More Preparations

Yesterday morning I dropped by the marina office and informed Adriana of my plans to leave on Wednesday for a 3-week cruise of the islands.  I'm glad that I did because she asked me if it was OK to rent the slip during my absence.  Slips are in short supply at this time of the year, so I agreed.  I told her that I would try to give her a day or two of notice of our arrival via email, and in any event it will be no disaster if Brenda have to spend a night or two at anchor at the Mogote.  The fellows at the Palapa of Knowledge, Truth, and Wisdom told me this morning that the marina will credit me with half of whatever rental they get from my slip.

Yesterday afternoon Brenda and I took the bus to the revamped grocery store now called Chedraui (formerly CCC) for provisioning.   We soon realized that we would have to make a second trip for the vegetables so returned to the boat with 1500 pesos worth of groceries and two new pillows to replace the ones that we purchased in Hawaii.  At the bus stop Brenda had a brief chat with an elderly American lady who informed us that because we are older than 60 we should be paying a fare of only 3.5 pesos (about 30 cents) instead of the 8 pesos that we've been paying.


Last night I checked the boat's exterior lights.  As expected, the masthead and anchor lights were working fine.  Not surprisingly, the steaming light at mid mast was not working, although the deck light was.  When I replaced the steaming/deck light before departing Australia I was amazed at what a flimsy piece of plastic it was, but was told that it was a standard fitting for yachts.  I'm in no rush to get the steaming light going (required when motoring at night), but will certainly deal with it before departing Mexico.  The masthead and anchor lights are much more important.  Fortunately Trevor at Yacht Grot suggested a German-made masthead/anchor light assembly with LED bulbs good for 50,000 hours, or about 5.7 years of continuous running.  That cost me $600 but I wanted to avoid having to climb to the top of the mast to change bulbs during this circumnavigation.  And because the LED's are so efficient I leave the anchor light on 24 hours a day when I am at anchor. 

50 Meters of Line to Yellow Lifeling

This morning I hosed down the boat.  It's amazing how much desert dust accumulates in only a couple of weeks.  While I was in the cockpit fiddling with the Lifesling several people stopped and asked me about Pachuca.  Her S and S lines attract attention.  People typically ask me if it is either a Swan or a Catelina 38.  One sailor asked me about the red line along the starboard gunwale for deploying the parachute.  Fortunately Steve came by.  He had loaned me some very interesting material on series drogues before departing on a cruise of the islands and he was back at anchor for another week before heading south.  I had a good chat with while returning his documents.  He told me that Jeanne Socrates had replied to his email message and stated that Nereida is now on a mooring, which seems like a good sign to me.  Steve will head for Puerto Montt and after wintering over will head down the Patagonian channel and expects to be in Puerto Williams at about the time we round the Horn.

Lifesling in Poition

I then put some time in setting up the Lifesling, a buoyant sling attached to 50 meters of rope for use if someone goes overboard.  The Lifesling has been in Pachuca's hold since I purchased the boat but I had never taken it seriously.  I asked Ib to sell it and keep the proceeds while I was away for Christmas but he alerted me to its usefulness as a safety feature.  That activated my "duty of care" principles when I thought of Brenda and I cruising among the islands, so I decided to keep it and actually use it.  I stretched out the rope, took the kinks out of it, then repacked it so that all Brenda or I have to do is to put the readily visible loop of rope around a winch then pull out the sling and throw it out.

The wind predictions for the rest of the week look good.  In the morning I'll fill the water tanks and check the engine fluid levels the motor out at about noon.