Yesterday I left San Carlos and returned to the US on a Tufesa autobus. It was a VERY emotional day for me. To be leaving Si Bon in a foreign country for at least two months in order to escape the summertime heat of the Sea of Cortez was difficult. I am REALLY happy to be visiting both my Uncle Ross and his Wife Carol in Maryland and Shaybo and her family in Vermont and then going to San Diego to see the kids and my friends...but it was still difficult. Although it is unlikely that San Carlos would get hit by a major hurricane...it is possible and in fact did get hit pretty good in 2009. I have been busy the past two weeks preparing for a hurricane...just in case. I removed my roller furling jib, I cleaned, deflated, rolled up and stowed away the dinghy and I have removed most of the jerry jugs and other items from the deck of Si Bon. The last hurricane preparation was to tie Si Bon to the dock like she's never been tied before. I spent over an hour Sunday night doing a job that usually takes me 5 minutes to do. I have doubled up all of the dock lines, attached my 3/4 inch mooring line to port bow, attached spring lines bow and stern with special chafing protection and secured three dock fenders to each side of Si Bon. I've tugged, pushed and pulled on Si Bon trying to simulate what would happen in a tropical storm or....God forbid a hurricane and I feel comfortable that she will be fine.
I made a decision to hire a local guy by the name of Carlos (pic) to watch over and maintain Si Bon while I'm gone. Carlos in a REALLY hard core sailor and Scuba guy. Carlos is an ASA certified Sailing instructor and a Dive Master, he reminds me a lot of my friend in San Diego, Robert Svoboda. Carlos and I struck up a friendship pretty much as soon as I arrived in San Carlos when he told he I did a good job docking Si Bon singlehanded. Carlos takes care of several other boats full-time in the marina. Along with cleaning Si Bon's bottom and washing off her deck occasionally, he will also be checking dock lines and starting up the main engine and generator once or twice. Leaving Si Bon yesterday was not easy but having Carlos to keep an eye on things while I'm gone makes me feel better.