Puerto Escondido, oh how I love to hate thee. I actually like PE (a lot), it is the expensive mooring ball and distance to Loreto that I hate. But a necessary stop.
First up on our arrival was giving Strikhedonia a deep clean on the outside, after the crossing we rinsed off the salt but this was the first chance to really get things clean. My crew did a great job while I got us checked in and attempted to purchase some fuel. Turns out they now limit jerry cans to 20 liters (while tacking on a 16% “marina life tax” that used to be avoided with jerry cans). I helped out with the last half of the cleaning and we were off the dock and onto a mooring ball.
The next morning we took on cleaning the inside of the boat. Everyone pitched in and a few hours later we had the inside spick and span just like the outside. Sadly Ariel was departing so we all headed in to shore to see her off, pick up some Wifi, and take showers with unlimited water.
Crew farewell, until next time.
Work far from done, early the following morning Shalise and I took the dirty laundry in for cleaning, and it was good we were early as by the time our loads were out of the dryers there were four boats lined up waiting for machines. I had rented a car for a couple days to take care of more work, seeing a theme here? So first stop was filling our propane tanks, then a stop at the hardware store, followed by beer at Zopilote (FYI prices have shot up to 95 pesos per beer, wtf), lunch at Del Ray taco, and squeezing in some sightseeing/hammock time before dropping off Victor at the airport (and then there were two…). Oh how this day was not done yet, next up was provisioning which involved shopping at four stores over the next three hours. We made it back to the dinghy where the heavily load made for a slow trip out to Strikhedonia. Groceries repackaged and stored, all we could muster was a sandwich for dinner followed shortly by sleep.
And so the work continues…in the morning we finished making the beds and Shalise made the move to the stern berth to make room for Jack who was arriving in the afternoon. In town in time for lunch at Del Rey, see another theme here? Followed by meeting up with Carol and Guy (Stray Cat) for a pitcher of beer at Zopilote (down to 82.3 pesos per beer). Shalise took to sightseeing while we drank and chatted. We drifted over towards a hardware store where we bumped into Carl and Roxy (Sky Pond) and Peter (Dawn Treader). It was a quick hello before rushing to the hardware store for a hose end (broke when washing the boat) and rushing off to the airport to pick up Jack. Whew.
Back to Loreto, Jack, Shalise, and I hit up Mike’s bar where there was live music from noon until 1:00am. Guess who found us? Cindy and Mark (Delta Switzer) – this was a serious cruisers social day. Some music, some beer, some snacks, and fun conversations. Alas we still had work to do, so we were off but not before watching a bit of a dance competition in the main square. With that we made our final provisions at (just) two grocery stores and shuttled it all back aboard.
Were we done working yet? Ha, hardly. When crossing to Muertos we had a problem with our port engine. The coolant reservoir overflowed which after thinking about led me to believe the heat exchanger failed, bringing sea water into the coolant loop. Rafa the Yanmar dealer in Mazatlan had confirmed this was the likely issue and Jack brought with him the parts for the repair. The previous two days (in addition to everything else) I had disassembled the engine and prepared everything for Jack’s arrival. So at 6:30am I finished the repair and flushed the coolant loop five times with fresh water before draining and refilling with coolant. Whew.
And so it goes, by 9:30 we had thrown off the mooring ball line and motored north towards Isla Coronado. Completely exhausted and ready to slow down the pace while taking a break from all the work required to live on a sailboat.
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