Is there anyone still following this?  Please respond if so.  I think most of you know parts of the story since the last post.

It has been many years since I posted here.  A lot of water under the keel since then.  Of most note is that Cindy passed away in 2017 from complications of a burst appendix.  That was very devastating to me, but with God's grace I got through it.  In 2020 I married Esther, and now live most of the time in the Seattle area.  Spartan has been for sale in La Paz Mexico for the last year, some interest but no buyers.  In July I will be bringing the boat back to the United States, either to sell or to enjoy closer to "home". 

I doubt if I will start up the blog again, but I'm curious to see who is still out there.

God Bless,

Doug

Towing OPB (other people's boats)

No pictures this time, it would have been embarrassing to most of the participants.  Okay, maybe a few.  Later.  These events occurred last summer, along with most of the writing, I just never got it finished or published.

Our friend Karla, who lives on this big old wooden trawler on the end of the dock, is a Yacht Broker.  Great with people, but not much of a sailor.  She got a Mariner 32 sailboat on contract, owner had died, estate was selling, not much interest, so she put in a low offer herself and won it.

It needed some hull work, so she motored it over to the boat yard and had that done.  Bottom looks beautiful.  Insides are pretty good.  Decks?  Not so much.  But that doesn't need a boat yard, just some saws and stuff, which Karla has back at our marina.

So, they splash the boat from the yard, fire up the engine, it runs for a few minutes, and it runs out of fuel.  This is not particularly good for a diesel engine.  Mechanic friend puts in diesel, bleeds the fuel lines, tries to start it, nada.  A day and a half of nada.  Thinking bad fuel, clogged filters, something, but still nada.  So the decision is made to tow her back to our marina, so repairs can be made without extra yard fees.

We volunteer our dinghy and outboard.  Have we done this before?  No, but we had been on the receiving end in the San Juan Islands when our chartered boat had a bad impeller, so we knew in theory.  Flash back to...

Our neighbor’s boat here in Ensenada, Bold Venture.  Needed to use the crane at the boat yard to re-step the mizzen mast, which had gotten broken off at some point so they shortened the mast and it needed to be set up again.  Owner was absent.  Not sure why they just didn't motor over with the inboard, but the owner hired a crew with a panga (small motor boat) to tow it over and back.  The Keystone Cops move a boat.  When we got a clue what was going on (our boat is close to danger), we were standing by with boat hook, extra lines, and fenders.  And a lot of our dock-mates are out to help fend off (self interest, and the cruisers willingness to help.  Some do it to stave off boredom).  At one point the panga driver is having problems keeping his engine going when he gets it in gear.  I yell "La linea!" (the rope).  It was wrapped around the prop of his outboard.  He said in perfect Spanish "Oh shit" (no, that's not translated). I hold his boat while he gets it untangled.  Bold Venture is drifting towards the rocks.  Captain gets his boat going, gets Bold Venture away from the rocks, get's himself attached to the side of Bold Venture, crosses himself (wish I had a video of that) and away they go.  On return they did much better.  We were still standing by.  BTW, "linea" means rope or line.  Ropa means clothes.  Don't say "tirarme la ropa", you might get a striptease. 

Back to the present...We attach the outboard to our main halyard and lower it from the aft station on to the dink.  Our outboard hasn't run since San Diego (5 months), so I have a little problem getting it going.  Have added that to our monthly to do list, getting longer by the month.  Most of the monthly to do list is handled when we are actually out of a marina.  We motor over (about 1/2 mile) and met Karla and Rob over there.  Turns our Rob the mechanic has been on the boat all morning, still hasn't gotten it running.  But he has invited a guy over to help move the boat.  I've never met this guy.  He has a better boat for the job (rigid bottom inflatable and a more powerful 18HP engine).  But he's either an idiot, or drunk, or both.  He has an ego.  Let's call him Captain Bozo.  Karla knows the guy and is not pleased, but no one is willing to send him packing.

Quick explanation.  To tow a sailboat it's normal to tie along side.  The dinghy provide propulsion, the sailboat, with it's big rudder, provides steerage. The captain of the sailboat is in command.  This is important.  We discussed ahead of time where in our marina we were going, what side we were going to tie on, was it deep enough for the tow boats, etc.  Enter Captain Bozo.

