Santa Rosalia Day 5

Saturday (August 20) was another cool day. Feeling motivated, Eric removed all the gear that we keep stored in front of the air compressor, then detached the compressor from its mount under the lazarette. He moved the compressor to be under the hatch so that he could stand over it and comfortably work on it from all angles.

He tried to refurbish the third pressure stage. He opened it up and took it apart, only to realize he needed yet another special tool, and this time he didn’t think he could fabricate one. He decided to simply clean it and change an O-ring.

Since the rain had not cooperated, Christi and Keith spent the morning washing the boat and doing other boat chores. It is amazing how much energy and motivation we have when the weather is cool!

In the afternoon, Christi, Keith and Brett went to lunch at a café called Ma’s. Eric was waiting for the water guy and said he’d join us once our water was delivered. Unfortunately, the dock water in Santa Rosalia isn’t up to many cruisers’ standards, so there is bottled water delivery service to the marina on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

After lunch, Christi and the boys went to what we’d thought was the museum. It was closed. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the museum may still be under construction and not yet open to the public. Or maybe the building was refurbished and is not currently being utilized. 

Continue reading

Santa Rosalia Day 1

One of the reasons we came to Santa Rosalia was to meet another boating family with a son close in age to Keith. On Tuesday (August 16), within minutes of being tied up in the marina at Santa Rosalia, Keith headed over to their boat, Avalon, to meet Brett. They were instant friends.  Christi and Eric were tired from the overnight passage, so they rested in the afternoon while the boys played. 

We went out for an early dinner with the Avalon family at a restaurant called Terco’s, a short walk from the marina.

Santa Rosalia was originally a company town for a French mining company, and on the way to the restaurant, we passed by some of the old mine tunnels, which apparently have recently been turned into a museum. 

Continue reading

Dive Compressor, San Javier, and Loreto

Sunrise on Monday, August 8

Eric spent the morning working on the dive compressor. The first order of business was standard servicing: changing the oil, filters, and hose. The hose completely disintegrated, so it is probably safe to say it was time to change it.

As he started up the compressor, air was not coming out of the final hose. He spent some time trying to troubleshoot the source of the problem, but at noon, he had to put the project aside. It was time to pick up our rental car and play tourists! 

Continue reading

October 2019 Tahiti Vacation — Days 3 and 4

Day 3 – Tuesday

We started the day off by heading over to Mahana Park to go snorkeling. Unfortunately, Keith did not want to get into the water. 

Because of the recent full moon, the current was unusually strong. Christi and Eric had bought new fins for the trip that were attached rugged water shoes. The selling point of these fins is that they are easy to walk in, making it much easier to enter via the beach; the downside of these fins is that they don’t provide as much power while swimming as full length fins. Christi only went in for a short time because she felt like she couldn’t fight the current with those little fins. 

Keith and Christi hung out on the beach looking for beach glass while Rose and Eric snorkeled. Here are some pictures that Rose took: 

Parrotfish

Afterwards, Keith and Eric went to Continue reading

October 2019 Vacation in Tahiti — Days 1 and 2

We are on vacation in Tahiti (by airplane). Since Tahiti is such a special place to us, we wanted to write some posts about what it has been like to come back again.

Day 1 – Sunday 

Our flight arrived at 6:00 am. Keith and our friend Rose were astounded to see chickens running around the airport’s parking lot. Christi and Eric informed them we’d be seeing chickens everywhere.

We rented a car and headed straight to the condo that we had rented in a suburb to the southwest of Papetee, the main city in Tahiti. The condo is near the airport and Marina Tahina. The condo had looked nice online, and Continue reading