For a three-leg trip, that was a pretty easy flight down. It took about 90 minutes to drive to Fort Walton Beach / Valparaiso (VPS) for a 6:40 flight, so I was up at 2:45am. VPS to Charlotte was about a 90 minute flight, then a 40 minute layover before a big plane to Phoenix. Charlotte and Phoenix are both hubs for US Airways, so it was a crowded flight.
I waited in Phoenix for a couple hours, and then hopped on a twin turboprop puddle jumper for the last leg to Guaymas. No problem, and I even slept on that leg, the loud hum of the props knocking me out almost as soon as we gained altitude. As the small group of passengers were walking to the plane, I asked a lady if she happened to be heading to San Carlos, and if so if she’d like to share a cab. It’s thirty bucks from the Guaymas airport to San Carlos, so I’ll save fifteen bucks when I can. Turns out she was planning on renting a car, and offered me a ride (bonus!).All my luggage made it fine (I was worried about my checked backpack on a three-leg trip) and after no trouble with Immigration I put all my bags through the scanner for Customs, I stepped up and pushed the button for the red/green indicator that randomizes to decide whether or not they search your bags. For the first time, I finally got red. Red is bad. Luckily, however, on a flight with only about fifteen people, and no other flights around, it was a pretty casual search. Mainly, they’re looking out for gringos coming down here to take their jobs. “Tiene equipo para trabajar?” “No.”The big disappointment came when I asked at the office of Marina Seca about the whereabouts of my boat. There was a lot of confusion, as I haven’t spoken much Spanish in four months and was obviously rusty, but even with the front desk girl who speaks good English, there was confusion. The problem was that when I emailed to cancel the work I’d scheduled to be done by the yard (because I decided to paint the bottom myself and save a few hundred bucks), they also canceled my move to the work yard. So the problem is that in the storage yard there’s no water, no electricity, and they don’t allow you to sleep there. So I had nowhere to sleep. I laid out the problem, and since it was their confusion that created the problem, they decided to allow me to sleep on my boat this time even though it was in the storage yard.It will turn out fine; though I’d like to be able to clean Chemistry up with a nice rinse / soap, there are still tons of things I need to do both inside and out that don’t really require the work yard: light sanding of the bottom to prepare for bottom paint; interior cleaning and dusting; miscellaneous repairs including (so far) the accumulator pump which was leaking and blowing off water pressure and (most importantly) a bad seacock on a seawater intake through-hull._________After a quick breakfast this morning, I made my way to the chandlery, where I discovered that the paint I could afford was crap (only 33% cuprous oxide – copper is poison to stuff that wants to grow on your boat). So I went back to Marina Seca and talked to Jesus again about his quote, whereby I could have his team do all the work of a light sanding and a coat of paint for around $850 with better paint. It’s painful to think about, as I know it’s pretty easy to do, but still, I have plenty of things to do and at $5/hr I can certainly contract out the dirtiest work while I get the other stuff done. I removed the seacock and through-hull and am on my way (after posting this, drinking some coffee) back to the chandlery where I expect I’ll find ridiculous prices for replacing it. I may end up taking the bus into Guaymas to see if I can find a better price, and if I can find paint for cheaper, I may still end up doing that myself, too.So at this point I’ve got the boat scheduled to move into the work yard tomorrow at 10am, and then into the water on Friday at 10am.More soon.TT
