It is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it is done all these weeks of working and talking of working on the decks and repainting the cabin top are done! To the folks who wrote the articles of the time it takes to remove teak decks...................un printable.

We finished the last of the painting just a few minutes ago and I wanted to get it on here today,will have pics of it tomorrow after we clean up the remaining mess that some how creates itself ?

During this time, we did visit with friends, have a few drinks and laugh. All cruisers have a story or three to tell. Lets you know you are not the only ones to go through such trials and tribulations. Also enjoy watching the sea birds, and other sea life, sunsets, sunrises etc. Picture of the full moon does not do justice to what we saw in person. It was so beautiful.

Now we are within a week or two at the most of leaving la paz and have decided at this late date we are going to meander north to partida then isla san francisco and other points that we are not sure of,but with luck no place will be more then 20 miles apart till we go across to san carlos to have her hauled and stored for the summer.

patience!

Hi All

well just a little longer an we will have paint on an write a good long bunch of babel! an have pics,till then patience.

Dick

closer!

Hi All

Well sorry for the long delay,but with nothing happening we just have not been able to add anything .

I had to cut out a section of the foredeck and go thru the long process of letting mother nature dry out the core of the deck an as odd as it might sound the wettest was the foredeck an it is the highest? strange but true,so with over a week I got the moisture down to 12 % and then gave it a couple coats of penetrating epoxy then coated both sides really well with the west systems and reset the piece I cut out then piled everything I could find to hold it down.

I hired a local fellow to help me with the filling an fairing an I should of had him way earlier,but you know hind sight,he does not speak English an I don't speak Spanish so yep we do have a small problem there an I thought aw I will use the online translator!,wrong what comes out he nor I can understand ,o well moving along.

Carol Had a really bad time with a pulled ham string,but is getting better,sure glad of that as was worried I might have to put her out of her misery, o wait that`s horse`s.

Am going to post a few pics we have taken showing the joy`s of doing a deck repair an mine thankfully was not one of those you have to cutout,a good thing as you can see the deck is small hardwood scraps from the making of cabinets.

In all we are getting closer to the end? is there really a end,o well weather is nice,food is great an I have Carol so all is OK.

Enjoy the cold winter an we will be thinking of you all!

Dick and Carol

more of the fuzzy bottom

Well the fuzzy bottom is gone,but we are still in the yard till tomorrow an then back to the water!!!! we had a few small issues like raising the water line a bit and had water in the rudder so needed to fix that,but other then that a very straight forward bottom job.

The bottom paint we have on now is hempel with a special toxic brew that folks have told me is the only thing that will work here,as you remember after 3 weeks at anchor the bottom was covered with barnacles and this weed like stuff,not good,well the people I visited with have had it on for 3 years an a sponge will remove the light stuff,so I am guessing that maybe the bottom of my boat may glow at night time.

We were invited to the owner of the boat yard to his house for new years an what a very nice time we had,so many relatives an so many people hugging? everybody,kids grandparents cousins,men,woman being from German family this was very new an what a feast they prepared,so we went home with very full stomachs an a nice remembrance.

For those preparing a trip down here prepare for a shock...........it is not cheap like you heard about,marinas around 650-700 a month for a 40 ft boat plus elect,electronics will be way more then up north,my bottom paint with what I described was almost 1900.00,food in the market is a bit cheaper,but not by much,some places where locals eat are very cheap,other restaurants are every bit as much as up north,this is not to discourage anyone,but don't come thinking you will live on 1000.00 a month.................wont happen.

Sure enjoy the waters here they run from 30ft of visibility to unbelievable! an it`s like swimming in a aquarium.

Well will update when something worthwhile happens!
Dick

ever had a fuzzy bottom?

Well here we are in Mexico,warm breezes great food lot`s of fun folks and I`m working my butt off. We came back to marina palmira to work on deck rather then bounce around doing the la paz waltz. Took the dink out of the water................ut o bottom was covered with barnacles, got rid of those and looked at the rudder on Plumas and it didn't look good so out comes the wetsuit. Now I am really frustrated the whole bottom is covered by fuzzy stuff about 2 to 3 in long with some barnacles, man does this stuff grow fast here, I dove it just 3 weeks earlier and it was clean. I was told it is because of the temp of the water and the channel is so oxygenated from the fast current here.

Other than that, still working on the decks and will be for a while I`m afraid as it is not a couple week job. Glad the deck is gone now. Injecting with epoxy resin and then the fairing and so on.

We had a quiet Christmas. Christmas eve we went to a potluck at Club Cruceros. It is a small hut where cruisers can receive mail, trade books and just meet in the mornings for coffee and chat. I took chicken spaghetti. It disappeared quickly. This all took place outside because no room inside and weather perfect for outdoor potluck.

Friday night we dinghyed ashore and went to an italian restaurant across the street from the marina de la paz. Had a man playing guitar and singing occasionally...nice soft music. Ran into a man from another boat anchored out near us. He and Dick talked computers. I enjoyed the music and watched the stars. Yes we were eating outside on the patio. Do wish we could share our positive experiences with our friends and family.

problem

Ok here is a small update,the blankity blank decks are so stuck it took over six hours to remove 9 feet of deck,an I believed some of the articles I read about a day or day and a half to remove the teak...................any friends around?

I am now guessing around eight to ten feet a day so maybe in about two weeks it will be ready, as I don't work a eight hr day,retired remember lol.

Dick

islands

well with very little service here except the marinas it has been awhile since we added to the blog,but here is what we did.

Met some great folks at the market one day invited them down to the boat had a great time getting to know them the next day we went to a cove just north of la paz for some snorkeling,20 ft deep and very clear all was good till these tiny jelly fish showed up and that turned things into a not so fun time.

eased out of there laughing having a great time then did a boner,onto the sand...........sheeesh took our guest back to the marina in the dink came back to the boat and cooled my heels for a few hours and mentally kicked my butt for such a dumb thing,but later tide came in and we went back to the marina hoping nobody seen,right.

day later we eased on up north to the islands just north of here called isla espritu santo the water so clear and the fish wow,watched some type of ray jumping out of the water,flying fish,dolphins.

anchored in raza but the wind coming down the canyon was a bit much so next day went on to candelero a much more protected anchorage where we enjoyed snorkeling as it was the first time Carol had done this she was given a perfect spot to see thousands of fish mostly Sergent majors,but a whole bunch of fish I didn't know.

We are now back in La Paz an the job of removing the teak on the decks starts in the am,not something I want to do,but unfortunately must be done then inject epoxy in all the screw holes after it has a chance to dry out, wont take long here!

Will try and find stuff to write about that is positive an at times can be hard to find, then something good happens and renews our spirits.