It was one year ago today that Lulu and I arrived in La Paz. Seems like a good time to review the year and see just how long we sat in any one place, how often we were in a marina vs. anchored, etc.
12/7/2010-12/13/2010: Arrived in La Paz and dropped the hook at the "Virtual Marina". This is, in fact, simply anchoring in a area that costs money. In return we received dinghy dock privileges, and access to garbage, showers and bathrooms.
At anchor: 7 days
12/14/2010- 1/13/2011: Tied to the dock at Marina Costa Baja.
Marina: 30 days
1/14/2011 - 2/8/2011: At anchor off the malecón, La Paz. Enduring norther after norther, possibly dragging anchor, and working on my transmission.
At anchor: 26 days
2/9/2011 - 4/8/2011: Tied to the dock at Marina del Palmar, La Paz doing a bunch of maintenance chores.
Marina: 59 days
4/9/2011- 4/19/2011: Anchored off the malecón, La Paz
At anchor: 11 days
In La Paz: 133 days
4/20/2011 - 5/15/2011: Cruising "the islands". During this time we anchored every night. We spent time at Bahía Falsa (2 nights), Bahía San Gabriel (2 nights), Ensenada Grande (5 nights), Isla San Francisco (4 nights), San Evaristo (4 nights), Timbabiche (4 nights), Punta San Telmo (1 night). At this point the exhaust mixing elbow on the engine crapped out and we had to return to La Paz to make repairs and await a new mixing elbow. On the way back we hit: San Evaristo (1 night), and Ensenada Grande (1 night).
At anchor: 26 nights
5/16/2011 - 6/2/2011: Anchored La Paz.
At anchor: 18 days
6/3/2011 - 6/14/2011: Cruising the islands again. Anchorages: Puerta Balandra (1 night), Ensenada Grande (1 night), San Evaristo (5 nights), Puerto Los Gatos (1 night), and Bahía Agua Verde (4 nights)
At anchor: 12 nights
6/15/2011-8/21/2011: Moored at Puerto Escondido. Mooring is slightly different than anchoring in that we use someone else's "anchor" instead of our own. However, since it's completely different than being tied to a dock and no services are available, I'm counting it the same as anchoring. During this period, we returned to Oregon for 3 weeks but we were gone from the boat a total of 4 weeks.
At anchor: 68 days
8/22/2011 - 9/3/2011: Moored in the "Waiting Room" at Puerto Escondido.
At anchor: 13 days
9/4/2011 - 10/5/2011: Anchored at Ensenada Blanca, also known as Bahía Candaleros.
At anchor: 32 days
10/6/2011 - 10/13/2011: Anchored in "The Ellipse", Puerto Escondido
At anchor: 8 days
10/14/2011: Anchored at Ensenada Blanca on our way back to La Paz.
At anchor: 1 day
10/15/2011: Enroute to La Paz, starting with an overnight run.
10/16/2011: Anchored at Ensenada Grande
At anchor: 1 night
10/17/2011: Anchored off the end of Marina del Palmar, La Paz.
At anchor: 1 night
10/18/2011 - 12/6/2011: Tied to the dock at Marina del Palmar, La Paz
Marina: 50 days
La Paz this time: 51 days
Totals:
Tied to a dock: 139 days (38% of the year)
At anchor: 224 days (61% of the year)
Underway: 1 day
And one day is lost somewhere.
Total days in La Paz: 184 days (50% of the year)
Longest period away from a dock: 191 days (52% of the year)
And there you have it.
6 comments:
One year in La Paz ... time flies! Congratulations for making it happen!
impressive record keeping! tidbit: how many cervezas at anchor vs. in a marina? lol.
your friend, Bill
Steve,
Can you draw some conclusions for us based on these numbers? In retrospect, do they seem "right"? Would you have preferred more time at anchor or at the dock? etc.
Tate
Wow! This is impressive indeed. I know I should do the same but I am afraid to look at the marina costs over the last year. Good seeing you at the Marmolera Cafe the other day. We felt pressure to cross last year when other boats did but instead we finished projects and waited for a good window. We jumped after a norther and had an amazingly calm crossing with very little swell. Later we heard all the nightmare stories of bumpy rides and breakage. Be cool fool and choose your window wisely.
Lisa and Neil
S/V Gypsy
Tate,
Conclusions? I don't know. The whole year felt "right". If we'd had less time at the dock and more at anchor, we would have spent less money, that's for sure. But, during the winter at least, life on the dock is certainly easier. Once we'd get back out to the boat at anchor, the last thing we usually felt like doing was taking a wet dinghy ride back ashore to go to some party or something. Life on the dock is much more sociable. But all in all I feel like we had a pretty good mix of everything. Don't know that we'd do anything different if we had it to do over again.
-Steve
Lisa and Neil...
Don't worry, we're in no hurry to get our butts kicked. We'l definitely await a good window. After all, we like it in La Paz and feel no pressure to rush away. We are hoping to get to sail almost the whole trip, however so we don't want the winds to be too calm. The seas, OTOH, could stay nice and flat and it would be just dandy with us. Can we have that? Good winds and flat seas? Would be nice.
-Steve
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