Happy December everyone. It is going to be a busy month for us. Well at least the first part of the month. As you know we arrived in La Paz to blue skies and 80+ degrees!!! It feels soooo much better now than it did when we were here last.
Monday morning on the 1st we loaded up the shopping cart provided by the marina for those of us who have either heavy things or supplies to bring from our boats to the parking lot. I’m really glad we have the cart as it would have been a bear trying to get 4, 6 cell batteries to the jeep. After loading them in the jeep we took off for the Quaker State store to exchange the batteries with new ones. Once there we found they had what we needed so Dave went to pay for them while I showed the guy where the jeep was to have him load them for me. Well Dave motioned for me to come into the store because I was just waiting for him by the jeep. When I got into the store he said that his bank card had been declined. WHAT????? So he asked me to give the lady my card to try. Nope! Mine didn’t work either! So it was good we had enough pesos with us to pay cash. Well Dave made a call to the bank to see what was going on. We have had trouble with Key Bank since we have been down in Mexico, and we thought we had it all taken care of, with no restrictions on our cards, and we did for 2-3 years. Now we are experiencing trouble again. Dave was very pissed and talked to the higher ups in the bank and explained that we live in Mexico about 9 months out of the year and we need our cards to work in the stores as well as the ATMs down here. They gave him a song and dance about having security and all that so in the end, Dave got it taken care of and all is good now. Or so we thought.
After getting that squared away, we went to see Mike, our boat broker, but he wasn’t in. We wanted to ask him about the guy who is supposed to wash the boat. It sure didn’t look like he had washed it. He (Diego) is supposed to wash the boat on the 1st and 15th of every month. Cindy, the receptionist at the office, said he should be out to the boat today so we said we will wait to see if he shows up. Dave wanted to ask Mike about the zincs as the diver, Henry, comes into the brokerage after a job and gives them the breakdown of what was done which includes changing the zincs and then they pay him. Henry thought it was strange the zincs were almost gone. We will have to wait and talk to Mike later. We told Cindy we would give her more money to put in the safe for Henry, the diver, and Diego, the boat washer, but would come back in the morning as we had a problem with the bank, using our cards. So after that we left the office and stopped at Soriana grocery store to pick up some baking soda. We need it to clean the terminals for the batteries. Well not realizing it until we got back to the boat-----instead of baking soda I bought baking powder!!!! Ugh!!!!! I didn’t even realize it was the wrong thing. Wow!!!! Am I losing it or what!!! So I looked for baking soda on the boat as we did have some at one time but didn’t find any until I looked under the sink in the guest bathroom. There was a zip lock bag that had what looked like baking soda in it so I tasted it and it tasted like baking soda so I didn’t have to go back to the store. We did have a huge bag of baking soda on the boat when we were in Santa Rosalia for the man that washed our boat to use. It was the only thing that took the bird poop off the deck. But I remember he used up all but what was left in the zip lock bag so I got lucky. Now I have extra baking powder to take home. Oh yay!! The new batteries are in and all systems are a go!!!!! We have lights, refrigeration, the heads work and the stove works. Life is good!!!
Dave talked to Kenney at the boat yard connected to the marina today and he said he might not be able to get us hauled out until Thursday. We said that was fine. We have to leave and go back to Bahia on the 10th to be home for when the property land lord comes to visit. We need to find out if the land lease is going to increase. He, Rafael, won’t give those of us who lease the land from him a contract because he said in Mexico it doesn’t really mean anything which is true. So it is his word and a handshake like what happened years ago. So without a contract we don’t know how much it will be from year to year. If it goes up and the boat hasn’t sold by March, we may have a problem. We will need to discuss that with him. That’s why we need to be home.
Diego, our boat washer, was cleaning a boat at the marina when we got back so we said hola and he said he would be down to clean our boat when he was done with the one he was working on now. Yahoo!!!