Bozo ties the bow line of his dinghy to the bow line of the sailboat.  Guess what?  His boat won't hold a straight track if the tow line is not connected to the stern of his boat. It will keep trying to turn around.  Rob the "Captain" tries to get him to run the line backwards and sit on it.  I suggest he tie a line to his stern, then realize there are three captains in this farce, and I don't need to be one of them.  We just need to do what's right.  Cindy's with me, we pull along side the sailboat, deploy fenders (new topside paint), and attache for and aft lines where we can.  Not according to Hoyle, but enough.  The wind has picked up, pushing sailboat towards other boats.  Bozo is ineffective, arguing over how the bow line needs to be attached.  We reverse engine and pull the sailboat away from the other boats and dock.  When we are far enough away, I clarify with the "Captain" that I will be providing propulsion, he will be doing the steering.  Got out of the docks, "Captain" "Bozo", and "Owner" still figuring out how to get Bozo to be effective while our 4hp dink was doing the job.  Apparently Bozo was hollering at us about our speed, which was constant.  Some sloppy waves and wakes in the bay, lots of splash in our boat.  Cindy got a bit wet but none of our auto-inflating life jackets deployed.

We got to the assigned slip, Bozo dropped off (he would have gotten popped against the dock otherwise) and became a dock hand.  We disengaged and motored back to our boat.  Showers and decompression later.

Lessons learned:
There is one Captain, and he needs to be assertive.
Everybody needs to know who the Captain is.
Talk out all aspects of the task with all participants before starting.
Tell the Bozos to go home.  Don't spare feelings for sparing boats or lives. 

Karla had another friend more familiar with the Perkins engine take a look.  It took him 10 minutes to bleed the fuel lines in the proper order and then fire it up.

Windows or not and weather!

Crazy year for weather!   We are doing well even though we did get hammered by Storm Frances which is aka the leading edge of Kayla.   Plastic wrap turned our boat into an igloo almost a month ago to remove windows for replacement.

 It stayed that way while they drilled, grinded, sanded, sprayed toxic chemical, re-sanded and resprayed because paint severely orange peeled the first time, then sanded some more to prep to insert windows.  Sealant did not set up as well as should have so some will have to be redone.   We are 5-10 degrees colder than usual so at the edge of cooperation for each of these chemicals.  We at least had the 4 long windows sealed in and the 2 front ones set in.  Then we tarped in front of the igloo for rain protection.  Then rethought about the wind-age and lowered it.  Then rethought more and moved it again as the winds were picking up.  Then they picked up and shredded the igloo portion.  During a lull we went up and rearranged the tarp to just on top of the cabin top and tied back the flapping plastic.   Next lull we tied more plastic and duck tapped even more.  This morning we repeated the duct tape.  Can you say sloooow learners????  lol  Then a friend says 'almost hurricane winds' and we go DUH!

Winds/gusts here were clocked by several boats at over 56 MPH.  I felt like we were laying sideways a few times and one sailboat in between big boats measure a 7 degree lean.  We did not measure but wind swooped down from the parking lot and over the cute little blue Bella beside us.  We got very little sleep but that was OK cause the only damage was shredded plastic wrap!  No water leaked in the unfinished windows!  Most of the other boats fared well thankfully, just various degrees of discomfort

After windows are in, we will return to grinding, etc to restore the rest of the boats deck finish.  Should be another 3-4 weeks of 2-4 guys and working on our roof before returning to 'normal.'  HA HA  Like we know what that is!!!


love to all and sleep well before Kayla catches you!  Be safe!!!

This morning's adventure

Something went "clunk" while we were making coffee.  Doug ran on deck to see if something had hit the boat, Cindy turned off one of the noise makers and was able to hear running water.  So turn off the water pressure and tear into that part of the cabin.  We discovered one of the hoses had blown off the hot water heater, probably due to a failed hose clamp. So turn off the heater and water valves, dig out the plumbing box for a new hose clamp, re-attach the hose, then power everything back on and check for leaks.  Next up?  Drain the bilge from a couple gallons of hot water.  And finish coffee.

Tsunami report

Tsunami report for Ensenada: about 4:28am this morning 2nd cat Maui reported a slight tremor on board, waking the officers who otherwise might not have noticed.  Punta Banda is good at blocking stuff from the south.

Fleas

Maui has been confined to quarters.  His crimes are:
1 Eating the marina cat's dry cat food, resulting in bladder stones which cause blood in his urine.
2. Bringing home fleas.

Since he's decimated the Brush Rabbit population, we haven't seen too many more sticktite fleas.  But he still has the rest of them, and has shared them with his older sister, who does not leave the boat.

We've been flea-combing the cats daily.  Still pulling the buggers off.

