TAKING IT ONE DAY AT A TIME

June 15, 2020

We were entering our third week in San Jose del Cabo. It was dull, but safe enough. One day ran into the next. I got up to run on Monday morning. I was always looking for new routes to take. I ran past the dolphins, along the beach, and up the levee to the main road. Then I crossed over and dropped into the arroyo. I followed a road that paralleled the kilometer long bridge. Parts of it were so deep in sand that I had to slow to a walk. Eventually, I reached the creek and crossed on the trunk of a dead palm tree. There was evidence that some homeless people were living under the bridge by the creek, but I only saw one man and he paid me no mind. After crossing the creek, I had to scale a concrete wall to get back to the level of the road. It was a bit sandy, but I managed to scramble up it and only left a few skin cells behind from my knee. Once on the road, I ran back across the bridge and through the marina where I was chased by a pack of dogs. Between my yelling, “No!” at them and a couple of locals swearing at them in Spanish, they eventually turned tail and left me alone.

Stream Crossing

Climb out of the Arroyo

Pack of Dogs at the Marina

Dogs at the Shipyard Office

Our big outing for the day was to go to the shipyard office to use the internet. When we arrived, we found the sofa occupied by a large, napping dog. Leslie and I downloaded Netflix shows to keep us amused and I completed a blog post.

Leslie made a loaf of whole wheat sourdough bread and we had that with chili for dinner.

June 16 -17, 2020

The Beach Was Narrow at First

The beaches were finally open, so I took the opportunity to walk on the beach east of the marina on Tuesday morning. The tide was just past high and I barely had room to pass between the booming surf and the cliffs for the first stretch. There were a handful of locals fishing in the surf, but I only encountered four other people in four miles of walking.

Strange Patterns of Erosion

Undermined Home

It was a beautiful walk. Some of the cliffs were eroded in fascinating ways. One of the lovely homes along the beach had been constructed too close to the edge and was in danger of collapsing. Further down the beach, I passed condos and hotels. The color of the sand ranged from white through red to black. Crabs scuttled down the beach to the water. The waves were impressive and very loud. I climbed the cliffs at a different place than I had descended and ended up on a private road where one of the gringo residents rather rudely directed me back to the main road when I admitted I was lost.

The Waves Crashed

Varied Sand Colors

The transmission and new battery switches arrived on Tuesday afternoon, but it was too late to do anything with them. We arranged for the mechanics to come the next morning and the electrician in the afternoon. Then we spent another afternoon hanging around the boat.

I spent a good hour trying to transform bottled spaghetti sauce into something vaguely Italian using only what spices were present on the boat. Eventually, between some Italian sausage and enough cayenne, oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic, onions, and veggies, I managed to mask the sweet taste of the bottled sauce and produce a pretty decent dinner. Leslie had baked another couple of loaves of sourdough and we had salad to top it all off. I was so full I could barely stay awake long enough to watch Once Upon a Time in the West, a 1969 western with Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Jason Robards. It was a good one with lots of plot twists.

Marina was busy hunting roaches and brought us three big ones over the course of the evening. While it was my job to kill flies and Leslie's job to eradicate common roaches, it was Jack's job to kill the giant bugs his cat dragged in. He got two of them, but one escaped into the boat, a somewhat disturbing event.

Sunrise at the Cross

Fishing at Dawn

Wednesday, I ran around the hill, up to the cross, and back along the usual levee, beach, marina route. I wanted to get in a little uphill running. I waited a few minutes at the top until the sun rose.

The mechanics came in the morning, but quickly determined that they needed an installation tool. Jack had offered to purchase said tool with the transmission, but had been told that they had one. Now, it was nowhere to be found. It would take another day to locate one. The electrician got stuck on another job and couldn't come, either. We spent another day waiting.

Sunset Over the Marina

I did some laundry. Leslie and I practiced our respective instruments. Jack worried about the boat. We ate leftover pasta and salad for dinner and started watching the documentary about Jeffrey Epstein,

June 18, 2020

Marina Helping the Electrician

We had arranged for the electrician to come at 7:00, figuring that the mechanics would be late. Of course, the mechanics arrived early, also. Fortunately, Russell the electrician was able to assemble most of the jumper cables and such that he needed to install the battery switch out in the cockpit. Marina plopped herself in the middle of the project. He thought she was trying to help until we informed him of her propensity to chew on anything that looked like wire. I feared for his multimeter leads.

