Movin' on

Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

The fleet has thinned out, the laundry is done, and it is time to get our act in gear.

You might not think laundry is such a big deal, but to people living on a boat full-time, mostly at anchor in uninhabited bays, any opportunity is not to be missed.  The problem here in Puerto Escondido is that they have moorings and anchorage for a large number of boats (I estimate there were close to 150 boats here for Loreto Fest), and they have a laundry facility with only 3 washing machines and 3 driers - you do the math!  Add to that the fact that our boat is a 10 minute ride by dinghy from the office and there is no way to know if the machines are busy until you get there.  Fortunately our timing was mostly good - no huge waits for us.

Close quarter anchoring in the Ellipse



Tripui resort is just behind the rocks on the left

Today we made one last trip down the dusty road to the Tripui Resort (only a 15 minute walk) to have some chicken enchiladas for lunch, then dropped into the Modelorama convenience store next door for a few fresh veggies and a loaf of bread.  There is nothing holding us here now.



Looking back towards the marina

After some lengthy discussions, we have decided that we will be taking the boat to Mazatlan for the summer, and next season will most likely head south, possibly beyond Mexico.  With this in mind, we have been making up a list of "needs" and "wants" for the boat, in order to make it ready for some more serious travel.  Tomorrow we will start heading relatively quickly towards La Paz, where there is a reasonably stocked marine chandlery and maybe some skilled workers, in hopes that we can find or order some parts and equipment and possibly get some work done.  High on our list of items are things like repairing our ageing Genoa sail, adding more solar panels and finding a way to make our dinghy more reliable, which are not always easily acquired or accomplished in Mexico.  We figure if we start now we may have the time to do some waiting.  We are not sure if we are better off trying to do this in La Paz or waiting until we get to Mazatlan, but La Paz is a lot closer right now so we will check it out first.

BTW, the weather here has been simply wonderful.  Almost every day is full of blue sky and sunshine with daily highs in the low 30s and nightly lows in the low 20s, accompanied by mostly light winds from one direction or another to keep it from getting too hot on the boat.  We have been here for 10 days and we have not had to start the engine even once - with these long sunny days, our solar is able to (just) keep up with our needs - we have lots of cold drinks in the fridge and ice in the freezer and get to watch our fill of DVD movies in the evenings, all courtesy of the sun - pretty sweet!

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