Today, I put another dose of Frontline on Maui.  The fleas started vacating the premises. I was not quick enough for two of them, so I decided he needed to vacate the premises, too, so the vacating fleas would vacate some place else. He had no problem with that.  Good news is he has been back twice for lunch and dinner. Hopefully he will not come back with scars from cat fights.  Fleas like that.  Or a belly full of dry cat food.  He was pretty full of Doug's cat chow #6 when he left.

More odds than ends

We've been trying to listen to the morning cruiser's net on VHF radio.  It's a way for the cruisers in Ensenada to communicate needs, events, and otherwise be sociable.  We hadn't heard anything in a week, had assumed that everyone had dropped off.  Doug's the net control (host) for Monday mornings, he started off, didn't hear anyone check in, so assumed no one was there and signed off.  Peter, one of our neighbours and radio experts, ran over to say something's wrong, we're all here.  Turns out the volume on the radio had gotten turned down, so everyone could hear us, but we couldn't hear them.  Doug got back on and finished the net with egg on his face, but had a good laugh at himself.  Once a bozo...

We finally got far enough down in the todo list that we pestered the guy who does higher speed internet on the docs again.  He took our information, he did program his equipment, but never let us know he had. Doug checked yesterday, saw we had signal, and now has it set up with our external antenna/signal booster and on board wifi.  Cindy can watch "Bones" again, and we don't have to go up to the office to make cheap phone calls and download updates for the devices.  It also cuts out the major part of our phone bills (data plan).  Near as we can tell, we're down to about $50US/month for unlimited internet on the boat, cell phone coverage, and unlimited phone and text between us.  We pay by the minute for outgoing calls, but a lot less expensive than our old Verizon plan.  Ya'll know you can still call us on our old US numbers, right?  Sorry, text messaging from the US still doesn't work, so we get to hear the sound of your voice.

Big shout out to our nephews and nieces.  Kyle and Shannon Monroe just gave birth to a healthy baby boy, and along Daniel and Keisha Lira celebrated third wedding anniversaries.  Getting to see them married was on Doug's mother's bucket list.  We just celebrated 26 years in May, keep the adventures coming.

Blessings to all.

Odds and Ends

Crazy busy time in Ensenada.  Three weeks ago Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto visited for National Maritime Day, so we had Navy ships, helicopters, brass bands, 21 gun salutes, the big Mexican flag, Federali military guards in addition to the regular private security, a number of road closures, and we were restricted from leaving the marina by sea or land.

Then the next weekend was the Baja 500 off road race, which started and ended right outside the entrance to the marina.  Roads were closed, crowds were huge, loud music and exhaust noise, helicopters, and Bud Lite was everywhere. We stay on the boat as much as possible during the crazy time, but we needed to provision on Friday so we braved the crowds.   Then Saturday we ran out of water on board, and the water truck couldn't get to the marina because of the traffic.  Sunday we  went to 7-11 to get a couple of 20 liter jugs until we could get more water on Monday. Yes, a cruise ship was in town, too.

About water:  In the US, the water at the docks is usually drinkable, so we used to filter it and put it in the two 100 gallon tanks on board the boat.  At Ensenada, the water on the docs comes out of a well that is not deep enough or far enough away from the ocean.  It has a high mineral (a.k.a salt) content, so we don't really want to drink it, even though it is safe to do so.  But there is a booming business in purified water here.  We call a truck, and these burly guys deliver purified water in 20 liter jugs to the boat and pour them in to our tanks.  The company is Ciel, which is owned by CocaCola.  We get about 200 liters (50 gallons) every week, which we use for drinking, cooking, and washing dishes.  Water cost about 1 peso/liter, or about 28 cents/gallon.  Showers are done on shore (with the salty water), as well as the laundry.

The towel is on this guy's head to keep the sun off, and because our boat just geysered some water on him.  We've fixed the geyser problem.

The marina is a busy place for social events.  We've had several Quinceanera's (girl's coming of age party at 15), and last night was a wedding reception complete with sit down dinner and a live band.  Fortunately last night the band knocked off at 11pm.  The Quinceaneras go on until 2am.  Shouldn't these girls be home in bed by then?  Some of us old fogeys need our sleep.

The cats are fine with us being on the boat, especially for the Navy gun fire and the helicopters.  Since we haven't been able to find a suitable cat food in Mexico, I have been making it for them, from chicken, with the proper nutrient additives.  Maui had been having an issue with his urine again, probably due to him wanting to stay off the boat all night and eating the marina cat's dry food.  We add water to his chicken chow and feed him "Tinkle Tonic".

