Boat commisioning

We are still in Mazatlan and have been joined by our granddaughter Mysti. She will be spending a month or two with us on the boat.

We are finishing up getting the boat ready to go. We had to put everything back together that we took down last year and do some cleaning. We also needed to make room for our new crew. We are getting some brightwork done by Rueben and that should be finished soon. Since we are off schedule we are getting the boat out of storage mode while most boats are getting ready to be stored for the summer. The good news of it is that we are getting lots of gifts of food that they need to get off the boat before they leave!

 

We drove down so we have a truck here now. Driving in Mexico and especially in the old part of town is a challenge. First off the speed is all in kilometers so that takes getting used to. In addition gringos are the only ones held to keeping the speed limit; last year many cruisers got tickets even though traveling at the speed of other traffic. Speed limits and stop signs are treated as suggestions not rules for the most part. Street signs are few and far between as are painted lanes. There is one main street that varies in width from about 2 lanes to 4 wide, however there are no painted lanes and traffic just kind of goes wherever. I usually try and follow behind someone and hope they are in a lane. There are many busses and they are the top of the food chain. They make sudden stops (in traffic) sudden lane changes (to get around other stopped busses), and often speed as well. You need to keep an eye on them and stay out of there way! Our truck is big (a dually) so the narrow streets of downtown are frightening. We barely squeezed through a few spots with inches to spare. The narrow streets don’t slow down the buses and trucks though. I try and stick to wider streets. I am glad I got a little driving experience in last year, using a smaller truck. That was a cruiser vehicle that once belonged to Nakia who sold it to Hooligan, who now sold it to V’ger. The car keeps getting passed around to new cruisers as the previous owner leaves Mexico for other countries.

 

We hope to leave the marina this weekend, weather permitting.