Today was a big day. After three intensive work-days (because of the heat and the work that had to be done) it was time to move the good ship Shannon from her home of six months in the dusty old works yard…. to the beautiful blue Sea of Cortez water waiting for her. The process of moving the support stands away, and taking up the boat’s weight onto the trailer… is quite a sight to behold. A team of 5 or 6 Mexican fellows, all yelling at the same time and one ‘Capitan’ driving the big tractor… it was organized chaos.. yet, at no time did we feel the boat was in any danger. These guys really know their stuff. We took lots of photos as we thought many of you would be interested in the process; so watch for the sequence of photos (probably to be posted tomorrow). Shannon finally hit the water (well actually she eased slowly in like the ‘grand dame’ that she is….). She didn’t sink, she didn’t leak, and her engine started right away, phew. Aside from a little mis-communication due to my extremely poor Spanish (during which there was confusion as to whether I wanted the fellow with the long stern line to pull hard or let go…) our splashing and leaving went very well. A few short minutes later, at 0945 hrs., we slid quietly into our new home (Slip 319) at Marina Palmira. By 1030 hrs., we were registered and all papers had been signed… and by 1100 hrs., it was waaaaaaay too hot to work… There was nothing for it, we abandoned ship and fled to the poolside of the adjacent restaurant, hotel and pool. Somehow dipping in the pool and sipping cool cervezas took all the ‘ouch’ away and after a couple hours of reprieve we slunk back to dear Shannon and carried on with our preparations. Tomorrow at 0600 we hope to beat the heat and be at the boat early enough to have time to give the decks and exterior a really good scrub. Then we’ll empty out the inside and commence with the vacuum and dust rags…. As well, we have a heads to service and one fresh water foot pump to rebuild… all in a day’s work… :-) That’s the news for today…. and it’s 1800 hrs., so it must be Happy Hour time…. We’ll be in La Paz, and at Marina Palmira for most of November…. visiting with friends, working on Shannon and preparing for our crossing to the mainland. There won’t be much to report, but we’ll still check in and share stories and photos of what we’re experiencing… Hope all is well with all of you…. and Dad, I hope you’re feeling better…. talk to you all tomorrow.. CJ & K
