We are nestled into the tropical marina here in La Cruz, a slice of civilization like we haven’t seen in quite a while. We are tucked into beautiful Banderas Bay, which is surrounded by tall, jungle clad mountains–a real treat after seeing only coastal plane for the past few months. There is a big sailing community here, and many sailors our age as well–a real rarity. And, of course, this is a tourism mecca for Mexico. Despite the strong tourism influence, (which I always expect will sour people,) every Mexican we meet is friendly and open, always pleased to answer my questions. It really is a gift.
We will be here for the next 1.5 weeks as we have a little surgery to perform on the boat. A while ago Josh noticed that the door in the head (the bathroom) wasn’t closing properly. Upon investigation he discovered that the mast collar (where the mast goes through the cabin top and into the interior of the boat) was sinking slightly into the cabin, which compresses the interior supports on the boat (thus making the door stick.) Two days ago, he cut a hole in the cabin sole (the floor) to see how exactly the mast was supported from below. (The mast is held in place by the metal rope rigging on the deck, but still has to rest on the keel.) Amazingly, the mast is only supported by three fiberglass L-supports–which is why it is slowly sinking and crushing those supports. So before we sail through any (more) gnarly weather (like the Gulf of Tehuantepec) we have to fix this. Fortunately, Josh can do all the work, but we have to have the mast pulled so we can build a reinforcement under the mast.
Ah, boat stuff.
In the meantime, I will continue to seek interesting people for interviews. Very curious to learn when and if people will start talking about sea level rise…