journal

Wed April 29, 2009

This morning was spent getting the boat ready for our departure tomorrow. I spent most of my time in the galley preparing meals for the passage. Jim spent the time, fixing things, putting "stuff" away and showing Don, our new crew, the boat and the travel route.

We officially checked out at the Harbour Masters office, and will have to meet with immigration tomorrow morning at the marina before we leave.  Then, we are free to go!

We cannot wait! It has been a long and arduous season and we are ready to put this season behind us....to say the least!

The USA never looked so good!!!!

Tues April 28, 2009

Well I am back in Mexico...land of the Swine Flu! The plane and the airport in Cancun was almost empty. I simply walked straight through baggage, customs and the taxi area, which is usually very crowded and saw Jim right away.

Back at the boat all is well. Jim has done a superb job of cleaning and getting it ready for our passage. The weather report is a complete thumbs up....light winds, small seas and no rain....perfect! So, we will check out officially tomorrow and leave first thing this Thursday. ( they give you 48 hrs from time of checkout )

Don our added crew member arrives tonight from Belize....so all seems to be falling into place!

Wed April 15, 2009

Our mini holiday was shortened to one day in Cancun. It is next to impossible to plan anything as Jose has a very irregular schedule..."I will be there in the morning", can mean anything from not showing up, to late in the afternoon! Or some times....the morning! As we need him, we do not want to miss any opportunity to have him on board. But we did have a nice day, the one thing we were hoping to find was a book store, ( not one exists on Isla Mujeres! ) as we have read everything on board. Can you imagine...Cancun also does not have a book store! So we will have to stock up on our next visit back to the States. We had a memorable meal at Harrys  a  

 new steak house...right on the water, sunset, good music, good wine, it could not have been nicer!

We have decided however, a break is definately needed. I leave this Saturday for Florida and then Toronto for 10 days and Jim leaves also Saturday for Atlanta to get a grandchildren fix for 4 days. By the time I get back,  the boat should be fixed, cleaned, polished and ready to go. The winds and seas, hopefully will have subsided and our crew, whom we met in Belize will be here to join us for the passage across the gulf.

Monday April 13,2009

The wind continues to howl with no end in sight for at least three days. No one is coming and no one is going...anywhere. Tomorrow Jim and I will leave the boat in the capable hands of Jose, and we will leave by ferry to Cancun, 20 minutes away and then bus to Play de Carmen, 40 minutes south of Cancun. It is time for another vacation from cruising! We will only stay for two days, but both of us need the break.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter as did we, although not the usual baked ham and chocolate eggs!

Wed April 10, 2009

Wind is still howling, so even if we had everything fixed and ready to go, we would not leave anyway! Jose was on board again this afternoon and continued to sort out the autopilot issues...he should be finished soon. He gave us a tour of the 63 foot sailboat he works on....beautiful and magnificent.

We had a nice time at the beach yesteday and watched a beautiful sunset from a beach bar and enjoyed the lively little town, which is full of tourists, unlike most places we have been this year.

The pool at the marina is lovely and that is where we spend time, reading and relaxing, as not much is happening on the boat.....sigh......

Thurs April 9, 2009

Another day...more waiting....although, the marina is nice, and we get both a morning paper, USA Today ( not quite the NY Times ) and our laundry delivered every morning to our boat...we still want to get out of here.

We had quite a flurry of activity yesterday afternoon and got a lot of our problems sorted out. It seems all the bashing around in the heavy seas dislodged parts and wires. The the fixes were quickly remedied and no new parts are needed. However, we still have a few keys things that need to be addressed and we have been waiting all day for Jose to show up to start working on them. We finally found him on the dock, and he informed us, that he could not work today, but would work tomorrow....if he had just told us! We could have planned something....it is soooooo frustrating!!!!!

We heard from Bonnie and David who are now safely back at home and thanked us for the "holiday" amd saving them money....they had dreams of buying a boat and sailing off into the sunset...seems after a week with us on Margoline, they no longer want a boat! I cannot imagine why!!!!

