Sailing the Karina C

03/24
We are slowly decommissioning. Yesterday, we took the entire day off and walked up the Nacapule Canyon. It was a pleasant morning. In the afternoon we goofed off at the pool. They have "senior-proofed" the pool area with a stereo blasting techno that you can hear from 150 metres away. Needless to say, we got the hint and left soon after Anita got cooled off.
This morning we puttered away at a few little projects. We reloaded the truck to get the electric piano in as it won't be making the trip to Hawaii next year. In the afternoon Jesus (pronounced Hey Zeus) came and blessed our starter with some new wiring and reconnected everything for just a little less than CAN $50. Inasmuch as it took him several hours to clean up the starter and reconnect it, I gave him an extra 100 pesos (CAN $8). If you are ever in San Carlos, he is a good guy to get to know as he is reasonable price and shows up when he says he will. He is not afraid to step away from a job he can't do well. These are all attributes of a successful Mexican. Unfortunately, most tradesmen don't share his ethic.
As you may assume from the above comment about Hawaii, we are making tentative plans to bring Karina back to Canada next year on her own keel. I think that decision was always there for us. Its just that we wouldn't admit it to ourselves. To all our family and friends, we will have our blog kept up and you can follow our progress on the PACSEA website: ( http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/pacseanet/pacseanet.php )
Our call sign is VA7 JAB which is my ham call (Jay). We expect to leave Mazatlan in late April. We will anchor for an overnight in Cabo San Lucas and then head off the next morning to Hilo. We don't expect any trouble getting to Hawaii. The trip back to Canada can be the best of times or the worst of times. We hope to be able to make it to the BCA farewell to the fleet on the August long weekend. We will then make a leisurely trip back to Nanaimo and tie to the mooring buoy I'm going to make in front of the house. This will end the southern part of our aquatic adventures in the sunny South. We plan to RV south to S. California or Arizona for a good part of the winter in future years. We will spend summers in Desolation Sound. Probably a lot of time in Roscoe Bay (Black Lake).
We have been spending a lot of time dealing with some of the issues around Mom's care. This has been upsetting for me as her personality is going through a drastic change. Her interest in my daily calls seems to be diminishing. I guess it is just one more part of saying goodbye.
03/25
Jim's birthday. Hope all is going well for him. We drove the crew of Just Dandy into the Tufesa bus this morning. When I got back to the boat, I sold the last bits of the old dodger for 700 pesos (about $55 CDN). I am amazed. That more than paid for the starter repair. In the afternoon, I finished decommissioning the last bits on the mast. I called Mom and we chatted for almost an hour. Anita went for a shower and advised me not to bother as there is no hot water.