notes from the boat
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Final Days in La Paz - 5th July 04
Before we left La Paz a $20 million super yacht named Primadonna pulled in and instantly blocked everyone?s breeze. Bigger than most houses, this boat was immense. Walking down the dock we met Graham, the Aussie first mate from Bundaberg who took us on a tour in exchange for a beer, "Anything for a cold one, mate!" 145 feet long, 65 feet high, five decks, spiral staircases and marble, marble, marble! The highlight was the Cheetah deck, named after the carpet. Enough said! It was Vegas, baby, Vegas. Well, as it turned out the owner had just sold New York, New York casino so it really was Vegas, baby!

Graham was a good bloke and came to visit us to see how the other half lived. "Cozy" was the word he used but we think he meant it nicely. He showed up in the small dinghy, a 14 foot inflatable with a 40 horse power outboard. He'd come to take Carl wakeboarding. To put things in perspective we have a 9 foot inflatable with a 6 horse power motor, the wake of which might just be enough for a very small child to be dragged through. It was only a brief moment of boat envy though. Wakeboarding is the equivalent of snowboarding, water skiing being passé and it's all about the wake apparently. Carl stood up first go, did a few unintentional 360s much to Graham's admiration as he'd been trying to perfect that maneuver for ages, and returned to Indigo Moth with arms a few inches longer than they'd been previously! Very impressive indeed.

During our final days in La Paz we stocked up on food to head north in "the sea". We did this prior to leaving Los Angeles and had about six months worth of goodies, chocolate, sweets and cookies on board. These lasted about a week so it was a huge relief to discover that the supermarkets in La Paz stocked shortbread biscuits and Pringles. We stocked up on the essentials. As we were enjoying the meat department with all those interesting bits of chicken not normally seen, we noticed the heads. Cow and horse heads lined up in the fridge, staring at us as we walked past. Wondering what to ask for, Carl suggested "the Godfather cut!"

With all the fishing that took place in La Paz, we finally had our first positive fish identification. We use a fish guide of the Pacific which has lovely illustrations in full color, the only problem being that the fish look nothing like the pictures. Excitement was high when we caught an identifiable fish, a striped Pargo. Barbara (of the English couple from the boat Songline) showed us how to fillet a fish without gutting it, cutting the head off or making a hell of a mess which is a great skill to have acquired and will no doubt look good on future resumes when the reverse retirement is over. As the blue fin tuna unfortunately was cut into undignified chunks, we're pleased to be able to fillet fish in the way they deserve.

Our final evening in La Paz was spent visiting our favourite places. Cocktails by the bay. The best place to watch the sunset, the breeze lightly ruffling the palm trees whilst sipping a pina colada with amoretto, an amazing combination. Arracherra (rib meat) on a baked potato and finally dessert consisting of sponge cake with flan on top at a small Italian restaurant called La Pazta, it was worth trying just for the name and was fantastic.

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