One thing I forgot to write about in my last post was taking care of doing a wire transfer to the agency that's handling out Panama Canal crossing. I'd hiked down to the marina complex and got on line. First I tried with Wells Fargo. They would love to help me but since I had no phone they couldn't send an SMS(added "personal security they claim) to, it just wasn't possible. Hey, not everyone has a phone!!! I talked to several different reps and it was all the same. "For your protection" was the saying of the day. Once I'd had enough of their excuses, I switched over to another bank we use regularly for ATM withdrawals and everything looked just fine with them. They could send me an email instead of and SMS(no suggestion of that by WF) and bingo, we could do the wire transfer. Only problem was that the wire transfer office wasn't even open for another 30 minutes(Yes, I was up early again-0445AM so I sat and waited. Once we hit 0900(0800 where the bank is located) i could speak(thank goodness for Skype) and get the transfer going. Cost us $45 to do it but it was at least on it's way to our agent. Big pain solved. Now, at least when we are ready, we can go.

It's just just before 1100 on Saturday and we just finished putting on the first blue coat of paint on the hull. Boy, let me tell you, putting blue over black paint isn't the best thing to do unless you put on the blue paint really heavy, the black shows through leaving sometimes wide stripes of paint(sort of blue/black) on the hull. We still have one more gallon of blue having put on a gallon per side earlier today and that should even out the stripes we have now. We've used up most of our thinner getting the paint off ourselves as well as adding a bit to the paint to keep it flowing properly in the heat and humidity of the day. We were on the job by 0800 and finished by 1045 so not to bad. Amazingly, we are still finding the stray tiny barnacle on the hull so out comes my knife and off comes the tiny bit. Is it perfect, well not yet but the blisters and left overs of the old paint and epoxy coating on the hull don't show as much as they did. (pictures to follow once we get internet) Now we wait a few hours for the paint to sort of dry(manufacturers instructions of 3-6 hours between coats) and we should, weather permitting, get on the last coat late this afternoon. The yard is closed today and tomorrow so no one will be here taking boat out of the water or putting them back in the water. Yesterday was a holiday and everyone was working so they could get two days in a row off.

It's now 2130 and we finished the last coat with the last gallon of blue paint. We held about a quart or more in reserve as we have to paint the places where the braces that keep the boat level are placed once we get them moved. Then on goes a thin coat(not much left) of the black and then on goes what we have of the blue and then just let it dry over night but that's for tomorrow. With no workers here, well we will have to move the braces our selves. The hull is looking better but not all of it got a third coat since we couldn't get enough paint but it's going to be under water so not that big a deal. Once done, it was off to the showers again and letting the water get all the dirt off us(paint took some extra scrubbing with a stiff brush). Of course we used a good bit of paint thinner to get what we had land on our bodies as this paint is nasty stuff before we hit the showers

On the way back from the showers(and after a quick drink at the restaurant) we saw fireflies or lightening bugs off in the grass beside the road. Lots of them. It's been quite a while since we've seen them and it's always fun to watch them slowly blink on and off in the grass. A special treat for us after such a long busy day.

Today, Sunday, I sprayed some lubricant on the threads of the bolts that told the coupling for the prop shaft to the transmission. Once it penetrates, it should be a bit easier to get off so we can pull the prop. A few other things on the shaft that need to come off but first we have to get it off the coupling. I took an extra hose that we've had on deck for two years tied to the lifelines that we never use and had privately hoped someone would steal as we've tried several times to simply give it away with no takers off the boat and wrapped duct tape(God bless the inventer of the stuff)around the end of it and shoved it up into the drain for the sinks in the galley. Since we've been out of the water(last Thursday) we haven't done dishes so they had stacked up but now, with the hose attached to the drain, it will take all the water from washing dishes away from our nice, newly painted hull and take it out into the grass. I then came back on board and did the dishes. Tracy's not feeling well after a bad last night. She made herself and plate of Nachos and put on a bunch of the jalapeños that I put in my soup, thinking they were just like the ones that came in a can she's last used that said it was specifically for "Nachos".They were very mild. MINE are not! They are nasty bits of sliced heat that if used to excess(as Tracy did) will have lasting repercussions and that's just what happened here. She's been up off and on all night and it now resting trying to get a bit os sleep in the stern berth so I'm sitting in the main cabin typing this.

Another project for today is to recenter the rudder on our Simrad autopilot. When we installed it and after much work with the two of us sitting in the cockpit reading the manual, I sort of guessed at when it was entered. Well, after we left the dock and headed for the haul out, we had to empty out black water tanks so I used the auto pilot to make sure it now works and yes it does(Thank GOD!!!) but when the rudder is actually centered, the rudder indicator on the auto pilot shows it's off by 8 degrees so it's an easy job to correct but will take both of us as one stands on the ground while the other makes the adjustments to the autopilot.

This afternoon, we have another gathering of the Mexican Train group. Only six of us which surprised us last week. Apparently the four regulars have not had any new blood for quite some time so when we showed up, they were surprised. Probably regretted it as I won last week. No Johanna or Timo off Iiris to beat me into the ground(in Grenada and Curacao). We sure do miss them!