Good bye Zihuatanejo!

We pulled the anchor today about 3PM.
We didn't actually start the trip yet. Never on a Friday! We just moved over to Ixtapa, near the marina fuel dock.
Tomorrow we plan to get fuel then move out to Isla Grande for a day of snorkeling and putting things away before we take off officially.

We checked the fuel tank today and one was full of crud. We got 1/2 gallon of sludge out of it. I took about 4 hours to pump out the dirty fuel through a filter, scrape the tank and pump it back into the tank. Now Donnie, ( my brother and crew), understands cruising, repairing the boat in exotic anchorages!

We checked out of Mexico officially with our next port of call to be Islas Marquesas, Polynesia Francesca.

The Dingy Arrived!

The new dinghy is here! Ya Hooo! I moved all the stuff from the old one, like the cover, anchor bag, motor & gas tank. I did not install the wheels on it yet though, as some folks tell us that nobody uses them in the South Pacific. So We'll drag it up the beach for 5 more days in Mexico and just store the wheels below incase we do need them later. Maybe there are docks every where we want to go ashore down there?
More groceries today too. I don't know where we'll be able to store all this stuff, but we should be able to eat for the next 6 months! We bought diced tomatoes, milk and various juices all in little cardboard boxes. Good for a couple of years.
We still have to get the bottom cleaned, fill the scuba tanks, fill the propane tanks, fill the water tanks, fill the gas and diesel tanks, chalk some leaks in the deck and put stuff away. I'm sure there are a 100 more things I forgot, but we'll be ready.

More Preparation

We got the foam inside one of the cushions and nearly in the other. The zippers were all corrosion of course! It will be a much better bed.

I updated the main website at http://www.tcls.com. The position reports part was confusing.

The dinghy is really on its way. The Mexican air-freight company has web tracking. This is what it says:

  Documentada:    24/03/07
  Origen:           TIJUANA
  Destino:    ZIHUATANEJO
  Tipo de Servicio: General
  Estatus al Día:   24/03/07
           Embarque manejándose a destino
  Piezas/Total:    1/1
  Kgs/Total:        96.0/96.0

I think that means that it is on its way. In fact it is probably at the airport and they just haven't updated their tracking systen yet!

Three more "Puddle Jumpers" left today. It may get lonesome here before next Saturday, when we plan to start off.

I bought 2 60 liter jugs (about 30 gallons more) for extra fuel to carry. Everyone has been saying that from Zihuatanejo, it is usually 600 mile of motoring before we get to the trade winds and can sail. The folks that left 3 days ago only motored 6 hours, not 6 days, so we may have fuel left over. But that's OK. I hear it is really expensive in all of French Polynesia.

The barnacles are growing on the hull like there's no tomorrow! We cleaned the bottom just before we went to Seattle, and it is already worse than then. Either the new bottom paint is "not strong enough to pollute" or it is already wearing out.

Provisioning and Dinghy

We made yet another trip to the Comercial Mexicana, the local version of a Super Wal-Mart, but not nearly the same stuff. This time it was beer, cokes and more rum. Now that Donnie is coming to crew with us, we need 1/3 more toilet paper, beer and food in general.
While in the neighborhood, I went on to the auto parts store to get a new fuse for the Kubota on the water maker, and I saw mini-florescent lights for cars. I just had to have one for the cockpit. Several people have them for anchor lights.
The dinghy is being replaced! I probably already said that, but I am excited. This afternoon, I got the tracking number so I can find out when it will arrive at the airport. We have friends lined up to give us a ride out there to help get it back into town and to the beach. Shipping weight is rumored to be 168 lbs, but if I remember right, it is only close to 120 lbs to drag up the beach.
Oh yes, and this morning we bought new foam for the mattress in the V-berth, so Donnie won't have to sleep on the 26 year old cushions.

Now to stow and install all that!! and I thought retiring was not to get tired any more!!!

Waiting in Zihua

Here we are in Zihuatanejo, waiting as usual.
Brother Donnie got his passport today, so he will be crewing with us to the Marquesas and beyond.
The warranty replaced dinghy is still not here, maybe tomorrow.