1/1/2009 10:10am PST
I got into Turtle Bay yesterday afternoon and there was a guy in a panga out fishing with two kids. His panga had "FUEL" written on the side. I was planning on having a panga come to me with fuel while at anchor, so I wasn't approaching the guy for fuel yet, but he seemed to be having some trouble with his engine, so I turned to go closer to him, and came out as I was passing to ask him if he needed any help. Well, his engine started and he pulled alongside asking how much fuel I needed. I asked how much per litre ("cuanto cuesta cada litro") knowing that I needed about 200 litres, and he said 2.80 per gallon. Sounded fine, I followed him to a mooring where they helped me tie up and then went to round up their tanker boat.The tanker boat is like a little green tug with an outboard, and it's basically a floating fuel tank. He said it holds 2,000 gallons of diesel. He pulled it alongside, tied up to Chemistry, and we talked about how many litres to put in, given my budget of 1800 pesos (I assumed he didn't take credit cards, and his fuel pump measures in litres though he gives price in gallons). Before he started fueling, he actually lowered his price. "Dos y sesenta," he said. $2.60/gallon.The business is called "Servicio Anabell," run by a nice guy named Rueben. He and his young helpers were nice and efficient. We talked about his tanker boat, my boat, the fishing. Soon enough the 200 litres were in the boat and he invited me to just stay at the mooring if I liked. I told him I preferred to anchor closer to town, so they gave me a couple of business cards (!), we untied, and I went along to the anchorage.I set the anchor, dropped the dinghy in the water, mounted the engine and took off for town for groceries and maybe a couple of tacos and a beer. I'd read in the Rains guide that you could tie your dinghy to the pier steps and walk, rather than doing a beach landing. This sounded great, as my motor is rather heavy and my dinghy wheels sucked before they broke, and now it's a lot of tugging to pull the boat to safe dry sand. So I got the dinghy dock, started to tie up and a young man came down the steps."How you doing, mister?" he said."Muy bien, gracias. Usted?"
"Good, good."
"So, how much?" I asked. Meaning how much does it cost to tie up to the dinghy dock.
"Ten dollars."
I laughed. "Diez dolores es riduculo."
"Well," he said. "It's ten dollars."
I laughed again and untied my dinghy. "Okay, right," I said. "Have a nice day."
"It's what happens when you fuel with Rueben. When you fuel with him, it's very expensive to tie up here. You go to the beach and that will be fine for you."I motored off to the beach, pulled my heavy dinghy high enough to where it wouldn't drift away in the next couple of hours, and started searching for food, thinking the whole way (again) about the backwards business practices of Mexico.This guy apparently watched too many gangster flicks, and believes that disgracing customers for using his competitors makes good business sense. I can only imagine the poisonous (intimidating?) relationship he must have with his competitor, Reuben. Well, he must not have known that my blog gets *at least* um... twenty visitors a day, and of those twenty visitors ten may be family and friends, and two may be people researching a trip they're about to take to Mexico. One of those two may even be planning a trip by boat. So, Taco Traveler reader who's planning a stop in Turtle Bay as you journey down the Baja Peninsula into Mexico, please do all you can to give your business to good, honest, friendly people like Rueben at Servicio Anabell who understand good business. Reward him and avoid dealing with people like those who own the fuel pier.Here, too (for the search relevance of this entry as much as anything), I must mention the Baja Ha-Ha annual fun "race" from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas. They stop every year in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria - two places I've stopped on my way down last year and now back up. I hope maybe twenty, thirty of those couple hundred boats will see this and go to Rueben where they would have gone to the the pier otherwise. That's several thousand dollars right there. Seriously. Sailors, like most people, don't like mean people, don't like being taken advantage of, and we like the underdog. Unlike most people, however, we've taken to the uncrowded ocean to get away from the bad stuff you find in rush hour and often in crowded cities, and we'd rather not rely on the whims and attitudes of others to live our lives. Our business is the fuel pier guy's bread and butter, and we're the type of people, I think, to be most offended at the sort of behavior he exhibited. Here's hoping he loses more than one customer because of this entry.-------------Okay, back to sailing. My plan for the day initially was to duck inside of Isla Cedros, motor through its 20-mile lee before entering Bahia Viscaino either tonight or early tomorrow morning. However, after downloading the latest GRIB file / weather report and overlaying it with my Nobeltec, I feel like I'm better off playing the angles and staying outside Isla Cedros, despite the three hours of flat water I'd likely get on the inside. The wind is forecast to be light and from the NW, strengthening and turning just a bit to the WNW in the night. If I were to go inside, it would just make for a *more upwind* trek later in the crossing. Whereas the more "outside" I get now, the more on-the-beam the wind will be as I cross.I'm approaching Isla Natividad now, a surf mecca, I guess. Isla Cedros is next, and then I'll head into Bahia Viscaino tonight to avoid stronger winds tomorrow night and on the 3rd. My target for tomorrow is Bahia San Quintin, about 160 miles (about 24 hours) away.Happy new year!
TT
