We're still in Cabo working on getting the steering fixed. Yesterday, we went in on the dingy to continue searching for the necessary parts we needed. A coupling barrel(that's a nut that is longer than your standard nut folks) nut had broken that holds the end of the copper hydraulic line to the rubber hose that connects to the steering ram that steers Zephyr. Well, it had developed three cracks in it's sides and the pressurized oil that goes through it was coming(in large amounts) through the cracks. Tuesday, no luck, but had a great day going all over town with Walter and Jaime(Walter's nephew) drinking beer and having lots of fun. We saw sights on Cabo few tourists get to see.

Anyhow, yesterday, we went back to the very first place we went to on Tuesday morning, Cabo Yacht Center and talked to Mike Frank(General Manager). He set us straight as to what we needed. A barrel nut(or coupler nut) would be easy to find, the problem was the "flared fitting" that had been used as it was made for a gas line and not an oil line. He didn't have any but know exactly where to get one. OK, off to find Walter and another rent a car. Well, Walter was spending the morning with his youngest daughter(2) and was running late and National Rent a car was not open yet. Another woman came over and offered to help us. She called Alamo Rent a car and made arrangements for us to get a car. She then found the Alamo agent and got us all taken care of. Let me tell you, the people here in Mexico could not be more help full and nice. I can't say enough about how wonderful they have been. Off we went in our rent a car to find Costco, Walmart, and Home Depot. Home Depot was first--they had the compression fitting we needed!!! We bought two for when the other fitting dies. On to Costco. We just can't get out of there for less than $300 if we tried. Lots more provisions for the up coming weeks. Our son is coming to spend Christmas with us so we needed to lay in some extra stuff.

On to Walmart, or as they call it on the maps "Wallmart". We just needed a few more things. OK, back to the marina and try and find a place we can take our dingy so we can load it up with everything we bought. Off to find Walter. A quick look and there was no way we would get everything into our poor little dingy. Walter got us a water taxi and we parked our dingy right beside his business. Off we went in a panga(water taxi or fishing boat)back to Zephyr with a boat load of supplies. We invited Walter on board as well as the panga driver to see our boat and meet the furr people. Off we went back to shore. A friend of Walter's had given him some fresh caught Mahi Mahi and he was going to take it to one of the local restaurants that will cook up anything you catch for $5.00. He was taking us to dinner and even supplying the fish. The least we could do was buy the beers. We headed back to Puff and took off just about sunset for the ride to Zephyr. Now we were ready to fix the steering assembly on Thursday.

This morning, we got up and fired up the engine to charge the batteries. The poor Honda generator has stopped working. We think it is just bad gas. I assembled the oil line and the barrel nut and we cleared the stern bunk so I could get in there and get the job done. On went the hose and the connection was made to the copper oil line. Once that was done, we went to the cockpit and filled the oil reservoir with hydraulic oil. It gets poured into the pump through a tube in the steering column. Once filled, I took off for the stern cabin and the steering assembly. I had Tracy turn the wheel while I "bled" the system of the air in the lines. First the port and then the starboard line. I looked over at the connector and hey, guess what? It was leaking. Crap!!! Not again. I grabbed two of our wrenches and tightened it up. No good. It still leaked. OK, next take out the new fitting and install the old compression fitting. I tightened it down and the stinking thing still leaked. OK, it's time to go for the professionals. I'd done everything I could do. The towel was thrown it.

I'd picked up one of the cards for Cabo Yacht Center and called them on channel 88. I was put in touch with Mike again and he was going to round up a hydraulic specialist and would have him ready when I got to shore in our dingy. Off I went. Martin was waiting for me when I got to Cabo Yachts and off we went back to Zephyr. Martin came on board and went below with me to see the problem. He looked at it. Dried off the oil and took out two wrenches. He loosened the compression fitting till it leaked and then tightened it back up. Tracy spun the wheel and NO OIL!!!! I guess I was just not holding my mouth just right when I did the fitting tightening. Since I was paying for an hour, I wanted to get my monies worth, so I had him bleed the air out of the copper lines. Back into Puff(our dingy) and back to shore. Project all fixed. I thanked Mike and Martin for coming to our aid. If you are ever here in a boat and need some help--give Cabo Yacht Center a try. When I returned to Zephyr, I went back below and inspected the fitting and got out some cloths to inspect it. I found just a bit of oil at one fitting so I tightened it and now we should be fine. I'll be heading under the stern mattress to check it out one last time before we head out in a few days. If there is a problem, I want it fixed tomorrow(Friday) since they will be closed over the weekend.

On the trip back in Puff, I saw Arena, one of our friends from San Diego. They had just pulled in after leaving Mag Bay a few days after us. They made better time with better winds than we had. They dingied over to visit a few hours later. Meanwhile, Tracy and I went for our first swim in Cabo by just jumping off of Zephyr's side. The water is so clear, I could see our anchor on the bottom. While the water wasn't the warmest, it still made for some nice swimming. A few hours later, over came Nigel and Fay off Arena and we talked for quite a while. They were both tired from their trip and took off for their boat a few hours later. A nice dinner of bratwursts and carrots and the day is just about over.

Tracy spent a great deal of time getting everything put away that we had bought or dragged back to Zephyr. She looks nice and tidy and ready to set out. We figure just one more day here to soak up the sun and then we will be off heading around the East side of the Baja Penninsula and into the Sea of Cortez and start heading for La Paz for Christmas.