Author: Neil Scheuerlein

As usual we got up and did our devotions. Then headed over to the farmers market, because it is Saturday. We did some other shopping and I cleaned the engine, generator and shower strainers. The outboard motor is back and it works! I am still not sure what the problem was, probably operator error. Jimmy (the outboard guru here) said that the engine was out of gas, and once he pumped it up it started just fine. I suspect that either there was something in the connection, or that I did not get the hose hooked up correctly, as I had gas in the tank and all the way up to the connector to the outboard. Oh well. In any case the oil got changed as well.

We have arranged to get the boat and the stainless steel polished, it is supposed to be a 3 day job and they start Monday morning at 8 am. We have a lot of it to polish, and the last time it was done was before we bough the boat in August of 2018. In the mean time, there has been a lot of saltwater on the stainless so it really needs to be done.

While at the farmers market, we bought a chicken, it is frozen and is a pretty good size bird. We are having Michael and Paula over for a BBQ lunch on Monday. I have to get our BBQ working or we will be cooking the chicken in the oven.

It was pretty windy all day, out of the north. Which makes us glad that we are in a marina.

We woke up earlier than normal for us (about 7am). We had some stuff to get done today. Will the electronics guy here in La Paz is coming to work on the wind speed sensor, the pump out guy is coming to empty the holding tank, and we will wash the boat.

The weather for today is supposed to be pretty good with a high of about 75 degrees.

So, Will came and checked out what we have going on with our wind speed and direction sensor. Bottom line the sensor at the top of the mast is bad. This piece costs about $320, which is bad enough, but it will also cost more to get it delivered here in Mexico. When we got the boat in August 2018, this piece did not work, and we had a spare onboard. It was installed about May of 2019, and just died, as in NO it did not last a whole year. I asked Will what he thought, he suspects a lightening strike but, we have not seen any lightening anywhere near us. So, I don’t know. There are about 6 other boats here in La Paz that are all dealing with wind sensor failures, it could be that this is rare or it could be just because I am dealing with it I am noticing others with the same problem. Oh well, bottom line, we currently don’t have a wind speed sensor.

We got up and listened to the net, then I spent about 6 hours updating the blog. Renee’ rested, and then walked to the store. the outboard (that is not working) went to the shop to figure out what its wrong, and the bottom of the boat got cleaned. Another quiet day on the boat.

Later in the evening, we walked to the restaurant for a very nice dinner with Michael and Paula Naccarato from S/V Monarch at Locos Por La Pasta. The food was pretty good, but the company and conversation were better. We walked back to the boat and stopped for some ice cream, then back to the boat and bed.

After breakfast, we went to the local church with Doug from Spartan. This is a weekly bible study that is in English. There were 7 of us there, two of whom speak English as a second language. The topic this morning was Ruth Chapter 2.

We then went to the bank and to lunch with our cruising buddies (boat kids?) at Asadero Rancho Viegjo. This restaurant is only a couple of blocks away from the marina. They are going across to the mainland. We will be following them via Facebook.

We came back to the boat, talked to the boat bottom cleaner people and will get ours done tomorrow. I worked on the wind speed indicator and spoke with the local electronics guru around here. We did not make any progress, and he will come to the boat on Friday to go up the mast and see if it is the sensor at the top of the mast or the cable between it and the meter in the cockpit.

After dinner, we went to Restaurante La Costa La Paz. They have dancing on Wednesday nights, we stayed for a bit, then went back to the boat and watched the movie Some Like It Hot, 1959 with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemon, and Marilyn Monroe. This is a very funny movie, and well worth the time to watch it.

As a reminder, you can see where we are physically at, and what our track has been since we left San Diego October 30, 2019 here:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

We got up had our breakfast, did our devotions and checked out our life ring (pulled it out of the bag to see exactly what it looked like. We have been thinking about that for a really long time (like as in back to our first boat, Make Me Laugh, NOT again). It looked exactly like what we thought it would, so no surprises. From there, we got underway.

Water maker going at 9:30. Plan is to take our time to get to La Paz. At 20 GPH, we should have 100 gallons made by the time we head in, or if we get water out of the overflow that will be the sign the tank is full. Currently the indicator shows 70%, the tank is 260 gallons, so if it is accurate, there is only 75 gallons worth of space. So, 3 hours or less to fill the tank. We will see.

Renee’ is going to fish, and see if we can have fish for dinner.

As a reminder, you can see where we are physically at, and what our track has been since we left San Diego October 30, 2019 here:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

 

No pictures taken today…