CHANGE OF PLANS - CHANGE OF STATUS

We are still in La Paz, (boy is that getting to be a familiar saying), due to a change in our plans and a realization that we were not ready for a hot summer in the Sea of Cortez. We'll be here for another 10 to 14 days depending on Mexican bureaucracy and craftsman.

We've mentioned several times that we had to get up to San Carlos, Sonora in order to catch a bus back to the US border where we could renew our tourist visas. And, we would have to continue doing that every six months as long as we stayed in Mexico. So, after talking with lot's of cruisers who have been here a while, we decided to apply for an FM3 immigrant status. If we have an FM3 visa we never have to leave Mexico. But, once a year, we do have to return to the city where the FM3 is issued to renew the visa. We have to do the renewal no more that 30 days prior to the anniversary date of its issuance. That means we need to be in La Paz during April each year. I hope that is no big deal.

There is a little bit of paper work involved with earning an FM3 visa. Most importantly, we have to provide enough doucmentation to prove that we will not be a financial burden on the Mexican welfare system. That means, approximately, we have to be able to show we have a source of income or cash that provides us, (Arlene and I together or as the Mexican immigration officer put it "$1,000 per month for you senor and $500 per month for your wife"), $1,500 US per month.

The cruiser community here in La Paz gets pretty confused and worked up over rumours and mis-understandings about Mexican rules. There had been a pervasive rumour that we needed to deposit either $1,000 US or $10,000 US in a Mexican bank account. But, it would take 30 business days for the deposit check to clear before the Mexican government would recognize that we had an account. There were also several variations on the rumour. None of them turned out to be true.

The other important item we need is a permanent Mexican address. Marina Santa Cruz (the "virtual marina") here in La Paz will provide us the address and the letter confirming that we are upstanding citizens and generally nice people.

We should have the FM3 visas by Aril 26 if all goes well . Once we have them we can stop worrying about getting back to the States every six months. A round trip bus from La Paz to Tijuana is $90 per person and is 24 hours each way. A trip from San Carlos to Nogales, Az is about $60 round trip and requires four to six hours each way, plus it requires a sail across the Sea of Cortez to get to San Carlos. A round trip plane ticket to Tijuana from La Paz is $300 per person.

The FM3 visa will cost us $95 per person, once a year.

As we get closer to the heat of summer we started noticing more and more boats with sun awnings that extend over the bimini and cover the boat from the stern to the bow. We started asking questions of experienced Sea of Cortez summer cruisers and got a consistent answer from everyone: "Don't even think of spending the summer here without a bow to stern awning." We were consistently told about "frying eggs and hamburgers on white fiberglass decks" and cabin temperatures of 105 degrees with no awning. We heard all about people blisterning the soles of their feet while walking on deck in bare feet.

We also found that Chuy makes most of the awnings and biminis for boats in La Paz so we had him visit Mirador and give us an estimate for the price of a nice, but simple, awning. His labor estimate was a pleasent surprise; $200 US for the entire project. The shock was the price of the material. Everyone recommends Sunbrella as the fabric and they all agree that non-UV stabilized fabric will fall to pieces after just two summers in the Sea of Cortez.

There are four shops in La Paz that sell 60" wide rolls of Sunbrella and they all get $18.50 a yard. Our problem is that we need 37 yards of the darn stuff. Plus, we need 50 or more grommets, 12 twist connectors and 60 feet of 1" PVC pipe or 1/2" fiberglass wands for the battens. The sunshine that we sailed 2000 miles to find is now going to cost us over $1,000 to hide from!

Chuy will be here on Monday the 23rd to take final measurements and says he will have the awning done by May 1. I hope!

The other big design issue with a Sea of Cortez sun awning is the speed at which they can be removed. Everyone of the 10 or so boats we talked to said that other than having an awning the next most important thing was "how quickly you can not have an awning?" The dreaded Chubasco winds are a constant afternoon and nightime threat all summer long. The Chubascos come in from the east and bring heavy lighting, 50+ knot winds, and an occasional rain sprinkle and do so with less than five minutes warning. They usually follow a very still evening and typically gust from zero to over 35 knots in a matter of seconds. The winds last for only an hour or so but can be destructive. Most boats in the Sea experience three or more Chubascos during a summer of cruising.

Many of the boater take their awnings down at night just 'cause the Chubasco is such a threat. They all said it is essential that we be able to remove the entire awning in less than 10 minutes in 30 knots of wind. Chuy says he will build the awning to be easy to remove.

Chuy is a rather distinguished looking 50 year old Mexican gentleman who speaks pretty good english. When he first visited Mirador and saw Tacoma, WA as the hailing port he laughed and said he used to live in Tacoma. Turns out he had a friend who was a construction engineer who specialized in drilling deep holes and caissons and they had worked together in Western Washington. Chuy also spent many years during the '80s running a 68' charter boat out of Westport, Washington during the summer sport fishing season.

Now for the GOOD NEWS

I found my good reading glasses. If you don't know this story refer to: April 16 2002 to hear about how I lost my very expensive glasses.

