Category: 2020-03 (March)

We were very late getting up today, probably 8 am or so. We had breakfast, did our devotions, and considered what to do today.

We decided today would be a day to clean the boat. So, we pulled the screens out of all the portholes and cleaned the portholes. The forward ones had a bunch of salt on them, then after I had done that and took the screens out to the dock to wash them Renee’ went down below and cleaned all the portholes (again) and it was a good thing, as I got the big stuff, but she cleaned them again and they are really clean now. After cleaning the screens and the portholes we talked to our neighbors for awhile and then it was lunch time (things move much slower when you are retired and cruising! After lunch we cleaned the fenders. Most of the stuff came off with a scrub brush and soapy water, but some required a bit more work, some Bartenders Friend and a scrubby. Then we cleaned the rest of the boat.  Pictures of dirty fenders below.

This was an all day effort, good the boat is clean, bad we found out the port side deck drain is plugged. I have borrowed a snake from our neighbor, and will use that to see if I can clean this out. But that is a job for tomorrow.

That is about it for the day. Good night all.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

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

We got up about normal, 7 am or so. Laid in bed and red for a bit, finally out of bed by about 7:45. At 8 am the bottom cleaning guy came by and told us the price would be 700 pesos to clean the bottom and check/replace zincs. This is about $29.21 at todays exchange rate. So, that got done. (As a comparison we had the bottom cleaned in Puerto Escondido for $75. Same job, different rate.

We had our breakfast and did our devotions, puttered around and eventually took a walk after lunch.

We walked down the malecon, and then came back by another route to go by the grocery store and to get a haircut for me. All in all a quiet day.  

Malecon. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Malecón is a word used in Spanish-speaking countries, and especially in nations of Latin America, for a stone-built embankment or esplanade along a waterfront. 

We were back on the boat b y 3 pm, we stopped by the fuel dock to check on getting diesel for the boat. We are at half a tank and really should fill up before we leave. But, they have not signed a contract with Pemex, so no diesel here. We could Lug jerry cans from the station in town and fill 5 gallons at a time. But, I don’t want to do that. 80 gallons at 5 gallons at a time would be a lot of work. San Carlos just up the coast about 15 miles has fuel, so we will go there.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

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

We did not sleep very well. It was very windy, and pretty warm. We got up about 7 am and first thing we did was take showers. Normally we take showers in the evening before going to bed, but this morning I really needed to wash the pollen off my face. So showers before breakfast, then breakfast and devotions. The plan for today is to go shopping. OJ and Kay from the boat next door have volunteered to take us to the store. They have a car, and it is quite a drive across town to the Home Depot.

So, about 11 am we headed out to the stores. One of the stops was into a Chandlery (boat parts and tools store) very expensive and not very well stocked. But it was interesting as we ran into a younger sailor there who was looking for help with his hydraulics, we were not able to help him, but we could commiserate with him on not being able to find some things here in Mexico.

When we got back to the boat, we had lunch (we had bought it as take out from a chicken place) and I sent a text message to Colin, the guy I connected with on Facebook who is looking for a SIM card for his Iridium phone. He said he would be by at about 4 pm. He has had a pretty busy week, getting his boat back in the water, issues with his refrigeration, etc.

At about 4, I went out and let Colin in and we talked about the Iridium GO! and the Satellite phone and why I recommended the GO! I also recognized him as the guy with the hydraulic issues. Colin is Canadian and is planning on going to Canada by way of Hawaii and Alaska. His boat is a 52 foot steel hull. He has issues with the transmission, throttle control and wiring to name a few. Oh and he ran aground the other day with help from a panga. He is single handing, just him and his dog.

At the end of the day, we played a game of Baja Rummy, and Renee’ won.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

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

We got up about normal for us, 7 am or so. Had our breakfast and did our devotions. The only thing on the schedule for today is for Jesus Salas Phoenix Multiservice, to come by and look at/fix the alternator on the engine. He is the guy who fixed the bow-thruster the other day. He did a great job the with that, saving me a ton of work doing the wrong thing. So, that is what I am hoping for again.

I expected Jesus in the morning, but he did not show up and until early afternoon. He went right to work, first thing he did was figure out that the alternator was not a problem. We then took some time exploring what and how my system works. I now know hot the smart controller for the alternator works. I also know what to look for there, as it has a screen that only displays when the alternator is running. To see this I have to open the door on the side of the engine room and look across to see it. I normally rely on the video camera in the engine room to see what is going on in there, but the camera does not see that screen, so now I have another thing to do periodically.

We also checked to see if the alternator was charging the house bank (it was) and the engine start battery (it was as well). I really need to get a clamp on amp meter, this is the second time in recent history that I have seen a need for one. I will be picking one up this summer when we are back in the states.

Bottom line, what we think might be the issue with the discharged engine start battery is that it could be:
1. A conflict between the alternator and the solar controller

1. dirty contacts on the alternator or the smart controller or something.

but at this point there is nothing wrong. All three batteries are fully charged, the alternator is working, both of the battery chargers are working, and the solar panels and charge controller are working too.

On another subject, Renee’ and I worked on our plan for going north to Puerto Penasco. We have decided that will haul out up there. The cost is reasonable, it is close to the boarder and we have heard good things about the yard as well. So, we made reservations for haul out on May 11, 2020. We have to be there within a week of that date or there will be higher fees for the haul out. Or possibly no room, especially if we are too late.

It is about 250 miles from here to there. We have about 49 days to get there, if we average 3 days per stop that gives us about 16 stops on the way up. So, we have some planning to do.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

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

Oh, and no pictures again today.

Renee’ got up very early this morning (about 5:30) to make cinnamon roles. She used some starter that she made bread with last week. The starter came from Reina on S/V Karma, as did the recipe. I got up a bit later (about 7:30), and we had our neighbor, Kay from S/V Gone Nutz over and we watched the service from North Coast and had rolls. It was a good sermon. Done by the young Chris.

Afterwards, we took the boat out and ran the water maker for 4 hours or so.

The wind was significantly more than I had expected. At the dock we had about 2 knots, but when we got out around the corner we had 25 knots with gusts to 35 knots. Somewhat uncomfortable. In any case we dumped the holding tank and ran the water maker, then came back in and tied up about 5:30.

After dinner we had Kay and OJ over to learn a new card game called Baja Rummy, a rather complicated game that requires one more deck than people playing and drawing two cards each turn and discarding only one card.  Scoring is complicated as well.

Finally we got to bed at about 11:30. A very long day.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

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

Oh, and no pictures again today.