POST

Wednesday March 4 -> Sunday March 8, 2009

The whales are still here. They will be leaving soon for the Gulf of Alaska. We hung around Cabo longer than we intended, we left Friday, as Donna recovered from eating a Mexican bug, probably at Mi Casa. The Mexican doctor who treated her said "Mi Casa provides me with plenty of customers, even friends fall victim; do not eat out; eat at home. The food tastes good but it may make you sick." We think his advice is a little excessive. The food tastes too good and so many people are eating it; your chances of getting sick are small. It took Donna until yesterday, Sunday, to feel like eating out again. We had lunch and dinner out yesterday.

Friday Donna felt good enough and the weather was perfect for a passage to La Paz. We left about 10:30 AM in the morning and stopped mid afternoon after just 20 miles in a new marina under construction in San Jose. This is just minutes from the airport. We stopped and circled many times along the way along with other commercial tourist boats to watch whales surfacing as they "shopped", searched for food, in the navy blue waters. Whales like to rise up and thrash the surface to stir potential food from hiding. es like to rise up and thrash the surface to stir potential food from hiding.

We docked in the breakwater but short of the actual marina docks at what is to be the fuel dock when the marina is finished. On shore just above the fuel dock is a fishing village that has clearly been there for many years. The homes and buildings of the village are old, weathered and show evidence, patching, of extensive repairs over many years. There are a couple of interesting cerveza, beer, tavernas in the village. At one end of the village is an extremely modern facility with several thatch roofed buildings and a children's playground. At closer look you see special fish cleaning areas with special designed concrete structures, running water, lights and sewage disposal. What I think has happened here is the community developers in order to get acceptance has developed the facility for its new neighbor. In my mind's eye I envision a fish market in the future on the resort condo side of the village.

We take a taxi to town which is a few miles away. The dirt roads of the fishing village quickly turn to landscaped paved and curbed roads through the future resort condo, home, hotel and golf course area. Again the paved road turns to dirt as we traverse a dry river bed where a bridge has not been completed, a bridge to nowhere. Eventually the dirt road connects to the older paved road of the town. We stop at the main tourist/shopping area. The most interesting experience here are the elderly Mexican people who are making a living by selling to tourists on the streets. A German tourist with a camera tells me there is a 90 year old woman near the old Catholic church who sells candy that he has been trying to photograph; I got her picture. She was beautiful, no teeth, deeply wrinkled face, her hair in a bun and wearing what looked like a Hawaiian moo moo. She did not miss a beat as she focused and fussed over her large tray of candy she was selling from.

As always the other high moment in a tourist area is a coffee shop. However, the best is a few blocks off the tourist area toward the business district. As always in Mexico the pastries and cafe are fabulous.

Saturday we sail north. The forecast is for light, less than 10 knot, winds from the south and southwest. However, the winds we are experiencing are much stronger, gusting over 20 knots, from the southwest. The seas are flat so sailing conditions are perfect to make La Paz. We planned to stop in Bahia De Frailes but anchoring to a lee shore is no good. We did sail into and out of the bay where some say the Dorado fish are so numerous at times you could get out of your boat and walk on them. Today the only thing we see are sting rays flying out of the water and performing back flips before splahing upon reentry. We sail on overnight to La Paz, but we have to slow down; we never arrive at night.

Sunday in La Paz is all about church, family and outdoor fun; most of the places to shop are closed.

God Bless Bella Donna