What’s New? 11.6.10

Well, we’ve been here a week and it’s as amazing as we remember, only better! Haha…With one week under our belt we have been asking ourselves what’s new?! Hmmm….let’s see…

- new bruises, scrapes, & ‘boat bites’ OUCH!!
- shorter fingernails & ripped off toenails as we learn the hotspots of the boat, again…
- bug bites
- new spots to clean
- sunburn
- new ways for parts to wear out &/or break
- new muscles (I know they are new because they're SORE!)


It sounds awful, doesn’t it?! Yep, I wouldn’t wish this on just everyone! But once we make it past those little annoyances, we’re constantly rewarded…

- new friends
- new experiences
- new food to find at the grocery stores
- ‘jellygate 2010’

Oh the list goes on and on!

We’ve had lots to keep us busy this past week! All of the sails are up, electronics are back in place, the bbq was revamped, about half of the insides have been scrubbed & prepped for this season, the dinghy engine’s part that has been a problem for the past year or two was repaired (in perfect time for a dinghy trip to Deer Island!), a large part of our provisioning done, and lots & lots of other minor things done. The generator was torn apart and the pieces dipped to try to get it up and running properly this season. We should know by early next week how that’s coming along. We’ve been busy!

And of course we have to enjoy Mazatlan and our fellow cruisers too so we’ve had lots of opportunities to play. Monday was El dia de los muertos (the day of the dead) and Mazatlan puts on quite a show so a group of 10 cruisers got together & went to Plazuela Machado for the festivities. This year was similar to years past except for a longer, different route (which was better), AND….this year they actually re-filled the kegs about half way through the parade, something I’ve never seen. There was a vehicle parked along the route with full kegs and they would simply swap out the empties for a full one. Very handy! ;-)



The donkeys were there, pulling the carts…(the burritos alongside the burros) ;-)



Everyone swarmed around the carts to get their cups filled...



The costumes were amazing….



There was dancing in the streets….and you participated!!




We had a great time! :-)


Wednesday we decided it was time for our annual dinghy blast out to Deer Island to cool off in the clean, amazing waters & enjoy some sunshine (that’s where the sunburn came from!) Michael had to jump through some hoops as one part on the dinghy engine has been giving us fits for the past couple years but this time he pulled it apart, put some goop in it (this is the technical explanation), sealed it up, let it sit for an hour or so while the dock party was hopping, and when it fired up, it was working perfectly! Woohoo! We blasted over on a beautiful sunshiny day (when is it not beautiful & sunshiny!) and beached the dinghys just long enough to disrobe & jump in the cool water.



It was…amazing!! Ahhh….. We’re planning to do this every Wednesday until we leave…we’ll see if we make it happen!

Thursday, Joe & Deb from Pacific Jade arrived and we spent a few hours getting caught up on all the happenings. Friday evening we went to dinner at Ray & Jeannette’s – an incredible shrimp curry dinner that was to die for! Great food, great friends, what could be better?!

Today is Saturday and we have a ‘Welcome Back Cruisers pool party’ to attend starting at 2:30. It will be great catching up with old friends & meeting new ones. Bill & MJ from Grey Max arrived yesterday and have been on the dock (we’re dock finger-buddies) – it’s great to have some life on Dock 6! More and more folks are showing up everyday and it’s getting exciting!



We’ve made a tentative plan….something new this year! Joe & Deb from Pacific Jade want to go North to La Paz this year and we would also love to go….so instead of staying in Mazatlan for Thanksgiving, we are tentatively planning to leave Mazatlan around the Sunday before Thanksgiving and head North to La Paz/Sea of Cortez to play around for a couple weeks before going South again. We’ve never been that way and have always wanted to so we figure, why not?!

More to follow….
Rene