Nov 22-Dec 25,  2012  La Paz  water maker and other stuff from Alan

The Thanksgiving dinner atthe yacht club here was pretty much what you might think. A bunch of Gringos eating way too much. . It was fun and everyone had a good time. The gravy and dressing were not good, but the turkey was good. Said good-bye to some more boats.  I am sure we will run into them again.

Dec 1-22, 2012 

Last night we did the "La Paz Waltz" at anchor and came close to the boat next to us. I shortened the anchor chain about 25' which got us further away. I think it was the wind blowing against the Tide which makes the boats go screwy at anchor. Moving into the marina Wednesday, so I will have to stop waltzing....

I am loving the fresh tortillas. getting away from bread.  I found out that small Shrimp are a lot more work to eat than large shrimp.  The green Peppers and Fruit , Papayas and Melons and Oranges are also great. Been shopping at the Mercado and Tortilleria. Have not even been to a supermarket.

I changed to the intermediate Spanish class, 3 days a week..

I re-rigged the dinghy, so we can tie a painter on. I also set it up to be hoisted. And now it is hoisted up with the whisker pole, to keep it out of the water.

Wired up the last two solar panels and put them on the Mizzen Boom.
The Mizzen Trisail should have arrived on the front porch today.  (It arrived and I will carry it back as extra luggage.)

The Water Generator is being shipped to San Diego (again) and will then be escorted across the boarder and sent down here.  (This is a device which is towed behind the boat to generate POWER, as opposed to a device which generates water)

I have most of the pieces of the water maker installed. Next is to plumb it ...hook up all the tubing and water lines. Then I have to install the wiring and electric. Found out I bought the wrong kind of Inverter,  which means I may have to get another one or go back to getting a portable generator.....I am meeting the water maker guy tomorrow to find out the best approach.
Working on finding a mechanic to look at the engine.

On Dec 22, 2012,
The water maker is working ......at last..I filled up the forward tank in 1/2 an hour....... Yea!,,,!
 It tastes great... It makes 40 gal per hour and the heavy metal meter says it is 190ppm, 500ppm is the max safe limit and 300ppm is considered good.   Not sure what to do with all this water.., Maybe start taking showers again.   The trick is you need to use it or at least flush it every 3 - 5 days. The warmer it is the more you have to use it. Otherwise cool little micro ocean organisms grow in the system. If it smells like rotten eggs, you didn't flush it out enough.  Almost enjoyed washing the dishes last night....almost


An observation:
The conversations here with boaters are different. At home cruising was a future thing, a dream, someday or when I get everything ready, or for some something they did in the past. The non-sailors who are afraid to go to Catalina because it's too deep, and can't even imagine what we are doing.  Here, obviously, everyone has at least gotten this far and survived, so we are all over the hump and know we can do it.
It's a shift from "Oh My God...!!!" to  "So, where you off to next?"

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