Steve
01/10/2012, Mazatlan

It's been a busy week since my last post. Frank and Russ finally made it to Mazatlan on Wednesday...a day late. We quickly got into the Mazatlan lifestyle by first going to happy hour, then heading out to The Fish Market restaurant for some $1.75 fish tacos. On Thursday I gave them the deluxe tour of Mazatlan, with breakfast on the beach and a tour of Centro Mazatlan and the Mercado. We then walked through old Mazatlan before enjoying a beautiful sunset happy hour from the Shrimp Bucket restaurant. After Sunset we walked back to Plaza Machado and had a tasty dinner in the beautiful square while listening to music. We're pretty sure that is where Russ picked a traditional case of Mexican intestinal cleansing bug and the next day he spent as close to the porcelain throne as he could be.
Sharon arrived back in Mazatlan on Saturday afternoon and Russ was starting to feel much better, so we were able to have a nice day together on Sunday. Yesterday my buddies bid farewell and flew back to San Diego. As soon as the boys were gone Sharon and I got busy provisioning for our planned departure on Wednesday.
It's always hard leaving somewhere that you've become fond of....and I would say that both Sharon and myself have fallen in love with Mazatlan. Mazatlan is a great combination of old and new and of tourist and non-tourist Mexico. But it is time for us to move along, so tomorrow we will begin slowly making our way to Puerto Vallarta where Sharon's family will be meeting us the first week of February. We will be making several stops along the way and there should be some more great adventures to blog about.
For those of you that follow our Spot locations on Facebook, we will resume them starting today at sundown and each night thereafter.
A special thanks to the community of Mazatlan and to all of the wonderful people we've met here.

Comments [0]

Steve
01/03/2012, me..Mazatlan, them...San Diego

Frank and Russ were supposed to be here by now......but slight problem, seems like sunny San Diego had some fog last night and into this morning, so they were unable to depart as planned. It just goes to show you that whether traveling by sailboat going 5 knots.....or by Jetliner going 500MPH, you must be flexible. Anyway they are now rebooked for manana manana (tomorrow morning), so hopefully they will be here by manana tarde (tomorrow afternoon). Speaking of delays....my 1000 mile service is finally done and other than not seeing the bill yet , everything is good to go. Also, our dodger (a large windshield/enclosure contraption), which has ALSO been delayed, should be back manna tarde, complete with all new windshields and, as an added bonus, a removable sunscreen.
So other than the fact that my good buddies aren't here yet...things are coming together pretty well. Most of the "things we need to do " list has been done, and hopefully tomorrow at this time I can turn my sights on showing Frank and Russ the town.

P.S. no picture today for the following reasons;
1. No Frank and Russ to photograph.
2. No repaired dodger to photograph.
3. Who wants to look at photograph of a greasy...although newly serviced diesel engine.

Comments [3]

Steve
01/01/2012, Marina El Cid, Mazatlan, Mexico

First of all HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE.
On February 22, 2011 at 0713 I did a post called "the Plan", that was about 1 week before I left San Diego. It is now January 1, 2012 at 0930, and I would like to update "The Plan". As you may already know, things have gone just about according to the original plan. I did take some time off Si Bon in the late summer and returned to the US to both escape the heat and visit family and friends. Oh and I also met, fell in love with and recruited as first mate, a wonderful lady named Sharon.
So where do we go from here? Well our new plan is to leave Mazatlan sometime around the 10-11 of January, we will work our way south to Puerto Vallarta where we will meet several of Sharon's family members including her Mom. While we are in Puerto Vallarta we will make the final decision on whether we will continue south to Central America or stay another season in Mexico before going south. I think at this point we have already made the decision in our own minds that we will be bidding farewell to the wonderful people of Mexico and continuing southbound. It looks like Panama would be a nice place to wait out the 2012 hurricane season. As always we welcome family and friends to meet us along the way and share in our unique lifestyle.
God bless!

