We had a wonderful 2 weeks in Antigua, the Spanish school was great. The instruction was 1 on 1 so Ken and Carole each had a separate teacher. We stayed in home stay for the 2 weeks other than a couple of nights. You cannot beat it, you get a place to stay and 3 meals a day except Sunday all for $65 a week. The lessons were only $100 a week. We both learned a great deal and now know more than we did before, we now have to practice daily so it sticks in our heads!! The McDonalds in Antigua is a must see, it is the best we have ever seen. It has a beautiful garden where you can sit an relax in addition to inside seating. We will post pics.
Once back in Bahia del Sol it was time to get the boat ready. Lines and sails were re-installed. When we checked the engine it would not start and soon we realized we needed a new starter battery, it did not end there, we also needed new house batteries. Luckily we were able to get them here and the kind we wanted which were US Trojan batteries. We had hoped to baby the old ones to Panama and realized this was not to be. Ken recommissioned the water maker to find out that the impeller on the boost pump had swollen over the summer and needed to be replaced, luckily our friends on Gosling has one we could use, thank you guys. Apparently they swell with the heat and the chemicals from the pickling, next year we will remove it. We need 1 more trip to San Salvador to provision and then we are ready. Hopefully we will leave on Saturday as long as the bar is OK that day to cross.
Carole and Ken were given a washing machine before we left Canada, so Carole decided one day she must try out this new machine. She completed one load of wash and it worked well, pics to follow in the gallery. Thanks Bob and Janice!