Wed April 8, 2009

We are settling into life here at our new marina. We are surrounded by sport fisher boats and a few large sailboats and yachts. The sport fishing boats seem to take over the docks. They house freezers, BBQs, fish fillet tables, deep fryers, and even electric woks and toaster ovens at the end of thier slips. During the night, as you walk along the docks, large flat screen TVs show mostly football and weather channels. It is not our usual cruiser crowd. They also do not mingle with sailors, but we are busy anyway and are not really interested in anything but getting fixed and out of here!

The other day, during breakfast with Bonnie and David, we were discussing, like most retired people do, health issues ( mostly our own ) and decided Jim had IBS, known in the medical world as, irritable bowl syndrome...but for Jim, it means, irritable "boat" syndrome....he did not think it was funny...only confirming our diagnosis!

But today is another day, and after an afternoon with Jose on board, fixing the inverter/charger ( which was brand new this January! ) things are once again looking up. Today he will tackle the autopilot and another guy will tackle the fickle generator ( that was fixed last year! )

The wind has died down, as have the seas...a full moon is on its way....lets hope we are soon as well....

Tues April 7, 2009

Bonnie and David left us this morning for thier home in Mexico, we will miss them on board Margoline and it will no doubt seem quiet for a while with just the two of us again. Yesterday we had a wonderful time at the beach, sunning, swimming and reading...it was perfect. Dinner on board was delicous and despite a no show from an expected mechanic, it was a good day.

Today, we do have a mechanic on board. He is a full time captain on a lovely 61 foot sailboat down from us. He is looking at, and into the inverter, the radar, the generator and hopefully the auto pilot and installing new running lights that were smashed during the towing incident.

As it turns out, a norther swept in last night, and we would not be sailing today, and most likely

not for a few more days, until the weather settles down. So bring on the repair men and get Margoline ready for our Gulf crossing!

Last night, during cocktail hour in the cockpit, we watched quite a show in the lagoon. The harbor master in a dinghy, went from boat to boat and as he left, they pulled up anchors and left the anchorage. We were very happy to be at a dock....the last thing anyone wants to do, at that time of the day, with the sun going down, is to pull anchor and find another place to spend the night! It turns out, when bad weather comes in, it is not a good anchorage to be in, as it does not have good holding. ( this is actually contrary to what we have read ) About seven boats left, all anxious and very annoyed...we then listened to the radio and were entertained by all this for the next hour. ( does not take much in the cruising world )

Another yummy dinner on board, lively conversation, some opera, ended Bonnie and Davids last night on Margoline.

Sunday April 5, 2009

We dropped our line from our garbage barge mooring in Cozumel early this morning, and were under way by 6:00 a.m.thanks to our organized captain and crew, now including Bonnie and David Russell. In no time at all, with winds ranging from 25 - 35 knots, we were under full sail and on our way to Isla Mujeres, some 50 miles north. With the strong current with us and the sustained winds, we reached our destination by noon, three hours sooner than our projected time! It was quite a sail!  As we approached the entrance to the lagoon, we started the engine ( thank God it started ) and motored our way through shallow waters, still in high winds and into our slip. We are now safely tied and our new temporary home is Isla Puerto Marina and the Villa Vera Resort. Land at last! Tired, but hungry, we put aside chores, ate lunch in the cockpit and retired for well earned naps.

After naps, it was time for the usual, chores and sorting out new boat issues....as has been the case all this season....! The neccessary people will be called and all will be in order soon, but nothing will happen today, as it is Sunday. Therefore, we declared it cocktail hour, which we had in the cockpit and followed that by dinner in the marina restaurant by the pool. Just another day at sea.....

April 3, 2009

Today we are checking out of the Fiesta American, in Cozumel, where we have had two relaxing days sunning and swimming, with Bonnie and David, who we finally met up with. They too had quite an adventure finding us, and ended up arriving on the ferry boat that had rescued us....small strange world.

The plan is to spend the next two days getting the boat ready once again to sail. We leave Sunday morning for Isla Mujeres with our new shipmates. The wind has died down somewhat and the engine, once again "fixed" I use the term lightly!

Poor Jim did have a tough time, checking into Mexico formally yesterday, while we "beached it" but we are now officially "in" the country....so we can officially leave soon!