Tapachula Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving is a challenge on the boat, or in the marina; so we decided to go non traditional this year. Also, most of the cruisers we've met are Canadian, so......our friend Arturo from McCaw Tours, organised a "cantina tour". We put the word out and got 4 other couples to join us, Thansgiving day at noon, we piled into the van for the drive to Tapachula. Arturo explained some of the history and traditions of the cantina. 1st is that your beer is never empty, and as long as your drinking, they bring you food!

Arturo.

This cantina was from 1952.

Tapachula is a city of about 600,000; a mostly agriculture based economy, with many good food choices.

I'm always surprised when I see dogs on rooftops!

After two cantina stops, everyone needed a break, Arturo drove us about 15 minutes out of town, to a small Mayan ruin called Izapa, it dates to about 3,500 years ago, making one of the oldest known Mayan sites.

We learned the history of the site, but more importantly, the cultural influence that made them build it. I think everyone enjoyed the tour, and we were back at the Marina by 5!

The last few days we have focused mainly on cleaning, and finding everything we need to get underway. 

Back on the boat!

Well,... it has been a long time since we've updated the blog! Where to begin?
Our time at home was productive, and fun! Many improvements to the house; interior and exterior paint, a new roof, some new plants, and  tree trimming. We also had to do some repairs to the Toyota; new u joints, and rebuild the rear differential.
 We did have fun too!  While we were in Scottsdale we did get to visit  Karin's family. We had alot of fun playing domino's with her brother Kevin and his partner Ron, and had lunch together on Ron's Birthday.

Then a complete surprise; I won a three day trip to Portland, Oregon at a company party, so we were able to see Ron and Judy from Cetacean,

and Brandon and Virginia on their Columbia 43' Oceanus! Then on an absolute whim, we decided to go on The Price is Right!

What fun!... we didn't get on stage, but it was was great to be in the studio, and see how they do everything.
As someone said..."quit fooling around and get back on the boat!"

We hit the road about a week before Halloween, and we were on our way. We made the transition through the border with no problems, then continued the 2400 mile trek to Tapachula. The highways were pretty good, except for all of the construction. It's great that we saw so much improvement, but it really slowed us down.. it took six days to get here!

When we finally arrived at the marina, our hearts were filled with anticipation of what condition the boat would be in. To our absolute amazement, everything was just as we had left it! No mold, no bugs.

There are many stories from the drive,  the hotel we stayed at, and  the people we met along the way, but the most important thing was getting the boat back in the water. That said, we've been at the slip for a while now, cleaning, organizing, and ...watching Netflix! It is just too hot in the middle of the day, and our 7000 BTU LG air conditioner has been fantastic. When it's 95 outside, we can keep the cabin at 86 until sunset, then it will cool down to the 70's overnight!

Of course we had a few issues once we started "bringing her back to life". When we filled the water tank, a hose came undone and leaked 20 gallons of water into the bilge; which turned out to be a blessing, because we found out our bilge pump was not working! Once the water was removed from the bilge, I could see that the pump had stated to disintegrate. Oh no, where am I going to find a new bilge pump here? and we're not leaving without it! Luckily, Enrique and the staff here at Marina Chiapas keep some parts around, and in less than an hour, we had a new case on the pump, and it works. Nothing is easy.... the switch for the pump isn't working! I elected to bypass the switch and go straight to the breaker, now it works... but wait! now the main engine room bilge pump isn't working...... just a bad connection..whew!

Now, all we need to do is inspect the fuel tank, change the oil, inspect the sails, take out our anchor chain, and install our Helmsman 3000 autopilot. It's a belt drive unit designed for use in calm sailing or motoring conditions.... I think that's it. If all goes well , we should be on our way in the next two weeks. 

The Price is Right experience

After getting lucky enough to win a trip to Portland we decided why not press it and go on the Price is Right. Getting tickets were easy and free!  We headed to Los Angeles and stayed at a hotel just a few blocks from CBS studios.  At 7:30am we were in line outside the studio and talking to Ross the "guy" who makes sure everyone keeps the sidewalk clear. We asked him how often you can go on the show and he informed us that once you win something you can't return for 10 years, but until then you can try all you want. He said one guy went to 159 shows in a row until he won.

After getting in we were given the "waiver" to sign and got our name tags and our photos taken.  The real background of the photo above is a gray wall.  Then we were herded down to some benches to wait for our interview.  While there we got to know the people around us and met some really nice and fun people.  A crazy group of middle aged women in orange shirts that said "I'm a Swinger", some ladies from Ohio, a quiet couple where the woman was wearing a weird fuzzy coat, a really sweet family from Florida.

Then came the interview.They lined us up and the animated interviewer started asking each person what they did for a living and engaging them in conversation. When he got to Joe and Joe said he was a skydiving instructor, he immediately asked if he had ever had both chutes fail, of which Joe replied "obviously no".
He then jumped into a story of how he knew someone who had both chutes fail and that another person had dived down and grabbed him and they both landed under one parachute. WHAT?! We couldn't tell him that this was just urban legend and pretty much stupid made up scenes from every Hollywood skydiving movie.
Our interview turned into all about him.  Oh well.

