Going to Mexico for the Corona

Season four begins. This time we are flying down to the boat rather than driving as we did last year. It was an easy choice last year as we knew we would be returning to Puerto Penasco at the end of the season and thus have the car waiting for the drive back home was a no brainer. This year we have a different plan but more on that later.

One of the issues with flying is the 50-pound weight limit for each piece of luggage. When you are leaving for 7 to 8 months and need to get a bunch of boat parts and spares back with you, it means you end up with 4 checked bags, 2 carry on bags, 2 personal items and a hefty charge for the extra bags. We take a shuttle van from Phoenix to Penasco and luckily there is no luggage weight limit on the bus. We stayed overnight in Phoenix and hit up Walmart for food stuffs not available in Mexico. The draw back with this plan is that you need to switch vans at the border and actually walk across with your bags. We must have been quite a sight as we lugged all our stuff through the border. They gave it a cursory look through and waved us on so its all good that way.

We have learned that its best to take a hotel room in Penasco for the first few days. Getting back on the boat requires a thorough wash of the exterior before everything can be pulled out of the boat and put back in its proper place and then the real work begins.

Just needs a bit of cleaning

This year’s expected recommissioning chores included, oil and fuel filter changes, transmission oil changes, re assembling the gooseneck, cleaning, inspecting the heat exchangers, painting the bottom of the boat to name a few. Unexpected chores included replacing all 6 house batteries, replacing the exhaust mixing elbows and fixing a fridge that decided not to cool as much as it should.

Now most of this would have been much easier to handle except the Corona mentioned in the title turned out to be the virus version that Derick caught on day 3. We managed to pace ourselves and get through all the projects. Derick felt like he had been hit by a truck, he had the body aches, low energy and was running a temperature, all while it was 32 degrees. It is not something I’d recommend to anyone. Barb never got sick. We both have 2 shots and 2 boosters. Go figure.

Friday night boatyard get together
Shot of the north yard from the mast top
She has my life in her hands
And she takes time out for pictures like this

Our friends on Salish Dragon drove down and were kind enough to lend us their car multiple times so we could run around town buying batteries, run to the border to collect parts we had shipped to Lukeville AZ and a couple of grocery provisioning runs. The automobile really is a convenience.

We launched 2 weeks after we arrived. Our season shake down trip consisted of a 270 nautical mile, 54- hour straight run from Puerto Penasco to Punta Chivato. We were hoping to stop in Santa Rosalia, but the marina was full, so we carried on. We had a good weather window with clear skies, calm seas and a mix of sailing and motoring.

On the go cart to get out of our spot
Tight squeeze between boats
In the slings and on our way to the water
Salvador Cabrales III on the right. HIs family has owned the yard for 3 generations
A couple of the shrimping fleet anchored outside Puerto Penasco

Some challenges to start but season four is off and running. Oh, and the reason we did not drive down to Puerto Penasco this time is the plan for this year is to get to Panama. Follow along and see if we make it.

Related Posts

2 thoughts on “Going to Mexico for the Corona

  1. Hi
    Wow you really are amazing to get all that work on the boat done in 2 weeks. Good to hear Derick is feeling better. Love the pictures. For us land travellers it is helping understand the work involved to sail/motor. Now the fun adventures begin. Look forward to hearing more.

  2. Ahhhhh Barb and Derek, I love your stories about your adventures. So glad you still let us know how you’re doing. Enjoy life for sure and keep everyone up to date on your travels 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *