Paradise Village: Maintenance and a Little Nature

This week I was focused on working my way through some of the more urgent items on the off-season maintenance list, although I did manage one bird photography paddle in the jungle canals.  This week's chores included topping up the batteries with distilled water, washing and re-marking the anchor and anchor chain, clearing things off the deck so that the boat could be washed and the stainless polished, stripping off some of the canvas for repair, installing the air conditioner, removing a faulty circuit breaker and sourcing a replacement, fixing and flushing the outboard and refinishing the wood on the forward cabin so that the awning could be pitched once the other things were done.  Cruising:  working on your boat in exotic places.
Most other cruisers are gone for the season and tourist season is over, so things are pretty quiet around here.  Curt and Mary arrived in La Cruz a couple of days ago and we met for lunch today.  Good to see them again!  They will be in the area for another week or two and then move on up to Mazatlán for the summer where the slip rates are much less.

A Bit of Nature

Kiskadee flycatcher gathering nest material.

Yellow-crowned night herons in the nest.  They sometimes

use the same nest for multiple seasons.

A walk on the beach one evening

Snowy egret looking for supper in the surf

This tern was clearly in a bad way.

Sadly, I had no way to rescue it.

Sea turtle tracks leading up to a nest in the

sand right in front of a sales booth on the

hotel's beach.

This is a spined green stink beetle found in the Caribbean,

coastal Florida, the east coast of Mexico and a small part

of the west coast of Mexico, right where I am.  I found this

one on the floor of the men's room at the Marina.

A Bit of Boat Work

Rinsing off the mud and salt water from

the anchor and chain.

Re-painting the rode length marks.

Using the old aluminum foil trick to mask the anchor

prior to repainting.

The paint makes it easier to spot in the water, and might

even help prevent dock-walkers from bonking into it.

I got lucky with the outboard fix:  replacing the sparkplug

cured the starting problems.

Flushing out the salt residue from the cooling passages 

while burning the remaining fuel out of the carburetor.

Salt buildup is the most common reason for

cooling system failures in outboards, so

flushing saves a lot of headaches.

Removing the failing circuit breaker for the autopilot

and depth sounder.

Marinetics has long been out of business.  Under this 

label I found markings identifying it as an old AMF

breaker.  Finally found a source online for these 

obsolete breakers.  Expensive, but I got three anyway.

Because I could not put up the awnings yet,

there was no breeze where my slip was, and

it was getting hotter, I installed the air

conditioner.

I'd done a good job of storing all

the needed pieces, so reinstalling it was easy.

Circadian with everything off the decks in preparation

for a wash and polishing of all the stainless steel.

Looks very different with all the canvas and accessories

gone!

Washing included the hull as well as the cabin and deck.

This is how they wash the side of the hull away from

the dock.

Israel polishing the stainless.  Yes, he's using a toothbrush!

Every piece of stainless from the bow roller to the stern

dinghy davits was done.

Israel and his helper worked 5-6 hours each day

for three days to get it all done.

Even the shackles on snatch blocks were done!

As soon as the polishing was done, I started

prepping the woodwork on the cabin top for

refinishing so I could get the awning up.

Masked.

A coat of Primo Teak Sealer applied.

Tape removed.

Newly polished stainless and refinished wood

at the base of the mast

With the stainless and the woodwork done, I was finally

able to put up the awning.  I continued to work on the

pitch, and I think I've now got it about as good as it

can be done.  Pretty nice.

A flower as a reward to those who made it through the

geeky stuff.