There are two more videos on www.youtube.com just click on the link below

Soggy Bottom Carpet Link


The third thing that happened was on March 12th we hauled Smoke-N-Blues out of the water with a travel lift. The bottom was unbelievably bad. There was four inch growth on the bottom all the way down the keel to include barnacles that were no less than 1 inch in diameter and 1 inch long. There were hundreds and I mean HUNDREDS. It is a miracle the boat even moved. Russ power washed the bottom and I followed behind scrapping barnacles. The barnacles were even up at the water line. There were little white ones and large pink ones. We even had sea shells attached. One cruiser said he had seen less growth on a reef. When Russ had gotten all the growth off the bottom of the boat and onto the ground it was like walking on a soggy carpet. While I continued to scrap barnacles Russ started to pressure wash the ground to clean up. He started like you would normally start working from one end to the other. He was working it into the drain and then Peter came and asked if the drain open. After clearing the drain they both pulled on it and it would not budge. Russ then took a good look in the drain and saw how full it was. Peter made a suggestion of making a big pile and then the yard could use a shovel and wheel burrow to haul it away. So that is what Russ did. When I had finished scraping the barnacles that were with in reach using the two step ladder I had, I asked if they had a longer ladder. It is now about 2:00 pm and we decided to get some lunch. After lunch Russ took his turn at scraping barnacles while I shoveled the soggy carpet back to where it came from the estuary. The barnacles were so large that when they fell on you, you knew it. With the carpet gone and a taller ladder I went to scrapping the water line and down. We finally finished at 4:30 pm and they moved us over to block us up. While they did this Russ and I went to take showers. We came back and we are still in the sling. They do not have tall enough stands to block us up. So now we have to wait until Monday for wood to put under the blocks or a carpenter to make tall enough stands. As of now we are still sitting on the keel in the slings.



Now a little more information about the bottom. Back in October we put on Seahawk Biocide paint made for aluminum boats. At two months we had very small barnacles no green growth. At five and a half months we had four inch deep green growth (forest) and a hundred pounds of edible mollusks. It took one solid days work for two people to eradicate above disease.

Rudder


Hull and Fin Keel


Bottom of Keel


Bottom / Keel








Bottom of Keel

We left the boat at 6:00 to head to the marina for the cruisers potluck. There were new vessels that attended and the food fabulous as usual. After the potluck we headed to town for the fireworks show. It is supposed to start at 8:00 pm. Russ and I get there and pick out our spot and sat down and waited. The plaza was loaded with the town's people, everyone from infant to elderly. There are more venders that are not normally there and even a mechanical bull and a shooting gallery. It was fun to watch all the activity. We saw a lot of young kid and wondered how taxed the education system might be, and there were a lot of infants and toddlers also.


The fireworks tower has rows that breeched across the tower and yet the path was clear to climb all the way up the center of the tower to the top. It was made of wood and metal. At about 9:00-9:30 pm the fireworks started with a small airplane loaded with fireworks flying from the corner by the church to the center of the plaza on a rope and lit the left side of the first row. Then they lit the right side of the first row, and worked their way from row to row up to the top. There were twirlers, pinwheels and even a crown at the top that spun and a gyro spinner that lifted off and went up, up, up and out of sight and the frame work landed down by the church in the street. The fireworks fired from the church rooftop were choreographed to the events on the tower.

The entire time shooting sparks out. They did have an area taped off for no entry, however that did not stop the teenagers from grabbing a piece of cardboard to hold over their head and run under the sparks. I guess this is great fun.

The fireworks show was spectacular. You would never see anything like this in the states and if you did, there would be personal injury lawyers just waiting for a case.

Fireworks in San Blas Nayarit Mexico



Spinning Fireworks


























Fireworks Videos

January 24 is the start of the Bird Festival. We have been to a lot of festivals but never a bird festival. It appears that San Blas is a world class place for bird watching this time of year and they celebrate it with entertainment every night on the plaza. We watch traditional Mexican dances. The dancers were with a company that hailed from Jalisco. They were professional. The traditional costumes were magnificent and this was a real delight to watch. Last night they had entertainment from the local San Blas community. We heard this while sitting in the cockpit of our boat and it was pretty good also. One can only guess what they will have tonight. In addition I am told that they have panga trips like the jungle trip we took just for bird watching. People come from all over the world to this event. We met a lady, her sister and father from North Carolina. The father was involved with the University in Tepic that helps put this festival on.

When we are not enjoying town with fellow cruisers we are having pot lucks and happy hours with them. Russ has finally taken a day or two off from working on the boat and picked up a book or taken a nap.

Traditional Mexican Folk Dancing