It was in the afternoon when he finally got a chance to wash the boat and boy did he do a fantastic job!!!! He wiped down all the stainless steel and it looks so much better. The guy who washed our boat in Santa Rosalia didn’t wipe down the stainless steel all the time so it rusted pretty badly. But since we have been here in La Paz it has been looking great. When Diego finished with the boat Dave asked him how much he charged to wax the deck and cockpit areas. He said 300 pesos which is cheap for a 46 foot boat. So we asked when he could come and do that and he said tomorrow. So he should be at the boat around 8:30am. We have been talking about waxing the boat for years now, and Dave did do some, but all of the shiny areas needed it bad.
Dave was successful in getting in contact with a new canvas maker and made an appointment to have him come out tomorrow around 1:00pm. The other canvas guy is too hard to get a hold of plus he is slow and unreliable in finishing a job. So we decided to go with someone else. We will get a quote from the new guy and see if it is doable.
Before we had left to go to the Marine Broker’s office, Diego showed up and started waxing. We told him we were going to be gone for about an hour and would be back. So off we went to the Marine broker’s office and gave Cindy enough money to cover the diver and the boat washer until we come down again. Then we stopped at a convenient store to pick up some laundry detergent and headed back to the marina. Diego was still waxing away and it was looking nice. He is a hard worker and he is young!!!! I couldn’t have done the whole boat in one day! You know it is that AGE thing going on!!! Ha! I got the dirty clothes from the boat and my tokens for the machines and headed to the laundry room. I brought down laundry from the house so there was a lot to do. I started the laundry and went upstairs by the pool where there is a smooth wood deck, laid my towel down and started my exercises. When I was finished Dave said he had to go to Home Depot for tape, and paint rollers as we are going to put another coat of gray paint on the cockpit floor and also do some other areas. Then he needed to go to Auto Zone to get more wax because Diego was running out. I was still waiting for clothes to be washed and dried when Dave returned and he was pissed!!!! His bank card didn’t work at Home Depot!!! Good thing he had pesos with him. So he called the bank again and really read them the riot act and told them they needed to get it straightened out or we would take our business elsewhere, which isn’t a lie as when the boat sells we will drop Key Bank and go with the Credit Union. The only reason we went with Key Bank in the first place was because that is where the loan for the boat was set up. After talking to about 3 or 4 people they finally got the message and said it should all be good now. We sure hope so!!!!
It took me a couple hours to do laundry but that was good as I brought a book with me to read while I waited. Diego had finished waxing the boat and 1:00pm came and went and no canvas guy. Dave told me he called Shelly, the other boat broker, and asked if she would come down and take new pictures. The ones we took were o.k. but she is a professional at it. So about 3:00pm Shelly showed up, took pictures and talked about the boat then we mentioned that the canvas guy was supposed to show at 1 but didn’t. Well Shelly knows him so she called him and he said he would be out to see us around 5 as he got stuck at another marina doing a job. So no worries. He showed up after 4:00pm and looked at the pieces of the screening and what needed to be replaced and gave us a quote. It was of course cheaper than the other canvas guy, but we knew it probably would be as Danny, the first canvas guy, is always more expensive. So our new canvas guy took some money to help pay for materials and all the screening we had and left, only to be back on Saturday with the new pieces. We are impressed. We still have to find someone to make the back arch for the bimini we lost in the storm, but our canvas guy said he would either call Dave or send him an email of a guy he knows that does metal work.
So things are being taken care of in a timely fashion which is very much to our liking,
The boat looks fantastic. She is clean and bright. Here is a picture of her without the screening up. Isn’t she a beauty?????? Shelly said that things are getting back to normal now with people looking for boats. So we aren’t giving in or up yet!!!! We still believe the boat will sell here in Mexico.