Finding the glasses was preciptated by another minor crisis here on Mirador. It was 4 PM and 90 degrees inside the boat. I had been working hard on repairing stuff on the outside of Mirador, more about that later. I opened the refrigerator to find a solitary cold beer which lasted about 30 seconds. I had forgotten to buy any more beer and was afraid that the bilge beer supply was depleted. I remember thinking, the last time I had stocked the refrigerator, there were no more bags of beer in the bilge.

What luck! I did find one more plastic bag of beer in the very bottom of the bilge, back behind the mast where I could feel it but not really see it. I dragged the bag out and put all four beers into the refrigerator. We keep the beer inside heavy plastic bags that we then put inside another heavy plastic bag. We put four to six beers in each pair of bags and then stack them in the bilge around the mast.

I started to stow the pair of plastic bags for use when we next buy more beer. The bag felt a little odd, maybe slightly heavy or a little too "firm." For whatever reason I felt inside the bottom of the outside bag; between it and the inside bag. The bags are opaque so you can't see through them. I was so relieved when I pulled out my good glasses case and found the Flexon, photochromatic glasses inside. Apparently I had accidently dropped the glasses into the outer bag while I was stocking the beer bilge.

Yesterday I replaced a cheek block on the aft part of the boom. Simple you say? Not in Mexico! First there are no cheek blocks for sale in La Paz. I advertised on the cruisers morning VHF net and found, on a friends boat, a new Schaffer cheek block "for trade" (remember it is illegal for gringos to sell anything in Mexico). The new block had mounting holes that were the same distance fore and aft as the Ronstan I was replacing but the holes were 1/2" wider apart in the other dimension. So, I had to drill and tap new holes for just two of the bolts. No big deal, except that the only tap I had was for a #10 metric bolt and the old bolts were smaller.

I can use a tap pretty well to put threads in thanks to the expert teaching of brother Jim. What he didn't teach me was how to not break the tap off in the hole when a 45' power boat comes by thirty feet away at eight knots. The wake threw me against the boom and I snapped off the tap. But, again, brother Jim taught me to always have many extra taps on board. So now we have a nice new cheek block for the lazy jacks.

A call went out on the VHF just before sunset the other night : "There is a big blue hot air ballon landing in Marina La Paz."

Turned out not to be landing, just coming in for a real close look. The ballon got down to below mast tip height but stayed about 50 yards outside the marina breakwater. I guess the pilot knew what he was doing because he then lit off his burners and disappeared off to the southwest while still climbing.

The boat, Millenium Falcon, in the right foreground in the picture, is anchored about 50 yards to our west. They are a french couple, (Gerold and Colleen), who arrived here from France via Brazil, Straits of Magellan, Chillean canals, and then a non-stop sail from northern Chile to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which is about 3,200 nautical miles.

They will leave here on May 1 and go non-stop to Victoria, BC, Canada which is also over 3,000 NM. They plan to cruise Puget Sound, the San Juans, and Canadian Gulf Islands for three months and then head south back to here.

The boat was designed by Yves Tanton but built out of 4 mm steel by Gerold and Colleen and is rigged as a cat ketch. The deck and cabin is made of marine plywood and the free standing masts are wood. The boat has a very fine entry angle (bow) and almost plumb bow so it is easily driven with small sails. The boat has a 48' waterline and displaces 33,000 pounds. Gerold tells me that they can sail at 75% of wind speed in any wind over 4 knots. They sail Millenium Falcon more like a catamarran than an mono-hull in that they trade pointing angle for speed. Gerold plans to sail about 1000 miles west of San Francisco to pick up better winds for heading North to Victoria.

The large building in the picture above, just to the left of Millenium Falcon, is the Grand Baja Hotel. It is one of those strange buildings in Mexico that no one can figure out. The building is less than 10 years old and appears to be in good shape. Except, there is no glass in any window, no door in any frame, and is surrounded by chain link fence. Apparently it used to be a pretty nice resort hotel surrounded by water and a white sand beach. I was told it was damaged by a couple of hurricanes. The owners just abandonded her and there she sits.

We've been actively monitoring the "Puddle Jump" SingleSand Band net every morning at 15:30 Zulu (8.116 MHz USB). We have several friends that left La Paz in the last couple of weeks for the Marquessan and Hawaiian Islands. Neal and Nancy on Active Light, a Cape George 36 out of Paulsbo, WA, are currently 860 NM SW of Cabo and have only 1400 NM to go. There are about 25 boats making the crossing at this time with four more here in La Paz leaving within the week. All the boats have had trouble finding wind until west of 115 degrees. Neal said they had to motor most of the first four days. This morning they were making seven knots, right on the great circle route, with NE 25 knots of trade winds and 12' trade swells.

We talk to Active Light about every other day. It is interesting to talk to someone that is weeks from land, has not seen another boat for seven days, and doesn't expect to see another one for several weeks. Thank goodness for HAM radio.

We'll be here for a while and then slowly start north. Our departure from La Paz will depend on when the awning is done. We don't plan on rushing up to San Carlos anytime soon. I think we'll plan to attend Loreto Fest in early May and then get to know the anchorages around Puerto Escondido north to Mulege.