Well, today is your day! The old Mark is back!

The other day the three Reads were settled in for an afternoon siesta. Robert was not much interested in sleeping, but Mom and Dad were, and finally the littlest Read fell asleep. About 45 minutes later, one of the halyards started banging against the mast- a common annoyance on sailboats.

That meant the wind was picking up. We ignored it the first few times, but finally, Mark got up to check it out. By the time he got out to the cockpit, the rain was really coming down. Of course, all this commotion woke Robert, so he and I went to check out what was going on.

I could tell the wind was really blowing hard, so I turned on the wind gauge, which said it was blowing at 35 knots. A powerful storm was passing through. 

So, here’s one pretty interesting tidbit...

The other day, the aft air conditioner stopped working. It gave the ol’ “P5 HI” error message, which means there is not enough water pressure getting to the unit, which means something is blocking the line. If you are a frequent reader, you will remember that we had this same problem in Mazatlan, and we ended up taking the line out of the boat (which took considerable effort and a few swear words), and ramming a plumber’s snake through the line, thereby dislodging several barnacles.

We’re not looking forward to going through that whole process again, so we’re trying to figure out what else the problem might be. Maybe the thru-hull (hole in the bottom of the boat) for the AC is blocked by barnacles.

Carolyn, Robert, David, Janet, and Mark

Good Byes

It was now T+ 1 Day and 18 hours from our scheduled departure (we were late).  The activity around Calpurnia was at an increased pace.  The neighbors must have thought we were serious this time about leaving, although none of them could understand why we were leaving this paradise, hot as it might be.

All had warned us of the perils of heading south this time of year.  Hurricane season was just whipping into shape with the fourth tropical depression forming off the Mexican coast.

Our friends from "A Dock," Carolyn and David on S/V Aztec and Janet on S/V Aquarius dropped by with a parting gift.  They brought a Mazatlan sailing T-shirt which they all signed and added art work for Robert to remember them by.

At first, Chuck knew that it was just a volleyball, he had a bit of fun and made a face on it with some mud.  As the movie progresses, Chuck begins to speak out loud to his only companion "Wilson".  Wilson grows to be an integral participant in the every day happenings of what Chuck does with his time. 

Every where that Chuck goes, Wilson goes.  At the end of every day, Chuck tells Wilson of all that went on.  Every meal, every nap, every adventure is shared with Wilson.  Wilson becomes Chuck's best friend and support system.

This is a place holder for pictures showing all of the work being done on Calpurnia. 

Unfortunately the gnomes have taken our computer chip card out of the digital camera, resulting in an inability to give any graphic content.

Search and rescue operations have commenced.

We have received a number of emails and comments (Amy again says thank you) regarding our planned departure date from Mazatlan, Mexico.  Some have even speculated that we might never actually leave the dock !  A separate email has indicated that an informal "pool" has been started with winnings going to who comes closest to the actual departure date.

If odds are being given, then it is appropriate that an update be given so that reasonable positions can be taken.  Following are the major categories and where we stand on each:

Interior of vessel:
All activities are complete and no outstanding issues.

I am also frustrated with how long everything takes- from fixing the engine to getting groceries to ordering pizza. The other day it took me thirty minutes and three different phones to order a pizza. However, it was delicious once it arrived.

I'm starting to get the "Dirty Dancing" effect. When I first explained this to Mark, he didn't really understand what I meant. Now he gets it.

Remember in the movie Dirty Dancing how you got the employees' perspective of the resort? And you got their vision of how the groups of people came and went throughout the summer?

Well, that's how it is here. We now know several of the employees- Eduardo, Nino, Noe, Abram, Edgar, Norma, Gladis. Mark has found the industrial trash area for the hotel, located the pool cleaning net in an obscure basement, and we continue to receive "preferential treatment" for use of the golf cart services.

We also frequently use the "Employees Only" entrance/exit, which is a short cut to the bus stop, and only one guard minds that we do this. The rest wish us buenas dias and help us get the stroller through the gate. 

Calpurnia has two Cruiseair air conditioning units onboard.  They are cleverly designed to use fresh sea water pumped through tubes, which cool the hot condenser and then warm water, is pumped overboard.  In the winter the a/c units can act as a heat pump in that they take "heat" out of the sea water and convert it into warm air to be blown into the boat.

All of this magic is dependent upon fresh, fast moving sea water continually moving up from a hole in the bottom of the boat, though a pump, into the a/c units and then out another hole, back into the ocean.

For the last two weeks we have been trying to figure out why little water was moving though the system.  In fact so little water was moving that one of the units would shut down refusing to work.

Yesterday, we found out who was causing problems.

Since it is June, the English language service had a low attendance today- I'd say there were thirty or so people there. Most of them were Americans who live in Mazatlan full time.

The first person I met was from... Kansas City! North Kansas City, to be exact.

She then introduced me to another couple from... Kansas City! Norma and Jim used to live in Stillwell.

The other day we took an excursion to the depths of the old city of Mazatlan.

We had a large Rubbber Maid container full of things from when Robert was here before- toys, clothes, baby bottles- that we have no need for, no space for on the boat, and are not worth the cost of shipping home.

So, we identified Orfanatorio de Mazatlan, an orphanage where we could donate the items.

I am the Spanish spokesperson for the family, but I had a really hard time pronouncing "Orfanatorio," which is the Spanish word for orphanage.

Marina El Cid, where our boat has been for the last 20 months, is great. The Marina is very nice, very safe, and we feel that we and Calpurnia are very secure here.

Robert is making friends all over the place. At right is a picture of him with Eduardo, who drives a golf cart for hotel guests to get around the huge resort. Robert loves to ride in the golf cart, and Eduardo enjoys taking us on little rides around the place. he will often see us and offer to take us on a little tour. Eduardo is a very nice man, who lets me practice my Spanish with him, and he practices a little English with me, and we understand about half of what the other is saying! 

One day on one of our joyriding excursions with Eduardo, Mark took this picture and then asked me to tell him that we would put the picture on our web site if he would like to see it.

It appears that our cabin, though not very large, is very complex.

Outside:  I have scrubbed 1/2 of the outside of the boat.  I could not, and still can not, clean the cockpit (where you sit) because we still have items which have not been packed away.  We brought down 7 large plastic containers, all have been emptied and the containers have been given away to our neighbors and one Mexican fisherman.

Inside:  I have finally gotten to cleaning the galley (kitchen) area and one of the two heads (bathrooms).  Amy said she needed a pole 85 feet long to clean it, so it appeared that would be my task.

This is the shortest of postings, only to say that we have made it.  Continental asked that I rearrange the contents of each box, so that no one box was over 50 pounds.  That all but wasted the duct tape which I had purchased/borrowed to seal each box.  I was amazed that I was able to actually get the boxes to the 50 pound mark.  They then asked for $100 for the extra box I had.

I then noticed that the flights were delayed about 30 minutes, so I asked if I could get on the 9:00 am flight, instead of the 9:30 which we were to be on.  It turned out that the 9:00 am flight left at 9:33.  We were the second to last flight allowed to leave because of a storm.  The front was literally at our edge of the runway when we took off.  The 9:30 flight was delayed for over two hours, which would have made us miss the connection.

We arrived at the boat in the full heat of the day, so we headed straight to the pool.  We were in the water so long, that Robert's toes started to bleed.

We could not be more excited.  So if you have not already, take the time to subscribe to this site, because we plan on having frequent and regular updates.