After the canvas man left we went up to the small café here at the marina to have dinner. They don’t serve large dinners, just small ones like tacos, burritos, enchiladas and tostatas. Dave and I had the beef enchiladas. They give you 3 enchiladas with rice. I ate most of my rice and all but about ¾ of an enchilada and just couldn’t finish so Dave said he would eat my enchilada. When we were finished we paid and I stopped at the restroom and then we headed for the boat. I changed into something comfortable and got my computer set up and started emailing and all of a sudden I got some really bad intestinal cramps and pains. I had to go to the head on the boat. I don’t know what was going on but I was sweating up a storm (which now I need another shower) and I even felt like I was going to vomit. Oooh I didn’t feel good. So is this what food poisoning is like????? Well I don’t think it was food poisoning as it doesn’t come on that quickly. Once I did some business I was feeling better and the sweats went away. I didn’t vomit and when I was done I took a couple gas relief pills which did the trick. Boy----something I ate didn’t agree with me. But I am better now. Whew!!!! That wasn’t fun at all!!!!
So Dave and I are just working on our computers and chillin. Tomorrow we tape off the areas we are painting and I will clean some areas of the dodger and stainless steel I couldn’t clean before because the windshield and side screens were attached.
Another beautiful day in paradise. After coffee and a bowl of cereal, I started to tape off the areas we are going to paint. Dave helped some but he has trouble doing it because his fingers are so big. I zipped right along and he ended up letting me do the taping while he did other things that needed to be taken care of. It was getting pretty hot in the cockpit as I was taping and I was sweating a bunch. Then a breeze came up and all was much better. It really makes a big difference when the curtains are around the cockpit. The canvas man took them last night so he can work with them in repairing and replacing screening and zippers and snaps. Dave was able to help me finish up the taping and then we went down below out of the sun and drink some water and cool off. We had lunch and then went to Walmart to pick up some food supplies and other things I needed to get to take back with us to the house. We came back to the boat and Dave was checking the water level in the batteries and I was putting the groceries away when we got a phone call. It was Shelly, the boat broker wanting to show the boat. So we hurried up and straightened up the boat and finished what we were doing and waited for them to show up. It was a father and daughter that came to check out the boat. They live in Cabo San Lucas and have had boats before and the daughter works on a fish processing boat in Alaska during that season. We pointed out a few things and answered any questions and let Shelly show the boat. The daughter seemed really interested but who knows. The dad is trying to selling a condo in Cabo and wants to buy a boat and live on it. So we shall see what happens. Things are looking up. The metal worker man showed up at 5:00pm to give us a quote on making a new bow for the bimini. It was good so he took the one we have with him so he can get the right dimensions and would be back with the canvas guy. Things are progressing nicely!! So we had a busy and productive day. Dave checked with Kenny today to see when we will be hauled out and he is waiting for a catamaran to leave so we can take its place. He is done as far as the boat yard work goes but he has been dilly dallying around taking advantage of being out of the water to do other projects and he is holding up progress for the yard. So hopefully the marina will let him know he needs to leave as there are jobs lined up. So we should know tomorrow whether we will be hauled out or not. They can only splash boats and haul them out between 9:00-11:00am due to the tides. We are hoping we can get in the yard tomorrow as time is getting short for us to be here. So we shall see.
We had dinner at the little café here at the marina and I had quesadillas and Dave had Chicken enchiladas. I didn’t want a repeat of last night so I knew the quesadillas were a safe bet!!! After dinner we came back to the boat and called it a night.
We were all ready to get hauled out this morning and got disappointed as the people in the catamaran in the boat yard still need to stay another day. Dave found out from them that in April or May their boat was broken into and a lot of things were stolen and they broke the front hatch getting below and made a mess. They want nothing more than to be in the water again so we will try again tomorrow and hopefully we will have success.
Today was a non eventful day. I went for a walk and then came back and stretched and the canvas man AND the metal worker man came this morning. The bow for the bimini was fitted and the bimini was put in place. So we have ½ of the project completed. The canvas man should be out again tomorrow to put in the rest of it. Here are some pictures of it so far. I am very impressed with his work and timeliness of the job. It is awesome.
