Log of the Emily B

The View from Here

Here is a view of the mountains from our back yard, taken in the morning. Glorious! The weather here continues to be moderate- into the 30's at night and 60's to 70's during the day. We've had some recent unexpected visitors who were passing through Tucson- first Karen and Roger from s/v Meridien, with whom we had a great Greek dinner out, then Di and Roger in their new 30 foot Class A motor home. They were the ones who babysat our boat in Puerto Vallarta five years ago (geez- time does fly!) when I flew to Guadalajara for emergency eye surgery. A year later they were our crew on the trip from PV back to La Paz. The weather report was wrong and we found ourselves in 35 knot winds on the nose and huge seas. Dean and I ended up seasick on our backs in our bunks while Di and Roger ably handled the boat for the last ten hours. We owe those guys big time! Anyway, we planned a hike to Saguaro National Park with them but I came down with a killer cold, which I still have one week later.

Dean has been flourishing on the music front. He has rejoined Sonora Winds and is preparing for a concert later this month. More exciting, he is taking an adult jazz combo class through Tucson Jazz Institute and is learning bebop jazz scales, improvisation, and lots of stuff he has wanted to explore for a long time. They will also have a gig in early March as well as record a CD. Up until I got sick, I was juggling quite a few balls in the air- babysitting with Jacob 2-3 times/week, bridge 1-2 times, working on my book, and I joined the Y for exercise classes- Zumba and Step Aerobics. Maybe too busy and that's why I got sick? Hmmmmm.........Time to reprioritize.

And...I have reluctantly joined the iPhone generation. My purse was stolen at a grocery store (in the upper part of the basket and I turned away) and of course I had to go through all the fuss of cancelling Visa cards, ordering a new driver's license, and changing all the automatic payments that were coming out of my credit cards. What a mess! My old phone was in the purse and turned up the next day (although nothing else) in the garbage at the store, discovered when I called it to get my voicemail. It was trashed, I could barely see the screen and was due for an upgrade anyway, sooooo.....iPhone4S. Whoo-hoo- what an advance in technology. Being somewhat of a Luddite, it is taking me awhile to learn all the features but it is pretty amazing what it will do. To complete the tech overall, I finally replaced my five year old laptop for a newer version. Quite an undertaking to transfer all the files, especially Outlook which is a real pain, but luckily I have an in-house IT guy who has been fantastically helpful.

Only one recent photo of Jacob- I've had to stay away the past week since I've been sick-- but he is still getting more smart and more adorable by the day. For more cute photos of him, see Laurel's blog: www.gummybearfiles.blogspot.com.

Close Encounter in Sabino Canyon

We took the day off from our myriad activites here in Tucson to visit the beautiful Sabino Canyon, a wilderness area just ten minutes from our house. Part of a national recreation area, the road into the canyon is closed to all automobiles. It is accessible only by foot and by an open air tram that stops at various picnic and hiking spots along the way.

We rode to the end and hiked for a mile on an easy trail. I got some nice shots, but my camera battery ran out just as I heard a low, shaking sound, like maracas, from the side of the path. I heard the noise again and looked down next to where Dean was standing where I saw a beautiful yellowish-green rattlesnake in a small shrub. We stepped back and watched it wondrously until it slithered away.

 

 

 

 

I also want to show you a couple of photos of our living room, which is coming together pretty well. Can you find our flat screen TV? Hint- look closely at the fireplace. We have been using it lately on cold mornings and evenings to feel cozy, in between PBS news and rented DVD's. Finally, no posting on this blog is complete without a couple of photos of my adorable grandson Jacob, who turns six months old tomorrow.

Holiday Family Time

We got back to Tucson just in time to celebrate Christmas Eve with Dean's brother Randy and sister-in-law Virginia. It was our first company dinner in the new house and we stuffed ourselves silly on shrimp salad followed by pork tenderloin with all the trimmings (including homemade pumpkin pie). The next day, we joined the holiday crowds with a movie matinee (The Descendants) and then back to the house for a hearty soup and a quiet evening.

Laurel, Noah, and Jacob returned from their San Carlos beach getaway the next day and came over for a visit. Little Jacob has grown so much in the past two months and is now so fun and responsive.

Best of all, I have been able to babysit several times while L and N went out to dinner and a couple of movies. Grandma bliss!