The New Transmission

Leslie and I set off to walk to Walmart about 9:00. It was a hot walk uphill. Nothing seemed to have changed since our last visit. No tourists were in evidence. We stocked up on provisions for what we hoped was the last time. I finally found a whisk broom and dustpan in the dollar store section of the Walmart. I also bought a pair of slippers to wear on watch. My running shoes were too bulky and didn't slip on and off easily. The only other shoes I had were flip flops which didn't work well with socks. I had been keeping watch in stocking feet. While there were all kinds of cute women's slip on shoes that I would have liked to buy, none of them came in my size. I had to settle for a cheap pair of men's slippers.

We called our favorite Uber driver, Gabriel, to ferry us back to the boat. The electrician had just finished when we returned. The mechanics had somehow managed to get the installation tool stuck on the shaft and were unable to remove it. No amount of hammering on it had any effect. They decided to try freezing it, but broke for lunch, first.

We scrounged some lunch and then retreated to our respective corners to nap, read, or write.

Nothing would budge the installation tool, so they eventually had to cut it out. By the time that was done, it was late in the day and they resolved to try again the following morning. We started getting antsy. We didn't want to be stuck over another weekend.

Sexy Power Boat

Being tied up to the Marine Group's dock, we got to see all the dry stored boats being put in the water and taken back out. Some of them were larger than you would expect. One very sexy power boat was tied up next to us for a few days. It wasn't a fishing boat and it didn't have much living space. It just looked fast. We decided the only good use for such a boat was running drugs unless you were using it as a tender to a mega-yacht.

We finished watching the documentary about Jeffrey Epstein, after dinner, and went to bed early .

June 19, 2020

Reinforced Thumbnail

It was Friday of the third week we had spent in San Jose del Cabo and the transmission still wasn't in. I was up early, drinking tea in the cockpit, when the first mechanic arrived at 7:30. I couldn't wake Jack, so asked him to return at 8:00. Jack was up by the time he came back.

I just couldn't make myself run that morning. I had run out of interesting places to explore and was ready to be gone.

The mechanics worked on installing the transmission all day. Leslie and I spent a good chunk of the afternoon in the office, downloading Netflix, and using the internet. I rushed out another blog post. When we returned to the boat, transmission was in but we were still short a hydraulic hose. The mechanics swore they would get it made overnight and be back by 9:00 the next morning.

As a guitar player, breaking my right thumbnail is a nightmare. Usually, I keep the nails on my right hand coated with acrylic to avoid the problem. Since the coronavirus hit, I had not been able to get my nails done and I had finally torn my thumbnail right at the quick where it would take months to grow back if I allowed it to tear off. I laminated a piece of Post-It Note to my nail with Superglue and then painted it with clear nail polish. It kept the nail intact but made me look like I had painted my thumbnail neon green. It was a toss-up as to whether I would get my hair cut or my nails done, first, when I got home. Both were driving me mad.

We were still a little concerned that we might be delayed over the weekend, but still decided to go out for dinner. We were craving pizza, but there was no pizza restaurant in La Playita and no one wanted to deliver to us. Leslie and I took an exploratory walk and discovered that the Marinero Borracho was open for dine-in service. It was empty when we scoped it out at 17:30, but much busier when we returned with Jack at 20:00.

Jack and Leslie at Marinero Borracho

It wasn't jam packed, but every gringo in the marina seemed to be in the restaurant. They had set up table outside along the street and inside downstairs, so we weren't cheek by jowl. The servers wore masks and face shield and we had to walk through disinfectant to get it. They were not allowed to have physical menus. I had to download a QR code reader so that we could view the menu. Leslie and I had tacos chinos with fish or shrimp, cabbage, pineapple, mint, and cucumber. Jack had soup and shrimp enchiladas. Everything was delicious. Perhaps the best part was being able to order margaritas. It was a good celebration.

June 20-21, 2020

Hoping that Saturday would truly be my last run in the San Jose del Cabo area, I decided to take a short run out to the hotel zone to see if anything had opened. Saturday morning traffic was heavier than usual and a couple of cattle were sharing the road.

