language to help me learn it. All great guys. The other Costa Baja restaurant that we frequent is Marino Azul, with a very sophisticated Mexican menu. Very good, and a bit less expensive than Barcaccia. No help with Spanish, however.

Dogs Provide Security

On December 1, NS was hauled out at the Atalanta boat yard. It is the only yard in La Paz, and one of the few in Mexico, that allows owners to work on their own boats or to bring in outside workers. To get the boat out of the water and into the yard, they used an aging trailer pulled by a large tractor. Six men were involved in the operation. They put on quite a show. In order to make sure that the lifting pads were positioned perfectly, Alberto, the foreman, donned a face-mask and dove under NS a half a dozen times. This is Mexico, where it is often more economical to use more labor and less capital, but they get the job done just the same.

After a Hard Night on the Security Detail

In Atalanta, I installed a new "keel cooler" through-hull for the new refrigeration, cleaned up my exposed bronze fittings, installed zincs and greased the Max-Prop. Independent contractors associated with the yard cleaned and painted the hull, using paint I had placed on NS before she left Seattle. At the same time that all this was being done, Geovane and Alberto applied another coat of Cetol to the teak brightwork.

I had hoped all along for NS to go to Marina de la Paz after leaving the yard, because that marina is very well placed for getting boat parts or professional help. I needed to complete the installation of the replacement refrigeration and also to do several other projects. When we inquired about a slip, however, we learned that Marina de la Paz was full and that no vacancies were anticipated. Sally checked for openings with the Marina de la Paz office nearly every day that NS was out of the water and her persistence finally paid off. We left Atalanta on December 12 and came straight to Marina de la Paz.

With the newly painted deck and refinished teak, NS looks great. In Marina de la Paz, she is moored in front of the Dock Cafe and the dinghy dock. Every day we meet new people who drop by to say how good the boat looks and ask questions about her. 

I am now half way through replacing the refrigeration. I have also rebedded the boom gallows and added a brace to make it stronger. In addition to holding up the boom, the gallows also serves as an anchor for a safety line (jack line) which runs from the cockpit to the bow. Crew can snap their harnesses onto this line and go all the way forward, clipped in all the way. A great safety feature, but the tension in the line was pulling the top of the gallows forward. The brace should correct this and keep it from happening in the future.

Our current location, in Google Earth format, is 24 09.292N, 110 19.557W.