April 28th, 2025 Monday (Santa Rosalia)

Published 05/06/2025
Up at 6 am, breakfast, then Reneé contacted the laundry lady and found out that we either get it done today or don’t as she is closed tomorrow. So, we got our stuff organized and she went to the place to get Tamales. They are usually sold out by 10 when she has been there before. I waked the laundry up to the parking lot at 9. We are waiting for water delivery today as well. I cleaned the strainers today, they did not really need it, but it doesn’t take much time to do it.
I went through the list of things to do before leaving the boat and upon return. This list is pretty long, I have it as a checklist on my notes. This way when I complete something it gets checked off and moves to the bottom of the list.
We had 600 liters of drinking water delivered to the boat (about 158,5 gallons). We use about 12 gallons per day, we last filled up on 5/14, so 14 days at 12 gallons should have been 168 gallons. We did not overfill the tank, but should be good for another two weeks at least. We have 14 days left until we move off the boat (the last week will be in the San Carlos Marina and should have water to be able to run the water maker with dock water and top off the tank anyway, so we are in really good shape for water.

This picture shows the motor catamaran at the end tie, the red arrow points at our boat, yes you can barely see ours. That catamaran is called Double wide and it is HUGE! One man lives aboard and that is his boat to go where he wants.
The hand rail as we walked around the harbor
Our view of the city
Our view of the city

April 27th, 2025 Sunday (Santa Rosalia)

Published 05/06/2025
Up at 6:30, Reneé got the cinnamon rolls in the oven and I got a shower. Joe and Vanessa (maybe Julie from nest door) are coming over to watch the service from Savannah.
Later today, I think we will pull the boat out and bring it back in bow first. We have a delivery of 600 liters of water scheduled for tomorrow. Our water fill is on the starboard side, and it will be easier if that is the side to the dock.
At the end of the day, we did not move the boat, we did not go to Padre Santo, and instead watched a movie. Too much wind, it’s Sunday and Padre Santo was closed. We went to the fish taco stand and had lunch. A nice quiet day.

Where we went for fish tacos

April 26th, 2025 Saturday (Santa Rosalia)

Published 05/06/2025
UP at 6 am, breakfast and bible reading. Then do a little organizing on the boat, and catching up on the blog. After lunch we took a “little walk” we went to the cemetery, it is less than a mile away, but it is 500 feet higher in elevation. This is about a 9.5% grade. Lots of stairs and steep roads. Then back to the boat.
We met up with a bunch of the other cruisers at Padre Santo for happy hour, with a plan to walk into town for the Hot Dog Festival. This is the 4th annual. They make a huge deal out of cutting a ribbon a speech by the mayor of Santa Rosalía and Mulege where she went to each of the hot dog carts and presented a certificate and talked about what they were selling. Of course there was a person in a life size hot dog costume, the mayor (a lady) wore a very red long dress and there was a bunch of hot dog carts. They sell hotdogs wrapped in bacon and with either pulled pork or aracherea in a fantastic local made bun. Then it is off to the stage in front of the government house to watch all the performances, kids dancing and singing and dogs in costumes like hot dogs and it goes on.
We got back to the boat about 8:45 and headed off to bed.

The first set of stairs up to the cemetery
The view from the cemetery
A creative way to make stairs
Neil with the view of the marina in the background
The view from the cemetery
more of the cemetry
I think this was the 5th annual festival
Yes, some body is inside the hot dog costume
Kids with the big hot dog
Some of the dancers
Some of the dancers
Some of the dancers
Some of the dancers

April 25th, 2025 Friday (Santa Rosalia)

Published 04/26/2025
Up at 6:30, breakfast, bible reading and then Reneé is taking a walk to the bakery with two of the lady cruisers. I’m going to wash the solar panels. The seagulls love to poop on them. Of course, I have to wait until 9 am, as the water is off until then.
I washed the solar panels, and after Reneé got back we had lunch and walked into town. We went to the museum, we have done it before and it only takes a couple of minutes to walk through, but it is a good walk and view.
After we got back we went to the pub in the marina and met a bunch of the other cruises, played some games and chatted for a while over dinner and beer.

Reneé, Julie, and Shawna
A fruit truck
At the museum
At the museum
At the museum

In front of the museum
In front of the museum
The view out over the city to the marina (our boat is there)
A fish another cruiser caught in the marina, no he did not eat it, catch and release. He doesn’t trust the water in the harbor.

The following pictures are of the preventer system we have for our mainsail. This is a set of ropes that go from the end of the boom to the bow of the boat and then back into the cockpit so that we can hold the boom out.

April 24th, 2025 Thursday (Santa Rosalia)

Published 04/26/2025
Up at 7 (yes we slept in! Breakfast, bible reading and then get into the day. Today we will do an oil change.
Well that oil change is done. There are few jobs on a sailboat I hate more. This one is probably at the top of the list. It is not like a car, there is no way to get a pan under the drain plug, which is why there is no drain plug. So, you ask, how do you get the oil out? With a pump that has a hose that you stick down the tube for the dip stick. First step warm up the engine to make the oil thinner and make sure the “junk” is in solution. Then pump out the oil, 6.3 liters, then take the oil filter off, of course it is screwed in on the side so that you will absolutely spill at least half the oil in the filter under the engine. Next up is put the oil filter back on, then add the oil. Of course it’s a diesel so you have to find oil for a diesel (that took 3 autocrats store to get last time. So, I have the oil. Next up the oil is in a 5 liter jug, but they only fill it to 4.7 liters. No, I don’t have a reason for that. The next thing is to pour the oil from the jug into the engine. Space is at a premium on a boat, so no there is not room to pour it easily. Ok, all the oil is in now do the cleanup. Of course the bottom of the engine room is further down than my arms reach, so, I can’t just wipe up the spilled oil. But I got it done.
Now, what do you do with the oil? We are in a marina and we asked they said bring it to the office and we will take care of it. YEAH!!! That is the easy part. Total time from start to finish 5 hours. What a pain!
After a shower, I took the oil up to the supervisor and it was gone. Probably the easiest part.
Then to Padre Santo (micro brewery) for a beer and waiting for the rest of the cruisers to come up. Joe, Vanessa, Reneé and I played some cards and chatted then around 5 we walked up to the Chinese restaurant at the top of the hill. After dinner back for more discussion at Padre Santo.
We turned in about 9 pm.

Vanessa, Joe, Reneé and I overlooking the Santa Rosalia marina.