Sunrise Over the Arroyo

Empty Hotel

Cows in Morning Traffic

It was further to the hotels than I remembered. Vidanta was still barricaded, but the other hotels had removed their walls. Still, they looked deserted and I saw no one but gardeners and security. I was curious and kept running down the strand. Eventually, I decided to run over the hill past La Comer, Chedraui, Soriana and Walmart. By the time I returned to the boat, I had run over 10k. So much for a short run.

The mechanics didn't show up by 9:00, but they did arrive with the hose by 10:30. By early afternoon, the transmission was working. We went back and forth at the dock and ripped one of the undersized cleats out of the dock in the process.

My friend, Carlos, and his girlfriend, Ruby, came to meet Jack and see the boat in the afternoon. We had invited them to come with us to Ensenada as crew. They spent most of the afternoon with us and decided to come along.

Carlos

Leslie and I made ready to leave and filled the water tanks. The valves had not been properly set and we accidentally filled the drinking water tank with non-potable water. We then had to empty it back out and refill the tank with bottled water. Carlos helped Jack shuttle bottles of water to and from the Oxxo with his car. Late in the afternoon, we took a short harbor cruise to test the transmission. It worked fine.

I made pork chops, zucchini, and risotto for dinner and we watched The Kingdom. We planned to leave the dock in the morning.

Motoring Out of San Jose del Cabo

Locals Enjoying the Beach in San Jose del Cabo

We spent a leisurely Sunday morning, doing last loads of laundry and taking showers. Then I topped up the water tanks and we cast off about noon. The wind was blowing us off the dock and Leslie, who had been untying the lines, was unable to get aboard. We tried, futilely, to approach close enough to the boat parked behind us for her to jump aboard, but ended up having to switch to the opposite side of the dock where the wind worked in our favor. Magic Carpet has a high freeboard and it wasn't a pretty entrance, but we got Leslie aboard safely and motored out of the marina.

The weather was perfect and we had a nice ride along the coast to Cabo San Lucas where we anchored in the same spot we had occupied three weeks before. It was Father's Day and the beaches were crowded, although the hotels were mostly empty and the crowd seemed to be local.

The Arch with Sand

Cabo's iconic arch is usually clean of sand but once or twice per decade the sand builds up the arch. This was one of those times. Leslie, Jack, and I piled in the dinghy and zoomed out to see the arch. The surf was big and it could not have been more beautiful or impressive. Rays were leaping out of the water all around us. A few tour boats were out but we mostly had the area to ourselves. It seemed like a good omen for our journey.

Waves on the Outside of the Arch

Cruise Ship Anchored in Cabo

Carlos was due to meet us at 6:00 for a last-minute grocery run. Leslie and I took the dinghy in and parked it at the dinghy dock near the launch ramp where the security guard would watch it for 60 pesos. We failed to meet up with Carlos and grew impatient. After half an hour of miscommunications, Leslie and I took an Uber to the Soriana to do our shopping. Carlos met us there and brought us back to the boat.

Magic Carpet in Cabo

It was so late by the time we got back that we each just scrounged something for dinner. I had a can of tuna and some rice cakes with cream cheese. Soon it was time to hit the hay. We were due to meet Carlos and Ruby at the fuel dock the following morning at 8:00.

Cabo by Night

WAITING FOR OUR TRANSMISSION IN SAN JOSE DEL CABO

June 8, 2020

Deserted Strip Mall in San Jose del Cabo

Leslie and I planned to walk to the grocery store, so I did not get up to walk at dawn. Leslie finally got up about 8:00 and we left the boat at 9:00. It was a three-mile walk over a steep hill to the Soriana. All the shops and restaurants were closed. First, we stopped at the Scotiabank to get cash. I had not withdrawn money for almost three months and still wasn't broke. I did, however, want to have plenty of pesos to take home with me so that I could pay for cabs going and coming and not have to rush to a bank immediately upon my return.

Scotia Bank

After we went to the bank, we went to the grocery store. It was nearly deserted. We were required to wear masks and were met at the door with hand sanitizer. We didn't need a whole lot because we would have to return before setting sail. We just needed enough to get us through the week or so until that time. Three big bags of groceries only cost me about $55. It would be a shock when we returned to the United States. Even with my much reduced income, I was making ends meet in Mexico.