On the home front, we have been continuing to furnish and upgrade the house. We bought a used washer and dryer on craigslist and a flat screen TV in an after-Christmas sale. We also bought a new faucet for the kitchen sink and, unfortunately in the process of installation,a leak under the sink developed overnight that flooded our whole kitchen and seeped onto the carpet in the living and dining rooms. Three days later and lots of work with the shop vac and the carpets are finally dry. The joys of home ownership!

 

Sunrise.......Sunset

The sky is beautiful from our slip at the dock at Marina de La Paz. The sunrise these days is around 7am with sunset at 5:30. This varies by about 1 1/2 hours each way throughout the year. Of course now we are almost to the solstice so the days will start lengthening again.

We took care of the bare spot on our hull by having divers apply an underwater epoxy called "Splash Zone" which should protect it from worms. Turns out the electrical current going through copper sheeting Dean placed against the hull for the single-sideband radio caused the wood to deteriorate and the paint to pop off. Luckily we finally figured out the problem and caught it before there was more serious damage. But that problem on top of the engine oil leak earlier this month caused us many stressful days and sleepless nights.

We're heading back to Tucson tomorrow morning to catch up with family there. Our time in La Paz has been shorter than we hoped but very much fun. Between welcome dinners out and goodbye ones, there was nary a lapse. Lots of good times at the bridge table and excellent meetings of the writer's group. Dean worked really hard sanding and varnishing the brightwork as well as repairing the sealant around the windows. No paint on the rails yet- they were so beautiful when he finished that it would have been a crime to paint over them. So, the rail covers are back on and we'll see what we decide to do in the spring.

So it's back to land for awhile. You can look forward to following our Tucson adventures with the new house and the new baby in the coming days.

Lovin' La Paz

We made it to La Paz in 2 days from Agua Verde and have been thoroughly enjoying this lovely place for the past ten days. Hard to believe, but this time five years ago we were cruising down the outside of the Baja Peninsula on our way to La Paz for the first time. So much has happened since then, but one thing hasn't changed- our love for La Paz.

I walked to the Saturday farmer's market yesterday with a dockmate and bought hydroponically grown organic lettuce, freshly baked French bread, and handmade German sausages. Last night we went to a blues/jazz concert that was held in an art gallery. The duo, a young Mexican singer and her guitar player partner, were excellent. Also in town last night was the Mexico City Ballet ,performing the Nutcracker in the city theater. There are myriad art galleries, cute restaurants, and beaches just a short ride away. We've been out to dinner or had people over nearly every other night, catching up with old friends as well as getting to know new ones that we met cruising in the Sea on our way here from San Carlos.

The jam sessions in which Dean enjoyed playing so much are not happening this year, but he has played sax duets with his friend Bob a couple of times. I'm back with the Writer's Group and also playing bridge with my buddies. Dean is now in the process of sanding and varnishing the brightwork (wood trim) on Emily B and has just about decided to put a coat of enamel paint over the varnish, which would not have to be sanded and redone every year. Also, we met with the boatyard owner who painted the bottom of our boat last spring to discuss the alarming bare wood that has appeared (again) on the hull only a few months after the paint job. We think we have solved the mystery- more on that later.

Underway At Last

Left Pto. Escondido noon yesterday after successful engine repair. It was touch and go for awhile as pipe didn't fit exactly- D had to bend it to right shape. Then when we started the engine to test- oil pressure gauge still very low. Added oil- still low pressure. What to do? Silly us- had forgotten to turn on the power for the instrument gauges. Cruised 3 h yesterday to Agua Verde. Now underway for Isla San Francisco. La Paz tomorrow or Thurs.

A Little Help from Our Friends

We finally got word on Thursday morning that our eagerly awaited engine parts had arrived in La Paz. Our friend Jean (s/v Avalon) in La Paz had ordered them for us and then another friend, Alex (m/v Maitairoa), picked them up and sent us the photo at left verifying it.

We are driving to La Paz tomorrow morning and thanks to friends Frank and Linda (m/v Discovery), who happen to be here in Puerto Escondido and have agreed to run our generator while we are gone, we will be staying overnight instead of driving the 4 hours each way there and back in one day. And once we get there, we'll stay at the home of our music friends Bob and Ulla and Dean will jam with Bob while I play bridge with my cronies.