Maui in his marauding has become quite the hunter.  He pretty much took out the marina's population of Western Brush rabbits, and has since brought us several gophers and field mice.  Thanks Buddy.  With the bunnies he was also bringing back a face full of "stick tight" fleas that Cindy would have to pick off of him.

We'll try to get updates out once a week, but so far this has been an elusive goal.

Adios!

Floating again

The view from our friend Karla's boat last Friday 05/15

.

On April 20, after two weeks "on the hard", we got splashed again.  Boat is floating nicely just below the new water line, so hopefully no more growth on the boot stripe.

 

  Our friends Eric and Pati on Shearwater were in the boat yard two weeks before us and another week after us.  Not that the work they had done was much more than ours, but they needed their propeller rebuilt, and had some communications problems with prop shop in Seattle.  Shortly after splashing, they headed south, and are currently in Cabo San Lucas on their way to the Sea of Cortez.

We've elected to stay in Ensenada until after hurricane season, then we'll be headed that way too.

A week (or more) 'on the hard'

We hauled out Monday morning 04/06/2015 for a week on land.  They pressure washed the bottom and supported us with 8 triangular based stands while they work on the boat, starting tomorrow.  Logistics are entertaining.   Planing is pretty much unknown as is the time frame.  All is the 'manana' way.  lol  Some parts are ordered later than needed others are added to the list then decided we don't want to wait that long so will fix now and do again later.  Main goal was to replace cutlass bearing and sand and paint the bottom with tropical barrier coat that will slough off when sea creatures try to cling on.  They go to San Diego Tu & F to get parts.  We knew we wanted some new instruments in stalled through the boat bottom and have them ready.

We have to climb a 12' ladder to get on and off the boat.  Maui hasn't tried to climb down the ladder yet, but he'd really like to.  Can't use the sink, The toilet flushes to the holding tank but we have to use a bucket of water to flush because we can't suck in sea water for the task.  Not much in the way of cooking because washing up is a problem without being able to drain the sink, so we're eating out more than normal.

Update: Replacing the cutlass bearing (keeps the prop shaft straight) showed that the strut (thing that holds the cutlass bearing) is out of alignment, and may have been for quite some time.  We adjusted the engine and shaft alignment as much as we could, but were still a ways off.  No documentation for this boat, so had to cut into the fiberglass around the strut to figure out how to adjust it.

So now we have to wait for fiberglass to harden, then repaint these parts.  We still haven't put in the transducers for the new depth and knot meters.  The crystal ball says we might get to go back in the water next Saturday or Monday, but the marina staff are not committing to anything.

Ensenada

We've been in Ensenada a little over two months.  Thought I'd better post some pictures so you know we're okay and still having fun.

"On the hard" at Baja Naval boatyard.

Bored cats.  Squishy's fine with this, Maui really wants to take a walk.

Cindy gets a Pina Colada on the boardwalk.  Tasty even with no rum.

At Marisco's Bahia de Ensenada restaurant.

These are the best performers we've heard yet.  The guy on the left is flat-picking a 12 string, guy on the right is doing rhythm. Both had great voices.

With friends Eric and Pati from Shearwater, also getting work done in the boat yard.

This young lady plays really well.

Toothache n exciting discovery

Most awesome info gleaned from $1.49  Amazon kindle book.  Holistic Dental Care by Nadine Artemis.   Truly suggest a must read for all!   Never really thought that teeth are living and can self heal yes truly!!!

I had a crown put on while in Lebanon that never did fit right but I ran out of time to go back and forth to Eugene (closest holistic dentist) for fixing it.  Started hurting a little again in San Diego but I thought it would go away again.  Wrong.  One of the ladies on the dock recently had some major work done and was really impressed so I went in to her dentist here in Ensenada.  They do it a little differently here, probably old style.  Eugene kept removing the crown, filing it down and reinserting.  Three times but never perfect.  Here the grinder went in mouth fixed tooth height then polished.  Took three tries but worked.  Cup of fluoride rinse on the spittoon available as often as I wanted it verses spray and suction.  I think I like this better but I am sure America changed for efficiency of the dentist.  It takes longer to stop work and sit the patient up to rinse...  He did all this for free, no appointment, took his time and we talked about some other issues that may be related to grinding my teeth to pursue. 

Got better for a day because pressure was relaxed but then it started intensifying and alternating between sharp pain and major dull throb.  Fine to tears in seconds, sometimes a trigger other times none identifiable.  Of course this was during a 3 day weekend!   Lots of internet research and home care tricks got it under control but still made an appointment to see what Dr had to say.   Yes mom, aren't you proud of me?  haha  He said I needed a root canal but I explained my concerns and he suggested I go to endodontist for better eval and in Mexico, the ones that do all root canals.  She was also certain that it needed done.

