Livin' the Boatyard Life - Marina Seca, San Carlos, Mexico

San Carlos Marina and Hotel Marina Terra on the right.

 

The wind is howling and its raining off and on today. The boat is shuddering on its stands and Cinnamon is hiding under the covers. Looks like a good day to write while Greg is away in Guaymas.

We arrived on Sunday and our boat wasn't moving from storage to the work yard till Tuesday afternoon. We parked Amby by our friends', Robert and Rose, motor home.

 



 

The marina office is surrounding with beautiful flowers soaking up the sunshine.

 

The only one I can identify is a hollyhock.

 

These pictures are for my friends that say all they see in my blog is pictures of rocks and desert.

 

 

 

Our first mornings were pretty laid back. Greg enjoyed some early morning conversations with Robert and Pinto. Alejandro, the local shrimp and Mexican food peddler, happened to stop by on our first day so we feasted on chile rellenos that night. To our surprise, Pinto enjoyed chile rellenos too!



Pinto was really into chasing cars and while we were gone he was struck by one. His hip was dislocated and now he hops around on three legs. He's a boatyard dog and no one felt like taking him to a vet. Rose and Robert would have, and so would I, but they arrived after the bone had set and not much could be done. This was very sad since Pinto isn't very old. He does however, find it difficult to chase cars now.

One evening we were in Robert's motor home and we noticed a flat of eggs. He told us that they weren't for cooking, they were for the dogs. Everyday he mixes up some kind of raw egg soup for them. I don't know how they are going to cope when Robert and Rose head  back to the South Pacific next spring for three years. I know I'm going to really miss them.

Alejandro is a character, to be sure, but I really like him. Like a lot of Mexicans, he works really hard and makes very little. His truck looks pretty sad from the outside. One day he tried to sell me some shrimp and snapper but I didn't have any money and couldn't get to the bank (Amby was inoperable once again). He said "Here. I trust you (something he says frequently). When I come back in a couple hours I'll take you to the bank." Great. I didn't give it a second thought. When he returned I opened the door to get in his truck but had to wait while he moved a large bag of aluminum cans. Then it hit me. I was taking my life in my hands. His poor truck was a total wreck and seemed to be running on a prayer. I commented on the lack of a muffler and he said something about a little more money next week and maybe it would get fixed. Then he told me that most people would never think of getting in his truck with him. I told him "I trust you."

 

Gitana got moved into the yard without incident and Greg got right to work but found time to reacquaint himself with friends from last year and meet many new people. Brian was probably the most interesting this season.

 

Brian is a very good looking young guy except for his choice of dreadlocks.

 He told us that he had married into money and when his wife just wanted to work their farm he couldn't stand it and they divorced. He got a nice settlement and decided to buy a boat. Not just any boat, but a very unusual one-of-a-kind catamaran called  a Cat2Fold. When we met him he was busy putting some interesting decals on it. This boat is 24 feet wide when expanded, with a sold platform spanning the middle. The flush sides make it especially interesting.

 

I never realized how useful kids could be until this season in the yard.  Apparently kids that spend a lot of time on boats don't have second thoughts about going up the mast, and actually seem to enjoy it!
 

A family of four was busy preparing it for launch. What initially brought my attention to this boat

 was hearing a very young voice coming out of the sky. They had sent their youngest up the mast. Apparently going up wasn't too difficult but coming back down was proving to be a challenge. The parents where providing lots of suggestions from below. The mother suggested wrapping a line around the child's neck (I didn't hear this but it was mentioned later) while the father said that wasn't a good idea. The child replied "I'm not that stupid". As far as I could see the child was the smartest one in the bunch. The decent was eventually safely completed.



The folks on Puddle Pirate used the same tactic, pulling their daughter up the mast. Both mom and pop are kinda portly so I can see the logic.

We've made some great new friends this season. Once we get out of the boatyard we will be heading to Bahia Conception and hope to meet up with our new friends on Cada Dia Mas ("more every day" is how I think that translates), Bill and Elli, also from Washington.

 

 

Gorda, the real watch dog, is waiting for the next call to action.