Saturday, May 14, 2011

0702, Sat, 051411. Our Friday the 13th turned out to be a strange day. We talked to Jimbo on the VHF right after the net and made plans to get together. The plan was to hop a taxi and head out to Costa Baja Marina and spend the day there. We would get a chance to check out this super boat they were delivering as well as do a little swimming in the pool and just hanging out. Their plans left them free for the day. They didn't have to leave until 1600 in the evening. At that time they would leave Costa Baja and head around the corner to the next bay north, Bahia Falsa. This is where the big ship, Dockwise, was to be loaded with the yachts in the area and then Lioness would be shipped to Seattle from there.
We busied around Neos and got ourselves together and headed out. Dink was lowered, we made it to the marina, into the streets of La Paz, and found a taxi who said it would be 10 pesos for the trip. We were both amazed, Jim and Bob had said they paid 100 pesos. Sue with her broken Spanish tried to convince the guy he needed to charge us more, now isn't that something, and he finally caught on to where we were going. Then the price jumped to 150 pesos. Sue explained that our amigos only paid 100 pesos and he finally agreed. We arrived at Costa Baja, paid the fare, and headed into the complex. Before leaving we had told Jim that the hand held VHF we had wasn't working so we would find our way there somehow. I fiddled with the radio before leaving Neos and was able to get the thing to work. Only problem is it is so complicated that it takes the manual to understand how it works. It is impossible to even figure out how to change channels. Sue has made a little cheat sheet to carry with the radio so we were in luck. Upon arrival at Costa Baja Sue called Jim and when she went to change stations for the conversation she couldn't get it to change. I was ready to throw the thing in the drink but we were almost there so we took some short cuts and made it to the gate to their section of the Marina. The guard there spoke no English but managed to explain that Lioness had just left. We figured we must have missed them while we took our shortcuts. What to do. We spent the next two hours running around the complex looking for three guys looking for us. There were hardly any people around the place so it should have been real easy to spot three guys running around. We hiked miles covering the complex back and forth until we were worn out. Back at the docks I found a way to sneak into the gate at their dock and we snuck in to see if we could at least find the boat. No boat? We walked the dock a couple of time since we couldn't believe they weren't there. We checked all the docks and no Lioness. Then it dawned on us. This is what the guard was trying to tell us. They had left….with the boat. Oh well. They were gone. Plans must have changed with loading the big ship. We headed back to Neos.
We got word through the SSB that they were loading Lioness this morning and all is well. We expect to see the three amigos sometime today.
This morning Sue spotted a sport fishing boat leaving the channel with two dolphins chasing close behind, quite a sight……more later..

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