Category: 2025 Season 6

Published 04/01/2025
Up at 6:30, breakfast, bible reading then stuff to do.
Reneé left for haircut, I updated the blog, then the dishes got done. After she got back. I ordered the parts. Situation is that shipping into Mexico is difficult at best. We are going to be in Puerto Peñasco in a week. Where we will have access to our truck and we can drive to the border if needed. So, shipping these parts to a place north of the border is an idea. There is a Gastrak service station that accepts mail, the way it works, they have a charge for the delivery and a weekly rate for holding it. BUT the US postal service will not deliver mail to them. So, it has to UPS or FedEx. In any case, it is ordered and UPS to the Gastrak. We will be there about 4/5 and the package is supposed to arrive about 4/4. This should work.
I went to work on the stern light. I turned it on, and it worked. That was easy!
Then checked the wash down pump. The hose had two hose clamps on it (normal on a boat) the outer one was broken, the inner one was not in good shape. I replaced both. No more leak.

Below is our list of things to get done in Santa Rosalia:
– [ ] Grocery shopping (Saturday)
– [ ] Get bottom cleaning done (scheduled for Saturday)
– [x] Stern light repair (Friday)
– [x] Reneé gets a haircut (Friday)
– [x] Take a look at the wash down pump and hose see if I can fix the leak (Friday)
– [x] Order the solenoid for the propane to be at Lukeville in about a week (Friday)
– [x] Put sealant on back edge of mast collar (Friday)
– [x] Fill propane tanks (Thursday)
– [x] Pharmacy (Thursday)
– [x] Wash the boat (Thursday)
– [x] Bank (Thursday)
– [x] Get water (Wednesday)

 

Published 03/28/2025
Up at 6:30, breakfast, bible reading then started working through our list.
At 9 am the laundry lady arrived and took our laundry. Then we washed the boat. This marina restricts water on the dock to two hours, 9-11 am. They also restrict “hot” water in the showers.
The shower limits we ran into after washing the boat and heading to the shower after lunch.
Then, going to get Propane for me and Reneé went out to get a haircut. Since I had the cart to get the propane, I was also going to get mineral water. We have found that we really like sparkling mineral water. The propane place here is about a 10 minute walk from the marina. Normally they are on the outskirts of town in Mexico, but here it is very easy to get to. Unfortunately, the place I went to for the mineral water only had the expensive brand and it was more than we wanted to spend, so back to the boat with only the propane. Reneé wound up scheduling an appointment for her hair cut tomorrow afternoon.
She also eventually found a bank that she could get pesos out of at a reasonable rate. This is an interesting issue. We do our banking in the US, and we can go to any ATM here in Mexico and get pesos directly from our account, the bank in the US pays the fees so that part is free to us. However, the conversion rate from our bank is the best available at the moment we withdraw our pesos, many of the ATMs here in Mexico will give you a choice (usually hidden somewhere on the screen) to use their default conversion rate or let your bank do the conversion the difference was 18.81 pesos to the dollar or 20 pesos to the dollar. It took her three ATMs to find one that had pesos and would let our bank do the conversion. She was attempting to get 10,000 pesos and the difference would have been about $32 US, lost in the conversion. In the end she was only able to get 7000 pesos (about $350 US).
This is a fairly sparsely populated area, and most places don’t take credit cards, cash is the only way to do business, so we try to have some on hand. In the bigger cities we can use a credit card to make a purchase for groceries or supplies for the boat, but in smaller places (like Aqua Verde) we have to use currency.
We got showers about 6 pm (4-7 for “hot” water). We had beer at the brewery on the way out and on the way back, (we split one the second time). We eventually found mineral water, and bought some of the groceries as well.
Below is our list of things to get done in Santa Rosalia:
– [ ] Take a look at the wash down pump and hose see if I can fix the leak
– [ ] Get bottom cleaning done (scheduled for Saturday)
– [ ] Grocery shopping
– [ ] Reneé gets a haircut (Friday)
– [ ] Stern light repair
– [ ] Order the solenoid for the propane to be at Lukeville in about a week
– [x] Fill propane tanks
– [x] Pharmacy
– [x] Wash the boat
– [x] Bank
– [x] Get water