Lets back up and tell you most professionals here speak English and its a darn good thing!  My Spanish is utilitarian at best and that is even questionable....

Any way I discussed with her my concerns over root canals killing the tooth and leaving 'death' in body becomes decay that has to find a way out and causes other diseases....  knowing that the alternative of ignoring it would also cause infection to enter the jaw bone and erode it...  She suggested I was safe to delay and see if my methods work or at least to get comfortable that root canal was my best option.  See how it goes.  It has continued to get better and the above book was incredibly good info!!!!  Don't know why I had never considered it but in retrospect lots of DUH! here.  lol

Status n conclusions:  Lots of coconut oil pulling, salt water flushes, alkalinity,  trigger point therapy, essential oils, laser light,and many more has it almost totally fixed.   Occasionally a dull pressure when biting down. Weird thing was it became a diffused pressure that moved around from top to bottom in as far as 4 teeth.  Where ever I felt the swollen root was also a slightly raised tooth.  I now suspect tooth was injured during crown or as a result of me grinding teeth.  He had warned me when removing large amalgam fillings for the crown that the tooth was compromised.  I suspect either decay crawled in through a cracked tooth and root got infected.  I know this can be dangerous but can also be fixed by natural means given time.  I just need to find the balance point.  Root canals and pulling teeth don't meet my first and best choices before reading the above book and certainly not now!  lol

Oh and I stumbled into tooth powder or tooth soap and love it!  Teeth feel cleaner and none of the additive junk.  Originally I bought it because of reviews but also very compact and would last forever.  Watch how it is packaged, mine is a little bottle that sprinkles on the brush. Some suggest wet your brush and dip in the powder and others are flakes you pick up and put on the brush.  Tastes different but was easy to get used to.  I will never go back to toothpaste but may well switch to baking soda and salt as she suggests.

Anyways I am delighted with my progress and will continue to monitor but suspect I am in the clear!

More about life here

In my last post I forgot to mention the best find ever!  Some neighbors took us to church with them, an awesome Calvary Chapel Capilla Calvario Horizonte Ensenada.

We worship in both languages! Songs are a few verses in each language and words are projected on the screens. Since we know most of the songs this is helping to learn Spanish while we worship and encouraging us to learn more. The sermons always delivered in English and translated, prayers and announcements can be either but still translated.   We love the mixed cultures and efforts.

Doug had a mild cold, then we had a massive n cold rain storm that kept us from church (remember we walk everywhere here and would have been cold, drown rats!)  Then I got a tooth ache.  First medical need and post will follow.  Any ways we missed a few weeks so it was awesome to return to worship this past weekend.

Doug and I are doing well with many interesting points to balance.  Wifi is free at the marina and works well in the office which becomes social and worthless on the boat.  Doug is most willing to go the the 'cruisers lounge' and seems to be able to work in what I consider noise.  I can't work with the noise and he is good with paying for the phone program that we can access internet from.  We are learning how to trim usage in a practical way.  For instance downloading vids take tons of bandwidth so we avoid them or go to the office if necessary.  We will begin trading our email newsletters to text not html  and go from there.

We have the phones figured out, at least mostly...  We found a service that forwards our American phone number to our Mexican number for $1 per month and .05 per minute.  This is supposed to be free to all who call us.   We can call out on our Mexican numbers for .20 per minute, which is free to all we call.  Texts are supposed to be free both directions...  Have not found that they work yet.  Voicemail is recorded and sent to email as an attachment.  Worked for first time yesterday...

It has been very interesting to shop translating dollar/pesos and lbs/kilograms all at the same time.  Eating like the locals is easy and cheap.  Fresh tortillas are ohhhh so good and they put everything in them.  We can get organics but it is harder to find.  Real/whole food is gmo free and most processed is of course not!  We wash everything in vinegar and have had no problem.  I enjoyed a massage here at ½ the price of back home and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have not been doing much sight seeing per se but just walking around town is such an eyeopener. Of course lots of extreme poverty with pockets of basic living. The walk on the beach is totally bizarre. While the beach itself is actually cleaner than most of Oregon's, dilapidated shacks and mansions inter-leaf the beachfront.  Even more interesting is that in Mexico only the natives are legal to own beachfront land/homes.  

