Puerto Escondito
Once the weather died down it was an easy trip north to Puerto Escondito. I cruised past the entrance area (known as the "waiting room") and entered into the mostly empty bay. Puerto Escondito is now controlled by Sinclar, a branch of the Mexican Government. Unfortunately they see the area as a money machine and have decided to charge people to anchor in an area that used to be free. Since I was leaving for a month I didn't have much choice.... At least the anchorage itself was really nice and well protected so I wouldn't have to worry too much about the boat itself....A month of Work….
Hmm. 28 days. 12 hours each. Yuk. Unfortunately Sometimes the bank needs money….. Anyway, the last few days were the best. I finally got a few days to see and hang out with my great group of friends. Parties and Dinners. Yumm Yumm.But Mexico beckons…
Back at Escondito
I loaded up all my new toys and headed to the airport. After a quick flight I was back in Mexico almost like I had never left. I grabbed a taxi and headed out to Puerto Escondito not really sure if my boat was still floating. I had never left it this long at anchor before. (5 weeks !!!) My first issue was getting out to my boat. I hadn’t wanted to leave my dingy tied to the dock for 5 weeks so I had shuttled it back to my boat the day I left. All I had to do was wait for someone to show up and ask them to take me and my bags (2 big duffels) on a ride out to the back of the small bay. To put it in perspective it’s a little like being dropped off on a small country road and just “waiting” for a ride. You don’t really know for sure that anybody will even be there at all that day…
Well, it all worked out. After an hour or so the nice gentleman (the one who actually dropped me off at the airport) showed up. It was pretty obvious what I was needed. Not that many people just hang out on the docks with two large pieces of luggage just for fun… After a little small talk he beat me to the question. “You need a ride out to your boat?”
Fifteen minutes later I was back on board. I quickly checked everything out. Everything was fine. I sat down and breathed a big sigh of relief.
There were of course a few things I had to deal with. The fridge was empty. The head (toilet) was full. The water tanks were empty. The price to stay here had skyrocketed while I was gone. The decks were covered in bird shit and the bottom of the boat was covered in barnacles. Ahhh boat life J
So off to the store I went. Unfortunately the only store in the area has fewer items on the shelves than you do in your fridge.
I settled on the essentials and came back with a bag of chips and a big pacifico “balena” beer. (extra large!). Hmph. Fresh stuff would have to wait… Next I tackled the barnacles. Thankfully I have dive gear because it took me a full hour of scraping to clean all those little bastards off the bottom of the boat. The really gross part is that when I came out of the water I was totally covered in hundreds of those newly homeless brine shrimp. Yech.
It took another hour of scrubbing myself to get them off of me… Then right on schedule the next “Norther” started to blow in. Two more days gone.
Eventually it actually was time to go. I went and paid the balance owed and it was more for 6 days than it was for the whole month before! Ouch! I loaded up on fuel and water and headed south back to Agua Verde.
Agua Verde
I loaded up all my new toys and headed to the airport. After a quick flight I was back in Mexico almost like I had never left. I grabbed a taxi and headed out to Puerto Escondito not really sure if my boat was still floating. I had never left it this long at anchor before. (5 weeks !!!) My first issue was getting out to my boat. I hadn’t wanted to leave my dingy tied to the dock for 5 weeks so I had shuttled it back to my boat the day I left. All I had to do was wait for someone to show up and ask them to take me and my bags (2 big duffels) on a ride out to the back of the small bay. To put it in perspective it’s a little like being dropped off on a small country road and just “waiting” for a ride. You don’t really know for sure that anybody will even be there at all that day…
Well, it all worked out. After an hour or so the nice gentleman (the one who actually dropped me off at the airport) showed up. It was pretty obvious what I was needed. Not that many people just hang out on the docks with two large pieces of luggage just for fun… After a little small talk he beat me to the question. “You need a ride out to your boat?”
Fifteen minutes later I was back on board. I quickly checked everything out. Everything was fine. I sat down and breathed a big sigh of relief.
There were of course a few things I had to deal with. The fridge was empty. The head (toilet) was full. The water tanks were empty. The price to stay here had skyrocketed while I was gone. The decks were covered in bird shit and the bottom of the boat was covered in barnacles. Ahhh boat life J
So off to the store I went. Unfortunately the only store in the area has fewer items on the shelves than you do in your fridge.
I settled on the essentials and came back with a bag of chips and a big pacifico “balena” beer. (extra large!). Hmph. Fresh stuff would have to wait… Next I tackled the barnacles. Thankfully I have dive gear because it took me a full hour of scraping to clean all those little bastards off the bottom of the boat. The really gross part is that when I came out of the water I was totally covered in hundreds of those newly homeless brine shrimp. Yech.
It took another hour of scrubbing myself to get them off of me… Then right on schedule the next “Norther” started to blow in. Two more days gone.
Eventually it actually was time to go. I went and paid the balance owed and it was more for 6 days than it was for the whole month before! Ouch! I loaded up on fuel and water and headed south back to Agua Verde.
Agua Verde
posted by Restless Marc @ 6:05 PM
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