Pierless Adventures - April 12 - Tony Arrives

Tony arrived this afternoon!  Scott, Dave and I went out to meet him in his taxi and to make sure they knew where to stop.  It didn't quite work out that way.  We saw the cab, we saw Tony, Tony saw us, but the cab just kept going!  Eventually they stopped, backed up and Tony arrived.

 We got him settled into the v-berth, visited, gave him a tour of the boat and relaxed a bit.  Hearing we were having difficulties with our outboard motor, he jumped in the dinghy and went to work.  

Our morning was busy as well.  Dave and I worked on the reefing gear, making a small but important change in how the ropes run.  I washed the port side of the deck and checked some of the rigging.  While I was washing, Dave and Scott took a trip to the store for some items we needed.

They picked up a new stool to use when boarding the boat from the pier.  We borrowed one from an unused slip when we arrived.  Someone then borrowed it from us.  I think the stool is just making the rounds in the marina, trying to meet as many boats as possible.

Unfortunately, the new stool was made of soft black plastic.  It started out a little shaky.  As the day wore on and the sun baked the back plastic, it would just collapse when stepped on.  So, back to the inverted plastic crate with a board on top...

Dave took us all out for dinner to one of the restaurants along the promenade.  It had a nice view of the marina and the food was great.  Then back to the boat.  Toni was feeling productive, so we dove into the final part of the head repair.  After some sawing and fitting, we have all the head hoses connected and will test the system tomorrow.   If all goes well, we will have a U.S. Coast Guard ready marine toilet system.  Something everyone should have...

From Scott:

Dave and I had to make a Soriana run today and we got out at a main roundabout 2 blocks away.  No sooner had we crossed to the other side than we heard sirens.  What followed can only happen in Mexico-a procession of at least 50 vehicles showed up, all with sirens blaring and lights flashing.  Police cars, federales, fire trucks, ambulances, Mexican Marines, all armed with pistols and machine guns and some manning mounted .50 caliber machine guns all entered the roundabout for a slow, noisy turn and then went back the way they had come accompanied by lights and sirens and a stunned public.  It was some kind of parade or show of force or something but it was bizarre.

On the way back I saw something sweet, though.  A family got on the bus and since they were an odd number, one child sat alone.  An old abuela, a grandmother, got up from her seat in the rear of the bus without a word and sat next to the child. I understood intuitively that she was protecting the lone child and it seemed to me it must be a common and accepted practice here.  How different it would be in the states if someone moved up to sit next to a child, you'd be lucky not to get pepper sprayed.  Mexico hasn't gotten there yet, to its credit.