We have spent the past week or two down in either Ensenada or in Chula Vista, organizing boat yards and such, and getting to know our new boat. While we wait for the yard in Mexico to prep Northern Ranger I for new bottom paint and a spiffy new coat of varnish on all the teak ( after taking everything down to the wood and the bottom coat)…
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Why we have the hull cleaned monthly.. tube worms down here, not barnacles
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Northern Ranger all blocked and ready to go…. waiting for the make-over! Not that she needs it.. pretty lady!
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Sunset on the malecon in Ensenada
we are accomplishing lots of little chores on the 50. We have our list of “things to do” from the various surveys we had done and anything we can find to do ourselves, we are doing. But we are also going to enlist in the aid of the local marine shipyard, for bigger jobs such as inspecting and perhaps replacing the main shaft and hunting down electrical issues.
We have both spent some time searching through lockers, and Lawrence has been having fun figuring out what everything is and where it belongs – digging in the pilot house locker next to the freezer was a bit like an archaeological dig!
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Lawrence counting parts – mostly filters… everything on the boat seems to need a filter!
And there is always paperwork! I just told Lawrence he is treating the pilot house like his office at work – and that is NOT a good thing. Amazingly he knows what every pile of paper means and where the important documents are kept. I just look at it and go back to organizing galley and salon cupboards and lockers…making sure I make a note of where I put things because I know for a fact that a month from now when I am looking for the extra baking pan I will NOT remember where I put it. ( hahah AS IF I am going to bake.. but it could happen….)
But the paperwork is important. Everything requires a paper trail, and we have hired someone to work on the TIP issue for the boat – cancelling the old one and obtaining a new one. And all that requires is just a massive amount of more paperwork! Not to mention $$$$$. or Pesos… or whatever they take down there ( they take everything except Canadian…. funny how everyone treats our currency as funny money) …
Registration for the boat and the dinghy have come through, insurance is being organized….the binder grows bigger and bigger as Lawrence continues to dive into the bureaucratic maelstrom that is owning a Canadian boat in the US planning to cruise in Mexico.
Trips down and back from Ensenada are fun though, and we are getting better an finding wineries at the end of very dusty, hot, windy, bumpy dirt roads. Always an adventure!
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We are planning on actually starting the engine and reminding NRII that she is in fact a cruiser and not just a B and B for us to hang around San Diego in. Lawrence has booked a spot in San Diego Harbour ( yet more paperwork) right by the yacht club and we will hopefully be joined by Ken and Christy although they probably won’t bring Varnebank out – she starts to swing and she will take out half the boats anchored there… it will probably be on Christy’s sailboat. Hoping for a good weekend away from land but not that far away – just in case.
Our timing for going home is still up in the air, as we are hoping to be able to take NRII over to the shipyard before we go so they can start work on the list. ( there is always a list isn’t there? and it never seems to get shorter somehow)…but at some point we do have to start making preparations for moving to our house on the lake. The fires surrounding us up there seem to be under control, people are going back to the towns slowly – now it’s time to regroup and rebuild for some of them.
So things move along – sometimes it seems at a snails pace and sometimes it seems to rush by. I just hope we get all our “ducks in a row” well in time for the Cubar…. and that our move is but a small hiccup in the time frame, accomplished quickly with little panic- so we can get started on our next phase! whatever that is!