Talleres Navales Bercovich

So out she comes at the yard in La Paz, they use a hydraulic trailer which makes a pretty small target to aim at. One of the guys waves his arms around to direct you in but it is a little intimidating with the rocks so close at hand and the breeze picking up. But no problem, I was told that I "put it really good in".

Grace is now stripped of all canvas and halyards and anything else that might blow away, the dinghy is lashed down tight, the wood all topcoated and all the onboard systems decommisioned, I feel comfortable with the location and the yard has a great reputation.

There is an interesting cast of characters living on half finished homemade boats, they will regale you for boring hours about the virtues of their chosen crafts, some of them actually make it into the water. There was one genuine character called Doug who only has one eye and owns the local sail loft called Snug Harbor Sails, we talked about buying his business, I have to admit it was a tempting thought, however reality creeps in.

I am now back in SFwhere it is cold as usual, I'm feeling it more than normal but I suppose I'll get used to it.
Heather and Liam are in Tacoma so it's up to me to get our living situation sorted out so that I can get my family back together.

Grace will stay out of the water at least until December, it is possible that she will sell, I have very mixed emotions about selling her but again reality rears it's prozaic head.

Michael

Liam is developing an appreciation of nautical art

The consolations of civilisation

He's three and he's bored!

Zephyr

Zephyr is the former pilot boat "San Francisco", now doing research on science stuff in the Sea, it has a "robot" actually an Underwater Autonomous Vehicle. But Liam was interested enough even though it wasn't the robot that he imagined it would be.

San Evaristo

San Evaristo is about 50 miles  north of La Paz and is at the southern end of the the Canal de San Jose, it's a protected  anchorage from most wind directions , except the east from which it was blowing with reasonable strength when we arrived there, but the holding was good and besides ourRocna anchor has been infallible.
There is about 20 families a small store or tienda, a school and a water desalinisation plant, the local fisherman are hardworking and it is a beautiful setting with the Sierra Giganta as a back drop.
We met up with an interesting character called Reno and his wife Kathleen, many years ago they had cruised the Pacific on a very small bilge keeled Westerly Centaur, 25ft long. Katheen has been writing a book about their adventures. In the meantime they split time between a stone house that Reno had built near Troy Montana, and their Yorktown 35 sailboat called Star. They haul Star at the Berkovitch yard in La Paz during the summer and spend the entire winter and spring sailing in around San Jose and San Francisco. Reno seems to know all of the locals in the area and spends most of his time helping them out on such projects as trapping goats on Isla San Jose, they hauled 11 of them over in a panga when we were there, collecting firewood, driftwood that blows in with winter storms, there are no worthwhile trees. Hanging arouns in the shade and talking, there seems to be a lot of that going on. He reprovisoins and waters now in San Evaristo then goes out for about six weeks at a time, very low budget and really great guy.
When he heard that we were hauling out at Berkovitch he went back to his boat and came back with a conch shell with the end opened up, I blew it and it had a great loud tone that echoed off the surrounding hills.
Apparently he and his wife collect these shells and hand them out to Berkovitch people, you blow your conch at night and pretty soon someone within earshot will answer. I was really happy to get the conch, unfortunately Liam decided to investigate its bouyant characteristics and the conch once again rests in the tranquil waters of San Evaristo Bay.

Islas

In the background of both pictures is Isla San Jose a very large dry island, in the right foreground is the North side of Isla San Francisco, a popular destination. In the left foreground on the upper picture is Isla Coyote, one of the few populated islands in the Sea where people still make their livelyhood from fishing.
In the lower picture in the left foreground is Isla Cano, a mysterious place described in Steinbecks "Log of the Sea of Cortez.
Turns out there is more still going on on these islands that it first appears.

Calm seas on the Sea

It's not always the best sailing around here, that's Isla Partida in the background, we left there early morning and basically saw no wind until we reached the next anchorage. So that is motorsailing in the Sea of Cortez, it's pretty much what everyone does. The wind will often blow harder at night when you are trying to sleep.