I finished the book I was reading and Dave took a nap this afternoon. It was a little breezy today. A little stronger than yesterday and even with the hatches open we still didn’t get a good air flow through the boat as we have a large tour boat alongside us that blocks the wind. We should be thankful as that boat will protect ours if we get westerly winds.
We had dinner at the marina café again tonight and they had fish as the special. So we had that and it was good.
All the quotes have been turned in to the insurance company so now they can send the rest of the money to cover what is left to be done. We have the windshield for the dodger to get done in January. The canvas guy closes down from December 23 until January 2. We will be back in January.
Today was the day we got hauled out. It was touch and go for a while in the morning. A sailboat was to be launched this morning at 9:00am but that time came and went. The man that runs the lift hadn’t come to work yet and everyone was getting a bit concerned and miffed. They had a sailboat and catamaran to launch and then it would be our turn to be hauled out. Time was ticking and pretty soon it was going on 10:30am. Pretty soon I heard the lift engine and looked out from our boat to see that they were getting the sailboat ready to launch. They had a short time frame to get boats in and out of the water due to the tide so it was going to be close to get us out, if they can. The sailboat went in without a hitch and then it took a while for them to get the catamaran lifted on the straps and down to the water. I waited and kept checking to see if progress was being made and pretty soon I hear the lift start up and it is moving. Yay!!!! I started the boat engine, turned off all AC and DC in the boat and unhooked the power cord. Then I turned off the dock water which feeds through our hose to the boat so we have running water as opposed to using water out of our water tanks. Then I went down below and turned on the faucet to the sink and bled the water pressure out of the line. Then went back outside and unhooked the hose from the dock, then the boat and drained the hose and coiled it and put it on the boat. I also coiled the electrical cord and put that on the boat too. I went down below and closed the seacock for the sink drain. Then I turned on the instruments so Dave would know the depth when we were moving the boat to the lift. He was up at the yard watching progress made and then went and paid our haul out bill. When he got to the boat we had to wait a bit because the catamaran was having some difficulty getting off the lift straps. We were chomping at the bit as the tide was going to turn soon and then we wouldn’t have enough water under our keel to make it to the lift. Pretty soon the catamaran was backing out from where the lift was. The guys had to undo the straps underneath the cat because they were getting hung up somehow. Once the catamaran was on its way to their slip, the guys told us we could come over. The lift was positioned just across from where our slip is so we didn’t have far to go. We had to jockey around for a few minutes so they could get the straps back in place and ready for us. Finally it was a go and we backed in to the space under the lift. Then it was getting the straps in the right place so as not to damage the knot meter under the bow or damage the shaft at the aft of the boat. It took a little bit to get it right and then we were lifted to the sky. Well not exactly but that is how it felt. Then we were taken to the yard and placed where the boat would be for a couple days while being worked on. Once everything was in position and secured the boat was lowered onto the pedestals and secured then the straps were lowered and we were done. The lift was done for the day so it went back to its resting place in the marina. Now it was time to get the bottom pressure washed. While that was being prepared for I coiled up all the lines on the deck and brought them to the cockpit. We won’t be staying on the boat so I want everything off the deck and stowed. The electrical cord and hose was stowed in the outside lockers and the lines were taken below and put on the guest bed. Dave was under the boat inspecting and I went down and took a look. We found some barnacles and sea critters but for the most part the bottom looked good. The diver had just cleaned it so it should have. After the pressure washing was finished, Dave called up to me to come down and look at something. I climbed down the ladder and he pointed out that the keel had paint missing on it. That is not good considering it was just painted in April/May time frame of this year. The yard we used didn’t do a very good job in either sanding it and/or painting it. They may have watered down the paint or used a cheap brand. We were not happy campers. Kenny, the man that is going to paint the scuff mark on our boat said it wasn’t good work. He offered to paint it for us (the whole bottom because in another year it will need to be redone) but we told him we didn’t have the money right now to have that done. I went back up to the boat and started packing and getting other stuff together as we were spending the next 2 days at our favorite motel, Casa Buena. While I was doing that Dave and Kenny talked and decided to have Kenny sand the keel and paint it in addition to painting the side of the boat. It was pretty bad. I don’t know if you can really make out the unpainted parts on the keel, so you may have to look closely. I also took pictures from inside the boat yard of where the scuff mark is and the view of the marina we leave the boat in.