Only things we wish for are a international airport and a nearby place to go anchor out. They will have to wait until we are ready to go further south. We have some boat work to be done that will require being hauled out and put on glorified stilts on land. Thankfully we waited for Mexico to do this as US liability would never let us life aboard 'on the hard.' Cats won't be impressed but I think will be much better than a hotel room.  

Trying to juggle all the new knowledge (especially that Pacific Mexico has 6 distinctive weather patterns, each with 4 distinctive seasons) that has to be interpreted and applied before we go much further... Not sure how long we will be here but visitors must fly into Tijuana and bus to us....  Our hope is we can figure out our travel agenda and rent a furnished  place somewhere with an airport so that anyone who wants to visit can and will be nearby with comfortable and free housing.  Not sure how this will work but we are trying!!!

love to all

Buenas Noches!

We've been here a month now. Enjoying being able to relax a little now that some of the priorities are done. We came with essentially NO Spanish skills so all tasks take longer. Lol We are trying to learn and the folks her appreciate the efforts and help us (lots)! Thankfully, most speak some English and many of them are fluent!

We have working and affordable phones. Doug sorted through this and got Telcel sim cards with Mexican numbers and then arranged with Sonatel to forward all calls to our American numbers, the ones you all have. Sonatel was an especially cool find because it is seamless for all customers, tenants, family and friends. The icing on the cake is the service only costs $1 per phone per month and we pay 5 cents per minute. Texts are still not working and we are not sure why....

We have data package that works from the boat, almost consistently. Lol Slow but ok. Faster than going to the internet office and getting sidetracked visiting. hahaha And best of all it adds up to significantly less than Verizon was!

We have booked our haul out for early April to get new bottom paint and cutlass bearing. Will be an interesting time cause they let us live on the boat while it is supported on high tech fancy stilts essentially. This is cool however cause hotels for and with cats is awkward! Bottom line is we will clearly be here until at least the middle of April. The best part of cruising is not having much of a schedule.

Hurricane season technically begin June 15^th but is low likelihood until several months later and ends November 1st. We are outside of the zone here if we decide to stay put. We love to anchor out and here it is marina life only! We may decide to gunkhole our way down the coast as there are many places along the way that are quite safe to anchor out or tie to a dock for a while if any danger comes. Hurricanes are well forcasted and the boating community watches out for weather and each other extremely well. For those worriers out there. : )

The most entertaining project to date is I made a bimini cover to shield the sun from the cockpit. The finished product was over 6X10' and made from Sunbrella, a very stiff canvas and was constructed in the cabin on a 2X3 table. With cat help of course. Maui laid on it and Squishy glared and left. Guilt trip!

Doug is getting pretty good at shopping for groceries and exploring local flavors. I have tagged along a couple of times just to read labels. We have found that organic is available but not as common. Apples taste like apples not pesticides and not waxy. Of course all is washed with vinegar. To wash off germs, pesticides and herbicides. Frosted Flakes have 5 ingredients in them here much like Europe. Not that I can read them but... Look at a box in America. Whether this is because they don't have to tell us ingredients here or they just don't add all that crap.... idk and of course was just for perspective to help with other interpretations.

GMO is not grown here but we have not yet fully figured out import issues. Pretty sure beef and chickens are free range with no GMO feed. We feel safe with local tortillas as they are made fresh with local maize and ooooh so good no reason to ever eat anything else!

The main street through town is known as 'Gringo Gulch' and sidewalks are painted red. Cruise ships come in just on the other side of the breakwater and we find humor in their regular announcements to not leave the red street because Ensenada is so dangerous. I feel perfectly safe here and will say I have stumbled into many more intimidating places in broad daylight in Portland than I have here.

Of course best values (and less English) are found a few blocks away which is where we now explore. Again for the worriers, we go in pairs, not for safety but so we don't feel so stupid and can help each other with directions or language as needed. We went with another couple, Eric and Patty the other day to a bunch of small specialty shops and had a blast. Small heath food store and specialties of each queso/cheese, pescaderia/fresh fish, panaderia/bakery. We find lots of fresh, local foods here and NO concerns over added phosphates that make Doug so sick. We are exploring foods in general but also to see if they affect my allergies and arthritis like American foods do. So far so good but we'll see if accumulation affects me!

Back to those cruise ships, come visit us. Seriously if you take a cruise that stops in Ensenada, we'll be neighbors so let us know you are coming.

As Doug shared on fb we had a couple of days of serious rain. Based on the level in the dink, 4” in two days! Otherwise nice, mostly warm, sunny days and cool nights. Quite the trip watching the manhole cover bob in the street as water burbled out. Lol

On that note I'll say Manana! Love to all!

