Weather Window Wait

The brightwork (woodwork) is finally done and it looks beautiful and lusterous just as we had hoped it would.  The beginning of this new year has been - well, I'm at a loss for what word to use. 

It was beginning to get frustrating not being able to leave for points south even though I really like Ensenada.  We were on a week-by-week basis as far as the work because of the rain.  So it was kind of hard to get really ensconced in the group of people who are living here on boats like we are.  Some are here permanently, some are seasonal, and some are transient like we are.  And although I am very outgoing and friendly, Mike is not, and neither of us are much for small talk.  We have made some really good friends here, and the community is so small we will all keep running into each other.  But it was hard to bond with people just to leave them at a moment's notice.  I know that sounds possibly ridiculous, but it is how I feel.   However, I will from now on be living at the whim of the weather.  This means I don't always get to choose when, where, or how I get somewhere.  Getting stuck in a nice vibrant city like Ensenada is easy.  But there will be times when we are stuck all alone ina tiny anchorage waint out a storm for four days, with no internet access.  This is my life now.  New challenges.  But it can be hard to make that sort of adjustment.  It feels like a real fundamental shift somehow in how I look at life itself.

We finally went back in the water on Wednesday.  This happened after Mike discovered a leak in the fuel tank, which could really spell disaster for us because it is horrendously expensive to replace and we don't have that kind of money.  He immediately went to work to try and stop it, and after awhile it seemed to have stopped.  We were really happy and went out and drank too much beer and had a wonderful dinner and went to bed excited to "splash" on Wednesday.

Mike opened the door to the engine room right away to see how the fix was holding while I drowsed in bed under the nice warm blankets.  That did not last.  Mike hollered out "Fuck!" which well he should have because not only did the fix not hold, the leak was worse.  It was small, but sort of shooting out.  Mike hollered that it was "pissing on me."  So for four hours Mike worked on that leak while I handed him tools and prayed.  One of those "No atheists in a foxhole" type things.  As I write this, it again seems to be holding.  The leak kept getting smaller and smaller, going from a stream to a dribble to a drip to an almost imperceptible weep.  Mike is optimistic it can be fixed altogether.  Still, it was VERY stressful.

Then we "splashed" - that is, went back in the water.  There is this big lifter that lifts and carries the boat with big bands around the hull.  We had to be in the boat when they did it, and it was terrifying up there hanging from those bands.  And because the shipyard opens out onto a malecon (boardwalk type place) there was an audience, so I had to act nonchalant.  But we got back in the water and all is well on that front. 

Now if all goes well and the weather cooperates, we will leave here on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Here's hoping!