winds and la paz shots as we're leaving

Okay, so we're still here. Nothing seems to go according to plan when you're sailing. Jim is working hard at replacing the dinghy wheels and putting on the motor mount which is easier to do on a dock than on the deck of the boat while we're swinging on an anchor. An arts and crafts show is getting set up along the marina here and there's some really nice paintings, jewelry and crafts. We will definitely be leaving at some point today but I figure since I still have wifi I can post yet one more entry here.

The winds we’ve been experiencing in the marina are called coromuel winds. They begin in the evening and blow through the night. It happens because the low-lying land sw of La Paz is like an open window for the cool air blowing over from the Pacific Ocean and the warmer air in the Sea of Cortez sort of sucks the cool air in here. They generally happen in late spring and summer but can also happen other times of the year. It’s most pronounced when the wind is blowing north on the Pacific side of Baja (making it cooler there) and it’s hot on the Sea of Cortez or east side of Baja which is what we've been experiencing this past week. So that’s what we’re experiencing right now.

There are other weather terms I’m becoming familiar with. Chubasco is a violent but short-lived squall with thunder, lightning, rain and strong winds, usually in the summer. Elefante is when everything’s calm on Pacific and SofC and cool air from the Pacific rushes across the Baja into the warmth of SofC making an elephant trunk like cloud. I won’t mind experiencing these as long as we’re safely anchored someplace with a little protection.

pictures top to bottom, one of the fishing boats along the malecon, wyland mural. more on him later in another email. sand sculpture, not too many of those here. the exercise area with sit-up boards i've been using and normally there are lots of people there actually using the area. shot of the malecon, surprisingly w/o people.