Kenny started to work sanding and I lowered our overnight bags and other things we were taking with us down to Dave and the jeep. He had brought the jeep into the yard and parked it by the boat. I tied a line onto the items we were taking and lowered them to Dave. It was much easier then taking them down a ladder! Shelly showed up to take pictures of the bottom for advertising purposes, as Dave had called her because she wanted to do that when we got in the yard. So with all of that done, we said goodbye to Kenny and told him we would see him tomorrow. We left and went to the motel and got a room. It is such a neat place. It is a bed and breakfast actually. We met some people that are staying here and talked for a while then it was time for me to take a shower. After my shower, Dave had his and then we went walked to our favorite restaurant, ‘Banditos’. I had a pork chimichunga and Dave had ribs. After dinner we walked back to the B&B and watched some T.V. in the common room and around 10:00pm headed to our room. It was a very productive day. Tomorrow we paint!!!!
We had coffee and a muffin then we took off for the boat. We have every intention of painting today but that all got changed when the canvas man showed up. We got to the boat around 8:00 and Kenny was already working on the keel. We climbed the ladder to the cockpit and I swept all the areas down that we were going to paint and then took a damp cloth to it all to get the dust off. Then we waited. Dave finally called the canvas guy and he said he would be out at noon. So we took off and went to the store and did a couple errands and came back to the boat to wait for the canvas guy. It was already afternoon when he showed up and we couldn’t paint until he finished with the canvas as he needed to step on the areas we needed to paint.
I waited off the boat to stay out of the way. I had a boat cushion to sit on and I sat in the shade under a sailboat that was in the yard and watched progress being made. After the canvas guy arrived and was putting screens back on and such, Dave noticed we needed to get some double back tape. So he and I went to Home Depot and got some and came back to the boat. I resumed my spot in the shade and Dave went to the cockpit to put on a rubber railing that holds part of the screen that attaches to the dodger. So I watched these two guys work around each other. It was getting to be 3:00pm so the canvas guy went home and we put things away and went back to the B&B. The canvas guy will be back on Monday to finish. He has some adjusting of the bimini to do. Needless to say we didn’t get any painting done today. We will do it tomorrow. We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner so we ended up back at Banditos. I had a really tender juicy chicken sandwich and Dave had a big hamburger. We walked from the B&B to the restaurant and back again. It was good to have the walk after we ate because we really needed to shake down the food. It was pretty quiet back at the B&B. Dave and another guest watched football while I messed around on my computer. Then it was bed time.
It was breezy this morning but it was nice to sit outside our room and drink my coffee. It’s pretty peaceful here.