Comments [1]

Steve
12/30/2011, Mazatlan

A friend of mine once told me that " I'm not going out on any boat that has anything jury rigged", well I can tell you that that pretty much eliminates about 99.9% of all cruising boats. There always seems to be things that require that you become creative in getting around this or that, or simply making due with something that isn't working quite the way it was intended to. It is in fact said that the definition of cruising is " fixing your boat in exotic locations". I can tell you first hand that if you can't jury rig things while cruising, you had better stay home in the marina and wait for the $100.00 an hour marine repairman to come to you boat.
The last few days have been dedicated to "un-jury rigging" things, first on the list today was fixing the dinks fuel line.... 20-30 minutes, no problem. Next on the list was fixing the kitchen faucet, of which the water flow has steadily been decreasing to a dribble....not so easy. I first had to get into a space that is about 1.5 X 2 feet, I then had to take apart the plumbing system under the sink and remove the faucet. Please keep in mind that I don't know shit about marine, or any other kind of plumbing. Well after a few (a lot) of choice words, then soaking the faucet system in vinegar then putting it all back together not once, but twice, the F*#%ing faucet is now putting out water like a fire hose.
But wait there's more...that's not the reason for the total disarray of the boat (pic). The 1000 mile engine service is officially underway, this requires that several of the complicated engine systems are sent out for testing/repair by one of the $100.00 per hour marine repairmen. In order to access the engine compartment it is necessary to clear out our aft cabin storage area, which we affectionally call the " Bat Cave". So now most of the contents of the "Bat Cave" are scattered around the rest of our spacious living area...and since it is now 7:15 PM on Friday night...it looks like I will need to get use to this for a few days. Happy New Year to all and hurry back Shaybo, we miss you.

Disclaimer; although it may seem that I am complaining, I'm not. I wouldn't trade this life for anything and the fact that I fixed the F*#%ing faucet by myself gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction...so there!

Comments [6]

Steve
12/28/2011, Marina El Cid, Mazatlan, Mexico

At first the thought of getting off the boat for a few days while she was in "the yard" sounded good....actually, it sounded GREAT. Let's face it there are many inconveniences while "living the life" on a 42 foot sailboat. Going to the crapper (head) in a room the size of a phone booth, then pumping whatever you left in the bowl out, having to duck every time you walk thru a door (or forgetting to duck), having to walk sideways thru the kitchen....oopps...I mean Galley...blah, blah...whine whine whine, the list goes on and on and on. The good feeling of taking the "boat break" lasted until shortly after checking into the Ramada Beach resort, I found myself missing Si Bon badly and it wasn't just a case of homesickness, as the days wore on I became more and more antsy to be back on Si Bon. Today Si Bon was "splashed", thats sailor talk for being dropped back into the water, she has a nice new coat (2 coats) of paint on her bottom, her Max-prop was greased and her rudder was checked. Tomorrow the mechanic will be here to do the 1000 hour engine service and tonight I get to sleep in my own bed...granted that it may have a different shape as a land based bed....but I don't care. Well I have to slide step down the galley and put some veggies away, then I think I'll duck into the head and.....well never mind. It sure is nice to be home.

Comments [2]

Steve
12/26/2011, Ramada Inn, Mazatlan

You may be wondering....gee what happened to Steve yesterday, Christmas day came and went and no exciting blog???? What happened???
Well I spent Christmas by myself at the Ramada Inn in Mazatlan, where I still am, waiting to get Si Bon back in the water. I thought about writing something yesterday....but then I thought what am I going to say that wouldn't sound either depressing or pathetic, so I decided to wait until today. Truth is that although it was a little strange spending Christmas in a hotel by myself, I did already have a wonderful Christmas last week with Amber and Ashley, both of whom I talked to a couple of times yesterday. Not only that but Sharon, whom I also talked to several times yesterday, and I will be having another Christmas of our own when she returns from Vermont in January. As I've said before, the hardest part of the cruising life is missing family and friends whether it is a special holiday or not. I feel particularly blessed this Christmas as I was able to spend some good quality time with my kids last week and next week my two good buddies, Frank and Russ will be coming down to visit me.
So Merry Christmas to all, and please don't forget the real reason for this special time of the year. God Bless!

Comments [0]