We took an Uber back to the boat with our haul and returned before noon. Leslie and I spent a large part of the afternoon in the boatyard office, using the internet, because the boatyard wifi didn't reach the dock. I managed to finish a blog post.

Dry Storage at Puerto Los Cabos

Back at the boat, I read for a while and then made some twice-baked potatoes to have with the tri-tip we planned to grill for dinner. Then I paid some bills and did a little writing before dinner.

The tri-tip was grilled to perfection and the potatoes and carrots made a great accompaniment. We watched a Star Trek movie with dinner and then retired to our cabins. I watched the last installment of Narcos Mexico. I would have to find good internet and download more Netflix if I wanted to watch anything else.

June 9, 2020

I got up early to run. This time, I started by taking the long route to the cross on the hill and then continued around to the levee and down to the beach. From there, I climbed through a few barbed wire fences until I got back into the marina and found myself face to face with a security guard. I wished him a good morning and kept running. He seemed okay with that. The complete run covered about four miles.

View from the Overlook

Where the Breakwater Meets the Beach

I took a nice shower after I cooled off and ate breakfast and lounged until the others got up. Jack called to check on our transmission and discovered that it was stuck in customs and not expected to arrive until Thursday or Friday. It seemed like we might never get out of Puerto Los Cabos.

Leslie's sourdough starter finally seemed activated after the addition of the whole wheat flour we had purchased the day before. She spent most of the day watching the dough rise and finally baked her first loaf in the late afternoon. It turned out fairly similar to the “French” bread I had baked in La Cruz. Not very airy, crispy, or sour, but tasty enough. I practiced the guitar and then spent the afternoon dozing and listening to podcasts. I eventually got up and walked over to the Oxxo for some Diet Coke to wake up. A local woman was selling housewares by the side of the road and I bought a fly swatter. I still couldn't find a whisk broom or any dish towels.

Leslie's First Sourdough Loaf

I made chicken in green mole over rice for dinner and we tried to watch Amadeus but discovered that we only had the first half of the film. I had seen it many times before, so I knew how it ended. I still enjoyed the music and then had time to sit in the cockpit writing. It was a beautiful, calm night and the temperature was perfect.

The Harbor at Night

June 10-11, 2020

I started Wednesday with a walk to San Jose del Cabo's hotel zone. The beaches were closed and all of the big hotels were surrounded by hastily constructed barricades. I wouldn't come to Mexico to go to an all-inclusive resort, but it did look like a nice area if you weren't interested in local culture. Everything was new and glitzy.

Barricade Around Closed Hotel

Our day on the boat was similar to every other day on the boat. We were still waiting for the transmission to arrive in San Diego. We learned that it was hung up in customs. Jack forwarded copies of Magic Carpet's documentation to prove that it was a used one going for repair and we hoped that would dislodge it from customs.

Leslie made chicken parmesan for dinner and we tried to watch a movie but the HDMI port in my computer had died. Since my computer was the only one with an HDMI port, we could no longer play the wide array of movies stored on Jack's hard drive. We were then limited to watching DVDs played through the ship's stereo system which remarkably included video.

Thursday, I got up and took a run into San Jose del Cabo itself. I wanted to see if anything had changed. It hadn't. The place was still deserted. Being early, it was even quieter than the last time we went there.

An Artist Had Decorated the Letters

Detail of Letter

Empty Plaza

 After breakfast, we took an excursion to Walmart. Leslie and I walked the four kilometers, taking a different route than we had previously. Jack took an Uber. We followed the main highway and discovered that the businesses that were open were all along that road. There were even a few restaurants open for takeout. If it hadn't been so hot, I might have stopped for coffee.

We met Jack at the Walmart and shopped for all the things we hadn't been able to find at Soriana. Jack stocked up on bacon and breakfast sausage. Leslie and I managed to find dish towels, but still failed to find a whisk broom and dustpan. They only stocked full-sized brooms and the kind of dustpans that one can use without bending over. Neither was going to fit under the sink on the boat. We did get a squeegee to wipe the condensation off the windows in the morning.

The breakdown in our video system caused Jack great concern. We spent a long time in the electronic department of Walmart but couldn't come up with a solution. In the end, Jack and Leslie purchased a few more DVDs. Unfortunately, it turned out that we couldn't play BlueRay discs, either.

