San Carlos - making progress

Hola!  Now that we have reminded a few more family and friends that our blog is 'active', I realized I had better be somewhat more consistent in actually posting updates.  Wish we knew why some of your comments won't come through for posting. 

It is Tuesday, January 23rd; we spent time this morning over breakfast reading about the magnitude 7.9 earthquake which hit Alaska in the early hours of the morning.  That is a major tremble and we haven't seen updates on the damage - hoping minimal impact. The subsequent tsunami warnings reached all the way down the West Coast to our own Victoria area.  Saanich and Esquimault opened up shelters for those in low lying areas.  Tofino sounded the tsunami sirens and people flocked to the emergency shelters.  Fortunately there was little impact.  However, the southern Island has been experiencing more than enough strong winds, waves and winter weather these past days.

San Carlos had another 'blow' starting late Friday evening and continuing through the weekend and even Monday, depending where you were.  It is winter here as well and a low of 9 C is noticeable.  Marina San Carlos is situated such that there is a considerable funneling effect onto the docks which makes for chilly deck work.  Yesterday Kelly put the hatch boards in to keep it warmer in the cabin while he worked.

Cloud formations to the north

At dock winds northwest winds funnel through gaps

As for 'progress', we are certainly making headway, but realistically, it has been much slower than anticipated. Here is one example of why:
The second part Kelly ordered from Defender for the 'head project' took longer than the first order and FedEx compounded the delay.  Our status update showed the parcel arriving in Guaymas last Tuesday at 12:37; then no activity.  Kelly ensured that staff at San Carlos Marina Seca and Marina offices knew of the impending delivery.  Pesos for the duty charge were left with them.  Pesos in a baggy were left on INTREPID II with several nearby folks aware that the marina staff might once again send the hapless FedEx driver to A dock, whether we were onboard or not. Once the promised Thursday deadline had passed, emails were fired off.  Friday morning, we were headed in to Guaymas on other errands, but stopped on the way at the FedEx depot.  Drivers were in their vans; packages were loaded.  We asked if our package was in one of the vehicles, hoping we could 'simply' show ID and save time and trouble by taking receipt then and there.

Hah!  Suddenly phone calls were being made - the truck to San Carlos had left. OK - then let the driver continue on to deliver it.  Oh no - the helpful staff were trying to reach the driver to have him turn around .....We succeeded in intervening and saying now that we knew the parcel was not lost, that we would pick it up on our return.  The only reason we can fathom for the delay was there were not enough parcels to warrant a delivery to San Carlos; so we waited 3 extra days.  Each of those days actually costs us as we cannot move aboard until the head and related systems are functioning.

Then there are several jaunts to Home Depot in Guaymas.  Fortunately, it is located on the 'north' end of the city closest to San Carlos and on the main road in.  We did score new faucets for the sink at a sale price; "llave para bano (ban-yo)" with a brushed nicked "acabado niquel" finish.  These products are about the same price as back home; we chose a set that does not have the attached closure for the sink drain, opting for a simple, replaceable plug.  Our hopes to replace the rather unremarkable sink with an attractive Talavera patterned one have been dashed.  If you really want one, be prepared to tear out your existing vanity and reconstruct it around the sink, allowing enough room for faucets.  We cannot manage that on INTREPID II.  Major disappointment.

Talavera sink - maybe later

My new tip for learning practical Spanish:  I have been collecting the Home Depot flyers to review the descriptions of sinks, faucets, toilets, stoves, fridges and the like.  Since it is something we are familiar with we can infer much of the meaning and expand our vocabulary.  Bueno!

[I'll post this now as the morning has flown by and tasks await.  Hope to post some photos of birds we've spotted recently as well as continue the upate.  Thanks for being patient!]