While I worked outside yesterday washing poor Zephyr, Tracy spent the morning defrosting the freezer. It had managed to get a good crop of ice on its cold plate and it needed to go as it was causing the compressor to run and run and run. Plus, it wasn't getting the frig section as cold as it needed to be. Out came the hair dryers and the sponges and scrapers and in she went. An hour plus later, the poor thing is now looking and running much better. It's better to do this at a marina where you have lots of AC power so it won't drain your batteries as it tries to cool itself all over again. It's a small space, but takes a good bit to time and energy to do the job.

Meanwhile, I grabbed the hose and sprayer and closed all the hatches and ports and went at it with lots of water. Poor Zephyr was encrusted in salt everywhere you looked or touched. Little crystals everywhere. From the bow--roller furling and anchor rollers to the stern--DuoGen & Hydrovane, she got sprayed and washed. All the canvas and woodwork got a good dousing. Once that was done, I had to go back with MacLube(Like a dry WD 40) and lube all the hardware and blocks all over the deck and believe me there are lots of them.

We were waiting for the service man to show up to work on the Honda Generator, but figuring it being Sunday, he wouldn't show up. So we took off for lunch at the restaurant at the hotel. Chicken Nachos and three chicken burritos plus a few Pacifica Lite beers and we were set. We found out today that that is when he had come to Zephyr to fix the generator. We're not leaving today till he comes. Back to Zephyr after lunch for more projects--dismantle the windlass--looked great-- and more cleaning. The fun never stops.

About sundown, we took off for the local bar/restaurant to watch the sun go down. I'll post some pictures of the place tomorrow or Wednesday. We took a tour of the hotel--nice place. I would bet the occupancy rate isn't greater than 10 percent as we have seen very few people on the beach or in the restaurants. It's a shame as it is a gorgeous resort. Prices aren't bad, I guess the name isn't out there yet about them.

Back to Zephyr to barbecue some brats for dinner and then over to the hot tube along the beach for a nice soak and a nice shower at the hotel. NOW, we are living the dream!!!

Today started with me going up the mast to fix the wind gauge at the top. It had come loose sometime on the trip up from Los Muertos. We hooked up our climber and used the battery drill (Milwaukee 90 degree drill with a bit that fits the winches) that we use to adjust the sheets on the sails to pull me up using the Main Halyard(rope that pulls the mainsail to the top of the mast). Up I went, slick as a whistle. It was my first time up. Tracy had made it to the second set of spreaders and Matt(our son) had made it to the top, but this was my first time. Looking out or up and I was fine. The first time I looked down, it was a bit much. I was 65 feet above the water held up by one small 1/2" line sitting on a small wood plank. I really need to go up more often so I get used to it. Once up there it wasn't too bad. As it turns out, there are three screws that hold the bracket in place. One screw had fallen out and was gone. One was still in the bracket(lucky us) and the third was still screwed in. I took the one that hadn't fallen out yet and lowered it to Tracy(in a bucket) and she took off for the local marine hardware store(right up the dock). About 10 minutes later, she's back with extra screws and lock washers which was good as I dropped one of the washers. She sent them back up in the bucket with a bottle of "Locktite", and in they went nice and slick as you please. Tracy turned on the gauge and she works just fine. Thank goodness that one of the small wind cups that rotates hadn't broken as the company(Data Marine) has ceased to exist several years ago. Finding a replacement would have been difficult at best I think. Down I came, job done!! The knees were a bit shaky when I got back down, but hey what do you expect? It's sort of scary up there.

We now advised Direct TV to cancel our service as we can't get a signal down here. We could up in Alaska, but not down here. We would need a much bigger dish and it was taking up a lot of space on the stern. The dish went into the marina trash this morning. Now the stern looks much cleaner. It may have looked a bit strange sitting on the stern, but having that little bit of communication with the outside world when ever we hit a marina or VERY calm anchorage made a big difference in the past 20 months since we moved on board in Newport, Oregon. With over 8 months on the hard in Port Townsend, it saved our sanity(sort of). One less bill each month.

So that's the way the day has passed so far. It's nice and warm and we wait for the serviceman to show up. Tracy took our laundry up to the laundry service. You can do it yourself or they have women there that will do it for a few extra pesos. We splurged and are letting them do it. We haven't done laundry in close to a month and were just about out of everything. It will be done(and folded) by 1600. I'll let you know how much it costs--it isn't cheap as you would think down here( a beer is over $2.50). Tonight--another sunset to go and appreciate(with a beer of course).

To Colin and Jackie in the UK, welcome to the family. Our earlier posts can be read at "svzephyr.blogspot. com"(no www required). It's our journey(good and bad) getting to where we are now with all the trials and tribulations that went along with it. I do tend to rant a bit though. Enjoy!!