Jack had called Gabriel, the Uber driver that Leslie and I had used to return from Soriana a few days before. He picked us up after we finished shopping and drove us around SJDC looking for a computer fan. Steren was open, although they required face masks and only let one customer in at a time. The door was chained shut, but they opened it if you knocked. Radio Shack was closed. The best part of that futile quest was gettting to see where the Chedraui and La Comer were without having to walk five kilometers. We returned via the hotel zone where I saw even more barricades.

Having walked well over six miles by the time we got back, I was happy to spend the afternoon lounging. The transmission had finally reached San Diego and was deemed a total loss. Sometime in the past, it had been installed backwards and had finally blown apart, damaging even the casing. This was mixed news. Jack would need to purchase an entire rebuilt transmission, but we wouldn't have to wait for the old one to be serviced. After much hyperventilating and nearly shipping us another left hand drive transmission, we got what we hoped would be the correct one delievered to the Marine Group in San Diego to be forwarded on to us in SJDC.

Jack barbecued a hunk of arrachera and we had that with salad and the leftover twice-baked potatoes for dinner. We all enjoyed watching Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, after dinner. I expected to be disappointed, but it was actually a pretty good film.

June 12, 2020

Dolphin Watching the Sunrise

My morning walk took me past the dolphin and sea lion pens where happy tourists usually pay to swim with said mammals. Everything was closed and they just looked lonely. One of the dolphins had popped his head out of the water and we watched the sunrise together. The sea lions were swimming in circles.

Dolphin Pens

I continued along the breakwater to the beach and then parallel to the beach as far as the arroyo. I had hoped to be able to cut across the arroyo to the hotel zone, but it was too swampy to proceed. I followed the levee road up to the road, past a herd of free range horses, two of which wore halters and trailed broken lead lines. One of the mares had a very young foal. He was adorable.

Free Range Foal

I crossed the highway and then dropped down into the arroyo on the other side. I had seen others walking there and wanted to check it out. I followed a path along the edge until I reached a substantial dirt road. I turned right into the road and followed that through a local neighborhood to the roundabout near the road that went up to the cross. From there, I returned to the marina.

Walking in the Arroyo

It was laundry day for me. I washed and hung out my clothes and then spent the afternoon playing with my phone and writing. Later, I practiced the guitar. A strange inertia had settled over us. We were bored, but not thrilled with the idea of going home, either. It was strangely okay being where we were.

Sunset Behind the Cross

June 13–14, 2020

Shrine on the Way to the Cross

We spent perhaps the dullest weekend ever. I just couldn't make myself get up at 6:00 but when I did get up, at 8:00, Leslie wanted to go for a walk. I couldn't resist stopping for a latte at the marina store which was usually closed when I went by. Then I took Leslie for a tour of the area. We walked by the El Ganzo Hotel, climbed up to the overlook at the cross, and then cut through the neighborhood and into the arroyo. Upon reaching the road, we continued on down the levee road to the beach and then back along the marina to the boat.

View of the Marina from the Cross

Things were due to open up the following Monday and there was more activity at the hotel and the dolphin attraction. Possibly, this was because it was later in the day. Someone was feeding the sea lions and they were begging for fish. On the other side of the fence, the dolphins were leaping out of the water in an attempt to attract the attention of their keepers.

For the rest of the day, nothing happened. It was hot. I read and slept and played the guitar. Leslie stripped the galley of clutter in an attempt to remove places for roaches to hide. I hunted flies. They seemed to come out of the woodwork in the late afternoon.

Being my rest day, I didn't even have a walk to liven my Sunday. Leslie and I reorganized the galley to make a storage spot for the oversized coffeemaker than Jack had bought at Walmart. I dusted the louvers. By the time we got up, it was already hot enough to need the air conditioner.

Even Marina Was Bored

We did nothing all day. Jack and I took naps. Leslie watched Netflix. Even the cat looked bored. It had been twenty-seven days since we left La Cruz and we hadn't progressed beyond Cabo. This was shaping up to be the longest bash on record, eclipsing even the previous year's twelve day stint in Turtle Bay. Fortunately, the boat was large and, despite our political differences, we managed to get along. No one was sick and we had plenty to eat. The scenery was lovely and no one rioted in the streets. Everything was okay. We were taking it one day at a time.

