Life at the dock for a bit longer

Thursday, January 12 and our thoughts are with a dear aunt who is quietly celebrating her birthday in the cold weather of Edmonton.  Wish you could enjoy some warm weather with us!

The mystery deepens regarding how certain of our lines have disappeared between last April when we cleaned and bagged sails and packed up the sheets and lines.  The topping lift with the Dutchman system is nowhere to be found at home or onboard.  The Captain has placed an order for replacement items and we will "enjoy" another week at the dock.  There are no shortage of things to keep us busy. The enjoyment aspect will hinge on how often the drum and bugle corps fires up in the evening and how loud and late the various musical entertainments in the area chose to be.

There are comings and goings on the dock.  A few folks have headed out now that the winds have eased up; another boat crew is waiting for an injured foot to heal; a third is showing a much loved boat to a prospective new owner.  In the works yard, folks are working away at some more involved projects, always hopeful they will come to an end so they too can set sail. We are all busy and focused, but there is usually time to walk about and supervise each others' tasks.  Brain-storming how to best approach an installation of a part, borrow that one tool you don't seem to have, as well as just chatting.  There aren't any regular 'happy hours' at the moment, but there is a friendly, cooperative cruising community in place.

Kelly successfully re-installed the SSB radio and was able to check in to the Sonrisa ham net.  The reception is not the best while at a dock with too much interference; at least we can listen to other cruisers who do check in and usually catch Geary's weather updates at 07:50 am.  Having this functioning radio connection is an important safety feature as well as a welcome communication link. In the past, we have tried to check in on a regular basis while moving from anchorage to anchorage, so that our recent positions have been recorded by the net controller.  Just in case anyone needed to track us down.  As well, the radio alerts us to anyone in our immediate area who is in need of assistance or wanting to pass on messages.

On our recent trip to San Carlos to search our 'bodega' (storage unit) we spotted a Book Sale to raise funds for the local animal shelter.  Of course we turned around and paid a visit.  Even with the availability of Ereaders and movies, most folks like having a batch of books to read at the ready.  At the moment, in our cruisers' library exchange at the marina, we've all read everything each of us is interested in, so it was a bonus to pick up a few new titles to add to the book bag.

Today we have been invited to join friends on a drive north of San Carlos to a newer restaurant on the beach .  The food is good, although the service is somewhat slow apparently.  It is a byob place, with a 'dress warm' proviso, as the sea breezes can be brisk.  We are looking forward to this new experience.

PS:  we have changed the setting on this blog to allow folks who don't have a Google account to make comments....sorry for any difficulties some of you had...comments first go for 'moderation' so we can check them, and then post.

January 2012 activities - Keeping busy in the sunshine

Photos from the marina looking out from our dock.


Our view looking north to malecon and spires of San Fernando church

Our view to the east along the malecon

Plan B at anchor with pelicanos cruising by

Pelicanos swallowing fish at sunset

This first week of January has been a mixed bag of activities for the INTREPID II crew with little time for a posting, but here are a few items of note.

old wiring - not well connected

Kelly continued with his electrical challenges arising out of installing new LED lights in our dining area and the galley.  Minimal issues or none at all with the new products and we are pleased with the results.  However, there were some interesting existing wiring arrangements which required much more time and ingenuity than originally anticipated.

Our water pressure pump is still behaving erratically.  We need that to be functioning well before installing the new water heater.  Today is a concentrated effort to deal with all the odds and ends of bags and bins in the v-berth and cabin. The goal is to minimize what we keep on board, then take away suitcases, bins of extraneous stuff we hope we won't need later.  We even passed up attending the swap meet in San Carlos to ensure we didn't find any treasures, which of course wouldn't have a place onboard!

Carol tracked down the name of an English speaking doctor near the marina.  She paid several visits to Dr. Sanchez to confirm that she indeed had a serious inner ear infection which was the cause of extreme vertigo these past few weeks. That was one of the reasons we wanted to get to the dock rather than be climbing ladders. Dr. Sanchez advised her to have an immediate series of four injections to address the vertigo, along with antibiotics.  By the 3rd injection, there was a noticeable difference. She is finishing up the medication with comparable pills.  On Friday she sat through a somewhat painful procedure to flush out her ears and voila!  Much improved sound and minimal vertigo.  (Carol:  now I can tackle the rest of our lockers and also hear much more clearly the thumping disco music which has been going to 2 or 3 am.  A mixed blessing.)



'The Doctor' mural in Sanitorio Sanchez

The reception area in Dr. Sanchez' office features a dramatic mural called "The Doctor". It is a very sombre rendition of a physician leaning over a sick child while the anxious parents are in the background.  Dr. Sanchez advised that his father established the clinic in 1958;  the mural was painted from the original English painting by a well known Guaymas artist. Our doctor spent considerable time determining the issues and arriving at a suitable treatment.  He listened well and answered all our questions. Further, he sees patients at all hours, if necessary, and was there at 9 pm for the injections, after having been at the office since 7:30 am.

In the meantime, we've visited with our SV Rosebud friends who are staying in San Carlos, put a few more items in our rented bodega, also in San Carlos and unsuccessfully searched for line for our traveller, which needs replacing.  There is one marine chandlery in San Carlos which seems to cater more to sport fishing vessels than sailboats, so no lines available there.  

Rosca del Reyes

Yesterday, January 6th, was el Dia de los Reyes (the feast day of the 3 Kings, or Magi). Suzy and Ron of SV Golden Eagle, who are working on their own boat projects in the dry storage area, hosted the remaining cruisers to a celebration.  With assistance from  SV Forbes and Cameron folks, Pat and Tony, we enjoyed slices of the decorated 'rosca'.  This sweet bread is formed into a circle and colourfully decorated; it also contains tiny plastic statues of 'baby Jesus'.  We all thought only one was baked into each cake, but several folks found 2 each and Carol bit down on one herself before we realized there were several.  The rules of receiving this honour:   host a subsequent party with tamales on or about February 2nd.  Although we will all likely be dispersed by then, we've promised to do so wherever we find ourselves next month.

Time to get back to projects.  It's an overcast day, fairly calm, but we expect south winds clocking around to northers soon.  By Sunday the highest wind is expected to hit 26 knots before easing up. We're here for another week, hopefully accomplishing our outstanding tasks, do a final provisioning run and making plans to 'head south'.

Cheers!