March 30th to April 25th, 2008 LA CRUZ

We spent four weeks at anchor in La Cruz. This is the longest we have spent on the boat , at anchor, in one place. On April 25th we took up the anchor, engaged the transmission and went ... nowhere! We tried reverse ... nothing! Oh no, we were drifting toward other boats. Down anchor. Checked the shaft, it turned OK, so the transmission was working (Thanked God). Had we lost the prop??? Water too murky to see the prop from the boat. Man in dingy called over, but too murky for him to see either. Strip to bathing suit (sounds sexier then "took off T-shirt"). Donned mask and snorkel. Jumped into murky water (yuk!). Got face 18" from prop. Saw problem. Prop was covered by a solid ball of barnacles. Got knife and thick glove. Removed most of barnacles. Still managed to cut hand. Tested. We had power. Up anchor. Finally, underway to Paradise Village Marina in PV. Note to self, check prop before raising anchor.


Beasts on the beach. Sting ray and friend.



At anchor we became members of "Watt Watchers". The vast majority of our power comes from the solar panels (30 to 40 amp hours per day) and the wind generator (60 to 100 amp hours per day). When we got hooked on the first season of the TV show "24", on DVD, we had to drag out the Honda generator to keep up with the flow of amps to the computer playing back to back episodes (24 hours in about 3 days).



We awoke every morning to the sound of fish balls in panic. The fish were trying to avoid the feeding porpoises. One fish tried to hide in a plastic beer cup for a short period. Just as I was getting in the dingy to free him/her he/she got out by him/her self. (Being politically correct sure gets long winded.)

We attended Captain Ron's 88th birthday. A retired Canadian deep sea tug captain living in PV. He went to sea on a banana boat at 16, joined the RAF at the start of WWII, then transferred to the RCAF. Worked tugs from the Canadian West Coast down to South America and back. A great guy! He is on the morning boater's radio net each day seeking clothing donations and funds for single moms and veterans.

All play and no work makes Jack a ??? Boat chores take up a portion of the time at anchor. With no rain to keep the salt off the boat stainless steel ... isn't. I clean the radio antenna connections, Sandra cleans the stanchions and lifelines.

Red sky at night, yet again, with a promise that tomorrow will be another "sailors delight".