Hurricane Odile

Susan & Dennis Ross from their Facebook post

Thursday, Sept. 18 Update

The sad news is that Guenther was found inside his boat, Princess. His last transmission was in the very early morning during the height of the hurricane when he stated that he was adrift from his mooring ball and unable to deploy his anchor after being hit by another boat. His prop was fouled so he was not able to move his boat. He said that he was up to his knees in water inside the boat and was very tired from bailing. He was thinking of leaving Princess to try to swim to shore. Shelly has been in contact via telephone with Guenther’s son. It was just announced that the autopsy shows that Guenther died of a heart attack and not of drowning.

Paul and Simone, owner’s of the sailboat, Tabasco II, have not been found. The Mexican Navy dispatched a helicopter to fly over the mangroves this morning. After searching for two days using dinghies, the cruisers were unable to get deep inside the mangroves for a thorough inspection. A search was conducted of the homes on the Magote by Shelly and home owners at Pariso del Mar without success. Shelly has been in telephone contact with Paul and Simone’s family.

We appreciate the Mexican Navy and Port Captain for all their assistance. They are working directly with Shelly Ward, Club Cruceros Commodore.

Dennis went to all the boats to do an interior inspection today. After two very long days of helping in the search and rescue efforts, he took the day to do our “regular” work.

Please forgive us if we were unable to respond to your individual questions earlier. Email service is up and down, when it’s up it is very slow and there are times we are unable to connect at all.

www.lectroniclatitude.com Dennis has been in contact daily with Richard to feed them information as well as Bob Davis, of the sailboat, Nirvana, has been taking pictures of the boats damaged at Atalanta Boatyard. Bob has also been getting updated information using the Single Sideband Radio Nets. Both Chubasco Net and Amigo Net have been reporting the damages to the Puerto Escondido and Santa Rosalia fleet. We haven’t heard of anyone in the Bay of La Angeles having problems.

The Atalanta Storage facility has roof damage. Dennis and Javier are putting up patches on the roof to protect our client’s personal items in storage. With the possibility of rain this weekend, we are working hard to get this project completed.

Tom Zyber, www.bajainsider.com is spot on with information since he lives on his sailboat, Seazure, in Marina Costa Baja and was experiencing the same things as we were during and after the hurricane.

Today’s update are that only 20% of the town is without power (Marina Costa Baja is the only marina that has power as of noon today). The CFE trucks are all over town repairing fallen electrical wires.

We have not been able to travel around town to inspect the areas outside of La Paz, but we hear from others that it is very bad. The hardest hit are, of course, the people who can least afford block houses and live in “tar paper” shacks. The communities of Marques de Leon and Villa Hermosa are of greatest concern to the cruisers since we work closely with Judy Peterson’s FANLAP program and Barbara Spencer’s Care For Kids La Paz Foundation. I will let you know more about the needs of these two fine organizations in my next update. If you are able, I know they would appreciate your assistance. Perhaps if you’re driving you can bring items that the schools may need and if you’re flying maybe an extra package of pencils or paper, etc. for the schools. Check out their websites www.FANLAP.com and www.careforkidslapaz.com for their list of needs.

If you are planning on driving Baja, be sure to read the updated road conditions on www.bajainsider.com. Car and outboard fuel has become a concern and we don’t know about how much fuel is available up and down Baja. Many Pemex stations are been destroyed. The one at the corner of the 5th of May and Serdan was completely destroyed; roof flew into the street and pump stations were flattened. Dennis and I are rationing our gas since the lines at the few stations open in town are blocks long.

Another option to consider is driving from Tucson through Nogales to Topolabombo and taking the ferry to La Paz. Check out the information at the Baja Ferries website. That is only possible if you are on a tourist visa and not Permanent Resident (green card).

If you are flying, it is our understanding that Cabo airport hopes to be up and running early next week. The pictures of the airport look terrible. It will be a surprise if they are able to open that soon. Be sure to check your airline to see if your plane will be landing in La Paz. We understand that several airlines are bringing more planes to our airport to bring tourists and already purchased ticketed passengers back to the states and Canada. It has been reported that at the La Paz airport yesterday several airlines were taking out tourists on a “first come first serve” basis. Over 3,000 people showed up for the three planes. Hopefully more airlines will bring their planes to assist. Most of the flights in and out of La Paz are military. It was announced that two planes with TelCel employees arrived to assist in getting both land lines and cell towers up and running again.

It is amazing to see how the community, both in town and in our fleet, and come together to assist each other. There have been no reports in La Paz of the rioting and looting that Cabo is experiencing.

One problem that Baja California Sur was experiencing before the hurricane is dengue. This mosquito is most prevalent after our summer rains, usually late August to early October, when it is most humid. We started having high humidity in June and dengue has been an epidemic. www.BajaCitizen.com has a well written article. After the past week, with more standing water for the mosquitoes to breed in and hatch, we are concerned and are being extra careful to use insect spray. I suggest bringing an extra bottle or two when you come back.

If you are concerned about someone else’s boat, write to us or call on our cells. We’ll be happy to help out. Be patient as we’ve noted above that the cell phone and internet coverage is sporadic.

Susan Ross
Two Can Play