Back to San carlos for Christmas

We are finally away from the noise of downtown Guaymas. We had planned on departing early in the week but delays with the mechanic and adjustments to the freezer took longer than expected. We finally cast off on Saturday and headed up to San Carlos. Had we left a few days earlier we would have been able to sail up, however, we had to slog up the coast with 18-25 kt headwinds. A big engine is an asset in those conditions and we were able to make headway despite the wind and 3-4 ft seas covering the 19 miles in just less than 6 hours.
We have rented the buoy from our German friends, Elka and Uva from Marina Seca, Guyamas. It took us 4 attempts to tie up to the buoy but it was worth the effort. It certainly takes the worry about dragging anchors, besides; the windlass is this week’s project.
During our stay at the Singlar marina we met Ron and Pattie (and Matie, the dog) from California in Bagabundo, an Offshore 40. We were really impressed with the design and comfort level built into this boat.
Since we arrived we have continued to work on projects. J-G’s priority is the wiring for the windlass. He is finding it quite a challenge to access areas to pass the wires behind cupboards that require hours of disassembly. Once accessed there is usually another task that should be done before access is closed, in this case it was replacing bolts holding down a pad eye.
Since we arrived in Mexico Rosie has been used to regular walks and good places to do her business. She is finding that sailing sucks! She doesn’t like the engine noise, rocking and rolling and that windswept look. Most off all she misses the dusty boatyard and the small patches of grass at Singlar. The thought of having to pee on a small carpet on the bow doesn’t appeal to her at all, however, by the evening of day 2 at the buoy she decided that she couldn’t hold it any longer, much to our mutual relief....
Now that we are dependent on our battery power we have come to the realization that the four old 6-volt batteries that remained from the original bank will have to be replaced before we leave. As the only source of decent batteries is north of the border we may have another delay to obtain replacements. Unless we can find someone going north we may have to make a quick trip to Tucson ourselves.
Fran set up the “Christmas Palm” today, complete with solar Christmas lights and several guy lines to keep it from being blown away by the strong Northerlies we are still experiencing in the late afternoons and evenings. We are booked into the Christmas day dinner at the yacht club but, with all of this we will miss the kids and grandchildren, this being our first Christmas away since England in the early 90’s.
Have a great Christmas all.