2021 – 2022 Season 3 – Page 17

Sunday April 10, 2022 Palm Sunday, Barra de Navidad

We were up and out on time for church. Pancho was by to say the diesel guy would be here today (they have had two months to fix this), and the refrigeration guy would be here tomorrow.

We took the water taxi to Barra (the town) and caught a taxi to Melaque for church. At church, we talked with some people we had met last year, and met a guy and his parents. Josh grew up sailing in the Caribbean, with his parents. Now they have a house here in Barra, and he has a sailboat and a year or so from now he will head south to the canal and continue on his way.

After church we walked into town for some shopping and then lunch and back to the town square and caught a cab back to Barra. We walked through town and then back to the water taxi and back to the boat.

Today was the day to tackle the stereo/DVD player in the aft stateroom. Five hours later, the mess is cleaned up and we are back where we started. I was able to get a picture on the TV, but no sound. I hooked up my computer to the same HDMI cable and got video and sound out of the TV. I suspect a setting is wrong on the DVD player, or it requires an AUDIO PROCESSOR ($700) which means I have the wrong DVD player.

Oh and we got one of the lights near the DVD player to work. (Salt air gets into everything!).

This is my kind of place! When the waitress set this plate of salsa down she pointed at the darker green salsa (top left) and said that was medium, all the rest were HOT!

This is the old stereo that no longer plays DVD’s.

This is what a “small” project looks like on a boat.

Saturday April 9, 2022 Barra de Navida

We arrived last night had dinner in Barra then used the water taxi across to our boat. We had almost two months in the states visited both of our kids and families, saw some friends and bought some boat parts.

This morning we slept in until almost 9 am. Got up in time for the net (abbreviated, as their aren’t many boats here) and we have a bunch of stuff to do, laundry, put things away from our trip and restart the boat. Issues we found on arrival, the A/C in the aft stateroom (our bedroom) isn’t working, the refrigerator isn’t working right. We will find out what else is wrong as we work through our lists. Both heads worked when turned back on, always a good thing, they are vacu-flush heads and can be problematic.

We went out for lunch (there is nothing on the boat to eat). We did a few small projects on the boat, but all in all a pretty quiet day, we ended by going to the “hot” tub. Pretty cold and no real jets. Oh well.

The following is the story of me and the parasite. Current status as of today.

It started January 31, I felt horrible and no energy. It got progressively worse. I was sleeping about 20 out of 24 hours. We get up at 7 am, have breakfast and I would take my after breakfast nap, get up and pee, have my before lunch nap and then have lunch, then take the after lunch nap, get up and pee and then my before dinner nap get up for dinner and go to bed after dinner. With all of that I lost a bunch of weight. By mid February I was down to about 210 lbs from about 235 lbs.

We had a grand daughter who was due on 3/14 and we were invited to be there to watch the two older ones, so we had plans to fly up to San Diego and visit friends then head up to the Sacramento area. But with this parasite (we did not that was what it was at the time), we headed up two weeks early. I saw a doctor and started round 1 of antibiotics. The blood and stool samples said there was a parasite and possibly worse, so I had a referral to an oncologist/hematologist. We changed PCP’s due to convenience, as we spend more time in the Sacramento area than the San Diego area. At the end of the first round of antibiotics, I got another round of blood work and stool samples.

The new test results said that I still had the parasite, and started round 2 of antibiotics (it might have been round 3). There was a total of 30 days of antibiotics by the end of it all. At the end of the antibiotics, we flew to Florida to spend time with our son Nate, then back to Puerto Vallarta and the boat.

At this point, I am on a “Parasite Cleanse” from a homeopathic Dr. that takes a month. I am not convinced that the parasite is gone. I am VERY weak, that could be just not doing anything for 3 months, or it could be the parasite. In any case this is not done.

Oh yeah, and I have not a beer or any alcohol since Jan 31 either. Even when we were in San Diego north county where there are a bunch of micro breweries and we got together with our beer group. Nor when we were at our sons place (he brews beer and is in walking distance of a couple of micro breweries. For the first month it was a matter of just not being up to it, the next month was 3 rounds of antibiotics with instructions to avoid alcohol and now the Parasite Cleanse has the same restriction. Truth be told, I have only wanted a beer a couple of times in the last 3 months.

