Hurricane Enrique

Monday 28th June 2021
I just read that the hurricane has claimed two lives further south, strong winds and torrential rain are causing problems there. However it looks like the hurricane is about to be downgraded to a tropical storm and will not be that big of a deal when it arrives here. All the same the marina management visit me and request I remove the furled headsails. It’s blowing quite hard, but a lull is expected later. The two headsails are wrapped around wires that support the mast using a revolving drum and sleeve mechanism. So by pulling on ropes you can release the sail or wrap it up, in the old days it was more difficult to adjust the amount of sail out, with furling systems you can do this all from the cockpit quite easily. The problem comes when the wind takes control, sometimes the sail can flap if not fully furled, then the sail can start to shred near the sheets (ropes to pull it out) and the sail parts from the ropes and starts to unfurl itself. in a viscious wind the sail flails around in quite a dangerous way and is almost impossible to tame. Once it has got enough sail out it presents a big hazard as it can pull the boat around putting lots of force and stresses on the boat and its mooring. I have seen boats almost destroyed by this process. So as soon as the wind dropped, I got both sails down. I will probably bring the mainsail in as well in order to reduce the windage, and to do some minor repairs on it and its sail bag.
I do the shopping, clear in officially, and dump off a load of laundry.

Last night Arturo insisted on treating me to a dinner in a fancy Italian restaurant I haven’t been to before. Very nice it was as well

The view from Cinnarolls cafe on the Malecon, what’s not to like 😉

Later I have a Trolebus (fruit flavoured shaved ice) drink at Cinnaroll’s cafe on the Malecon and enjoy the view as the sun sets. Of course the Malecon is closed as we are on red alert, the Indian/delta variant has been a big hit here, with many people bringing it down from the North to holiday with them. Cabo San Lucas, the fun destination for many visitors from the USA and Canada is now out of beds and respirators for covid patients. Just as the Delta variant was establishing itself in the states, California removed all covid restrictions. At least everyone here seems to be taking it very seriously, it is illegal to be outdoors without a mask, I heard yesterday how many of the marina dock workers have ill family or have lost family to covid. So BCS is still some way from the end, in fact we are now in a worse state than at any point since the start.

Tuesday 29th June.
Farmers market and I restock on vegan pesto, and find a new vegan stall setup. I buy some lentil burgers, partly to see what they are like, but also to show support for the guy who doesn’t have many visitors to his stall.

Wednesday
Enrique fizzled out today, about 50 miles away over Isla Partida. Very disappointing, just some rain in the night.
Flight to Mexico city booked for the 21st and I’m now preparing a list of things that must be done before I leave the boat in exactly 3 weeks time. An oil change must be due, so I grab the logbook to get the mileage and end up pulling up a soggy wad of paper from the chart table. Closer inspection reveals everything on the chart table, log, pilot guides, notebook etc is sitting in a big puddle of rainwater. It suddenly dawns on me that the erratic flashing of the PI Hat LEDs situated next to the chart table might be related to the water, and sure enough, the PI computer is sitting in a plastic box submerged in 1 cm of water. Bugger.
The cabin returns to a familiar configuration, where every surface is now covered with a seperate piece of soggy paper trying to dry.

That’s one good thing about sailing in the tropics, things dry quickly. It turns out I hadn’t closed the portlight in the middle of the night properly, it must have rained harder than I realised. I wash then hang the computer up to dry on the fan and later it comes back to life just long enough to deliver a web page, then it dies again. Fortunately they only cost £30-40 so it’s not the end of the world.

Later I speak with my son Isaac who, with his partner Holly, has just taken the keys for their first property. An apartment in London. Hats off to them for getting on the housing ladder so early, both of them are not long out of university. It’s crazy how inflation and london prices work, but their 2 bed flat has cost more than the four flats and one house I have owned in my lifetime, combined!

Congrats on becoming a homeowner to Holly & Isaac, time to start saving for some furniture

Thursday
I sit up in the cockpit with toast and coffee for my morning call to Kathy when an old friend comes to join me for toast.