We went down to the boat and Kenny was there already painting the keel. We went topside to start preparing to paint. I wiped the taped off areas again and Dave opened the can of paint and prepared to paint. It didn’t take very long at all. We were wondering if we would have enough paint. All areas were painted now except for the very back and the cockpit floor which was to receive a second coat. I gathered all of our things that we needed and got off the boat and left Dave to finish the painting. As I was just milling about, I heard Dave speak the language of pissed off. You know ^%@**!! I asked him what was the matter and he didn’t answer me at first. Then he said he stepped back onto the paint can and spilled the paint on areas other than what was supposed to be painted. It dries quickly so he was not a happy camper. He made the best of the situation and painted what he had to and then got down off the ladder and found some paint remover in Kenny’s shop to try and get the spilled paint off the places that weren’t supposed to be painted. He also had to get paint off him as well. He wasn’t able to get all of the paint cleaned up as we didn’t want to use up Kenny’s entire remover. We will do that maybe tomorrow or when we can. He was so mad at himself for making the mess but when you are working in a small area and trying to avoid touching the areas you have already painted, it just happens. No worries. We need to touch up a few little areas but nothing major. We have just enough paint left to do that. We got things cleaned up and left. We headed for the B&B but stopped at the Similares pharmacy to pick up my B complex pain pills. Then we went back to the B&B and didn’t do much. It was kind of boring. We read, I played some games on my computer, Dave watched a little football and after a while I went back to the room and took a nap. It wasn’t a long one and Dave wanted to go back to the boat yard to see if Kenny painted the side of the boat. It was pretty breezy and he was waiting for the wind to die down. Well he did get a chance to paint it and it looks good. It was still drying so it hadn’t been that long since he sprayed it. Kenny was gone for the day so we will have to come back in the morning to see if he is putting another coat of paint on it and then when it dries he will have to buff it. So we don’t know if we will be back in the water tomorrow or not. In the morning we will pack up like we are leaving, go down to the boat yard and see what Kenny has to say, then if we are not going in the water we will stay another night at the B&B. On our way back from the boat yard this afternoon, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up dinner. We got fried chicken and some macaroni salad. I read some more of my book then socialized with the people that were hanging around. Later we had our dinner of chicken and salad, visited some more than as Dave was chatting with another man, I went to our room and started to work on this blog. Then it was wine time and later we will go back to the common area and watch some T.V. until we get tired. Exciting huh??!
Time out!!!! I must make a correction from the November blog. I had said that the Americans were only giving 10% of what they earned from the Christmas arts and craft show, to the museum. Well I found out that the Mexican gals did the same. So the museum made some good money.
Now----continuing on with the rest of the story. We went back to the boat yard to see if the painting was done and we found that the part that was painted yesterday had been sanded down again. We talked to Kenny and he said he wasn’t happy with the results and it was so windy yesterday that it was hard to paint. He is spraying the paint on. So we won’t be splashed today. The wind is very calm today so I think they will have better luck with painting. Kenny was able to get some help, as yesterday he was all by himself. So things should go well today. While Kenny was prepping to paint again, Dave and I climbed the ladder to the cockpit and started taking the tape from around the areas we put a second coat on. It looks pretty good.
Of course there is some touching up to do but for the most part we did a great job. The canvas guy came and took all of the screens and bimini so he could take it to his shop and re-sew all the seams with UV thread and he had to make the starboard (right) side of the bimini just a little longer. We waited all day for the metal guy to show up because he needs to adjust the port (left) side of the bow that fits into the bimini. It is about an inch too long. Dave spent a lot of time walking around and calling our canvas guy so he could contact the metal guy, as we didn’t have his phone number. During all this I washed clothes. Around 2:00pm we finally heard that the metal guy won’t be out until tomorrow morning. He will come with the canvas guy. So we should get all issues taken care of tomorrow. Before we left, Kenny had put 3 coats of paint on the side where it had been rubbed off from the hurricane and it looks really good. You can’t tell that color was added. It looks professional.
After leaving the boat yard we went to Home Depot to pick up 2 drill bits and some double stick tape. Dave broke 2 of Kenny’s drill bits so he was replacing them. The tape is so Kenny can tape sandpaper to his sander. We couldn’t find the sandpaper that already had the sticky back. So we improvised. Then it was back to the boat yard again to see if Kenny was still there and he was so we delivered the goods and left. We should be able to get back in the water tomorrow. Yay!!! We have to go to the Comex store tomorrow to pick up some paint remover to clean up our foopahs!!! On the way back to the B&B we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a couple Gatorade drinks, a can of baked beans and a bottle of wine. The beans are to go with the leftover chicken we had last night. Once at the B&B we stopped in and said hi to those who were hanging around and then I went to our room and took a shower. Then it was cocktail time. Not long after that it was dinner time and I washed the dishes and Dave went to watch football in the common area. So that is our thrilling day.