No pictures today.

February 1 – February 6, 2022

Tuesday February 1, 2022 Punta Salagua

Up late, we don’t feel great. So, we are going to move either to Carazelle or Santiago for one more night, then we plan to go from here to Ixtapa (about 188 miles south) which will be an overnight to get there.

The view of the resort we were anchored off of.

Wednesday February 2, 2022 Ensenada Carazelle

This was a sick day for me. The only thing of interest today, was watching the classic “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray

This is a couple of rays that circled the boat a couple of times. Reneé got some video, but this blog doesn’t really allow video.

Thursday February 3, 2022 Ensenada Carazelle

If you have a sick captain and you need to just chill, you’d want to hang out in Ensenada Carrizal. We’ve been here two nights. Only 3 boats here both nights. Oh, did I mention this is a very small anchorage? I made chicken soup for Neil. I was just itching to snorkel but with our rule, “Neither of us goes in the water alone.”, I didn’t think I’d get to go. Well, fortunately, there is a single female sailor on another cutter, S/V Mcani. She and I took her dinghy to the dive spot this afternoon and wow! The snorkeling was fabulous! I found myself in the middle of a school of large purple fish with orange tails, yellow fins and dark blue noses. I wish I’d brought a camera. I managed to lose one of my water shoes and was too tired to get back in the water to look for it. While I was playing in the water, Neil rested. Thank goodness he is starting to feel better.

Two more boats joined us in the anchorage at sunset, Liberty and S/V Liahona. So it’s a bit crowded.

Friday February 4, 2022 Ensenada Carazelle

Reneé paddling over to the only female solo sailor we have met.

Saturday February 5, 2022 Ensenada Carazelle

End of the day the generator failed, so we will return to Barra tomorrow rather than head south. Low on water, clothes to wash and no generator to run the watermaker or the washer.

This is the generator that won’t run. When it does it supplies all of our power needs.

Sunday February 6, 2022 Ensenada Carazelle to Barra de Navidad

February 16 and on being sick

I got sick Jan 31. We went to church on Jan 30, it was held at an mid to upscale restaurant and we had lunch with everyone from the service afterwards. Both Reneé and I had shrimp dishes and a berry lemonada (probably made with local water). This was the last really good meal for me for a while. We checked with the people at the church and no one else had any issues with the food, so I probably did not get here.

The next day both of us were at little out of sorts, upset tummy sort of thing. No diarrhea for either of us, no vomiting just a bit of nausea.

I got progressively worse, with occasional days where it seemed like everything was normal. I went to the pool one day at Barra de Navidad and the whole day was fine, the next day was horrible.

We went into town and saw a local doctor, who treated me for Acid Reflux. The next day we called our doctor in San Diego and started the first round of antibiotics.

We moved up our flight back to the states (our Daughter in Law is/was due on 3/14, no baby yet as I am writing this on 3/19). We flew in on 2/16 Wednesday, I saw the doctor on Thursday and we got blood tests and stool samples ordered.

It was an effort to get through this (BTW, I was on my second round of antibiotics at this point). Apparently I have a parasite, but the research on the internet says treatment is up to the patient and the doctor as many people have this one for decades with no problem.

This is what I wrote up on 3/7:

What’s going on as of today, 03/07/2022

I have been dealing with a parasite and maybe something else, since January 31 this year.

We travel a lot, and we were in Mexico when this started. Initial symptoms included night sweats, followed by shivering with a temperature of 98.6. The night sweats would soak the bed.

We came back to the states by way of San Diego 2/16. I saw my doctor there who after seeing my blood work prescribed an antibiotic for the parasite. I will finish those at dinner tonight.

He also referred me to an oncologist/hematologist.

My significant symptoms include:

Night sweats (I think I am done with these)
Exhaustion
Slight headache
Fever 97-100 usually low
Unusual weight loss, I stepped on the scale this morning (2/27/22) at 209. That’s down from approximately 235 in January. Lowest have weighed since about 1977.
Slight upset tummy
Slight tightness in chest
Low appetite
Minor cough

What I am not experiencing:

vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea
Runny nose, clogged sinuses etc
Open sore
Sore throat

Please refer to the blood work attached, as you can see, up until the February labs everything was pretty stable. Note I had a physical in October 2021, so only 4 months ago.