I can’t be sure it’s Maria, but she has very similar markings and struts up to me in a quite bold manner as if to say, ‘come on then, get some food out for me’. As I get up, rather than being startled, she hops back onto the guardrail and waits for me to return with some crumbs which she then eats. Later she is in the cabin checking out the breadboard. She seems to know where everything is so I’m guessing it’s her. I must add some nuts too the shopping list.

In the evening I meet up with Arturo and we get some lovely fish tacos just off the Malecon. While I’m there, Claudia, a Pacena (a person from La Paz) friend calls me to say they are doing second jabs of the Sinovac Vaccine on Friday. This is great news.

Friday
Up early and off to the university on the edge of town for my jab. It takes about 40 minutes on the bike, but it’s all good exercise. Unlike Mazatlan, I don’t have a nice English speaking lady to jump out and guide me to the needles, instead there are two long lines snaking around the campus. I use my best spanish and find one if for Pfizer and the other for Sinovac. After 30 minutes in the heat the queue moves forward, but only to reach a lady telling everyone ‘No hay vacuna’, or there isn’t any vaccine. A man in the queue who had confirmed to me I was in the right queue is looking unperturbed, so I assume I should wait. I soon realise that I’m in the Sinovac and other vaccines second dose queue, except they have no other vaccines on offer, other than Sinovac.

There is a sign on the door saying Asta Zenica, presumably from another day, and a man in the queue is getting very agitated with the lady as he has been here for ages waiting for his AZ shot, and he keeps pointing to the sign, even though the women has told him many times there is no AZ vaccine.

I find an official and ask in my best Spanish if I am in the right queue for Sinovac and she points to a different queue several miles long reaching to the Guatemalan border I think, damm. I wander over and find they all think they are in the Pfizer queue, going back to my spot, my space in the queue has gone, and they give me evils, so I wander back to try and find the right place. I strike gold and an official gives me a card with the number 32 on it and sends me into a tent to wait.

After that it’s only 30 minutes till I go inside for paperwork and onto the Jab stations. I’m trying to keep my expectations down, as I have read how they give out the jabs until they run out , then send everyone home. There’s not a booking system like in the UK. I’m thinking about the last flight out of Saigon, the tension, so close…
Three hours in total and I’m back on my bike heading home all jabbed up.
Sadly the Sinovac doesn’t seem to be performing well against the delta variant, and in Asia many people have arrived at hospital with the delta variant after two jabs of Sinovac. Hopefully it will at least take the edge off the disease should I succumb. I’m a little concerned as the UK is probably a bad place to be visiting in 3 weeks time, infections should be at record levels given the relaxation of lockdowns, the football events and the lack of vaccination for young people and schoolkids who I think are going to be spreading the delta variant far and wide. They may not need to worry themselves, but it’s any older unvaccinated people who may be at risk.

Street buskers at a main. highway intersection. Entertaining the drivers waiting for a green light

Back on the boat and up go the covers/canopies, it’s hot work. hopefully tomorrow I can have the lie in I have been looking forward too all week.

Finally I must say a big thank you to the people of Mexico for getting me two jabs of the vaccine. I have always believed that you can tell a lot about a country and its people by how they treat visitors. For a country that’s not very rich, and is struggling to get enough vaccines, it is humbling that they are keen to help foreigners as much as possible. Thank you Mexico.

Out of curiosity, I checked to see how a Mexican, illegally in Britain would be treated, expecting Priti Patel to have a special deportation truck just for this event ready and waiting, but was very pleasantly surprised to find that anyone, legal or not is entitled to free testing/treatment and vaccination. So well done Britain as well.

On Saturday night I met up with Arturo to go for some tacos, we met in the square next to the Art Gallery which I had read had reopened. This is confusing as at the current Covid level I expected it to remain closed, The have a new exhibition starting on Monday, but you have to prebook to visit. We wandered over and found we could walk around now and enjoy the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibition for free. The gallery is new and is the first public art gallery in the state of Baja California Sur. I very much enjoyed the exhibits.

I have some nuts for Maria now, but she doesnt seem to be as lively, or as interested as last time.


Paul Collister.

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