Back in Barra de Navidad 1.14.09

We left Tenacatita on Sunday morning and made the small jog back to Barra. There are about 23 boats in Barra now and it's still very nice. We are anchored in just about the exact same spot as before and it's nice here. We arrived on Sunday around 9:30 after a 2 ½ hour motorsail and for some reason I was completely exhausted. I laid down just after we dropped anchor and slept until 1pm! I must be fighting something. Michael has been fighting something for the past few days as well and there
are lots of other cruisers who have picked up a cold - bummer! We went into town yesterday for some internet time, pool time, & visiting with fellow cruisers. We met up with Pacific Jade & Kim & Linda from Endeavor and we all went up to Piper Lover's Bar in time for an incredible sunset (I forgot my camera - again!) and some live music. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous - red, orange, & yellow falling behind a palm tree lined beach….spectacular! We were back to the boat after dark - again -
and had a lovely dinner.

Tuesday we had a bad day. You know how you will have those days that start out so wonderfully and then just magically get worse? That was our day on Tuesday. We woke up & ran the generator, which was doing fabulous. Michael went into town on the dinghy and picked up our laundry & got some fuel & veggies (all of the store owners take delivery of new produce on Monday night) and I was working on the laptop getting the blog ready to publish. We don't have internet at the boat so we have to tote
the laptop into town for internet. Anyway, we were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the sunshine when the generator made a very odd noise. Michael ran down & observed…it not making any A/C power again. Oh great. It seems we have blown up our last capacitor. @#$(%&!! He stressed out about it and shut it down and we went back into 'super-energy-saver mode' and decided to just go in town to do some internetting.

Now we usually go into The Sands Hotel & work there but we decided instead to go to a restaurant called Fortino's in Colimilla instead as they had asked for our help with getting the internet up & running for the restaurant guests. No problem, we beached the dinghy & helped Margarite out with questions and were all set with internet. We went to the table & I had an iced tea…which was oddly placed on a wobbly tea plate. I was working away and when the food arrived, I moved the laptop to the side
of the table and (I missed this part!) placed the side of the laptop right on the corner of the wobbly plate which quickly dumped the entire contents of my glass directly onto the laptop. In lightning fast speed, Michael says he saw me move quicker than he has ever seen me move, I had the laptop upside down & turned off before he could say SHIT! We drained out the liquid and dried it off, removing the battery, & took it back to the boat for more drying time. I checked all of the openings for liquid,
sprayed it with compressed air to attempt to remove any liquid, and ultimately placed it in the engine room which is the driest, warmest spot in the boat for the entire evening. I am happy to report that aside from some sticky keys, it seems to be functioning properly so far this morning. Whew!! The one thing I would always stress to my students and I go and do it.

We met a wonderful couple, Wendy & Ron, from Canada (we seem to meet a lot of Canadians when we're cruising) while getting groceries the other day that are staying at a condo here in town. We invited them to come out & see the boat and much to our surprise, they kayaked out for a visit! It was great talking to them. They have a business in Canada called Reef Knot Sail Cruises and offer a boat charter on the Shuswap Lake. Check it out… www.reefknotsailcruises.com

So this morning I'm working on the laptop while Michael charges the batteries via the motor. We are planning to leave Barra tomorrow morning and head further South to Bahia Manzanillo to an anchorage called Las Hadas where we hope to find a generator repair place. Manzanillo is a large town and has a commercial port there so hopefully we'll get lucky! Wish us luck…

Oh, I am posting more photos & videos today as well so check them out!

I'll write more later!
Rene