One toke over the line sweet Mary

We are going to go forward with the boat purchase. That means we set up for a marine survey and a check out by a mechanic. The boat is sitting on the hard, which means it’s in a boat yard on pavement. Can’t really do a sea trial on it, but it was floating last summer so it’ll probably float just fine now. The mechanic, Omar, will trial start the engine and the broker, San Carlos Yachts, will send us a video of it. The surveyor will look the boat over for structural problems and that’ll all be good to know.

I’m pretty sure all the batteries on board are shot. 4 big 6 volt house batteries for the solar and a starting battery for the motor. The wood work can use a good shine up along with the metal on the boat. There’s little stuff like a shelf I’ll have to replace. Before it goes in the water I will want to put an air conditioning unit on it. That will take another through hull fitting and a place to put the air conditioner. We’ll have to have what ever diesel is in the tanks “polished” so it’s clean for the motor as well. And at some point we’ll add in a water maker to the mix so we will have clean reliable water in that system.

Right now we’re trying to transfer the pics Crystal took to this machine so I’ll do another post with more pics and stuff later.

It’s been a good day, went to the beach, visited a scuba shop, bought a boat, got a nice dinner for next to nothing. And a shower, since I was smelly.

Sunday, play day

Today was a “free” day. We got here yesterday and can’t look at the boat until mid morning tomorrow. So we lazed in bed playing games, doing research and drinking decaf.

Somewhere in the middle there I managed to fall down the stairs. Way to feel like an octogenarian eh? The stairs here are very steep, made of slipper metal and have no handrail. We’ve both been careful but Crystal stumbled early upon arrival and I fell this morning. Hers was ladylike and essentially gentle. Mine was face first holding 2 empty ceramic cups right into the stairs, the floor, then the wall. :D Luckily there wasn’t too much blood.

We did finally get moving but we didn’t worry about getting going too early. The two days of driving had worn a bit on both of us. Before we left the stay, Crystal went and said hi to the tortoise.

Then we were off, just slightly after noon. :D We both managed some decent sleep even though some delightful person outside was blaring a radio until 3 AM, luckily we both know to travel with ear plugs. Tonight (Sunday) it’s some loud jack off preaching with a microphone. If only his god would take him now. It’s almost chilly in the room, so we have the windows shut, but somehow you can still hear the man and his endless, amplified, monologue.

We went driving around Guaymas for a while, saw a bunch of floats being positioned for the “Hospitality” day parade, one well guarded port location complete with spikes in the entrance and a guard on a walkway with a BIG gun. There were also piers set aside for the fishing fleets, some of which are not in good shape.

 It was a fun ride through town. Then we headed toward a prominent point that overlooks the ocean in an extension of San Carlos. This is where the wealthy buy houses as well. It was pretty, and also pretty chilly with the wind coming off the water there.

Then we went and looked for the boat yard where we’ll go tomorrow to see the Cooper. Oddly I thought of that a few miles after we’d already passed the road to it and had to go back. (We don’t much like going back). Then we got a couple groceries, and filled up with gas so we could hunt down some food. I’d picked out a gastropub hoping to find something there I could eat. No dice, it was beer, pizza and some kinda fish stuff. Nothing for a veg head. Luckily I only had to circle the block a couple times to get into the entrance. It’s becoming a habit for me. In the same parking lot there was a sushi and martini joint so we went there and had a good meal. If only we weren’t on an alcohol break we’d have had an even better dinner!

Then it was back to “home”. We have the windows all shut to keep out the chill. I’m doing this, Crystal is doing her Spanish lesson and we’re having a nice, warm evening drink of decaf. It’s all the better since we got some sweetener today.

Probably early to bed tonight so we can head to San Carlos tomorrow to see Contigo and decide if it’s the boat for us.

On the move again

We’re at it again. Looking at another boat in Mexico, this time in San Carlos on the sea of Cortez. This might be the one, we’ll get to look at it in a couple of days. It’s a Cooper Pilothouse 41.5’ sloop. The guy has lowered the price to $32K from $49K so we made an offer and for the first time in our lives drove down to Mexico. San Carlos is a little over 200 miles down into the country and we were a little nervous going through the border and trying to do everything right.

We started from home, then went to Durango, CO to get the oil changed in the Nissan Versa. They even got us in early so we could get on our way. That night we stayed at an AirB&B in Tucson, AZ with a couple fellas that are retired (for 20 years) and used to run a restaurant in Portland. They were very nice, even agreed to let us check in late. That was a good thing since I tried 3 other places and got turned down on all 3. The night surprise was Carl and Archie made us omelettes in the morning!

That morning it was off to Mexico after breakfast. I’d done a fair amount of research for our first trip and thought I had it all figured out. The truth is no plan survives first contact. It was a little confusing the first time. We almost missed “KM21” where you get your tourist visa and make sure all is set up for your car. Luckily we figured that out or we’d have gone a hundred miles and ended up having to come back. Everyone at the check in spot was nice to us too, and we got pesos there. 

Those were the toll gates. The first one comes up well before you have a chance to swap dollars for pesos, and they only take pesos. Luckily Crystal had some in her purse and got us through there. Then there was about an hour of driving through small towns and construction. The last few hours were all on good roads and went well. No army checkpoints and smooth sailing. Then we were getting to Guaymas to find our room......

We found the room just fine (lots of potholes) :D and the friend of our host let us in and got us as set up as we could with her no-English and our crappy Spanish. OK, Crystal is pretty good. I suck. The funny part was the stray dog that let itself into both the yard and the hosts house. They finally corralled it and got it back outside the gates. The place has a big gate we park the car behind and feels pretty safe. And it all looks nice too. There are tortoises in the yard, kinda cool.

After settling in we went for a drive for some dinner and a few groceries plus a look at the marina where we’ll go to meet up with the boat broker. 

Upon our return “home” we’d locked ourselves out and there was no one home. So I jumped the gate, what else would a retired lineman do? :D Now we’re settling with decaf and some quiet in a place that isn’t moving. This was  the most scary thing we saw today on the drive down:

Nice tie down job don’t you think? 

Tomorrow we’ll hit the beach, perhaps find a place to eat one meal and generally bum around. Updates as conditions warrant.