Sunday and Monday (February 5 and 6) were more chores days. The weather was sunny and warm, with it reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 celsius) both days. Eric:

• Changed the on-engine fuel filter and flushed it with Stanadyne
• Re-organized the spare parts and supplies that we kept in the engine room
• Took apart the accumulator tank that he’d recently removed to see where the leak was. He couldn’t find any overt leak. 
• He put extra sealant on the lift pump on the main engine. 
• Put away more things in the engine room. 
• Tightened a loose fitting on the freshwater spigot at the anchor chain. 

Christi and Keith finally got around to washing the boat. They were dismayed to see that it wasn’t mud all over the boat, it was some sort of water-resistant residue. It was similar, but not quite like the jet fuel residue that we used to get on our first boat, which we’d kept next to the San Diego Airport. It was less similar to, but not totally different from, the container ship exhaust that was all over Kosmos when we briefly had her in the Port of Los Angeles (In 2010, while the blog was on hiatus). We’re guessing the residue must have come from the nearby power plant, or maybe the container ships that we’ve noticed anchored in the area, or some combination of both.

The residue had to be scrubbed with a brush to get it to loosen, and then it didn’t rinse off when sprayed with the hose. The boat had to be hand dried with cloths to get the residue off. It was a much bigger wash job than anticipated.

On Monday afternoon, we took the 1310 (1:10 pm) shuttle to town, arriving at 1330. There were three very highly rated restaurants surrounding The Melt, and we’d decided to try the one on the north side. Since the restaurant didn’t open until 1400 (2:00 pm), we killed time walking around the neighborhood.

We arrived promptly at 1400, expecting them to be opening up, but there were no signs of life. Yesterday (Sunday) was a major Mexican national holiday called Constitution Day, and we knew that today all the schools, government offices, banks and so forth would be closed in recognition of the holiday. We were told many other businesses would be closed, as well. We guessed the restaurant must have closed for the holiday, too.

The restaurant to the west also looked like it wouldn’t be opening today. But the one to the east was open. It was called Nim and was owned by the same people who owned Azul Marino. The menu was totally different than Azul Marino’s, and we were happy to give it a try. Here was the pork sope that Keith ordered:

We’ve never seen such big sopes before! The food was really good at Nim, but we think the food was better at Azul Marino.

After lunch, we walked around town a little more, getting a feel for the area. Then we wandered down the Malecòn for a bit. It was low tide. Here were some photos from the Malecòn.

Once we were tired of walking, we hailed an Uber to take us back to the marina. We only had to wait about 10-minutes for someone to accept our ride. Here was Sunday’s sunset, taken from Kosmos.