And then there's the bilge....

Boat bilges.... Yuk!  Usually dirty, greasy, smelly, collectors of all what-evers you can possibly imagine.  Right?  Not ours....  :-). Kathy has worked very hard and the result is stunning!  Not sure how long SSpirit's bilge will look this pretty..... But here it is.  Just had to brag a little bit :-)

That's all for tonight.  Hope all of you are doing well and enjoying every day....  Adios for now. CJ

Kathy and Salvador - new batteries and fancy caps

Water-Misers... That's what they're called. If you have wet-cell batteries, take a look at their web-site. We've been told they will really cut down the water loss, which will help our new batteries stay healthy. Will have to let you know on that, but it all sounds good so we're giving them a try :-)

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Surprise visitors...

As some of you may know I have written a few magazine articles about our adventures. One of them is about "putting your baby to bed in a Mexican boatyard". The last chapter of that piece talks about re-commissioning your boat after its 6 month hiatus all bundled up against Mother Nature's summer horrors... beasts... and vermin.... and all that is capable of surviving the horrific weather of mid-summer Mexico.

Well, I lived to test one of my own theories last week! While inspecting one of the boats that had suffered major damage during Hurricane Newton, I pulled away the tinfoil that still covered the vessel's roller furling. I had already walked away, when a 'not so wee' creature popped out to protest the invasion of his privacy. Yikes!! Having already met his larger cousin on the patio where we are staying... I was more curious than petrified (and I have since learned that Tarantulas are actually quite friendly). Needless to say, I just had to share this photo... This guy (or gal) would have filled the palm of my hand.... (ok, that's a little close.)


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We are so close, we took the evening off.... :-)

But, did you hear about the Super Moon last night?? Closest the moon has been since 1948... And it won t be this close again for about 30 years. Last night, we were SO tired, after days of work.... but we sucked it up, turned right into La Palapa on the beach, dragged two of their white plastic chairs down onto the sand (almost to waters edge), accepted two glasses of lovely L.A. Chetta wine (mine crisply cool and white, Kathy s red).... And watched that beautiful "Super" moon rise over the horizon. That's it in the background behind me (and yes I wear my hat and, yes, I wear sunscreen...the photo was taken at dusk).

We had a lovely, ever so romantic, evening watching the moon rise. Even more exciting was the fact that a kazillion small (baby) sardines came galloping ashore right at our feet! One of our waiters (er... Service providers) realized it first and put out the call... The staff rushed down to see (as did we) and we stood in awe as clouds of schools of thousands of little fish... turned the wave crests black with their numbers and succumbed to being washed up onto shore in the wave crests....only to be sucked out again with the next wave. It was awesome to watch. Even the restaurant cat came down to dream?

So, that was last night. Tonight we changed focus and joined the San Carlos Yacht Club for an evening of soup, delicious bread, and salad. We were even joined by the Commodore of same (who we think came to see if we were party crashers... And then decided to let us stay). In fact Kathy had been befriended by the bartender who invited us...and now we're invited to attend any time or event we want!!

So, that's the social news. On the work front... well, we can see the light! Most projects have gone well... really well. Others? Not so much. I'll show you photos in a series of follow up posts. The only "not brilliantly happy" news is that we had to order a new depth sounder... Did so... And included a shoot-through transducer (as we were already in the water). After three days of crawling around on our hands and knees, we have had to accept the transducer was not going to work on our boat. SO.... Tomorrow we have to get hauled back onto dry land, and back into that dusty dry work yard...so we can drill a hole in the bottom of our boat (I have always hated that part!) and install a through-hull transducer that we have tested and know to be true. We'll be back in the water on Thursday and, hopefully, will move on board on Friday and Saturday.

So that's enough yakking for now. Temps have cooled to a brisk 16 in the morning and a 'suggestion of siesta' 28-30 in the afternoons. Evenings are perfect (75 or so), and the wind fills in every afternoon at 1335 hrs. precisely.

So, that's the news from our little world.

Adios for now. Talk again momentarily. CJ

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Splashed!!!!

Hello out there... on dry land. :-).... today we "SPLASHED". Yippee, Yahoo, oh my goodness. What a wonderful feeling... the moving deck, the wind in our hair, the smell of salt water. All those things that aren't dry and dusty and gritty... 'Tis true: we will miss the people... the cruisers we've met in the yard and the wonderful ground crew (those guys who have been so helpful and accommodating to us "girls from Shanoon"). That's kind of our nick-name in Mexican cruising waters :-). BUT, we are pretty happy to be away from the dirt and grit and into the water... And the cruisers will follow us to the dock... We're part of the the 'first string'. Some have been working hard and will be on our heels, while others are still driving down... hoping the heat will abate before they get here... 99 yesterday, 99 today, 99 tomorrow (80% humidity). Being on the water makes about a 10 degree difference in comfort. Should you be by.. we're in slip C19 at Marina San Carlos :-)

To be clear, we're not moving on board for a few days yet. We still have some projects to complete (there will always be projects, but some take up more room than others) before we give up our apartment and take the leap to life aboard. But, once the storage locker is empty and the gear has been sorted (to boat, to home, to swap meet, to pile of summer maintenance materials whose future is yet to be determined :-) we will be 'living the life'...

