As with most things in LatAm, personal contact, patience, and good humor will see you through the day. All haul-out facilities here have the reputation of promising what you want to hear and delivering later, sometimes much later.
Our original agreed haul-out date was Monday Oct 20 but we'd just arrived back and wanted a day or so to settle in so Jerry called Abel to reschedule to Wednesday; this works well for him. On Tuesday we dinghy over to the yard to confirm the work we want to have done, get up-to-date estimates, and agree to the brands & pricing of the epoxy primer and bottom paint which they say they have in stock. The haul-out moves to Friday 9am. On Thursday afternoon Jerry calls to confirm. They are still too busy with other work. Saturday morning.
We'll be staying in one of Tortugal's rooms while Vida Dulce is on the hard, so by the time we receive this newest schedule, we have changed the dates with Tortugal four times. They continue to be gracious with the changes. Jerry tells them Saturday for sure. At 8am, a half-hour before we've asked them for assistance with the lines - all of the boats are cross-tied to each other and the docks - we carry the week or so worth of clothes, drinks cooler, etc. to the reserved room then head back to Vida Dulce. Jerry calls Abel. 10am we're told. We let the marina guy's know we're delayed an hour. At 9:30, Abel calls back; the time is now Monday at 9am. Jerry explains we've already rented a room at the marina and moved in, so are paying double rates as of today and until we vacate the slip; can they possibly haul us out Sunday? It is agreed.
So it's Sunday. Jerry calls Abel at 8:30 then 9am. Abel needs to check with the yard and call us back. When he does, it's 10am. They will be ready for us in an hour! An hour later, Jerry calls Abel to confirm they are ready for our arrival; he needs to check and call us back. A bit before noon, we receive the callback. They are ready for us! We get disentangled & collect all lines on board. It's just around the corner so we're there pretty quickly. The space on the rail where they need to haul us (the travel lift is too narrow) is still occupied with a Mooring's Leopard 46. That explains the rolling delay dates! Within an hour, the Leopard is disengaged from the rail and moved to a temporary docking spot. They are now ready for us. It's a tight fit to get in position with all of the other boats around yet all goes well on the attachment. Slowly, very slowly, Vida Dulce is pulled out of the water.
We plan to dinghy to the yard regularly to monitor the work. It's tight quarters and there really isn't a great place that is out of the way of the workers to hang out to watch more closely.