It's now Thursday and it's been a busy last two days. Yesterday we decided it was time to get the laundry done. Earlier in the week, we'd stopped at the laundromat at one of the local big box stores(it's a smaller store in the front of the bigger grocery store). They offered laundry service that either you could do for yourself or they would do it, so we loaded up our laundry and got a cab and headed in. Once at the laundromat, we were told that we couldn't do the laundry ourselves even though that was what we had been told and read in their pamphlet. It had to be done by them(more expensive)and when Tracy asked if it would be done today or tomorrow, we were told "Oh no, it will be next week before you get it back"!!! We put the bag back on our cart, bought a few things and headed back to Zephyr. It was time to pull out our "Wonder Washer" and get at it. A Wonder Washer is like a 2.5 gallon plastic drum mounted on a rack so it can be spun to agitate the clothes. While Tracy was getting everything set up, I was stringing line all over the forward section of the deck. Out came the clothes wringer and it got mounted on the stern life line rail and clamped on. Out came the clothes, put through the wringer and them hung on the line. It's so dry here, it doesn't take long for them to dry plus there was a nice breeze to help. It took a couple of hours to do it all and a few more to everything to dry but we have nice clean clothes again and the drawers are full.
Today, it was time to pull all our anchor chain out of the forward locker and get it straightened out. For years, as we drop the anchor and pull it back up, it slowly gets a clockwise twist to the chain that over time, makes it darn near impossible to get the chain out of the locker. We last did it in Trinidad when we changed out our chain. With all the anchoring we did in the Virgins and elsewhere, it was well past time. I untied the anchor and lowered it to the dock and then slowly pulled out the chain. At about 200 feet, it had so many twists to it that we had to pull the chain out of the back of the locker and onto the deck and untwist it from the back end till it was straight again. Then it was put back in the locker and I pulled it the rest of the way off at the bow and onto the dock. I took our hose and washed and washed getting lots of dirt and coral off the chain and slowly untwisted the chain. As I got a 30 foot section straightened out, Tracy push on the windlass button and it slowly went back into the anchor locker. Then I had to go back aboard and with a boat hook, pull the chain to the deepest part of anchor locker. Where the chain enters the locker is far forward of the deepest part so I have to rake it back to the back of the locker every 30 feet or so. Over and over we did this. Pull in some, untwist some, pull in more, over and over till we got to the anchor where we could untwist what was left with the chain swivel that mounted to the anchor. In all, about a three hour, hot as sweaty job that I'm glad is over till the next time.
At this time, we are thinking of leaving and heading North on Saturday. Winds and current look good for the next portion of our journey. Where we will stop, it could be Acapulco or Zihuatanejo but we don't know as of now with maybe a few more stops in between.