Yesterday was a day of exploration. We took an early morning bus to San Carlos to check out the local yards to see which would be best for hauling out Zephyr in June.

We started at Marina Seca in San Carlos. These are yards that are all over Mexico and I think controlled by the Mexican government or at least set up by them, much like the Marina Fonatur's that are all over the Sea of Cortez. This yard is quite a ways from the water and requires a travel down some city streets to get your boat to the yard. In San Carlos, they use a hydraulic trailer that has arms on it to lift the boat and put in on the trailer. Then it is trucked across the road and deposited on the yard. The rest of the yards we visited all use a lift like all the rest in the USA. They have straps that hang under the lift and they cradle the hull as it gets lifted. At Marina Seca, they have two yards--one for work and one for storage. You can have you boat put in the "work" yard so that you can do things on your boat. In the "storage" yard, you are not allowed to work on your boat. In order to make it a rotating "work" yard, the longer you stay, the more they charge you per day. Instead of getting cheaper, it gets more expensive. All of the yards we visited are dirt yards, not a piece of concrete anywhere. The Marina Seca yard in San Carlos even has what are called "hurricane polls". These are large steel polls driven into the ground that you boat is hook onto to keep it from falling over if a hurricane should hit. Last year, San Carlos got over 25 inches of rain in one day and the only boats that fell over were the ones attached to the "hurricane polls". They might be good in a wind, but they aren't worth a darn in lots of rainfall.

After our conversation with the nice folks at Marina Seca in San Carlos, we made reservations for a haul out on June 12. We can move it up or delay it as necessary, but we had to at least get our name on the list for a haul out. The alternative is to leave Zephyr in the water all Summer. Many boats do exactly that. There is some work we need to do upon our return in October and we really wanted zephyr out of the water and available for the jobs we have planned.

We walked down to Marina san Carlos and toured their place running into Mike from Tazmo. We'd met him the day before in the "cruiser's lounge at Marina Singlar in Guaymas. A real nice guy that has been down here for several years and knows the area well. After a nice lunch in the local cafe, he offered to take us around San Carlos and Guaymas and show us the sights. For the next several hours we had a guided tour of the entire area. All the yards, both in San Carlos as well as Guaymas. Plus just about every kind of store you could imagine from hardware to restaurants to grocery stores. We got back to Zephy well after 1800 exhausted from a day of going everywhere.

After visiting all the yards, we still feel that the Marina Seca in san Carlos is the best yard for Zephyr. She can be taken out without having to dismantle the rigging and that is an important feature. The Marina Seca yard in Guaymas only has a typical lift and the yard is on a slant(also dirt) so Zephyr wouldn't sit level.

Chris and Rani on Ladybug 2 showed up early in the day and took a slip down the dock. We'd met them in Mazatlan and they had gone back to the Baja for a few days until crossing again to Guaymas so they can have their boat hauled in a few days. They are getting pulled out at the Marina Seca yard in Guaymas. When we visited that yard earlier, we saw Angus and Rolandes boat, Periclees. We'd been with them up the coast from Mazatlan but parted at Topolobampo a week or so ago. They were in a hurry to get home. Luckily we have no real reason to rush other than to beat the heat of the Sea of Cortez during the Summer.

One thing I left off in my post about Punta Lobos, was all the shells we saw there. There were tens of thousands of cone shells littering the beach in all sizes and colors. We've never seen so many of them at any beac we have visited so far in our journey. It was amazing to see so many in one location.

We were lucky enough to have the "Miss Guaymas" pageant at our marina last night. It started just after 2000 and went till close to midnight. Tons of people and 8 contestants vying for the title to continue on to the Miss Sonora on a few weeks. The organizers spent all day Wednesday setting up the stage and lights with flogs flying all over the place. Quite the show.

I'm sitting in the laundry room as I type this getting all the clothes clean. It's nice to have "big" washers to get the job done. Civilization does have it's perks I guess.

I have to go up the mast again. When we were in Bahia Santa Barbara down the coast, we had a frigate bird perched on the top of the mast. You could clearly see him in the light of the anchor light. Since that night, we haven't been able to see the anchor light at all. On the night before we left Punta Lobos, we left Puff in the water and I motored around Zephyr after sunset. No light!!! It still works in the "strobe"(flashing light) mode as well as the "navigation light" mode(red, green and while lights), but not in the "anchor light" mode. Not sure what has gone wrong unless the photo cell that turns it on at sunset and off at sunrise has malfunctioned. This will be our fourth Orca Green light to have failed since we installed the first one in September of 2008. To their credit, Orca Green has replace every one that has gone wrong. I guess we will see what is happening when I get up there. Then the emails will start to get a replacement.

That's it for now. The dryers have just stopped.