Sailing Encore

We had dinner last night – cheese raviolis and sauce with Kirkland Chianti we got at Costco in Ensenada. Did the dishes with the last of California water in our tanks (remember the tank draining episode when we were aground at the marina). Tired, we climbed into bed at 815pm and slept peacefully to a slight rocking in the anchorage.

This morning we have coffee and I type some blog notes.  Vernon starts up the water maker (a fancy filtration system that is hard to run but takes the salt water and turns it into great water for cooking, washing, bathing and drinking). We run it for about 90 minutes. It makes about a gallon every 3.5 minutes so we create enough for the rest of the journey south. And then we launch the dinghy with small motor and go ashore. The guide book promises a small town with multiple groceries, restaurants, and an internet café where I hope to log on and post our trip down.

But after walking and talking with some locals we find one restaurant open for lunch and their wifi does not work. We enter the quaint room with multiple tables and walls of local photos. The owner is watching tv but she says she will fix us what we want off the menu. We sit at a table and hear a low meow. Her cat climbs out from under the tablecloth and curls around my legs. The menu really does not have a whole lot of options so fried fish it is. Vernon and I have cold tasty Pacifico and make fried fish tacos with the tortillas she brings with our food. This is really the first test of our ability to eat ‘local’. I call my mom and dad and chat. They say that Mac is doing well. Mac is my dog. A 12 year old rescued border collie that has lots of neuroses. He hates tile floors and panics to walk down a hallway. He nervously backs out of the room only to bump into something, which verifies that he should have been scared to begin with. But I love him and have loved taking long walks with him since we got him as an 18 month old in Florida. He does loves picnic dinghy rides around Alamitos Bay, one of Vernon and my most fun things to do. But I think it is because he is close to the food. But he is so nervous on Encore. Hates stairs and if he tries to jump the freeboard he misses and hits his hips hard. The gangway is another challenge, you have to force him onboard and then he can’t wait to get off. Consequently he was left behind from this adventure to stay with my daughter and sometimes with my parents, who love him as much as I do.

After lunch we head back to the boat. Vernon gets out the generator and fires it up for the first time. We can actually run the generator and charge the batteries on the boat. As can our solar panel. If we start fishing and I get a yeast dough going for fresh bread along with the water maker, our sail boat will be a great place to escape the zombie attack when it comes.

We put the dinghy back on deck, stow the motor, tidy up and call it a day. We read the guide boat for any interesting things we can do south of here. Vernon plans course that hopefully has good wind for sailing. We will pull up anchor about 7 or so in the morning and head south for another long day and night at sea. Gotta go prep the snack bag.