Thursday - Getting ready to cut the cord

My work pattern here is heavily influenced by the hot, humid weather. I get a few hours work done in the AM then hide out until the heat lets up around 6 PM. Even so, work is progressing.

The air here in La Paz must carry a lot of dust – the deck of the boat and the cockpit were very dirty when I got back. Alfredo, one of the locals who works on the docks here, started scrubbing down the deck a little after 9 AM. He did a great job! He worked a little over two hours and the deck is now blindingly white. Cost: 250 pesos – a little less than $20 US.

I also had the bottom scrubbed today. Enrique reported that my zincs on the prop shaft were gone. Bad news! They are supposed to be sacrificial components to keep the shaft and prop from getting eaten up by electrolysis. I know they were in decent shape when I left San Diego. Enrique also reported that he got a shock when he touched the shaft. That may explain the high rate of consumption of the zinc. There is some stray current running between the boat’s underwater components and the shore power. That would greatly accelerate electrolysis.

Enrique appears to have done a great job – about an hour and a half of scrubbing plus replacing my zincs. Cost: 400 pesos – about $32 US. That’s easily the cheapest bottom cleaning I’ve had done.

While all this was going on, I climbed up the main mast and rigged some lines that I hope will keep the halyards from getting caught on the mast steps. That happened frequently on the way down and it is very annoying at the least. I did the mizzen mast steps this evening after it cooled off.

Tomorrow is the day for cutting the cord. I will unplug from the marina's shore power and move about ½ mile to anchor out for the next day or two while I finish preparations. I hope to have Internet coverage via the marina’s Wi-Fi but I can’t count on it so this may be my last update for a while. I may have Internet connectivity when I get to Cabo San Lucas.

I wish I could have gotten away a week earlier. There are reports that the winds on the Pacific side of Baja are warm and from the south – thanks to Tropical Depression Douglas. It looks like it could almost get me to San Diego without going all that far offshore. By the time I get out there, the winds look like they will be back to normal unless I get lucky and another tropical depression comes wandering up from the south. That means heading well out toward Hawaii before I can turn north.