We have a few photos which we will share tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that all went well today, SSpirit is afloat, and the sorting begins :-)

Hope all is well with you and your families... Adios for now, CJ

Sent from my iPad

All's well in San Carlos...

Hola, Buenos Dias. SSpirit's crew is back together and on the job. After a very uneventful (read that kind of boring) two-day journey CJ is back on duty in San Carlos. Scars from the wee bit of nose surgery are calming rapidly and it's all good.

Kathy has accomplished a huge amount during the last two weeks. The bottom repairs are all completed and a fresh coat of paint will be applied over the next two days. The electrical upgrades and installation of new batteries is complete and looks great. SSpirit is actually looking like a very nice sailboat once again. Our goal is to launch next Monday so we still have some work to do to get her ready for that. Once she's in the water we'll continue our prep and will move on board as soon as we can.

For those of you up in rainy and windy BC.. You might like to know highs here are in the mid 90's and it's still pretty humid... (I'm sure I'll get used to it soon... Gasp :-)

Bye by for now..... SSpirit is calling :-). Hope you all have a great day. CJ

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Catching up... it's October already.

Hi everyone.  It's been a while (at least it feels like it) since we've written.  Sorry for the absence... but here's how it's going.

CJ (that's me) had to return to Canada for a couple weeks...  Yup, one more spot of BCC to deal with.. this one on my nose of all places.  The good news is my appointment was at the MOHs clinic. If you haven't heard of the MOHs method.. check it out.  Instead of the cut and chop x 2 that was my lip, this kind is a one-shot deal.  You spend several hours.. most of it waiting for lab results..  but it's all dealt with on the same day.  And the staff and Doctors are excellent... So, except for the fact I had to leave Kathy slaving away in San Carlos.. I'm really glad I hooked up with the Skin Care Centre in Vancouver (thank you Tom and Shae for the tips). My black/purple eye is fading rapidly and the stitches are also quieting down... People don't avoid eye contact and kids don't stare anymore :-)

I have been extremely well cared for while at home.  Friends have insisted on feeding me wonderful meals and I'm even the lucky recipient of a loaned vehicle.  I'm feeling very spoiled.  I leave Duncan on Friday to spend a couple days in Vancouver and I fly out of YVR early Monday morning.  I should be back in San Carlos for dinner on Tuesday.  Yippee!!

Now then, as for Miss Kathy... well, she has been one very busy girl.  Even with all my organizing (those who know me know what I mean)... she has still had to deal with the unexpected issues that continue to pop up.... like the "oh, what's that" on the bottom of the hull.  Well, 'that' led to the discovery of a patch job gone bad.  N/K when the patch was done, but once you've discovered something like that... well you have to deal with it.  The potential for delamination is too great to ignore it.  Add that to the list.

I think it's safe to say the 'repair' work on SSpirit has become more of a 'refit' and, although it's frustrating and expensive... once completed, we should have one heck of a good and safe little ship with which to continue our explorations of the Sea of Cortez.  This years additions include (but are not limited to :-) 5 new batteries (the not-so-old AGMs died over the summer); a new battery selector switch; a new float switch for the bilge pump; a Balmar Regulator for the engine; a new and much more efficient raw water strainer for the engine; a new SSB antenna (to replace the one ripped of by Hurricane Newton); a PSS shaft seal (never could get the packing gland to drip properly); repair of the aforementioned hull patch.... and a new depth sounder (as the old one had to be removed to facilitate the repair... and it was ancient anyway); new anchor chain (5/16 HT) and a new Lofrans Kobra windlass (you've already heard the tale of the previous one); the addition of our dinghy and outboard; SS rails in place of the wire lifelines at the cockpit (which will allow us to mount the second propane tank and bracket); new LED lights, one in the salon and the other in the Galley.  I'll stop there. As you can imagine we're both working hard to move SSpirit forward and I truly believe we'll make it away from the dock this year.....  We've even set Oct. 24th as our 'splash' date; so we'll see how that goes...

In the mean time, thank you to all of you who have helped us in one way or another.Your friendship and support has been amazing. We feel very confident that our season this year will be a good one.  Thanks.

Adios for now... take good care and have a great day.  CJ