Ensenada

Hey all,

 It has been a fun, busy spree.  We had a wonderful time in San Diego preparing for Mexico and visiting with family, friends and making new.   My mom and a friend Cassy came to visit for a week and we caught some time with Kathy & Greg, some friends we haven’t seen in ages.  Doug took mom and Cassy to the zoo.  Cindy stayed with the cats.  I should add by choice.  Not really a fan of crowds and smells.  Unknowingly we had timed the visit for the same time as a boat show so incorporated that in.  Kathy and Greg joined us at the boat show while mom and Cassy rested from the previous day at the zoo.  Kathy and they went to the safari the next day.  I stayed with the cats again and did some catch up and planning.  Of course we also did lots of shopping, touristy and provisioning…  We even had lots of time for them to spoil Maui who went through withdrawals of affection when they left.  Cause you all know we never give the kids enough attention.  Haha!  Good time had by all.

We then focused on preparations to head south.  Turns out if you don’t live in the states for 330 days per year you don’t have to have or pay penalties for Obamacare..  Naturally everything took longer than it should have.  lol  We made it!  Left about 4pm on Tuesday to pumpout and gas up etc., finally getting under way about 6.  That meant traversing the bay with all the lights shining at dusk.  Takes a lot more focus to identify red and green markers in the water from traffic lights on land.  Lol

Part of those preparations was a new prop installed and the barnacles scrubbed off the bottom of the boat.  We were surprised how much faster that combination allows us to motor, since there was again NO wind…  wonder why we bought a sail boat???   Anyways we were moving over 7 knots when we used to get 5ish.  We cut the throttle several times to slow down so we could enter the bay in daylight and clear customs.  Turns out we could have left in the morning and travelled the whole distance in the daylight.  Probably not to clear customs the same day but certainly in time for marina paperwork.  Lesson learned!  Hopefully that means the end of overnight travel…

We arrived yesterday morning about 7:30 and went up to begin entry procedures when the office 'opened' at 8:30.  Ha ha, first lesson in patience.   We visited with others waiting for about an hour.  then they opened, did what we needed here then went to the immigration office to finish up.   Back to the boat to make breakfast.  But instead, we were immediately proven how friendly everyone here is. Mostly other cruisers so far but obvious the community supports each other.    We were inundated (in a good way) with visitors and information overload.  We finally got breakfast about noon.   I took a nap and Doug tried to deal with internet.  Then dinner with friends Vickie and Steve and early to bed.

Working on communication options today.  Lots of research was done stateside but action needs to come from here.  We are still on old methods but...  phone calls $1per minute, texts  .50 to send and .05 to receive.  Internet is a bit sketchy but supposedly good at the office.  So, Doug spent the morning dealing with a customer issue and is now back at the boat figuring out the wifi booster so we can work from here.  : )   Then telcel office today or tomorrow.  Office is located on street known as “Gringo gulch" and 2 cruise ships in port today so tomorrow is likely the best day even without other issues.  

We are loving Ensenada so far and considering it as ‘Mexico on training wheels.’  We will get communications figured out, including learning Spanish!  We have always wanted to learn but not prioritized it.  Now we have more reasons.  Tourist areas it is not necessary but certainly enriches the experience and makes off the beaten path fun instead of stressful.  Some of the smaller bays are most beautiful and peaceful but helps to know the language.

Finally got logged in… now to post???  Only took a couple of days but wifi appears to work, slowly as expected.  . 

...and in with the new

Cory and his team got the new engine in, a little longer than expected because of an air leak in the fuel system, probably damaged in shipping.  Installation required moving the new engine in to place, making a bunch of measurements, then removing the engine and fabricating new engine mounts for it.  Install the mounts, then put the engine back in and hook up all the hoses and wires.

The engine mounts were perfect, there was no adjustments necessary for prop shaft angle.  Sea trial did show we needed a new propeller, this was not unexpected. The old one was pitched too high for the previous engine, which explains the overheating.

We got the boat to San Diego with the new engine,the new prop has been delivered, and we will get a diver to install it this week.

Accomodations

With the cabin re-arraigned for the new engine, the new cabin cushions are in the v-berth, which is in the front of the boat, where we both  usually sleep.  Okay, usually the four of us.  We were able to shove the cushions to one side, making room for Cindy and Squishy.  Doug and Maui are relegated to the aft cabin.  This will work out well, because Squishy is getting dental work tomorrow, so can't have food after midnight.  Maui has behavior issues when he's hungry.  So Doug and Maui are in the dog house with the door closed.  We don't choose to use a special name for the v-berth when it's just the ladies.