We checked out of the B&B this morning and headed for the boat yard. On the way to the yard we stopped at a Comex store that sells paint and things related to painting. Dave found and bought a bottle of paint remover and then we headed to the boat yard. Hugo, (pronounced oogo) who is working for Kenny, did the paint job and was hard at work. It looks really nice.
We checked out the paint job we did and have some touching up to do and if we have time today we will do that, otherwise we will wait until January when we come back.
Hugo was still working on waxing and buffing out the paint job so we had to wait about an hour and a half before they could put us back in the water. So we went to the Marina Café and had breakfast. Señora, Lupita that runs the café is such a sweet lady. She is having some family problems and even though we don’t fully understand each other, hugs and kisses work just fine. I have a new friend. She is a great cook and it is fun to treat ourselves to breakfast once in a while. She does a good business because there is a Cross Training fitness gym nearby which gives her a lot of business. So life is good for her that way. She works from 8 until 4 and then they are closed for an hour and then her daughter works from 5-9. We returned to the boat and put the lines on the boat preparing to be splashed this morning. The painting on the hull was finished and we had to wait a little bit for it to dry. The lift came and got the straps all situated under the hull of the boat and then lifted the boat a little so they could paint the hull where solution ran down. When that was done we were on our way to be lowered into the water. Everything worked like clockwork and before we knew it we were in the water and back in our slip. There was just a little breeze today so it wasn’t difficult to get into the slip. Now we are tied up and secure. The canvas man, Henaro is supposed to come and bring the finished canvas to put on. Also, Ernesto, the metal worker is supposed to show up also to adjust the length on bow for the bimini. While I was waiting for the guys to show up and start working, I took the paint off the areas where paint shouldn’t have been. Still Henaro hadn’t shown up yet. Ernesto did show up and he expected Henaro to be there so he could see the whole thing put together, but no such luck. Ernest had other jobs to do so he went ahead and marked a line on the bow where he needs to make the cut and took the bow with him to the shop to get it cut. He would return later that afternoon. After Ernest left shortly after that Henaro showed up with the bimini and side screens. I was just leaving for Sam’s club, a small costco, to get a few items to take back to the house. That way I was out of the way and I got to do some shopping. After returning from my shopping the canvas was in place and it looked nice. All we needed now was the bow to complete the work. Sure enough, Ernesto showed up and put the bow in place. It looked good. He didn’t charge us as he said he should have taken measurements where the hardware was attached to the stainless steel arch. After Ernesto left Dave started to examine the bimini and noticed something wasn’t right. It was still sloping to one side where it was looser on one side than the other. So with some measuring, we noted there still needed to have some more cut off of the bow. Dave went to the boat yard to catch Kenny before going home to see if he had a hacksaw. When Dave came back he had a hacksaw, but it belonged to the other guy that was working on his boat in the yard. Kenny didn’t have one. So Dave and I proceeded to loosen the bimini so we could get the bow out of the holder and while I held the bow, Dave did the sawing. We did it and put it all back together and wahlah!!!!! It fits perfectly and looks so much better. We returned the hacksaw and we were done for the day. We are leaving in the morning to come back home so we had to get it done tonight. It was dusk by the time we were finished and it was time for a cocktail!!! We have made a lot of progress in the last 4 days and Wave Sweeper is looking good. Here is a picture of the side of the boat where it had been repainted. Looks like new huh????! We are very pleased with the work.
Today the 3rd is our grandsons birthday!!!!! Happy Birthday Sam! He is 17!