I am really tired all the time.

So, to describe the night sweats, about a gallon of water out of my body soaking the bed and pillow all the way over to Reneê’s side of the bed, followed by shivers for a half hour.

As of today, I have had a follow up blood test and stool samples. The parasite did not show up in the stool samples. The blood work is returning to normal. It has been about 7 weeks, my weight is back up to about 220 (about when we got married in 1982). I tire very easy and can’t walk very far compared to what we are used to. Hopefully I am getting better day by day. We are supposed to be back on the boat, April 6th. We will resume the blog then.

Monday February 7, 2022 Barra de Navidad

Monday February 7, 2022 Barra de Navidad

Our time in the Barra de Navidad has been bittersweet. We’ve enjoyed meeting some new boaters. We met Del and Barbie on Timeless and Bill and Susan Birschoff on a Trawler that has a long name beginning with A. We got to see old friends, Steve and Denny on Brendan, Walt and Shelley on Dune, Greg and Christine on Sonrisa, Eric and Kim on Gladiator. This has been Cruisers Week here with all kinds of festivities and a race on Friday. We didn’t participate in any of the activities. Neil continues to be sick, quite lethargic. I’ve gone to water aerobics and on two fabulous walks (one to secret beach and the other to the point at the end of the peninsula). I went to the Thursday market in Barra and took a cab ride to Melague to shop at the Hawaii store. We got Neil to a local doctor who gave him meds for acid reflux. Neil had a telemedicine call with our San Diego doctor who recommended meds for a stomach bug. Yet, Neil continues to have no energy. So…we made the hard decision of going back to the states earlier than originally planned. We have a flight out of Puerto Vallarta on 2/16. We will stay with the Miller’s for 2 weeks while Neil sees the doctor. We will leave our boat here in Barra de Navidad under the care of Pancho. He will oversee the bottom cleaning, repair of the generator, and any other boat needs that arise. While here in the marina we got our laundry done. We had all of our fuel pumped out because it appears to be dirty. Sadly the fuel clogged up the generator filter and that may be part of the reason it isn’t working. On Friday we motored over to the fuel dock and spent close to $1000 to fill up the tank again. Tomorrow, Sunday, 2/13, I plan on going to church at Costalegre Community in Melague. Denny Pepper is going to join me.

I felt up to a night out, if you look close you can tell I am not really all there.

This was the musician and he was very good.

The top of our fuel tank, the only way in is to remove the level gauge.

The level gauge out and the fuel out as well

The fuel on the left is what was in our tank (according the fuel dock we got it at it is just dyed). The one on the right is what we put back in..

Just cause I am sick is no reason she can’t have a good time.

Saturday February 11, 2022

We motored over and got fuel, a lot of fuel.

We have a 160 gallon tank, and two 5 gallon Jerry cans on deck. The tank had been pumped out completely, we put both the jerry cans of diesel in our tank, and one more 5 gallon jerry can to make it more likely our fuel pump would get a suction and then motored over and put 161 gallons in to our tank.

Oh and the cost? 15396 pesos for the fuel plus a 15% dockage fee (getting fuel at a fuel dock rather than in town) 2309.4, (17705) and 3% if you pay with a credit card 531.15. If we chose to pay with USD then the conversion rate is 18 pesos to the dollar ($983.61). We paid in cash in Pesos 17705 (about $861 US at the current rate).

Sunday February 12, 2022

We started prepping the boat to leave it for a month. We arranged with Pancho to watch the boat and fix the generator while we were gone. Also to polish the stainless and the boat and clean the bottom. This was quite an effort for me, as I am really sick.

Reneé with ladies by resort pool – Denny, Susan, Barbie, Reneé

Pancho drove us to the Puerto Vallarta airport and we flew back to Tijuana on 2/16. we walked across the border using the CBX, it costs $20 US per person, but it was 48 minutes from when the wheels touched down until we were standing on the curb in California waiting for our ride.

From here we enter our normal no blog updates while in the states. But, I will tell the story of this sickness on the next post.