12/15/2010 - Posh

Okay, the pelican has absolutely nothing to do with "Posh". I just really like pelicans and particularly liked this picture. Go Pels!

No, the title of the blog has more to do with where we're staying until mid-January. I think I included a link to Marina Costa Baja in an earlier post so I won't do it here. You're all smart enough to use Google if you want to find out more.

The marina itself is nice but we've certainly been in as nice or nicer. Okay, maybe not nicer, but certainly as nice. No, the poshness of the marina comes from that fact that it's just part of a resort. It's way the hell and gone on the north edge of the bay. They say in the brochure that it's 3 miles form La Paz but I bet that's just to the border. It's got to be closer to 4 or 5 miles to the center of town. They do run a free shuttle to town 9 times a day so it's not a big deal to get there. It's just that, if you don't mind spending a little dough, you don't really have to go to town unless you just want to. There are 3 restaurants, a small marine supply store, a laundry, a convenience store, a fitness center, and probably other stuff we haven't discovered yet.

The one place we have discovered is the Costa Baja Beach Club.

This place is right out of a glossy advertisement in Islands Magazine. We spent the first afternoon we were here (yesterday) sitting at the bar and drinking in the surroundings (and a couple of Pacificos as well). Lulu particularly liked the infinity-edged pool although this photo doesn't really show it very well.

Of course, we can't afford to buy their beer very long or very often, but it was a mighty pleasant diversion for an afternoon.

Today it was back to life as more or less normal. First, at 0930, there was a weekly cruisers' breakfast at the Beach Club Restaurant. The food was a total rip-off. I mean really, those pre-formed triangular hash brown patties served as hash browns? Really? On a $10 breakfast? Of course they were accompanied by the tiniest little dollop of refried beans that you're ever likely to see. The eggs con chorizo that I had were okay and I think Lulu's Huevos Mexicanos were alright but c'mon...

We did manage to meet a few other folks who are staying here. Most seem to be on boats that are much larger than Siempre Sabado but still they complain of not enough room. Everyone complains about that, no matter how big their boats are. It was fun to meet and compare notes but, I kind of doubt we'll go to very many of these breakfasts.

After breakfast it was back to the boat and back to work. First, I took everything off the decks and stacked it on the dock. Then Lulu got out the hose and the Simple Green and proceeded to scrub all the accumulated salt and sand off the boat. It was so crusty but looked so much better afterwards. We haven't had the opportunity to clean the outside since Ensenada and I'm not sure we (and by "we" I mean "she") did it there. And we've covered a lot of salty miles since then.

While she was scrubbing the deck, I loaded the empty diesel jugs in the dinghy and took them out to the fuel dock to get filled. Then brought them back to the boat and filled the main tank. I've added 25 gallons so far and still have about 5 more to go. Last time we fueled up was also Ensenada.

The marina offers wired internet (cable modem) but I could not get it working right yesterday. On the advice of Tom from s/v Seazure, who is docked just up from us and also happens to be the publisher of the Baja Insider, I called the maintenance guys. It took them awhile to figure it out but they eventually fixed the problem. Just as well since the cell service here is kind of iffy. BTW, if you're concerned at all about our safety while traveling in Baja, please read the article that the Baja Insider hyperlink above takes you to. We couldn't be safer if we were in L.A. Really, we'd be in considerably more danger there, statistically speaking.

This evening we went to s/v Boomer, one of the other sailboats moored here, to watch a movie with Boomer, the owner. The boat is a 41' Downeast pilothouse sloop. It was a really nice, comfortable boat. Matter of fact, if anyone's looking for a pilothouse sailboat, Boomer's for sale and would make someone a really nice floating home. We watched "RED" with Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Dreyfuss. It was one of those over-the-top, strictly for entertainment purposes comedic shoot-em-ups. Quite enjoyable. There, now you know how shallow we are.

Tomorrow, Lulu's brother arrives for 12 days, the next day, his youngest son arrives for 8 days, and the next day his oldest son arrives for 7 days, so, if the blog frequency falls off a little over the holiday, cut me some slack.

Before I go, I have to put in a plug for Baja Bed and Breakfast. Before they turned their home into a B&B, Antonio & Cecilia Moeller provided housing for students in the Se Habla La Paz Spanish language immersion school. We were lucky enough to get them as our hosts when we attended the school for our 25th anniversary back in 2002. The Moellers are the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. We hit it off with them right away. Matter of fact, we didn't learn much Spanish because we liked visiting with them so well that we took advantage of the fact that they both speak fluent English. Didn't learn much but had a great time. cecilia really tried to get us to speak Spanish but we resisted mightily. Well, 8 years later, we hooked up with them again last night. They met us here at the Beach Club for drinks and then offered to take up back to the house for something to eat and to see the changes they've made. Man, it was like going home. Within minutes of entering the house, Cecliia was warming up some delicious shrimp soup she'd made earlier and making some quesadillas to go along with. Antonio was regaling us with stories. It was like we'd never left. They have bought the property next door and expanded and now their place is a really nice little B&B. Very homey, thanks mainly to the fact that Cecilia clearly loves what she's doing. Located within easy walking distance of everything a tourist would want close at hand. If you find yourself in the market for a stay at a B&B in La Paz, you couldn't do better than this. Lulu and Cecilia have a couple of dates planned for cooking. Lulu taught Cecilia how to make French bread when we were here before. Cecilia's daughter subsequently lost the recipe and Cecilia has been itching to get it again. Works out perfectly. Antonio wants to introduce us to a bunch of their friends as well. I'm telling ya, they're like family. Okay, there's my pitch.

Just in case you haven't picked up on it yet, we absolutely LOVE being in La Paz!