It is Wednesday so we have packed up and getting the boat closed up. We went up to the Marina Café and had coffee and breakfast. There were some things we had to do before we could leave and we finally got to leave around 10:30am. We were hoping to leave an hour earlier, but it didn’t work out. Today is a short drive (5 hours) to Loreto. We made reservations at the same motel we stayed in when we headed down to La Paz. We got a room upstairs which is better as it should be quieter. No rooms above ours so no one will be walking on our heads late at night or early in the morning and hopefully no barking dogs. Our room is nice and
comfortable. Dave just asked the burning question! What’s for dinner? There is a convenient store across the street so we will walk over there to see what they have. They had nothing in the way of dinner. So we got directions to a place called Super Burro which serves large stuffed potatoes and also really big burritos. We walked about 3 or 4 blocks and couldn’t find it. We started heading back to the main street when we saw the sign. However, they were closed. They are closed on Wednesdays. Bummer. So now we had to walk around trying to find somewhere to eat. He headed back toward the motel and saw a place that had a menu outside with seating outside too. It looked good and they had super burros so we both ordered one. It was really good and we ate the whole thing!!! After dinner we walked back to the motel where I took a shower and Dave settled in watching TV. We watched TV for a while and then it was lights out.
We had a better night’s sleep this time. No barking dogs or any shuffling or pounding of shoes on our head from the people upstairs (because there weren’t any). We got up and packed and went down to the café to have breakfast. Then we checked out and drove across the street to the gas station and filled up the gas tank. There was a police officer standing guard outside the gate of the motel and we wondered what that was all about. Dave said that on one of his trips to the jeep, he saw a lady and what appeared to be her daughter all dressed up in evening gowns going to their room. So maybe it was someone who was important enough to be guarded. Hmmmm!!! Interesting! Well we are on the road again and heading for home. It will take us 7 hours.
It is good to be back home and sleeping in our own bed. Now on with daily life in Bahia. Now that we have taken care of the boat stuff I can finally start my Christmas shopping for the grandsons. We can’t afford to buy for everyone so we just buy for the grandboys! With that project taken care of I can relax now. I got our fake $2.00 Christmas tree, the one I bought in Santa Cruz last summer, and put it together and decorated it. It had tiny lights on it but I can’t use them due to them drawing more current than we can manage. So I decided to unplug those lights and put small LED colored lights on it I had. It’s a skinny 4 ft tree but when decorated it doesn’t look too bad.
I had a lot of ornaments left over from the Arts and Craft show I made, so they went on the tree. I put our stockings up and decorated with the small amount of Christmas stuff I have and walla!!!! We are decorated for Christmas.
We had a quiet Christmas and for the first time since we left to go cruising we exchanged gifts. I bought a craft bag for me at the Art and Crafts show and gave it to Dave to give to me on Christmas. I got him a T-shirt that has a Whale Shark on the front, from the museum. It was a good day and it was sunny and warm. I drove the truck to just the other side of what we call the Red Mountain, which I have hiked before, and found a nice sandy beach. I had to walk a ways from the truck to the beach as there was an arroyo that was not passable. Once on the beach I started to see starfish on and in the sand. The more I looked the more I saw. I had a bag full by the time I was ready to leave. I have some craft ideas for these starfish. Then I found a lot of sea glass and to my surprise found one royal blue piece of glass which is unusual. So I had a great morning and got some exercise as well. When I got back to the house I washed the starfish and laid them out to dry in the sun. Then I did some reading and crocheting. I’m still working on queen size afghan I am making for Eian, our grandson.
The weather is turning cooler and the wind is picking up so we have been wearing jeans and sweatshirts. It will stay this way until toward the end of February. We are very fortunate that we have a short winter season here.
We were invited to go to a New Years Eve dinner in town. We went and there were several people there that we knew and some new ones we hadn’t met. After dinner we came home. There was a party in town, but because it was windy and cold we skipped it. We were hoping to have a fire tonight and invited people to come, but it turned out too windy. Dave and I did stay up until midnight and then we wished each other a Happy New Year and went to bed.
and have priced all my items for the art show and today, the last day of March, I drove to town, giving Brienda a ride so she could make a phone call and I can set up my table for the show tomorrow. The show is for 5 days and will end the day after Easter. I wasn’t able to be in the art show last year due to having to move the boat from Santa Rosalia to La Paz. There are only 5 American and about 4 Mexican artists in the show. Hopefully we will get some tourists going through town as this is a very big holiday season for the Mexican culture. We shall see.
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