It's gone again!
21 March 2018 | 24 32.233N:-110 23.546W
Bill
First, let me say that we have moved again. We were in Ensenada Grande since arriving outside La Paz last Friday and since the huge north winds have finally slowed down and along with it the angry waves(known as white buffalos), we decided it was time for some new scenery. We listened to the morning VHF net and then pulled up the anchor and headed just about 4 miles south to El Cardoncito, a small inlet along the Partida coast big enough for one or two boats. Relatively shallow--about 20 feet but with a nice sandy bottom, it's great for anchoring just like Ensenada Grande is. As we pulled in to El Cardoncito, a small panga rushed in ahead of us and pulled up to shore at the head of the canyon and let off six people and three kayaks for them to use to get to other coves along the coast. We greeted them as they left our cove, leaving us all alone(YEA!!).
We launched Puff and then started the generator to recharge our batteries, a daily necessity on a boat, and then climbed down into Puff and paddled to the head of the bay. Not rowed, but paddled like in a canoe. Better exercise which we both need(especially me). We wadded ashore and dragged Puff up behind us as the tide was coming in and didn't her taking off though we were never really far enough away that we wouldn't have seen her go. A nice sandy beach with lots of old shells and a path that would lead up up a really rocky creek bed to the top of the island. We didn't venture that far but took some pictures that I'll post once we get internet again(still a few days out).
On our return, we looked down at the prop(finally some clear water) and could see that the zinc anode that bolts to the end of the prop was gone again. It's the second one thats come unscrewed, not rotted away as they normally do. I'd replaced the last one in Costa Rica and now it was gone again. We are still using ones we bought in Singapore years ago(when you see them, you buy as many as you can). Looks like I was going into the cold water of the Baja. Tracy checked it this morning when we arrived and it's only 71 degrees, lots colder than we are used to but the job had to be done before Mother Nature starts eating the metal through hulls on our boat. After another great lunch, we pulled out another zinc, a new bolt plus a locking washer to add to the mix. An Allen wrench and some Lock Tite tape I bought several years ago. You tear off a length of it like Teflon tape and wrap it around the threads of the screw. Being a solid(well sort of), it won't wash off in the water. Tracy pulled out a set of fins and my mask and into the COLD water I went this time with a steel brush in hand to clean anything off the post the zinc fits over. It's one of the first times I've inspected the hull since we had it painted in Panama. We used what is supposed to be "great" paint that is "supposed" to stop the growth of barnacles(Sea Hawk) and what I saw really ticked me off. We now have tons of barnacles all over the bottom. We last had used Hempel Golobic C9000 when we did the job in Trinidad and we had less them 50 barnacles on the hull when we pulled out in Panama. We have far more than that on just our rudder!!! What a pail of junk paint at at close to $200 a gallon(sale price from some painters in the yard) it's clearly not a good paint as it doesn't do what it's supposed to do--stop growth on the bottom of a boat. I'd never buy that paint again but show me a can of Hempel Golobic and I'm there. We applied the paint at Christmas and it's not been that far ago for it to be so bad. I jumped into the water to get the job done and after using the steel brush on the post, the rest went quickly. All I had to do was tighten the bolt(really hard) and the job was done. A bit of wind has started up again but it's purely thermals, and not the dedicated winds we've had since Sunday with it getting up to the low 20 knot range. These will spin the wind generator but there is no constant velocity to it. Early this morning, you could tell the wind was over at least for a few days as lots of boats, both sail and power were heading both north and south though far more heading north than south. Make miles while the wind dies.