 

Published 03/28/2025
Up at 5:30, underway by shortly after 6 am, breakfast and bible reading underway. We had virtually no wind all day, there was a brief period when we were between an island and the main part of Baja, where the wind got to 10-12 knots, but as soon as we were out from the channel, it dropped back to two to three knots. Once we were in the marina, (very low rates!) we ordered some water to fill our tank, he brought us 600 liters (158.5 gallons) in 20 liter jugs (about 5 gallons each) and poured them via a funnel into our tank.
We have talked to several other boaters here, Phill who has a folding trailer able trimaran. It is about 32 feet long and when folded in it is 8.5 feet wide and he tows it with an F350. Jim who has a trawler and is from San Francisco and wants to get his boat back to San Francisco he is about 70 and a single cruiser. We also met the crew of the SV Atlantean, Adam and Abbey. They are a younger couple. This is their first year cruising and they are planning on being south of the hurricane zone by hurricane season. They are planning on going west from there to the South Pacific, and they want to see the sea of Cortez before they leave. This will make a quick trip for them or they will run out of time to get south. We also talked to the crew of Oh Boy! Katy and Pete, we met them when we got here in 2020. This is their home port.

Published 03/28/2025
Up at 6 am with the sun, breakfast and bible reading then we took the dinghy in to shore and walked with Lisa (SV Soulmate) and Jo-Jo , he is an American who taught in Japan for awhile, then came back to the states and “found” his boat in AZ and got it up and sailing. His boat canvas is orange. We had lunch on the boat, and drank the last of the beer we got the day before. We got the kayak down and took a trip we saw a ray and chatted with some Canadian trailer people who were out in their dinghies fishing or just joy riding. Then back to the boat, put the kayak and dinghy away.
For dinner I BBQ’d a steak and potatoes. We debated about watching a movie, but decide to just get some sleep.

Published 03/28/2025
We slept very well, we have been a bit on the cold side up until last night. This has been a test of our DC powered air conditioner/heater. The temperatures have been dropping into the mid 60’s overnight. Not terribly cold, but compared to mid 80s during the day, it is a bit chilly. So, we have been closing up the boat in the evening and turning on the heater overnight, set to 70 or 71 degrees. This has been using 5-10% of our battery bank power. This power is replaced the next day, typically with solar, or perhaps from the alternator on the engine if we are motoring somewhere.But last night, there was no wind and the temperature was about 71 degrees when we woke up this morning at 6 am. The issue with leaving the boat open (we have screens) is that the light came in and we woke up with the sun.
We are going to get the dinghy down and go ashore, take a taxi into Mulege and do some shopping. Pretty exciting stuff!
Well, we got ashore and took a short walk, then Lisa & Patrick came in and we waited for our ride. The lady that came to get us was one of the people who worked at the restaurant, her car was not really up to the task of taking us into town. We attempted to go up the short driveway to the road slowly, and that did not work, so she backed down to the beach, and took a running start at it and we got to town. Once we found the saloon we were going to have lunch at, Patrick and Lisa headed off for the dentist and Reneé and I had our lunch, hamburgers, very big and very good. About the time we got done they were back and had their lunch. Then we discussed what else to do and we decided to go to the museum in the Jail, we have attempted to see this museum before, but it was closed, sa it was today, even though the sign on the door for the hours said it should be open.
From there we went back down the hill to the grocery store, afterwards we checked out an ice cream shop they knew of, but it was closed and it looked permanent. From there we went in search of the other grocery store as they wanted butter and the first store did not carry that. 3 of us waited at a bar and had some expensive beer while Patrick went and got the butter.
Then we waited for our ride, Armando came and got us he was in a different vehicle and pointed out the other one was in the shop we drove past. Once back to the beach we took the dinghy back to the boats, and we had dinner.