12/25/2009, so continues the fixing things in exotic locations aka: cruising
It was a great Christmas morning with fresh squeezed orange juice and pina manos pastries from our favorite bakery in San Blas as we exchanged gifts. The orange juice wasn't as cool as I expected after being in the fridge over night and when I looked into the fridge my fears were confirmed. To a cruiser with refrigeration, the worst nightmare is losing the ability to not only make white diamonds (ice cubes) but to keep the ice box temperature at or below 40 degrees F. Until the last few days our Super AB Cold machine has preformed well, even under the repressive 100 degree heat in the Sea of Cortez, but for the last few days, thing just didn't seem right. The compressor has been running longer and small evaporation plate, shaped into the size of a shoe box that acts as our freezer and keeps the refrigerator cool, has lost its layer of frost ice.
People have house hold appliances die 365 days a year, so losing your refrigerator on Christmas day isn't something new or even that out of the normal, but losing your refrigerator while on a cruising boat in a small Mexican fishing town, opens up a whole new definition to the words - bad timing. There is a Taxi Driver here in San Blas who maintains the refrigeration and freezers on the towns shrimp boat fleet, so there is hope that it can be fixed here in San Blas. However, the real possibility remains that we could have to tuck tail and run back to Mazatlan for a refrigeration repair! Ah..the relaxing, trouble free life of a Cruising Family in Mexico.
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12/24/2009, our first rain in 15 months
Just as we were leaving the San Blas plaza last night, with our stomachs content, the sky opened up and it didn't just rain, it poured! Having not seen any rain for the last 15 months, it was welcomed, even if it meant that we had to walk and dingy back to our boat in the rain. The rain continued pretty hard all through the night giving THIRD DAY a good fresh water rinse. We would have enjoyed the rain a little more if we would have closed our deck hatches before we left the boat, but I guess it's a fair trade for a free boat wash down for a couple of wet pillows a blankets.
Lori and the kids headed into the Plaza last night at 1730hrs, but I had to stay behind since I'm the net controller for the Southbound HF radio marine net Wednesday nights. Once the net was over, I headed for the square myself, and enjoyed the short walk through town. Things were exactly as I remembered if not better. As I approached the plaza, I stopped by a churro cart and Lori had my port torta waiting for me on the plaza bench with Captain Norm and Jan and for the rest of the evening, I was happy, happy, happy.
It was still raining this morning, so we will spend Christmas eve day keeping dry, getting ready for Christmas, and enjoying our homecoming. I'll find some time to hit an internet café to check my svthirdday email address and to upload some photos.
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12/23/2009, Will we ever leave?
We dropped anchor in the exact same spot at 1500hrs this afternoon after Capt Norm talked us into the Estuary. It's hard to explain the feelings, but at this point, I could stay again for months and be completely happy. A few of the estuary front buildings have new paint, but other than that, it's exactly as I remembered. It was an extra bonus that SV Eyoni is here as well. We last saw them in Puerto Escondido and have been trying to catch up with them and we did just in time for Christmas.
The kids and entire crew are getting ready to go ashore and enjoy a night on the plaza. I just want to sit in the cockpit and relax. It feels so good to be home again, where we first started to relax and threw away our schedule last year. In fact, I need a celebration Pacifico and as captain, will make it so
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