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We left Cabo San Lucas on May 17. Actually, quite glad to leave, in that we were a bit tired of offers for time-shares, fishing trips, and para-sail experiences. Our opinion is that Cabo is a really a U.S. resort that just happens to be located in Mexico.

We headed up the inside coast up to Los Frailles (the Friars) to drop anchor for a day or so. The seas were noticibly smaller and the winds less reliable. Los Frailles is a nice anchorage. We were greeted by dozens of manta rays jumping out of the water. Quite strange seeing these flat creatures leap out of the water and then belly-flop back. All evening long we could hear the 'pops' of these things slapping against the water as they landed. As usual, they had Buddy's full attention.

As the water was quite clear, we decided to put new zincs on the rudder or our boat. The water was warm, but we decided to try the new wetsuits, as we would get a bit chilled after a while. We've never done any work underwater before, so this was kind of an adventure. We don't have dive tanks or anything of that nature, so 'holding ones breath' was the order of the day. After quite a few trips below, the new zincs were installed. The shaft zinc is going to have to wait... can't hold my breath long enough to line up the two halves of the zincs and install the screws.

After a couple of days, we headed north Ensenada de Los Muertos (cove of the dead). There were several cruising boats at anchor waiting to head south and around the corner to bash back to the US. The anchorage was nice, and we went ashore to have a cerveza (maybe a couple of them) and dinner at the Giggling Marlin... which is right on the beach.

The next day we continued north, wanting to find a nice cove in which to anchor, and leave early the next morning for a quick (couple of hour) sail into La Paz. Puerto Ballandra was described as a "pretty cover where rocky arms encircle a brilliant white sandy beach" and home of a famous 'mushroom rock'- a rock with the stem carved out by wave action. It was also described as well sheltered but can sometimes get gusty winds from the south. As we had northwesterlies... not an issue. Right. The cove is absolutely beautiful. We anchored out a bit and dinghyed to a side beach... once again, we were the only ones there. We slowly motored into the shallow areas of the cove admiring the crystal clear, turquoise waters. This is a popular spot with the locals, as many families were picnicing on the beach and swimming/snorkeling around. Only 4 boats were anchored. We had decided to spend some extra time here. So, after a relaxing evening... off to bed. We were awaken around 3 a.m with the winds HOWLING. The boat was pitching in the waves... and was, in general, getting miserable and nasty. We got up and took down the bimini top- for fear that it would blow away or tear in the winds. Our dinghy was still in the water, and there was no way we were going to try to retrieve it in these conditions. At least it was quite secure. In the morning, the winds had subsided to about 25 knots, and had a couple of feet of wind chop. A wet ride ashore with Buddy, and then back to get underway. This was another exercise in powering the boat into the seas to retrieve the anchor and getting underway. We exited the cove, and were comforted that we were only 10 miles from La Paz.... so the trip should only take a couple of hours, assuming we could make 5 knots. Nope. The wind was right on the nose, and under power only, we could only speed up to about 2 knots. Then a wave would hit, the bowsprit would go underwater.... and we would slow to about .5 knot. And repeat, repeat, repeat. This was getting tiring- so we decided to unfurl our staysail and attempt to tack into this mess, also using the engine. It worked. Our speed rose to 4.5 knots and we kept the bow out of the water. After several hours, we finally dropped anchor in the bay at La Paz.

The next morning, we would move into the marina so we could do some shopping, laundry, and get a gate and boarding ladder installed on the stern of our boat. The only available dock space was down a long side-tie dock, with a breakwater about 20' to the side. This meant that we had to back the boat down a 30' wide fairway- but with boats tied on one side. This gave us about a 15-20' lane to back our 12' wide boat down for about 5 boat lengths. In a 14 knot cross wind. And then parallel park. Driving down bow first wasn't an option in that we can't turn our 40' long boat around in a 35' space, and backing out at a later time wasn't attractive. Cindy and I drew the plan on a piece of paper... kind of like a war plan. We drew in the hazards, the wind direction... and our objective... a space between a couple of boats. The wind should push us into the dock space, all we had to do was get there without hitting anything. I'd bring the boat up to the fairway and spin it around so it would be stern in.... then start powering down. And then I'd leap into our awaiting dinghy and use it as a tug boat to control the bow as Cindy expertly backed us down the fairway. It went well, mostly. Got sideways once and as I was pushing the bowsprit away from a docked boat... And Cindy is backing down... we hit the concrete breakwater. The new stern anchor roller took the hit and has a minor war scar now. But no damage. So, we made it.

La Paz is nice. We made a sailing side trip' to Caleta Partida while we waited for a new VHF radio and antenna to arrive from Downwind Marine in San Diego. Also while here, we had our dinghy davits braced up a bit, and added a SS ladder on the stern to assist in getting in and out of the dinghy when we used the davits. Oh, and we had to have our engine's fresh water pump rebuilt. You know what they say about cruising: "Fixing the boat in exotic places".