Saturday January 8, 2022, Paradise Village to the Anchorage at La Cruz

Up early, Reneé was up at 6 am to start breakfast, and Darcy was already up and about. After breakfast, we used Portals of Prayer for our devotions as a group. Then Reneé took them for a walk around the grounds here, and I started filling the water tank. With 4 of us taking showers etc. and NO tank level gauge, I really don’t want to run out of water.

It took an hour almost exactly to fill the tank, by then everyone was back from their walk and after groceries were put away, we left Paradise village. We motored out and across to the anchorage. Dave was feeling a bit sea sick, and went down to take a nap, I texted Mike and got the weather that said mid afternoon the wind would be in the teens and quiet overnight, so we lazed around the anchorage when we got there then went sailing around 2:30. After sailing back to the anchorage and then got the dinghy down and went into town. Dinner and dancing at the Tree house, then back to the boat in the dark.  Tomorrow will be an adventure!

Whales!
More Whales!
Still More Whales!
Dave and Darcy on the back seat.
Out for dinner

Friday January 7, 2022, Paradise Village

Up at normal time, breakfast, the net and bible reading. Reneé will take the laundry in and I am going to run the water maker to top off the water tank. I will also clean the bathrooms, and straighten up things like computers and electronics. This morning, we refilled our daily pill containers. I took the bus to the Airport, a very easy ride and a short walk from the stop to the airport.

Of  course their flight was delayed, so I got a beer and waited for awhile. Eventually we got together and got a cab ride back to the boat. It is interesting that the cab companies (maybe with some intervention) have come up with a fairly simple plan. The fares are based on zones, and the “official” cabs all get used in sequence, and the way it works, for example our ride, is your pick a guy standing in the crowd with an “authorized taxi” sign, and he gets you into the next available car. I don’t know if they get paid or if they only get tips, but I tip this guy. When we fly in, this guy is typically shortly after customs and he helps with the luggage. In this case, it was only across the sidewalk. Anyway the fare was 380 pesos or $25 US. (It is important to note that the conversion rate for pesos to USD is about 20 pesos to the dollar. This means there is about 120 pesos premium to pay with dollars. This is about $6 extra to use the dollars. $19 if you pay with pesos, $25 if you pay with dollars. The fare is paid either inside at the counter or as the driver leaves the airport you pay at the gate. The money does not stay with the driver. I give the taxi driver a tip at the end of the ride. Uber and InDriver rides are not an option to or from the airport. In any case, we got back to the boat and moved them Dave and Darcy Traut from Cedar Rapids into the boat.

No pictures today.

 

Thursday January 6, 2022, Paradise Village

Up at 7 and busy. Breakfast and the net, then cleaning and organizing. We moved some odds and ends (spinnaker, canopy, sides of the canopy and dehumidifier) to a friends boat. This will make it easier with friends aboard. More cleaning after lunch and the Bible reading. I went out and got a hair cut. We are clearly in the expensive part of “town” 520 pesos, or about $25.36!  That includes a beard trim. This is certainly in the more expensive range of prices I have paid for a haircut and beard trim. This afternoon we are headed to the yacht club for happy hour with friends who are members. When we got back we had dinner then watched a movie. Another great day.

No pictures today.

Wednesday January 5, 2022, La Cruz to Paradise Village

Up and about by 8 or so. Breakfast and the net then read the Bible for the day. Reneé will walk over and check us out of the marina. Today we will be moving over to Paradise Village.

So, the crew from the sail shop came down and replaced our furling line for the main sail. The one they had given us was too small in diameter, so it did not “catch” in the self tailing winch. Then we motored across to Paradise Village. We pumped out the holding tank on the way. After we tied up, Reneé walked up and checked us in and I worked on the chart plotter trying to get the AIS (Automatic Identification System to work. After about an hour of screwing around, Reneé got back and her card key had not worked so she had to get that exchanged, and I had about 1/2 of the problem with the AIS solved. Unfortunately it required reseting the chart plotters (both of them) to factory settings and then resetting the various settings to the same (or nearly) as they had been. End result the chart plotter at the Nav Station (inside the boat) displays the other boats as a solid triangle. The chart plotter at the Helm (at the wheel on deck) displays the other boats as a blinking triangle. I also had to rebuild all the displays as the “reset” took all that stuff away, as well as all the saved waypoints, tracks (where we have been) and routes (planned directions). Oh well.

Paradise Village from the boat

Tuesday January 4, 2022, La Cruz

Up at 7 and laid around until almost 8:30, got up and listened to the net and had breakfast and then Reneé went to the store. I was waiting for someone to do something for the sails and lines, and ran the water maker to fill the tank. I will still run it Thursday (or maybe Friday) as we have guests coming Friday.

Reneé had a hard time find a ride back from the store (she was on the wrong side of the road to get a cab, or the bus, and while Uber works well in the states, few drivers here are using the system. The new app is called InDriver, the difference is that the driver doesn’t get paid by the app, rather at the end of the ride you give them cash. Apparently, the drivers have been having a hard time getting the money from Uber, so they are opting out of the system.
While I was waiting for the water tank to get full, I defrosted the freezer, which seems to help in it getting cold. When Reneé finally got a ride, it was on a bus, so she asked me to meet her at the bus stop with the wagon to bring the heavy stuff back to the boat. 

No pictures today.