On Tuesday and Wednesday we did some chores around the boat such as cleaning all of the water strainers, going through our mail, bills, filing, etc. On Wednesday night we had dinner with Clark and Suzy Straw of SV Final Straw. The last time we saw them was in Australia before we returned to the US. We were joined by Robin Ryder, a friend of Clark’s, Robin is also preparing to sail to Mexico but not with the Baja Ha-Ha. His boat is a Mason 63 ketch, named Arawak. Clark will be joining him. We had great discussion at dinner about cruising and comparing some of the places we went to and catching up on other cruisers. Clark and Suzy were kind enough to loan us their Prius so we could run errands before we left. This was a life saver and we thank them very much for this assistance.
Thursday we did the big provisioning trip to Costco, Von’s and Trader Joe’s. Fitting it all in the car was one thing, finding a place to store it all on the boat was another. The larder is full!
Saturday we did a few boat chores. Rich put wheels on the dingy to assist with beach landings in the surf. I connected up the backup IPad navigation system. I am using iNavX app ($49) on the IPad with Navionics Gold charts for Mexico, Central and South America ($55). In addition to the software, I bought a DMK Yacht Instruments (www.dmkyachts.com) model 11A ($399) with the DMK app (free). The DMK box takes Raymarine SeaTalk, NMEA 0183 and NMEA 2000 inputs and transmits them via wi-fi as UDP packets. These packets are received by the apps on the IPad. Our current installation is for the Furuno AIS, FA-50. The AIS information is transmitted to the IPad and read in by the iNavX app and displayed on the charts, similar to the charter/plotter. At some point I will connect the other instrumentation. I will check this out more during our trip down to Cabo San Lucas.
Sunday we did last minute chores. Rich changed the oil and flushed the watermaker. He went to the skipper’s meeting while I stayed on the boat and did a little bit of cleaning. In the afternoon we attended the Baja Ha-Ha Halloween party in the West Marine parking lot. Many cruisers came dressed for the occasion. We saw Tinkerbell in drag, Peter Pan, Tick-Tock the crocodile, some pirates, parrots and other fictional characters. Later that afternoon Clark and Suzy stopped by to visit on Windarra and pick up the Prius. We got a chance to see picture of their newest grandchild, Charlie, who is their son Kevin’s son.
Later we went to the airport to meet Dan Sego, our crew member for the Baja Ha-Ha.
Now it is time for bed. It will be a long day tomorrow.
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