Category: 2019 – 2020 Season 1

Well, I have an update on how this (IRIDIUM GO! failure) is working out, PredictWind (PW) does not ship to Mexico. Bummer. Need a work around on this.
So, the way this is working is:
1. PW will sell us a new one, deliver it our friends in Calif. When we send the old one back, they will finish the RMA process with Iridium, and when they get the replacement unit back, they will put it in their stock, and reimburse us for the cost of the device.
2. We will fly to Tijuana and walk across the border spend a couple of days in San Diego area and then reverse the process.
3. Advantages of this, we have about a dozen other parts that are lower on the priority list that are waiting for us in Carlsbad that we will be able to pick up while we are there.

One thing I want to stress: the support from PW has been very good. As an example, they pointed out that the full RMA process takes about 8 weeks (not counting shipping) but they suggested the other option where we buy a new one and get reimbursed when the RMA process gets finished.
They answer the phone quickly, and text messages very quickly etc. I have no complaints with that part of the issue, only with the fact that I have to know how the support works. The equipment should just work. That is IRIDIUM, not PredictWind.

We have paid for an extra day here in Marina Cortez, we will sail tomorrow morning and go explore an island or two or three and come back to La Paz in a couple of weeks. Book our flights and fly back to Tijuana and walk across the border to get our parts. In the meantime our location will not be updated while we are not in La Paz as it uses the Iridium GO! for doing that update.

We just ran out of propane on the inservice tank. The other tank is the one I use to BBQ, but since that has not been working we think that tank is very full. So, before we head to San Carlos we will have to go and get the empty one filled. This is a couple of weeks away. Of course it means no BBQing in the meantime, as we have to turn off the gas to the stove while the BBQ is cooking. The last time we got propane was Dec 3rd, about a month and a half for a tank of gas.

The issue with Propane, is that Mexico is fairly safety conscious, all propane filling stations are on the outside of town, so we will have to take an uber out there, or use the service here at the marina (about double the cost) to get it filled.

We got up at our normal time, about 7:30 or so. I checked the weather and our Iridium Go Satellite stuff. I checked our messages and found the battery for the device was down at 21%. This was not a good sign as it has been plugged in for the about a week. So, I looked at the charging port, and found that it was broken.

Bottom line, the satellite device to get weather when we don’t have cell service is dead. We also don’t have a way to get text messages or email while out of cell service. All in all this really not a good thing.

We were planning to head north to go to San Carlos and leaving this morning. But now I am not sure we want to leave this morning.

We got up early, had our breakfast and did our devotions. Then Renee’ took the laundry in, and then walked to the farmers market. The guys showed up to get back to work on polishing the boat, they got here at about 7 am.

I listened to the Net here in the boat. Then when Renee’ got back we went out and took an Uber to the other end of the marinas to get a tour of Michael and Paula’s boat Monarch. Very nice boat, beautiful in fact!

 

We got up as usual and listened to the net, did our devotions then went out for breakfast. A place was recommended that charges 70 pesos ($3.74) for anything on the menu, all meals come with coffee and orange juice. Renee’ had two eggs over medium and a blueberry pancake with bacon, and I had Huevos Rancheros with sausage. Both pretty big breakfasts.

After Breakfast we walked to the marine parts store looking for drink holders, did not find what we were looking for. Renee’ headed to Walmart, and I went back to the boat.

The project for the day is to clean up the couple of loose wires under the TV in the salon. That project started at about 9:30 or so, and I finished up at about 5 pm. Everything is working, all the extra wires have been removed the appearance is much cleaner and I like the way it looks.

After working and walking, we went and took showers and then left overs for dinner and off to the play!
So there were four 10 minute plays, no sets (to speak of), and only 2 or 3 actors for each play. But the best part was meeting the people who sat next to us in the theater. It was a couple who had not bought tickets, and showed up at the theater and got the seats from some people who did not show up. Jim and Maria Kennedy, they are Atlantic Ocean Kayakers from Ireland, and are here for about 3 months avoiding winter in Ireland. He is in training for a big kayak race in Canada in July. They appeared to be maybe 10 years younger than. us. We told them about having met Ed Gillette (the guy from Wild Blue) who kayaked from Southern California to Hawaii in 1987, that we met on the way down the coast of Baja. Jim recognized the name and wants to meet Ed. Who of course just recently left to fly back to the states. We told Jim to listen to the net on channel 22 in the morning and ask for Wild Blue to get in touch with him.

So, tomorrow we are leaving La Paz, not sure when we will be back again. But, since we are headed north from here, and we eventually have to go south, we will be back. Yesterday, the boat got polished, and I took some pictures, they are below.

 

We got up a bit later than normal closer to 7:30 or so. The boat cleaner people showed up at 8 am to start cleaning and polishing the boat. We listened to the net and heard the weather, we are expecting light winds and a high of 79 degrees today. All in all sounds great! We did our devotions, and had our breakfast. Renee’ walked to a nearby OXXO (like a 7-11, only more reasonably priced) and bought some Topo-Chico (Mineral water) very tasty.

Well the two guys have been scrubbing and polishing all day, the boat is looking great!

Paula and Michael came over for lunch, I BBQ’d chicken, Renee’ made potato salad, and guacamole we chatted for a couple of hours and had a good time. One of the topics was our triip to Greece. Renee’ showed a picture of our crew, and they said that they know Van and Cida! It is a very small world!

well the guys that are cleaning the boat finally left. They started right at 8am, and left about 5:30. They said that they will be back tomorrow, and expect it to take 1 or 2 more days to finish. The parts they have done look awesome!

I will post pictures when the work is done.