Steve and I each spent a few weeks traveling to various parts of the world. He went to Germany to participate in the wedding of our good friends Lars and Anna. We pieced together a few different mile programs to cover the flight costs and came up with a super wonky flight plan. One of the blessings was the long layover in Miami, FL which afforded him a brief one day visit with his brother Alan. Once in Deutschland he was able to enjoy a wonderful week long visit with our friend Axel in Bavaria and then visit his old friends in Vaihingen/Enz following the wedding festivities.

Meanwhile I traveled to NYC to celebrate my son Nick’s Graduation from NYU. His fiancé Kristi and I spent three days attending ceremonies and honoring him and all his hard work. I had one day of home cooking and great conversation with Mark, Susan and their son Phil (Steve’s sister and family) on Long Island and even squeezed in a short few hours of lunch and bowling with my niece. NYC was followed by a two week trip to Santa Cruz, Ca to spend some much needed quality time with my daughter, Bella.

We have now been back in La Paz for 2 ½ weeks! Yikes. We thought for certain that we would be exploring the northern waters of the Sea of Cortez by now. But you know, that old word “plan” has once again proven that I have no real control over anything, especially time.

While in the USA I picked up a ton of goodies for projects and repairs, which we had delivered to our friend’s home (Thanks again Joel and Sue!) One of the parts I acquired was a new control board for our refrigeration system. Just before leaving for said trips it completely conked out on us. No big deal, with the new part it would be a quick fix upon our return. A task which turned out to be neither easy or quick, but required calling in a professional. No problem, few days and a some dinaro later and we are now producing life giving ice cubes again. Of course there is the small list of things we wanted to complete with the rest of my loot. Projects to better prepare ourselves and Pablo for the scorching weather in the coming months.

So each day has been filled with tasks. I have completely overhauled our sun cover and its attachments so that it can be quickly pulled down when the high wind phenomenon known as coroßmuels or chubascos rip through an anchorage. I have sewn new shade panels and designed a new foredeck cover to better keep the boat protected from the sun’s rays. Currently we are experiencing daily temperatures of 98+ degrees and we expect them to climb as we travel north. We have found that since we do not have air conditioning our best tactic is to keep the interior of the boat from heating up in the first place. So far this has been completely doable and livable.

Additionally we needed to install a bilge alarm, if your not sure what that is or why we need it see our previous post entitled “The Drama”. Steve actually made a sensor for the alarm using a small piece of wood, two pieces of wire, two contacts and a couple of tie wraps. Again he is my McGyver. We have also been busy working on a variety of other small (haha) tasks…. Replacing those throttle cables that broke on our last trip out, installing new solid life rails in the cockpit for safety and convenience, putting a protective sleeve on our bobstay to prevent chaffing on our anchor rode, making a new hoisting bridle for our dinghy to keep it safely lifted out of the water while at anchor, and oh we celebrated our 3^rd year wedding anniversary.

Please don’t get me wrong, we do not work all the time. As a matter of fact we have joined a group of locals that play darts twice a week, we have had many evening strolls down the Malecon, taken several trips to the farmers market, we even accidentally went to a rally for the Coyote 300, a Baja off road race. We have again caught up with our friends Kirk and Heidi from s/v Due West and had one last dinner with Jim and Deb from s/v Brainwaves before they flew home for the season.

I sometimes need reminding that our lives are indeed full and balanced between fun and hard work. Soon we will take off and explore those Islands and waters north of here and there will no doubt be tons of photos, stories, and experiences to share. For now we are in lovely La Paz and each day is a gift!