A WEEK IN GHOSTLY SAN JOSE DEL CABO

June 2–3, 2020

San Jose del Cabo wasn't the same. The little restaurants across the street where we usually ate were closed. No sport fishing boats buzzed in and out of the marina. It was dead quiet.  

Cafe El Puerto Was Open for Takeout Only

The mechanics came in the morning to give Jack an estimate on fixing the transmission. That took up most of the morning. Jack and I spent the afternoon trying to determine why the big Kohler generator kept shutting off. It seemed to be overheating. We knew that there was a leak in the cooling water hose. We removed all the side panels and replaced several loose and broken hose clamps. We eventually managed to stop all the leaks, but the generator continued to run hot, although it took a little longer to overheat. We decided to leave opening up the water pump to check the impeller for another day.

The Big Kohler Generator

Jack wasn't happy with the time estimate to remove and replace the transmission. No work could proceed until a contract was signed. They eventually decided on a time and materials arrangement.

This prompted Jack to set about cleaning the bilge himself. We vacuumed about seven gallons of oil and water out of the bilge and then mopped up the remainder with oil absorbing pads to prep the area for the mechanics to work there the following morning. That, alone, saved $450.

Leslie made blackened mahi mahi for dinner and then we all watched a couple of more episodes of the terror.

The mechanics came early on Wednesday. Having had the transmission out once before, Jack knew exaxctly how to remove it. They started by looking at the damper plate, which had been the point of failure in Zihuatanejo. The damper plate was still intact. The next item to be investigated was the pump. The mechanics removed that and took it to the shop for testing. Unfortunately, there was nothing wrong with the the pump.

Leslie and I walked into San Jose del Cabo in the late morning. It was a couple of miles' walk and it was already hot out. Leslie needed to visit a pharmacy and we needed to buy more special cat food for Marina who was still suffering from constipation. We had hoped to find a Scotiabank and a grocery store, but both were located outside of town and too far away for walking. I also hoped I could get my hair cut, but the salon I had visited the previous year was closed.

Art District Deserted

Pet Supply Emporium

San Jose del Cabo was mostly closed. The pharmacies and convenience stores were open, but only a few of the restaurants were open for takeout. The art district was deserted. We walked through much of the town on the way to the veterinarian/feed store where we purchased Marina's food. Chiapa del Sur was a large operation selling every kind of pet supply. We asked them where to find the nearest grocery store, but they all agreed that we would need to go out to the Walmart. There had been a grocery store in town two years before.

We couldn't find the taqueria that Sean and Samantha had recommended, but we did manage to sneak into the ice cream store and procure a couple of popsicles. They weren't really open, but the door was ajar and they were happy to take our money. We stopped at the Oxxo to get a cold drink and some Diet Coke for Jack and then trudged back to the boat. It was very hot by then and it took the rest of the afternoon to rehydrate.

After lunch, the mechanics came back and removed the entire transmission. Jack followed it up to the shop to see that it was properly packed to be shipped to San Diego for rebuild.

We were at the boatyard's dock, so did not have access to the restrooms/showers or internet provided by the marina. I spent most of the afternoon trying to work on my blog, to no avail. Jack's hot spot was just too slow to upload photographs.

Magic Carpet in SJDC

Sean and Samantha had hired an Uber to take them to some swimming hole inland, so I waited for their return before making dinner. When they came back, we barbecued a huge, Costco-sized arrachera and I fried up peppers and onions for fajitas. We all enjoyed the arrachera. We couldn't stream any video, so watched a movie from Jack's hard drive instead of continuing to watch The Terror. It was warm enough that I had trouble sleeping and had to turn on the fan in my cabin. Leslie had left the door from her cabin to the head open to get air from the portholes forward.

June 4-6, 2020

As soon as Sean and Samantha got up, I ventured out to the Oxxo to buy mineral water and refried beans. For some reason, Jack and Leslie didn't stock beans and I was craving them in the worst way.

Ladder to Nowhere

An electrician came to diagnose our generator and charging problems. He was very helpful in identifying which of the myriad wires went where. Magic Carpet had several banks of batteries, two generators, and various windlasses, winches, bow thrusters, etc., making it much more complex than the average boat. He spent the entire day going through the boat and determined that the starting battery bank was bad and much of the wiring would be better off if configured differently. Jack ordered parts to be shipped back to us when the transmission was returned.