After that we went through security and into the waiting area for the studio, about an hour and a half later we were let into the studio. It was amazing, but much smaller than what it seems on TV.  It was a totally surreal experience

LIFE MUST BE LIVED FORWARD,BUT CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BACKWARDS.

Reflecting on this last season has led to many soul searching thoughts. We have questioned why are we doing this and what we want to do in the future.

When we were in Bahia del Sol El Salvador we were told many stories about how Nicaragua and Costa Rica were places to avoid. Lots of crime and difficult officials.

OK, we left El Salvador planning a straight shot to San Juan del Sur Nicargua (48 hours) rest for a few days and then onto Panama. We left El Salvador raised our sails and withing 40 minutes we reefed, then we reefed again, then we brought down all sails and turned on the engine.  That night we sought harbor in Fonseca and declared our asses kicked.  We hung out there and met up with Cetacean and then proceeded our way down the coast to San Juan del Sur, as has already been documented in the blog.

We finally made it into Bahia Ballena in Costa Rica where everything proceeded to break....Our watermaker boost pump, our dingy engine and then our solar charge controller broke.

It was HOT and HUMID... we were not living the dream...going to shore was difficult and we got drenched many a time going and leaving shore. Time to go back to Mexico, that was our decision. That meant a stop back in El Salvador.  What an amazing place that will be in our hearts forever.

After a month there we went back to Marina Chiapas to haul out the boat and pick up the Toyota.  We were so happy to be back in our beloved Mexico.  Enrique and crew are like family to us.  For some reason we have no photos.  We were pretty burnt out by then. So here are some Costa Rica photos.  We met some awesome people there.

The people that we met in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were amazing.  We never had a problem with check in and check out of any of the countries, we did our research and were respectful and have nothing but great memories and appreciation of the people we met.

We are now settled back in the US, back at work at the dropzone and working on the house.  We think we will bring the boat back up the coast of Mexico and drop the hook in Puerto Penasco Mexico, where we can take friends for adventures to Isla de la Guarda.

We hope to take an air adventure to Chile in July.

3/6/2015: Bahia del Sol

Where to begin.......our last post from Playa Cocos, was after getting through numerous Papagayo's. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from those exciting times,.....we have often clocked winds of 40 mph during our passages to Costa Rica. We did get through it, and made it to Bahia Ballena in the Gulf of Nicoya.

We had adjusted our schedule to meet up with our skydiving friends,... we only saw them  for a few minutes, but it was fun watching planes and canopies from the boat!

Not all of the landings were perfect.

Just after we arrived in Tambor, the boost pump for our watermaker went out. Fortunately, Rich at Cruise RO was able to get one out to Az. in time for a friend to bring it down.

 When I opened the packaging, it was different than the original, and required more connections, and installing a new control panel! I got it installed and working the same day. We had been getting bottled water for a week, now we were back on track, until the next day.

Returning from shore, we noticed our friend Erlin on Venurted had anchored nearby, and decided to go say hello. 20 yards from his boat, the outboard died, and would not start,... sad and frustrated, we rowed back to the boat.

A few days earlier, we were at the bar at Tambor Tropical, and met a nice couple who offered to give me a ride to get gas for our generator. Luckily, he gave me his number, so I called in desperation, asking if he knew a mechanic? He called back 5 minutes later, and told me that the mechanic would come to the boat the next morning. When they arrived, Aldo and Billie were bearing Bloody Mary's, and Fabio the mechanic tore right into the motor. About an hour later, after a good cleaning of the carb, and a few adjustments, it was running great! The next morning,  Fabio came by to check if the motor was alright, and offered some lobster for sale! What service! O.k., things are getting better!

                                       

I thought...... the next day our solar charge controller stopped working! Now the only way to charge batteries is to run the engine, or the gas generator. No  chartplotter, or anchor light, no movies at night, just trying to keep the refrigerator going. I'm really getting tired of fixing things! So, next step, get a charge controller shipped from the states. A week later, and more shipping and duty than the part is worth, but again with Aldo's help we had it shipped to the local Century 21 office. I can't begin to explain how difficult it was to get a shipping address. All of the directions are... 50 meters west of the school, or 50 meters east of pizza hut headquarters in San Jose, and there are no zip codes! Fedex finally came through, and our batteries are charged up again. Aldo and Billie were so helpful, and fun to hang out with... they drove us around, introduced us to their local friends, and shared many good stories about living in Tambor.

Our plan was to keep going south to Panama, to meet my friends for our annual surf trip. After the last couple weeks of  fixing things, we decided that is would be much easier for me to fly down from El Salvador. 

While discussing our plans with Aldo and Billie, a canadian that works at the resort, had a friend with him who was trying to get to Cocos, we said sure! He came with us for the overnight trip, and I think he enjoyed the experience, even though we were bashing into 40 mph winds and 4' seas!

Of course, Aldo and Billie came out to the boat to see us off, and apparently, the night before, Aldo had a dream,.. it was making these banners!

Following our check out in Cocos, Karin checked the weather, and it looked good for the next 72 hours. We decided to do the rhum line to Bahia del Sol... we made it in 44 hours, with calm seas, and light winds; what a treat!  Being back in a marina after 3 months is a nice change, especially, having A/C! We'll finish out March here, and then take off for Mexico. That trip will be another 48 hours or so to Chiapas. 

This season has been great, but, has also taught us some good lessons.