I kissed Ali and the kids goodbye and walked into the airport at eight o’clock in the morning. I finally reached the boat at six the next morning. Nobody said flying to Tucson and hopping a bus to Mexico was an efficient choice. But it did turn out to be a good choice for hauling boat gear over the border.
I had five boxes, one piece of luggage, one surfboard, and two shoulder bags to get back to the boat. All of which had been sent to a Bum friend’s house in Tucson. Bruce picked me up from the airport and we spent a few hours out at his house enjoying a good dinner and amazing views over the city and straight out to the mountains beyond.
He dropped me off at the Tufesa station around ten, and by midnight I was crossing the border. “Who has all the boxes?” asked the customs agent walking down the aisle.
Crap.
But no, not crap, because I had my magic piece of paper from the Banjercito office in Guaymas. The blank, signed copy, that the big round lady with the inappropriate cleavage had given to me, and that I had had the foresight to actually fill out before climbing on the bus. She took one quick look at that and I was good to go.
The bus was about to pull away when it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t get a tourist visa. Oh crap again. I ran up front and told the bus driver. He was hesitant, but eventually led me off the bus and over to the immigration office where the officer spent about fifteen seconds scribbling out a visa for me.
Okay, now we can go.
A taxi delivered me and my goods to the marina just after the sun came up. I found Bumfuzzle right where I left her with nothing but a dirty cockpit to indicate we hadn’t been there for a month. I opened the door and no bugs or critters scurried across the floor—always a good sign. Best of all the bilge pump wasn’t running. But since it wasn’t running I pulled open the engine compartment just to be sure it hadn’t simply failed. It hadn’t.
I spent the morning working on the engine. Basically repairing all the stuff that I discovered (i.e. broke) right before leaving last month. I finished up the fuel pump and repaired the basket for the raw water filter. Online they wanted like eighty dollars for one of those things—instead I mixed up some epoxy, pushed the broken pieces together, poured the epoxy in the bottom, twirled it around so it would get in all the mesh, and it was fixed for free. I also began the process of draining and flushing out all of the coolant so I can use some Bar’s Head Gasket Repair. I think the head gasket may be the culprit in the case of the missing coolant lately. I’m not certain, but figure this is worth a shot.
Then I worked on getting the wind instrument working again. I grabbed the new unit, ran through the setup procedure, and lo and behold we are back in business—after just eight months. Now I can head out and look for a gale.
14 Comments on “Alone in Mexico”
Congrats on the Cruise RO!! (assuming I read that box correctly)
You did. We should be pumping out 45 gallons of fresh water an hour soon. We’re going to have to install a deck wash at the front of the boat to fill children’s swimming pools.
Sometimes things just work out! Glad u r back at the boat and ball is rolling for some more cruise time. Looking forward to the next post!
It is amazing the amount of work one can accomplish when sans~progeny =)
Sorry to have missed you in PDX Pat. Next time. I, as well, cannot wait for your next post.
NIce to see a board in that pile! What kind did you end up getting?
I ended up with a 6’9″ Liquid Shredder softboard. The kids should be able to surf this thing first try. 🙂 We’ll be looking for white water in Mazatlan soon.
Sounds like it all went very well. Hope you have solved all your current problems.
Well… I don’t know about that.
If you come back to La Cruz I’ll show you some surf spots. Good fun!
i’ve seen a few pics in my life, but that tucson pic … OMG!
Thank you again for posting often and with the great pictures, pictures fill in the story for those of us that haven’t lived it. I would have spent the 80 bucks for a new and problem free screen, just the extra sleep at night not worrying about it would have made it worth the money.JMHO
All Right! A paper weight no more!
Glad to hear that sweltering trek through Guaymas to get the Banjercito paperwork was worth it! Good to know it actually works if I never need to bring anything across the border. Unfortunately I got no good answers for the trailer predicament and in the end just barely managed to talk my way through customs without it being on the boat TIP.
Skip the Barr’s if it’s not too late. It definitely won’t work and it can clog other things in your block. As much I wish it were true, there is no miracle in a bottle. I know this from bad experiences with both Barr’s and mezcal.