6/20/2011 - Wasting time

Knowing that we're going to be here in Puerto Escondido until after we return from Oregon in early August makes it easy to put off doing stuff we probably should be doing. Like changing the oil in the engine. Like investigating the water pump issue. I really had great intentions of tackling these items yesterday. But, geez, it was Father's Day and Sunday and I didn't really feel like working. So instead, we just kind of hung around the boat and then, later in the afternoon we headed ashore and sat around in the spa. Spa is sort of a misnomer in this case. It's a shallow, round pool with a seat around the perimeter. The water is ambient temperature which is just fine as a hot tub would be most unpleasant down here. There aren't any water jets running or anything either. So basically it's just a round pool to sit in, cool off, shoot the breeze and enjoy a couple of brewskies, which is exactly what we did. After an hour or so of that, we stopped by the showers to rinse off the chlorinated spa water. Feels pretty weird to walk down to the shower in your dripping swimsuit, climb in, rinse off, and then walk back out to the dinghy still dripping wet. Feels sort of weird but it isn't weird at all here. The temperature is conducive and it's a marina where everyone is in swimsuits or shorts.

Headed back out to Siempre Sabado for a little dinner. Guess what we had for dinner. Give up? Chips and guacamole. That's right, just chips and guacamole. We did it because it sounded good and because we could. Granted, later on I finished the leftover cole slaw and pasta salad, but still..

Later we set up the computer in the cockpit and, under the stars, watched an episode of Kung Fu and one of Vampire Diaries. Ah, life is good.

So, today I had great intentions again. I had originally planned to run the engine to warm up the oil so I could change it. But I decided that I really should take a look at the water pump first to make sure the oil seal wasn't blown allowing seawater to enter the engine that way. But, I made a couple trips ashore to fill our drinking water jugs and then we decided we needed to walk to the store at Tripui to get Lulu some club soda (agua mineral con gas). Once we got back to the boat we felt like we wanted to find a good swimming spot. We dinghied over to "las ventanas" (the windows) to see if the sea on the other side would be a good swimming hole. Puerto Escondido is a little bit too landlocked with a few too many cruising boats to make it feel like a good clean swimming hole.

This is one of the "windows". There are 2 of them. They're just manmade rocky beaches that connect the natural hills surrounding Puerto Escondido.

Anyway, once we got out to the Sea side of the beach, we found the bottom to be much too rocky to be able to provide a comfortable swimming experience without our reef shoes, which we had left onboard. So, it being a bit of a ride from the boat to the beach, we decided to go back to the boat, get our reef shoes, and then dinghy out to the harbor entrance to see how the swimming potential was out there.

The harbor entrance is where the 3-humped hill meets the lighter-colored hill on the left side of the photo.

As we rounded the hill and approached the actual entrance, the swells started getting kind of big and close together for our little dinghy. There were even whitecaps outside. So, we decided to just go to the marina and enjoy a few brews at the spa again. After an hour or more of that, we took showers and headed back to Siempre Sabado again. Once we got home we made dinner. Guess what we had. Give up? Chips and guacamole. That's right, we ate junk for dinner 2 nights in a row. Because we can.

For the last hour or so we've been loafing around, dozing off and on and listening to music. I decided that I really should write a blog even though I (obviously) had nothing to write about. In an hour or so when the sun goes down, we'll be watching our shows in the cockpit again. So it goes.

Maybe tomorrow I'll do something constructive, however, we might have an opportunity to catch a ride in to Loreto and, if that happens, no engine work will get done again. I did get a replacement pump and a pump rebuild kit ordered so I haven't been a complete goof-off. Just mostly. But, really, we won't be heading out of here until the middle of July, so what's the big hurry?

BTW, we'd never survive if it weren't for the shade provided by our awning. We even have side curtains now.

I think we're finally acclimated. When we were in Newport, we would never hide from the sun. Even if it was shining uncomfortably right in our eyes, we never said anything bad about it or hid from it. We were afraid that, if we did, the already way-too-rare sun would make itself even scarcer. But, the sunshine is so common down here, and it gets so hot, that we finally have arrived at that place where we actually seek out shade.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have something real to write about. But then again, maybe not.

(disclaimer: whenever you read something about "us" goofing off, substitute the word "me" instead. Lulu would gladly do constructive stuff almost all the time if it weren't for me playing the little devil on her shoulder saying "Ah, don't sweat it, the work will still be there tomorrow. Go on, have some fun. You deserve it.")