It was a lazy day for me. I vacuumed the cockpit and did a little writing, but mostly just eavesdropped on the electrician and tried to stay out of the way. It was over 90 degrees and I could hardly drink enough liquid. The six liters of mineral water I had bought would not last long.

Sean and Samantha left us in the afternoon. They were headed to Mexico City, which seemed like a horrible idea to everyone but them. The corona virus ran rampant there, but they were young and felt immortal. They would probably be okay, even if they got sick. Samantha had family there. So did I, but I didn't feel this was a good time to visit.

We grilled the remainder of the arrachera and made burritos (with beans) for dinner and then watched a movie from Jack's hard drive collection. We didn't have good enough internet to stream anything.

Friday morning, I got up at 6:00 to go for a run. I set off on my usual route around the marina, along the beach and back up the wash to the road. In the past, I had never encountered locked gates but, this time, I had to climb through barbed wire a couple of times, The sunrise was gorgeous and the air cool. It was good to be back to my normal routine.

Sunrise at the Beach

It was another scorcher outside. I hadn't slept much and got up early, so I napped most of the afternoon. After I rose, I helped Jack work on the big Kohler generator. He removed the inspection plate from the water pump and we were relieved to see that the impeller had lost five of its six blades. That explained the overheating. Removing the rear plate of the heat exchanger revealed the rubber bits from the impeller. It was good to know where they had gone and remove them. I had once experienced a heat exchanger completely plugged by impeller debris. This one was sensibly designed with straight tubes that effectively prevented that from happening.

The Problem with the Generator

Leslie fried up two varieties of mahi mahi for dinner and we watched another movie.

Saturday morning, I got up to walk. I had risen about twenty minutes later and it was overcast, so the sunrise wasn't particularly spectacular. Still, it was nice to walk in the cool, morning air and felt good to return to prowling around in search of photographic material. First, I walked over the hill to see what was going on in the vicinity of the hotel where I usually ate dinner when in port. Everything was closed, including the beach. Next, I took a right at the traffic circle by the Oxxo and followed that road until it entered a gated community. There was nothing interesting out there.

Marina Landscaping

Dredge

I did discover a second break in the cyclone fence surrounding the marina that gave us quick access to the Oxxo from our slip on the service dock. I cut through the marina to the main road (cutting a few kilometers of looping road off my path) and then climbed up the hill to where the giant cross loomed over the marina. By then, it was nearly 8:00 and starting to get warm. I returned to the boat for breakfast.

Jack had a Zoom call with his family, so Leslie and I hung out in the cockpit to give him privacy. She practiced the ukulele on and off and I eventually retreated back into the boat to read and write. It was frustrating not having enough internet to upload pictures for a blog post.

In the late afternoon, I took my guitar out into the cockpit to practice. The marina was eerily quiet, even though it was the weekend when people might have wanted to use their boats.

Sunset Over the Marina

Leslie made Teriyaki chicken, wild rice, and salad for dinner. I tried to get everyone to go for a walk after dinner, but only Marina joined me. She followed me out to the furthest corner of the service docks, hunting for roaches and inspecting the other boats tied there. Together, we watched the sun set behind the cross on the hill.

June 7, 2020

Sunday being my rest day, I tried to sleep in. I still got up long before anyone else and sat in the cockpit, drinking tea. Marina joined me. I tried to take out the trash but discovered that we were locked into the service dock and didn't know the code to get out. Leslie got up first and we refilled the water tank. It was costing us $120 per day to dock there but we had unlimited use of water and electricity. We were making the most of it by running the air conditioning.

Marina in the Morning

When everyone else was up and around, we ran the chain out onto the dock and repainted the depth markings. The old ones were so faded that we couldn't tell how much chain we were letting out when we anchored.

Marking the Chain

We couldn't leave the dock, so there wasn't much to do. Not that there was anywhere to go if we had left. We lounged about the boat all afternoon. I was in the cockpit practicing the guitar when I heard voices. Some people had come to another boat. I scampered over there and obtained the code for the gate. Jack used it to walk to the Oxxo for Diet Coke. None of us were particularly hungry, so we each scrounged our own dinner. I had a hot dog and some pineapple. Then we watched American Gangster, which was surprisingly good. It had been a very quiet day.