We had another arrival today. We re-connected with John & Mitsuko, of SV L’Angé, whom we met in La Paz, and saw again in the Sea of Cortez. We promised to get together and catch up on news.

Remember the definition of “Cruising” (“Doing boat repair in exotic places, while sweating profusely and bouncing wildly”)? We had to delay some of our exploration of Mazatlan to finish our list of boat projects and the new items recently added. During our bumpy passage, the refrigerator door smashed into the Single Sideband Radio and it hasn’t worked since. This is a serious matter, since our SSB is our source of weather information and emergency contact with family, when at sea.

I couldn’t find anything wrong with the SSB, except that it wouldn’t turn on. One of the things Vicki’s father taught me many years ago, is that if I can’t find anything wrong, take it apart, clean it up and reassemble it. Often the appliance will work. Sure enough. I took the SSB apart, pressed all the transistors into their sockets and reassembled. It is working just fine and I can tune in the “Sonrisa” net every morning to get the weather forecast.

Maintenance items accomplished.
Engine Fuel filters Changed both Racor and Engine fuel filters. Bled & started.
Watermaker Sea Strainer Cleaned Sea Strainer - very clogged with slime. Cause of probs?
Electrical Single Sideband Stopped working when control module was struck by swinging
Freezer door. Disassembled, cleaned, pressed all transistors into
board. Reassembled and it worked fine.
Engine Engine Added 1/2 qt oil.
Cleaned sea strainer - very clogged.
Engine Packing gland Cleaned drive shaft & adjusted packing gland

After all that labor, we treated ourselves to dinner at a beach palapa restaurant, with Hilbre . A wedding was in progress on the beach. We suffered through some dinner music. Vicki just gave up and surreptitiously plugged her ears, while trying to appear to be simply resting her chin on her hands. When you think of dinner music you think of stringed instruments playing softly. Not in Mexico! There was a highly amplified Mariachi band that wanted to make sure that we could all hear. No problem there. Throughout Central America there is only one possible volume for playing music – as loud as possible! It seems that having a Big Mega Macho Superpowerful Amplifier is the key to musical success.

It’s a Wonderful Life – On Adesso!