We had a bit of walking around town, Renee’ went to the pharmacy, ok she went to about 4 of them, and finally got what she was looking for. She also went to the grocery store and then met us at the KuKa-KuKa restaurant here on the beach. Then back to the boat and took naps, had dinner and played cards and then bed.
This is where Saturday starts.
A quiet Saturday morning
Only thing on the agenda for today is getting fuel. Whether we get it with many trips to the Pemex, or get it delivered we need fuel before we head south again. We are just under half a tank of diesel. The tank is 160 gals full, so we need a bit more than 80 gallons, assuming the level is linear. I suspect it will be closer to 100 gallons. But we will see.
We plan to head south tomorrow, it looks like about 60 miles or so to the next stop. Bahia Asuncio’n. I don’t expect to get fuel again before Cabo (Cabo San Lucas or San Jose Del Cabo).
Diesel 34 pesos to the boat delivered +10% for credit card. Pemex station 22 pesos at the pump. Last time we looked it was about 19 pesos to the dollar. So, $4.47/gallon or ~$6.32/gallon +10% = $7.01/gallon.
If we are talking about 100 gallons, the difference is $701-$447= $254. Which is quiet a bit of money. It is also a lot of work to haul the tanks up to the Pemex station, and then back to the three boats. Which means about a mile through town and then a half mile across the bay in a dinghy up on to the deck and pour the fuel.
Between us we have a couple of 13 gallon containers and a few 5 gallon Jerry cans. There is a cart on Lost Pearl that can handle about 60 lbs. which means probably 1 of the 13 gallon containers will be a bit more than that.
We negotiated a price of 30 pesos to the liter. 300 liters (80 gallons) $529 or about $6.60 per gallon. Delivered, and a tip of $21. Ouch! This filled our tank to about 7/8’s full. Which should be plenty to get us to Cabo. The tank looked fairly clean, at least what I could see through the plastic. We still have two 5 gallon Jerry cans of diesel in the aft laz. It is pretty old, as I suspect it was there long before the boat came up from Puerto Vallarta in Feb. 2017. Another way to think about the fuel, is we saved 1,200 pesos by dickering, which is about $70 US.
I am considering something I have heard about & read about on the various forums, which is a fuel purification system. Most that I have heard about have a separate tap into the tank with a hose to the bottom the fuel then comes out and goes to a pump and a filter (or a couple) then back to the top of the tank. This pump runs when the engine is on, and circulates the fuel through the filter and back to the tank, so it keeps the fuel fairly clean. I think that I would put a relay on the start so that either the engine or the generator running would run the cleaning system, and I would like a pretty good sized pump to move quite a bit of fuel at a time. However, I might tap into one of the already installed penetrations into the fuel tank, either the connection for the engine or the generator and the vent line going back into the tank from the same side and that way minimize the holes in the fuel tank. Also, all of those connections have a welded up threaded connection into the tank. My concern would be starving the engine or the generator of getting enough fuel if I put too big of a pump on the cleanup system and would rob the generator of fuel to just clean it up. Anyway, something to think about.
Well, lunch is done and Renee’ is getting stuff out for dinner. We have a pumpkin pie that has not been eaten yet. She still has firecracker salsa left from the other day. We are still planning to have everyone over sometime. It will have to be today, as we are sailing all day tomorrow and the next day. We will never get there (Cabo) if we don’t start. Pretty profound huh?
So, we made a trip into town. Bought some more groceries. Talked to the crew of the “Wild Blue” they have an Island Packet 45 (1999) so the previous generation of boats. They are having problems with their battery charging. We will talk some more. Jeff and Josh got a better deal with fuel, the police were involved, and I believe their final price was about 25 pesos per liter. Good for them!
We are all going to meet ashore at the KuKa KuKa for pumpkin pie and beer. Cozette is over washing her hair, so we are running the generator to get some hot water, and charge the batter. We will shut it down when we go ashore and restart it when we come back out. We are currently at 86% charged and I don’t believe we will make it overnight with a start point of less than about 92% or better.
We are at the KuKa KuKa for pie and social life.