Transportation Plan

It looks like the air transport option for the new engine is, well, going to fly.

Alaska Airlines can fly the engine direct from Seattle to Los Cabos International Airport (See http://www.loscabosguide.com/maps/overview.htm) for about $600. I spoke with the Alaska Airlines cargo service center several times and they insisted that I must have an "import broker" representing me. That suited me fine because a professional representative would have a lot more know how and stature than me in dealing with the Mexican Bureaucracy.

Yesterday morning I walked over to Eco Naviera, a company in the marina precinct that deals with these matters. They saw no problem in representing me.

The process will be as follows:
1. Alaska Airlines flies the consignment to Los Cabos airport and holds it there until
2. A representative from Eco Naviera signs for it and has a truck ready to deliver it to Customs, not far from the airport
3. When Customs gives the OK, Eco Naviera has the engine trucked to Marina de La Paz

I will insure the engine for the flight to Los Cabos and I have told Yolanda at Eco Naviera that I would like it insured during the transportation by truck.

To me the entire process looks good. Certainly the leg from Seattle to Los Cabos looks good as gold. Eco Naviera appears to be a well established company with high visibility across the laneway on marina premises. Club Cruseros mentions them under "Vessel Services" in their services guide (http://www.clubcruceros.org/Services.html). The chain of responsibility would involve only three parties: Alaska Airlines, Eco Naviera, and Customs, each leaving paper trail. This is definitely simpler than the all-trucking option, and therefore to my mind less risky - and probably a lot cheaper too. (The only simpler method that I can think of would be to have the plane do a low level pass over the Marina de La Paz and drop the engine under a cluster of three G-11C military parachutes, but I don't really think that's going to happen.)

I have presented my passport, temporary importation permit, and immigration status document to Eco Naviera and they have started a file. On Tuesday morning I will visit Yolanda and learn what trucking and insurance arrangements have been made, as well as the costs to me. One of the costs will be for the drive by an Eco Naviera agent to Los Cabos airport to sign for the consignment and truck it to Customs. I asked Yolanda if I could go with the agent and she said OK. I would enjoy the overland drive to the airport and it would give me the opportunity to keep my beady eyes on the engine.

Mark and I continued to interact via email, fax, and Skype telephone calls (three today) on various aspects of the engine preparation and shipment. I Faxed to Mark copies of Neil's letter stating that Marina de La Paz will be doing the engine replacement work and my 10 year temporary importation permit.

In the middle of the day I got a chance to spend a couple of hours improving the side view plan of the new engine in Pachuca's compartment. It is a very accurate scale drawing that will enable me to speak with confidence about that aspect of the installation.

In the late afternoon I succumbed my feeling of guilt at not having done anything physical all day so at 6.45 PM I began to wash the boat which was filthy from the accumulation of many weeks of desert dust. Even at this late hour the sun was high enough to force me to wear a tee shirt to protect myself. The amount of dust I washed off the boat amazed me. When I finished at precisely 8 PM I could see the upper half of the sun disappearing behind the landscape on the horizon.