I am not sure why, but I really like going to Laundromats. I think it may be because it is a way to step out of life on the road and sit in one place and read, write or meet new people. So I always volunteer to do the laundry, a chore others don’t seem to enjoy, and here I am in the marina in Puerto Escondido doing that.
I left the boat I was on in Puerto Escondido. The boat was great and the sailing and exploring was fun, but the skipper was not a lot of fun to be with. I won’t go into all of the details here, but we had agreed before we left that either of us could say that it was not working at any time, and I invoked the escape clause when we got to Puerto Escondito. I was never unsafe, but I learned some things I should look for and test for in the next crewing situation. (Aside from good marine head maintenance).
Puerto Escondido is just 15 miles from Loreto, so I took a cab to my house and then went right to the store of some friends for a welcome hug. Then I checked the crew lists on Latitude 38 and read about a guy who was driving to Loreto and needed crew from there. I sent him an email on Saturday, got an answer back on Sunday inviting me to meet on Monday back in Puerto Escondido. I met him, toured the boat, talked about expectations, and liked all three immediately.
Then I had a few things to wrap up vis-a-vis the sale of my house, which is now complete - and I have now moved aboard Minggat, 5 days after arriving here! Don and I are really having a LOT of fun - we banter back and forth and it feels really comfortable...a lot like being back east with my Dad and siblings!
He has an Islander 36, a good solid boat, and he is an engineer, so he has a bunch of 'gadgets' on it – I am really enjoying poking around and seeing some of the things he has done. As I usually have to do when I board a guy's boat for any time, I am cleaning the galley and the head as a first priority. He is VERY appreciative of that and my cooking and since the boat is the ONLY place I like to cook, it is a win-win. He is very happily married but his wife is Indonesian and has visa issues so she is in Indonesia now. Yesterday we had lunch with a couple that he met in the yard with which we will be buddy boating back to La Paz. They too are a LOT of fun, so I can foresee some fun potlucks and more banter. It is going to be a great trip and one that will erase the less comfortable aspects of my last crewing experience.
As they say, cruising is about working on your boat in exotic locations. Don is just putting the boat back in the water after 2 years on the hard so we are working out a lot of kinks – one outboard turned out to have a non-engaging prop and the other took some warming up, but bit by bit we are preparing for a Friday departure.
