Tooth Pulled!

Today Saturday the13th Judy will go to the Dentist to have a tooth pulled and get a temporary “flipper” to fill the void. I guess the flipper will stop the other teeth from moving until she gets an implant. Since they charge the same price for an implant here as in Oregon, Judy has decided to wait until she goes back to Oregon, so she can have it done where her daughter works. She knows the quality of work they do there, but it is a gamble here as it is an unknown.

Don't forget...Click on photos to enlarge.

A NICE HOME IN LORETO


After the Dentist is through, we will get supplies for the next couple of weeks, including some large block ice at the local ice house that helps hold the cold in the refrigerator, putting less strain on the system. This also saves on fuel for the generator, as the refrigeration is 110V. The block ice is not made from potable water, so we must be careful not to contaminate the food with it, lest Montezuma could take his revenge!

                  FROM LEFT TO RIGHT
 THE MISSION HOTEL AND THE MARINA

We found a new (to us) store that has a better stock of supplies and prices on the outskirts of town. It also has better vegetables than the other stores in Loreto. We found a place right next door to Mexico Lindos that has shade screen in six foot wide rolls for 80 pesos a meter. It will help keep the boat a lot cooler in the summer. Of course this means more work constructing the cover and securing it in a way that it can be removed quickly in case of a chubasco.

THE MISSION HOTEL

I will take my camera to town today and take photos of the places we shop etc. Hopefully I will have time to post them before we leave this afternoon for Bahia Marquer. I will check out my repair on the water maker on the way over. If it does not perform correctly, we will abort and head for Puerto Escondido for water, as we are out at this time.

THE MARINA

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Bahia Marquer, but had no luck catching a Dorado for dinner. We did catch a Bonito that Judy looked up in the fish book, which said that they were good to eat. I don’t know where they got their information, but my experience with them has been YUCK! Judy wanted to try it. I told her that they had very strong tasting dark meat. She insisted until I showed her the meat. I will use it for cut bait. We arrived to an unoccupied bay with one exception, a small sailboat at the far end of the bay opposite of our preferred anchorage. We settled in and decided to relax for the remainder of the day and try out the water maker in the morning, as we were exhausted from walking all over Loreto earlier. The sunset was exceptional on this evening. The sky was full of different types/shapes of clouds all around us. To the west it was a combination of reds, yellows and oranges, to the North an array of pastels, to the East were the most beautiful stark and pastel pinks imaginable, and to the south there was a combination of all of the above. I have never seen a three hundred and sixty degree sunset before. In fact if someone said they had, I would have doubted it, as I still do not know how that is possible. With God and Judy as my witness, I swear it is true! I would have taken photos, but they would not do it justice, as a camera can’t catch the full spectrum. I guess we will have to settle for a beautiful memory
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THE GREAT PEOPLE THAT WORK THE MARINA
 FRANCISCO, STUART AND POLLO (GOT TO BE A "NICKNAME" AS IT MEANS CHICKEN IN SPANISH!"


I arose early Sunday morning and made coffee before testing the water maker. Once satiated, I fired it up and had to run it for about an hour before the PPMs dropped to a safe level for drinking. When they did I switched the valve over and began filling the empty tanks. It ran about a half hour and the engine began to overheat. I shut it down and discovered the belt on the salt water pump had broken and wedged under one of the high pressure pump belts, knocking it off the pulley. I replaced the belts, which took a considerable amount of time, locating etc. I fired it back up and ran it several hours to fill the tanks and two 5 gallon containers. After finally procuring the water we so desperately needed, the pump quit! Shit, here we go again, fix one thing and something else breaks. I checked the pump and it was hot to touch. I decided to wait till Monday morning, giving it time to cool, and then try it again. Well, I got up this morning, flipped the power switch on and the pump ran, but no water came out the faucet. I primed the pump and got water to pump out at the pump, but just a trickle comes out at the faucet. There is plenty of pressure at the pump, but hardly any water comes out where we need it. Also the pump won’t shut off when the pressure builds up. I guess that is what caused it to heat up. I now have two problems with the system, the pressure switch, which is internal and obviously a restriction in the line. Gee I wonder what I will be doing today?

MY FAMILY TACO STAND?

I couldn't get the pump to work properly so we decided to go to Puerto Escondido to see if anyone might have one. I anounced on the cruisers net what I needed, but got no response. While doing laundry I ran into Ray and he said to bring it in and he would look at it. I did and he found some silicone rubber pieces in the diaphrams that were causing it to suck air. He removed them and I reinstalled the pump. It pumped fine, but would not shut off when the pressure built up. We would have to shut it off manually until we can find a new pump. No big problem, life is good. I should know by now that nothing is so simple on a boat. The pump ran about an hour and then stopped pumping again. This morning I will take it apart and see what the problem is. I'm pretty sure I will that there are more pieces of silicone trapped in the diaphrams. There is no telling how many times I will have to go through this procedure. I might have to install a pre-filter to catch the debris from the tank. It's always something, it seems!
 
JUST ANOTHER AVERAGE MORNING

 
When we arrived yesterday Steve and Lulu came by and brought me some sesame rice crackers that she observed me separating from a bag of Costco oriental mix. I really like them, but don't much care for the rest of the mix. Now I have a whole bag, Yum! Yum! Thanks Guys! It was nice seeing them and getting caught up. We had a very nice visit with these special people. Thanks again. That was the highlight of our day yesterday, the rest was work, work, work! We might spend another day here or take off for Loreto in search of a new pump. I'll see what Judy wants to do when she wakes up. 
 
On the cruisers net this morning Steve anounced that they needed a ride to Loreto today. After the net I called him on the VHF and informed him we were sailing there this afternoon and they were welcome to go with. He accepted and they will go along. It should be a nice trip. Hopefully there will be a pump available in Loreto. Steve called and canceled going with us, they wanted to get there earlier to get their shopping done. We decided since they wern't going, we would hold off till tomorrow, so the pump issue could be addresed at this time. We went to the marina to fill the water tanks and while there got Pedro to open the small marine store for us. The owner and his wife are away on vacation, so Pedro is in charge of it while they are away. We found a new pump, a Mexican flag (ours is shot), and a light bulb to read by. The prices weren't that bad either. We were considering hauling out the boat here for 30 days to strip the bottom paint off and put on the hard 78 percent copper bottom paint we bought in the states. I priced it here a couple of months back and was a little under $600. When I was up at the office I decided to make sure they hadn't raised the prices, due to it being under new management. Boy was I in for a shock. The new quote was between $1800 and $1900. That's over triple the original quote. They obviously hired a moron for a new manager! In light of this huge price change we, and several others are going to Guaymas. They charge less than $500 for the same thing.