Dinghy woes.

We have a 4hp Mercury outboard for the dinghy.  The motor stays mounted on the stern rail of Spartan when not needed, gets put on our inflatable dinghy when it is needed.  The inflatable is another story.  The outboard stayed on the stern rail mount for 4 months, ever since Moro Bay.  We're now in Newport Beach, moored on a float in the bay.  We had a friend's car on the other side of the bay, about two miles away.  Cindy need to get to an appointment, so we pumped up the dinghy (part of the other story),  put the outboard on the dink, and set off.  The outboard wouldn't start.  Now in  hindsight, we should have rowed back to Spartan and fixed the problem.  No, we didn't do that.  I started rowing, occasionally stopping to try to start the engine.  No luck on the engine, the rowing was giving me great exercise and helping with the problem I have with displaced ribs.  The jerking on the starter cord was exacerbating a shoulder injury, and ultimately causing "tennis elbow" in my left arm.  We got Cindy to where she could get to the car and get to her appointment, I got myself lunch and a think.  I walked to the local grocery store, where I could pick up a wrench (to remove the spark plug) and a can of starter fluid (to prove if it was a fuel system problem or a spark problem.  Not bad for a computer geek).  Got back to the boat, squirted some starter fluid in it, it caught and ran for a bit, then died.  Not spark, must be fuel.  I found a screw to drain the carburetor bowl, turned it with my pocket knife.  Water, then gas.  .  We'd gotten water in the fuel tank from sitting on the rail for 4 months.  I was then able to start and run the motor, though it ran a little unevenly.  I motored across to the fuel dock, drained what was in the tank and what was in my gas can and replaced with fresh fuel.  The engine ran all the way back to Spartan, then started again and ran back to where I needed to pick up Cindy.  It even ran out of gas, I re-fueled, and it started again.  I get to the dinghy dock, kill the engine, and wait for Cindy.  She get back and the engine won't start.  Nothing.  Had I brought the outboard tool kit this time? No.  Did I even have the starting fluid that I'd bought a few hours ago?  No.  I had fixed the problem, why would I need that.  The drain hole just drained gas, so it had to be spark (compression was never a questions).  Cindy had helped a boat that had just come over from Catalina to dock, they gave us a tow over to our boat before heading further south to Dana Point. 

Next morning I found the outboard tool kit.  Too long a story shorter, I replace the spark plug, and the engine has run flawlessly ever since. Lessons learned:
Carry the tool kit when in the dink.
Know where that drain hole is.
When you have water in the gas, change (or clean) the spark plug, along with the fuel.
Cover the engine if it's going to sit out in the rain.

Out with the old....

 We had a pleasant afternoon/evening anchored out in Newport Bay.  Really wondering why we took up mooring balls, anchoring was more peaceful and didn't cost $16/night.  Anchor holding in mud was excellent except for washing the mud off of the anchor after hoisting.  Sunday is race day for the Harbor 20 fleet. Winds were light, but here's the view from on board:

Our new engine arrived last Thursday.  This morning we got the call to motor in to the Balboa Boat Yard.  While Cindy, Squishy, and Maui Boy lounged (hid) in the v-berth...

Cory and his team removed our old engine.

This old engine has served us well this last year.  It has always started quickly, and run well as long as we didn't over-rev it.  It's crimes:

It is LOUD. (Yes we have added sound deadening, no help).
It leaks oil, about 1 qt per 20 hours (about every 1000 miles in a car).
One of the injectors leaks.
Might have some piston blow by.
Overheats above 2000 rpm (rated at 2600 rpm)
It is 30 years old.
Hard to get parts for internationally.

To fix items 2, 3, and 4 require removing the engine from the boat.  Item 4 requires a rebuild.  For a couple thousand more, we could replace the old engine with something:

New
Quieter
Lighter
More fuel efficient
Can get parts anywhere in the world.
Better sized for this boat.
Quieter (the cats wanted that one listed twice)

So that's what we chose to do.

Installation is on schedule, will post more tomorrow or Wednesday.

A rainy day after a late night

Ah, January in Southern California.  It's been raining for two days, reminds us of late spring in the Pacific Northwest.  We were moored out in Newport Bay, but moved in to a slip at the Sheriff's dock to facilitate getting to Irvine to sit our granddaughters while Sally and Shrini went out on a date night.  We tried to play Monopoly Millionaire (who at Hasboro thought this was a good idea?) and otherwise had a good time.