It has been 8 months since we left home. I chose to return three weeks earlier than had been planned. There wasn’t anything to do in Puerto Escondido while we waited for the exhaust. I felt a little guilty leaving Sam down in Mexico by himself to sit and wait. But that uninterrupted time I had with our kids I wouldn’t trade for the world. He will have the chance one day to experience that I am sure. McKenzie picked me up from the airport and giggled at my reaction to freeway speed. Knowing her past track record I swore she was speeding. But as she giggled I continued to check the speedometer. She was not speeding. But the world flashed passed faster than my mind could keep up leaving me jumpy and grabbing for any non moving parts of the car. For the past eight months we have been traveling at a top speed of 5 knots and hour and walking anytime we were on land. Crazy how quickly we become accustom to our natural speed of movement and any mechanical means can be over whelming.
With out any incidents we arrived to our home where we staid up until the wee hours of the morning talking. Catching up from the last eight months. We talked of all their accomplishments and failures their feelings and dreams. A magical moment to be lost in conversation with no interruptions. We wished Sam was there but decided to enjoy the time we had. He arrived 3 weeks later and that was a joyous reunion.
Summer was beginning by the time Sam arrived meaning the wildflowers had bloomed in the mountains. So of course we spent as much time up there as we could. The kids joined us when they could. In between their work schedules we took time as a family and as one on one time. It was wonderful. In between spending time with the kids we couch surfed with friends and visited with everyone we could. We were shuffling around so much that the last few weeks we felt in the way and welcomed the date of returning to our floating home.
We arrived to find Hiraya still floating on her mooring ball. The birds had taken up residency on the solar panels where it appears they had a feast of clams and muscles and fish. Between the layers of bird guano (poo) and a thin layer of silty dust it took several hours of scrubbing to clean her up. We set to work scrubbing and returning everything to it’s cruising spot. While I was gone Sam had made friends with Kirby on Lodos who was anxiously waiting for us to buddy boat up North. That is exciting to have a friend along the way.
It was getting hot in the marina so after we ran into Loreto to get provisions we decided to follow Kirby out of the marina and around the corner to Juncalito where we could catch the north breeze. There we can finish putting Hiraya back together. Leaving the marina she made a weird noise as we were motoring out. She gave an interesting lurch forward but then seemed fine. She motored along but we could really feel the dirty bottom. Maybe that is what is making her lag behind a bit. In Juncalito we got her ready to go. Sam jumped in and did a quick bottom clean and paid special attention to the prop. It was really dirty. Lots of growth happened when the temps increased so much. Dinner with Kirby to make plans for the next day and we were set for the trip north.
We will leave early in the morning with a 35 to 40 mile trip to Ramada Cove where we will find good protection from the Southerly Winds for the next couple of days. We motored out leaving Kirby behind. He travels so much faster than us that he can sleep in and have lazy mornings and still beat us to any anchorage. We motor for a bit but the winds do fill in and we have a nice sail for most of the day. Sometime in the afternoon Kirby passes us. As the winds die we start up the motor and finish our trip. The motor works well and we take the incident coming out of the marina as nothing but a fluke. We approach Ramada cove with the waves hitting us broad side giving us the unsettled movement of roiling back and forth side to side. As we pass the entrance the bay opens up and we see Lodos anchored and one motor boat. Plenty of room all around. We decide to go in between them to be closer to Kirby. As approach our spot I try and put the boat into neutral and the shift cable brakes. I no longer have shifting control. We are still moving forward. I tell Sam and begin to make a u turn back out. Nice and slow while he runs down to manually shift the motor. We attempt it again. Only the manual shifter is backwards on the motor than the motion you are wanting to go. So when he moved it into reverse we were actually going forward. Attempt number three got us to where we wanted to be and we set the anchor. Frustrated that another thing broke we laugh it off to the fact it is extremely minor considering everything else that can go wrong.
Ramada cove is tucked in and well protected from west, south, and east. A horseshoe shaped bay with white sand beach makes for a lovely spot to spend a few days. The sea floor is white sand as well making for beautifully clear water. Great for swimming and paddle boarding. We have coffee with Kirby every morning and take a hike into the near by farm down a dusty road. Dolphin swim into the bay and we see a turtle. It is a great way to start our trip North. Our next stop will be into the Bay of Conception. Again we will need to leave early and Kirby will pass us at some point. We will be lucky to make it by sunset.