We are back in Mexico. And I have been slacking on writing blog, mostly because I am learning how to edit FCP for our videos. That way Jon does not have to do all the work.

Well we have been back and on PRISM for about 3 weeks now. It’s almost christmas, and I have no Idea where we will be for that. My brother Sean not only bought our beloved 4runner, but also said yes when we asked him if he would drive us back down to the boat. He really wanted to bring along a friend, so Jon and I tried very hard to make all our stuff fit with both back seats up. Unless we strapped things to the roof, there was no way that was going to happen, even making room for one person in the back was a challenge

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Wait wait wait… backing up. Just so everyone knows, WE FINISHED THE DECKS ON THE MASON! Oh man was that a project, and poor jon got pretty much stuck with the majority of the hard labor while I went to make some money.  As for a detailed report on the Teak Deck removals, I think we will write a post just for it and post it under DIY and gear.

So we finished the Mason with almost no time to spare. We literally were putting the boat back together, varnishing and finishing the last of the to do list projects on Thanksgiving day. We kept the family updated, and waiting as we tried to make it in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Which by the way was at 1pm. WHO HAS DINNER AT 1 pm? We didn’t make it, but we did get there later that night, around 7pm, and heated up left overs and said hello and good-bye to family that waited around to see us. Tess, Jon’s sister was 6 days past her first due date, so we were all waiting for the new baby boy to get here as well.

Jon and I started to pack up all the stuff we had bought over the last 6 months and figured out how to pack it all into the car. Finally the day before we were leaving we got the call from Tess ” Its happening today” So I drove on down to spend the day with Tess as she went though pre labor, ( she had a home birth). We all had dinner, and waited around. At 1 am December 1st we welcomed out newest member of the family into the world, gave everyone hugs and kisses, then went to bed. Later that day we all got together for our family photo before Jon and I hit the road.

The next day we finished packing, said our good byes and headed to Cambria to see my family and pick up my brother for the trip down. Once again Jon and I were late for dinner and little did we know, my family was having a little get together for us, so by the time we go there (11pm) the family was a bottle of tequila in and in a heated dominoes game. They were so happy once we got there. My brothers both gave me a hard time about being late. Will had to work early in the morning, so he gave us a hug and a kiss and wished us well and said good night. The rest of us.. well more drinking and dominos followed.

We started to plan our drive down, we wanted to make sure we got to the border during day light, do no driving at night while in  Mexico and wanted to get to Guaymas with enough daylight to see what we were doing. we wanted to drive throughout the night tae turns at the wheel.

So that’s what we did, well kinda, Jon took the first shift, making it to the pass that leads into Arizona on the I-10. Sean then drove throughout the night, never letting me take my shift. He claims that the driver seat is the best cause no one messes with the driver and where his seat position is. While I was crammed into the back seat with my feet up,  I let Jon recline a bit to get some sleep as well. around 6 am, sean gave up and Jon insisted that he drive, ( I think they just didn’t want me driving?) We filled up right at the border for $1.75 a gallon!!!!!  Then we looked across the street and saw an I-Hop. Breakfast and coffee. I kept offering to drive but they both looked at me like i was crazy, I wanted out of that back seat, and I’m sure they did NOT want to go in the back, so Jon drove us into Mexico, right as the border opened. There was no one there to stop us, to wave us through, nothing, so we kinda just slowly crept through waited to be stopped, next thing you know Siri told us to make a right turn and were on a back ally street. We quickly realized we were going to end up on the front of a newspaper ” stupid greengos take wrong turn into bad part of Nogales” We very quickly ignored siri and made our way back to the main road. But because of our little detour, we missed the INM office to check in and get our visa’s and we drove right on though to Guaymas, taking the toll roads and following the signs for Hermesillo. 4 hours later, PRISM!

She looked great for being abandoned for the last 6 months. When we opened her up we were happy to smell nothing! No mold, mildew, no dead rotting animals, nothing. It was awesome. After further investigation, we found thousands of dead weevils, they must have had a hey day in there for a little while, until they started eating the poison I left out to kill any unwanted bugs.  So we really started to look at where they came from… RICE! it was the rice,  unopened sealed bags of rice. I should have known! It was ok, after a quick purge of said rice and a bag of sealed flour (also infested) our unwanted bugs were out and I started a deep clean to make sure they were not into anything else. The boat is now free of unwanted bugs. 🙂 I can sleep at night again.

We got started right away on doing the bottom job, well Jon and I did, Sean conveniently “got a cold” once the hard work started. Nah JK he was sick, and stuck on a bot, in a dirt yard, with no bathrooms close. ( sorry Sean) 🙂 We made due, some mexican cold medicine and he was feel great (kinda).

 

We were really shocked how well Prism fared during the hot summer months, and while walking around and praising her, we saw it.  Our newly scarfed bowsprit.. split.  Damn. Ok add it to the To Do List. Now that we are back, we needed to do:

• bottom job
• add external chain plates
• Remove old external grounding dynaplate and fill holes
• put everything away
• grease seacocks
• install dive compressor on fore deck
• move radar pole to new mount
• install new water filter system
• fix bow sprit
• recommissioned the boat ( put sails on and everything else we put away)

the list goes on and on.

Im sure it would go faster, but we are so sick of boat work, we find ourselves editing videos, or going out and about to avoid boat work for a little.

We plotted our corse down to central america the other day, and we realized that we have over 3600 miles to go  in the next 5-6 months, BAH! we have to get moving.

We have kicked it into a higher gear ( not the highest though) id say 3 outta 5 with 5th being an over drive :).

We were able to hitch some rides into town and get some major shopping done, so my galley is almost at 100%. I am still finding some weevils, but they are losing the fight. I’m just happy they are not roaches, we would have a serious problem then. I bought a bunch of new food storage bins to keep things air tight to keep the bugs out, (or in :/? )

When we do splash… wait big news….

THEY ARE PLAYING THE NEW STAR WARS IN ENGLISH EVERY HOUR! The boat projects can wait! We have pumped up some other cruisers ( who did not know there was a new one made) who have a car, we all piling in the van and making a move day date. BAH we are so excited!!!

SO MUCH WORK TO DO.

We did clear off the for deck today, I       forgot how much room we have up there, its nice. Now only if it were not covered in 3inches of dirt and dust we could sit out there, have some drinks and avoid more boat work.

Ready set go!!