Friday, June 26, 2009

Mea Culpa

Our friends and the music scene in La Cruz













Yeah, it's been a while since our last update. So ...we spent all spring of this year in La Cruz just hanging out playing music and visiting with all our friends. Our local friends, Sandra and Tito, whom we’ve known for ten years opened a taco stand so we made sure that we went there for dinner a few times a week. The tacos are only nine pesos, about 65 cents each. They’re so big that three is plenty for dinner. Bill played blues harmonica with a local band every Wednesday night and played blues guitar every Tuesday at an open mic.

The exchange rate for the peso jumped up to 15.50, a 50% increase from last year so we decided to buy a new outboard. We chose a 9.9 hp Mercury two-cycle and paid only $2450 US. In addition, it was delivered right to the dinghy dock at the marina. It is quite a change from our 5 hp Mercury. We can cruise at 16 knots and plane three adults.
The marina at La Cruz is mostly finished and they have hired some new management. The old management made a lot of public relations mistakes which caused a lot of cruisers to avoid the marina. Now, they have a free dinghy dock, garbage collection, fuel dock, (without services charges) and are offering reduced and special slip rates. A nice change from last season when they were charging $10 US for the dinghy dock.

We left La Cruz bound for La Paz in early May. When we arrived we received an email that Bills mother had a stroke so we booked a flight to Tijuana and picked up a car in San Diego and drove to San Francisco. Bills’ entire family came to be with her. The whole family has not been together for over 20 years. She is now recuperating in a rehabilitation center in Vallejo so we returned to the boat a week later. It’s been a long time since we were in the States. We were surprised how expensive everything has become.

After returning to La Paz we day sailed up to Santa Rosalia where Jean could take the bus up to San Diego to pick up our 9 year-old granddaughter, Courtney, to spend a month with us. Our engine fresh water pump failed just outside Rosalia so she also had to bring back a new pump. We sailed out to our favorite island, San Marcos, and spent a nice week snorkeling and towing Courtney behind the dinghy on our new inner tube thingy. On our way back, wouldn’t you know it, the engine heat exchanger corroded through so now Jean has to bus back up to San Diego and pick up a replacement. Our list of failures continues to grow and grow! Some more things that didn’t make the previous list:

** Toshiba computer eats its’ system board
** Kodak digital camera fails
** Wind point isn’t pointing
** Bar-b-que falls off the stern rail
** Switch for GPS falls to pieces
** Engine thermostat fails
** Engine fresh water pump fails
** Heat exchanger fails
** Dinghy foot pump stops pumping
** Water maker membrane fails (makes salt water out of salt water)
** Storage bags for inflatable kayaks fall apart
** Zipper for dodger falls apart
** One fire extinguisher goes off accidentally (kind of messy)
** Three hand rails have cracked welds
** A solar light falls overboard
** Water maker motor fills with water and corrodes

Well, after ten years of hard cruising things do wear out, (but all at once? )

We plan on spending the forth-of-July down in Bahia Conception where they have a gathering of boats for a day-long eat-drink-swim-sunburn-party event. One of the local ex-pats supplies all the hot dogs and everyone else fills in what is needed. OK I'll try and update a little more often.....

3 comments:

John Bravender said...

Thanks for the update! Great to hear what you are up to. We're doing good, and so is Friday. We moved down to the 800 row in Ala Wai as a transient, so we'd be here when the Transpac boats start arriving. Mike is racing in it this year on ADDICTION. If you want, you can follow their progress at:

http://addictiontranspac09.blogspot.com/

Keep the updates coming! We love hearing about your exploits!

Bill and Alice Johnson said...

Good to read of all your recent events. I hope you have a chance to look at our blog update, as well. I am only two weeks away from flying back to Panama City. Poor Bill has been buffeted about by storms since I left on June 24. One knocked the anchor light mast over and the last one caused the anchor to drag. He saved the boat, but a nearby boat went on the rocks. I will send you photos... love your slideshow!!!

SV Andalucia, Steve Hollen said...

Got your note on our Blog and we have a lot more on our Irwing 37 but don't have an address for you.
We will see you in La Cruz after the first as we are doing the HA-HA again (well trying to finish) this year and will head south to your area in Dec.