Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Nomatia "on the hard" in Guaymas, Mexico

We finally have Nomatia in dry dock for the summer. There is a lot of prep work we are doing so she'll survive the punishing heat of the summers here.
The van, we traded work for, is great. It started on the first try after sitting in storage for over 8 months. It's a 1982 van but everything works great and we have no question it will make it to Washington without any issues.
Getting the van legal (getting the title and registration) is another matter. We have been working on this for 10 days now and we're still not sure how we can do this. It looks like it's going to take another week or three to do this. So, in the mean time, we are living in the van sitting next to the boat. We could stay in the boat, which would be a little more comfortable, but the dogs can't make it up and down ladder. 
You may think living in a van here is uncomfortable, but you really don't know the half of it. 
It's about 100 degrees with 85% humidity, day AND night. When the wind blows it feels better, but there is a goat farm about 100 yards away and it smells like rotting flesh. 
There are fire ants everywhere that leave a nasty burning bite. The Mosquitos come in huge swarms at night with their buddies the No-see-m's. Many of the boats around us are getting sanded, which puts up clouds of nasty bottom paint. 
The only bathrooms are about a block away and the "showers" are really just gravity fed hoses. No water pressure. The water is not drinkable so we need to go about a mile down the road to get 5 gallons at a time.
The poor dogs are miserable. We are trying everything we can to make their lives a little more comfortable, but there is only so much we can do for them. 
These living conditions are not fit for man or beast (or woman).
I am very close to just putting the boat back in the water and sailing south or north. This may not be worth the effort. 


Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Protests by Nomatia

When we came into Guaymas the protests began with the steering. We guess she knew the end goal was her on the dry dock. We were heading towards an island of solid rock and the jib back winded and the steering failed. We took the wheel off and attached the tiller. Which also was not cooperating with us. Jarvis (the auto pilot) was not in on Nomatias plan to sabotage, and steered us into the marina. However, Jarvis does not do tight corners. We came into the slip at a 45 degree angle too hot because the outboard ( who was part of Nomatias plan to stay in the water) decided reverse was not an option today. Two of the marina workers helped fend us off and got her secured in her slip. She was well behaved until today when we tried to remove the jib. She won't budge. Jammed at the top. What does that mean? A trip up the mast later today.

 Leaving Nomatia is not going to be easy anyway. This has been " home" for the past 4 years. We are very excited to see our families and friends, but we also understand the protests Nomatia is making. A boat is not just a home, she is also part of the family. She has a heart and soul, though they differ from ours, and right now we think she is afraid we are leaving her forever. Don't worry Nomatia. We could never truly abandon you.