Birds in the Estuary and On Board

I found another good place for spotting birds in the estuary this week, and got some good images.  I also took a couple of shots of the regular bird visitors on the boat.  Seeing them is enjoyable; cleaning up after them not so much.  As usual, there were nice sunrises and sunsets, too.
I continued work on refinishing the floor in the main cabin and it's almost done.  My friends Curt and Mary went back to the states for a visit and I miss them already.  But Carnival is coming and that should be fun!

Tricolor heron takes off

Tricolor heron in flight

American oyster-catcher catching a Mexican oyster

American oyster-catcher

American oyster-catcher

Long-billed curlew

Curlew foraging at low tide

Yellow-crowned heron

Black-crowned heron

Little blue heron

Little blue heron

Nearest the water, a snowy egret; above 

a cormorant

Above the cormorant, a black-crowned heron

Green night heron.  First one I've seen in Mazatlán.

They were common in Nuevo Vallarta, even in

the marina.  They seem to prefer to stay hidden 

in the mangroves in Mazatlán.

Green night heron

This dove visits my boat almost every day and does his

courtship song and dance.  Only once did I see a female

succumb to his charms.

As I've seen other places, the white-collared

seed-eaters seem to like roosting on the boat's

lifelines.

Another nice sunset...

...behind Circadian

Big sky in the early morning at the Marina Mazatlan

Looking back toward the marina from another part of

the harbor.

Sanding the floor in the cabin.

After six coats of polyurethane.  Almost done.

Sanding the final section.

First couple of coats on.

January 24, 2019

The big accomplishment this week was setting up a little online store to make available calendars, notecards and posters to folks who like my photos.  Check it out at George Phillips Photography .  If you like what you see, please let your friends know about it.  Comments and requests for other items are welcome!
I also got the verdict on my outboard this week.  It is well and truly dead, so I sold it to a local for $25.  He'll find a way to make it work and everyone will be happy.  After a bit of research, I confirmed that Mexican and American versions of Yamaha outboards are indeed different due to different emissions standards.  I finally decided to get one here in Mexico because it's simpler and because I think it will be easier to get Mexican parts from SoCal than US parts deep in Mexico.
Of course there were also a few minor boat projects which you can see in the photos....

This is a screen grab of my online store.

I will be adding items, so bookmark it

and check back periodically:

George Phillips Photography

This sunset and the two below were taken since my last

post and have been incorporated into calendars and

note cards now available for purchase online

Seagulls on the beach behind Diego's

Curt playing at Diego's Wednesday and wearing a shirt 

plugging the band he played with in Ventura.

After Diego's, a group of us went to Fat Fish, which is,

ironically, known for its ribs.  They come straight off

the BBQ in the corner and onto your plate....

This big rack was $6 and DELICIOUS!  I can't believe

I ate the whole thing!

With the outboard off the dinghy, I had no excuse not to

finally finish the patch on the transom where the motor

clamps on.

Sanded smooth

Painted and waiting for a new outboard.

This is how I improvised a long-handled scrub brush so

I could wash the mainsail.

It worked fine, but it was a 3-day chore.

It looks better, but up close you can still see

the black mold stains.

In the process of cleaning the sail I found

a broken slide that needed to be replaced.

I learned how to do it two years ago when five of them

broke during the rough first leg of the Baja Ha Ha.

Fortunately, I had a stainless steel replacement on board.

This one won't break!

Routine?

Could life in Paradise be devolving into a routine?  It felt a bit like it this week.  I did some more bird photography, which is now pretty much dialed in.  The only glitch was the dinghy outboard wouldn't start, so I couldn't go way back up the estuary as I had planned.  The problem turned out to be just a fouled sparkplug, so I decided to put together a little kit to clean or replace a bad plug that would be carried in the dinghy.  Don't want to get stranded a couple of miles from nowhere.  There was also the usual beach walks, the sunsets, thunderstorms and, of course, the boat work and associated errands.  Paradise ain't fer sissies, so next week I'll fly up to Vancouver to meet Carol for a bit of a break.  I'm told I'll need these things they call "jackets" and "long pants."  I think I remember what they are, but not sure how to wear them any more....Any suggestions?

Beach sunset

Charter fishing boats at dawn, getting ready to go out

for a major tournament.

Nearly full moon peeking through the clouds just

before sunrise.

Local fisherman casting the net right behind my boat.

 Slow motion casting of the net

Snowy egret

Yellow crowned night heron chick in the nest.

First time I've seen a butterfly on my dock lines.

I did a lot of bus riding this week.  On this trip, I noticed

I happened to be sitting just where I was reflected in a

mirror.  So of course I did a selfie.

This little boy appeared to be on his own, but was

fine with it other than the boredom.

A mother and child were seated behind me on

the way back.  The child got fidgety and

flopped a hand between the seats that eventually

migrated onto my shoulder.  Rather than shy

away from touching a stranger, the child seemed

to like it, and the hand remained until they 

arrived at their stop.

This is the ATM bus terminal in old town Puerto Vallarta,

and the last stop on the bus from Nuevo Vallarta.

It's about half a mile from here to the beginning of the

malecon, and another mile to the romantic zone.  

If you don't want to walk it, you catch a local 

"chicken bus" a couple of blocks away.

Close-up of the bead work on a large parrot sculpture in

the Huichol art gallery on the malecon.

Wall mural at a local basketball court

The Rio Cuale is pretty muddy now with

the almost daily rain in the mountains.

How many black birds do you see where

the water meets the rocks?

The muddy river water fanning out into the blue waters

of Banderas Bay.

The cap rail on the transom got sanded and two new

coats of Cetol Gloss.

Working on the port side cap rail.  Sanded, masked and

one coat of Cetol Gloss so far.

The kit for cleaning or replacing the sparkplug

for the dinghy outboard.