This has been an amazing year with some good developments, ok developments and some perfectly bad developments.  Earthquakes in our new home of Christchurch have been truly problematic though we have been spared the terrible outcomes experienced by others, and for that we are grateful.  Ending the year in this beautiful place on our boat exemplifies how fortunate we are and we will hope that 2012 will start from this baseline and continue to get better!

Tranquility and harsh desert beauty are key words for Caleta Partida.  Much drier this year than last at this time, the reds and browns of the desert landscape were particularly picturesque during the rise of a full moon. Fish and pelicans splashing about the boat (and a quick turtle appearance) highlighted the only noise other than the wind. The fish camp at the end of the bay was apparently unpopulated this year and there were only a very few boats sharing the anchorage with us.

Wisely choosing an anchor spot sheltered from the Corumuel winds on the first night worked out really well. However, the second night was not so good as the south west winds built up waves overnight which bent around the corner and focused on our boat. More bumping and crashing. Lesson: always anchor in the north west corner, no matter what!

We sailed out of La Paz to Puerto Balandra for a bumpy but still pleasant evening on 19 December. A first experience with a Coromuel wind that blows all night was a useful teaching aid – do not anchor where the wind waves will come into the anchorage!  The bumping, clanging and crashing noises in addition to some dramatic boat movements meant that sleep quality was lower than it should have been. However, the morning was bright, clear and warm with just enough wind to propel us to Caleta Partida. Always a terrific spot.

Marathon has some lovely new bottom paint. The diabolical and relentless attacks by tropical marine life on her old paint required so much scrubbing that the old ablative paint had pretty much completely ablated! So new paint was in order and it was applied completely by remote control. An email or two arranged the whole thing. So much simpler than last year’s drama (see early blog posting on the various boatyard antics that emerged during a cutlass bearing replacement, new bottom paint, rudder re-build), but of course $$$.

Mid-December in La Paz, the Sea of Cortez still stunningly beautiful, and the weather picture postcard perfect. Bringing Marathon back to life after being abandoned for seven months is made slightly easier by having professional boat watchers taking care of cleaning, new bottom paint and hurricane watch while we are not here. Nonetheless, it is clear that summer in La Paz leads to a hard life for a boat. Even with monthly washing there is still a fine layer of dust over everything. Lines are much less flexible than they should be, even stainless fittings, if out of the reach of the cleaners, have rusted as a result of being coated with dust and, somehow, salt. The Mexican courtesy flag, VRC and BCA burgeys are skeletal and no longer usable. However, keeping Marathon in the water rather than on the hard still seemed like the right thing to do. I am sure that all of the above would be even worse.

The landscape surrounding the marina  is brown compared to last year’s green at this time of year. Apparently it has not rained for many months and it shows. Wind speed and direction for the next several days is very favourable so either tomorrow or the day after, we are off “to the islands”.

An unidentified sea creature approached Marathon while anchored in P. Ballendra in the Sea of Cortez. The creature is reported to be fond of pelicans and Margaritas and is generally believed to be docile or at least most of the time, not vicious.

Another week in La Paz has gone by too quickly.  This is especially true as we spent nearly all of it in the marina because of weather. Weather forecasts are problematic as we rely on either web-based weather (e.g. Sailflow.com), HAM nets such as Sonrisa net (terrific weather reports but reception can sometimes be a bit dodgy in the marina) or the experiences of sailors coming into the marina. Thus our plan to depart for Caleta Partida and other points north of here on Tuesday was first delayed  by a boat neighbour returning with stories of horrendous anchorage winds and waves even in the usually calm Caleta Partida. Further delays resulted when Sailflow and Sonrisa and Amigo nets all indicated really big winds (called a “norther” here) were expected on Wednesday and Thursday with normal winds scheduled to return on Friday.  As it turned out, Wednesday would have been a great day to sail somewhere with 15+ winds but Thursday was indeed very bad – to the point where the port was closed. Any anchorage within a day’s sail would have been very unpleasant. Friday was almost as bad as Thursday  so our departure was delayed until Saturday. And because we need to prepare the boat for an eight month absence, the best we could manage was a day sail to P. Ballandra which provided enough time for a tasty lunch and a quick swim. Sunday will be spent on boat preparations and Monday we will fly back to the great frozen wasteland.  So the week was spent on boat jobs and quiet sunsets in the cockpit but in the marina (it could be worse!).

Marathon surrounded by other happy boats waiting to resume the adventure.  We should be able to enjoy some sailing again in March during spring break and then…?

I was recently informed that I have made a grave error.  Apparently when one has gone south for warmth, the normal procedure is to stay there until it is again warm in the great frozen wasteland of the north.  Seems that I missed that little detail and here we are in Vancouver.  The photo is from last year but one never knows, this could happen again!

This anchorage is wonderful and worth multiple visits. Being in the middle of a volcanic crater with stunning relief and still green vegetation and where even when the wind is howling the water stays flat will always bring me back here.  Sailing here in 20 kts of wind was a bit of challenge because it was right on the nose.  Though I thought of reefing several times, serious lethargy prevented that from happening.  The perversity of nature had us encounter the only other sailboat (with sails up) in a COLREG situation where he was on a starboard tack and we on a port tack at the same time that when trying to sail behind him to avoid a collision, the wind gusted and weatherhelm made it impossible to steer downwind.  Good fortune prevailed and though we were able to see the whites of the skippers eyes we didn’t hit the boat!

Once at anchor all was good even though there were 11 other boats around us, all of which left on the next day.  Maybe because it actually rained!  Apparently Cabo san Lucas received an inch of rain – a substantial portion of the 5 inches that falls there annually.  It didn’t rain much in Caleta Partida – just enough to keep us in the cabin for an hour or so.

Sailing back to La Paz was not a happy event because Phase I of this adventure would be drawing to a close in only a few days time.  It was hard to look forward to putting the boat to sleep for a couple of months.