Wrapping things up

For a number of reasons we have decided to return to the US having spent nearly six months here in Mexico. The primary reason is that we are running out of money and need to work.
So we are hauling out Grace in a local boatyard in La Paz and storing her on the hard until we decide what to do next, also with mixed emotions we have listed her for sale with the local yacht brokerage.
The future holds many possibilities for us, including coming back next December and putting her back in the water, if she does sell I hope she finds new owners who will love her as much as we have. In the meantime I will be working in San Francisco at Adventure Cat at Pier 39, it seems that it is my destiny to always return to Pier 39, Heather and Liam are flying to Tacoma in the next few days and will stay there until I get some accomodations arranged in SF. We are considering buying a powerboat to liveaboard, I know shock and outrage and all that but basically you get a lot more living space per linear ft and a 44ft Hatteras has about twelve times the usable space that Grace has and Grace is around 45ft overall , mostly bowsprit and skinny ends.

We did have another trip up into the sea.

Pictures to follow

Michael

Life Aboard

A real sailor only needs two cups of water for a bath.

Lack of space is a major source of tension on board. Liam's found a room of his own in the dock box. He keeps a few toys and coconuts inside to play with. His only complaint is that we won't keep the lid closed.

Road Trip: Cabo Pulmo

Michael's pointing to the Cabo Pulmo reef, which is the oldest of the only three existing coral reefs on the west coast of North America. It was declared a National Marine Park in 1995 and has made a remarkable comeback and is teeming with sealife once again.

Great beachfront location, but perhaps a tad too close?

Road Trip: Los Barriles

Windy Los Barriles is the place to be for windsurfers and kiteboarders. The "Lord of the Wind" competition was held here in February.

Road Trip: El Triunfo

In 1862 gold and silver were discovered in the mountains of southern Baja California Sur. El Triunfo was the center of mining operations and was BCS's largest city at one time with 10,000 miners. In 1926 the mines closed, and today the town's population is only around 350. A few old buildings remain, including the tower above. As a result of the mining, the town's water supply is polluted and fresh water has to be trucked in.

The pink building below is the Cafe Triunfo. It is being beautifully resorted by an American and serves the best tuna tacos as well as freshly baked bread and treats.

Interior of Cafe Triunfo

Carnaval La Paz 2012

Getting ready to out for Carnaval. (Notice the compass in case it gets really wild and we have to find our way home.

Carnaval Treat

Bouncy House on the Beach

Carnaval Queen

CostaBaja Entry

 Happy Spectators

Brazilians Steal the Show

Dr Lettuce

Now that everything has reached a succesfull conclusion it's probably time to talk about Dr Lettuce.
Dr Lettuce is a Mexican doctor  by the name of  Fausto Miguel Lechuga Ortiz, Lechuga means lettuce in English.
Dr Lechuga is a Opthamologist in La Paz, I went to see him following an incidence onboard that caused me to suffer a hard blow directly into my right eye, I actually felt my eyeball compress, it seemed okay but the next day I started having problems with light flashes and dark shadows across my vision, mostly on the right side. I realized that I had probably damaged my retina and this was confirmed by examination. So that very same night I reported to the Fidepaz hospital and Dr Lechuga treated my eye by injecting a soluble gas into my eyeball, this was about as unpleasant as it sounds, the bubble held the seperated layer of retina in place, it fortunately hadn't torn, I had to keep my head back and at an angle to allow the bubble to press the seperation in place. The next day Dr Lechuga treated the seperation with a laser to basically burn the edges and hold it in place. I then had to move very carefully and keep my head at the same proscribed angle for another week. Subsequent examination looked good, it was healing perfectly but my vision was clouded with debris from the impact and the subsequent treatment. He advised me to take it gently for the next month, no straining or heavy lifting.
Last Tuesday I had another full exam and everything is great, my vision has returned to it's original acuity and the repair is now a permanent fix.
I will have to say that this hasn't been a lot of fun for me, but the care I recieved here in La Paz was excellent and the difference between the Mexican and American medical models couldn't have been more apparent, for example nobody ever asked me for money, I had to make  an effort to pay the bill, which was predictably about a tenth of what the treatment would have cost in the US.
The sun still shines, life is good.

Michael