The cruising and ex-pat communities in Mexico are full of super folks like these. While in P.Escondido, I've been given rides to town, taken to play bridge, and helped to buy motor oil and rent a car. Today was cold and windy and we had rain last night that woke me up with a splash on the face through the stateroom window- Yikes! The Thanksgiving Pig Roast was yummy and it is always a good time of year to remember all the things for which we are grateful. This year, I had an extra special reason to give thanks- my new little grandson, Jacob

Boat Repairs in Exotic Places

Although we were first told it would take 2 days for the engine parts to get to La Paz, the latest estimate was five days. And since Monday is a Mexican holiday (Revolution Day), it means that the parts are not due there until next Friday. Soooo.....we will be here in Puerto Escondido for at least another week. Once the parts arrive in La Paz, we will drive there and back to get them, then Dean has to install them and test everything.

If you get a chance, look at Puerto Escondido on Google Earth. It is an almost land-locked natural bay that has been used by mariners for several hundred years, especially during the pearl trade of the late-19th century. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains, especially the Sierra de la Giganta on the West side (see photo at left) and is a popular summer hurricane hole for those hearty souls who hang out in the Sea year round. It is quite a nice place to be anchored in a protected bay with a five minute dinghy ride to shore.

We are making the most of our time here.We went to a beach bar-be-que last night and today I got a ride to a Farmer's Market in nearby Loreto where I bought some beautiful produce. We have tickets to the Thanksgiving Day Pig Roast that is being sponsored by the local yacht club and hope to do some hiking next week as well as fishing from the dinghy. There is quite a community of ex-pats that live on boats and in beach palapas nearby with the usual activites of dominoes, potlucks, a book exchange, charity fund-raisers, etc. I connected with a fellow bridge player who is taking me to a game on Tuesday and possibly Friday. So even though we are frustrated and impatient with the pace of our engine repairs, there are worse places to be stranded. Oh, and did I mention that it is sunny with temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's during the day, going down to about 60 at night?

From Dean: "The drama continues. I only thought I had solved the oil leak problem. I tested it today and it still leaks, maybe 1/2 cup in 10 minutes, a lot anyway. I devised a method of testing for the source of the leak, down in an area that I can barely reach and certainly cannot see. I wrapped the suspect pipe with some white oil-absorbent cloth, ran the engine, and the cloth was saturated in about 30 seconds right in the area of the pipe that I thought might be leaking. I have ordered a replacement part from a Caterpillar dealer in La Paz, through a friend in La Paz. We have been told that it takes two days for that store to receive the parts, as they must order them. Now we are waiting to find out if the order went through today. Once the order is confirmed we will rent a car and drive to La Paz, pick up the parts, and return within 24 hours. It is a 3.5-hour drive each way. We can't leave the boat unattended for much longer than that or the refrigerator will run the batteries down. We have to get back to run the generator to recharge the batteries.

Meanwhile, we are "stuck" here in paradise. Peurto Escondido is a beautiful land-locked bay lined on the west side by tall, angular mountains. There is a restaurant here, as well as a laundromat. Life could be a lot worse, but as you said, I hate unsolved problems. This one has been going and going for more than a week, with considerable anxiety at times trying to capture as much of the leaking oil as possible to pour back into the engine and avoid spilling oil into the sea, while running lower and lower in oil reserves and having to clean and reclean huge oily messes in the hot engine room."

Engine Oil Leak!

When we were about 6 hours out of San Carlos, in the middle of the Sea of Cortez, Dean noticed that the oil pressure indicator was dropping. This continued for an hour or so and we finally stopped so that he could add oil to the engine. Since he had changed the oil right before we left, he thought it was due to not replacing it sufficiently. We motored on to San Juanico with no problem although the bilge was messy with oil when we arrived, and stayed there at anchor for five days. On our way to our next stop, Balandra Cove, we noticed the oil pressure dropping again after only one hour underway. It was then that Dean found a steady drip from the engine, just forward of the raw water pump. We stopped again and added oil, then continued onwards. No more leak- Whew, we thought. But then when we left Balandra, the dripping started again. Dean put a container underneath and caught as much as he could, which he added back into the engine at 20-30 minute intervals. It wasn't enough to keep up the oil pressure, so he had to add more from our engine oil supply. We limped along to Puerto Escondido, 15 miles away, where there is a boatyard, chandlery, and marina of sorts. By the time we got here, our oil stores were depleted. Dean first thought the problem was a corroded pipe leading from the engine to the raw water pump. But after a thorough investigation today, he found that the leak was coming from the raw water pump itself, likely due to a cracked seal inside. Luckily, he had a spare raw water pump onboard, but no gasket. After emails to engine experts, he made one out of cardboard and sealed it with permatex- some sort of artificial gasket. Now he is putting it all back together and hopefully the problem will be solved. More later.........