Adiós Puerto Escondido! Hola…¿Dónde?

For ten very fun years out of my life I worked for a sailmaking, sail repair and technical sewing company. It was a real honest-to-goodness sail loft in that we were located upstairs in a huge room with windows all around. It was a great work environment, amazing experience for me, open and sunny, a staff of fun, multicultural and extremely talented people, and lots of REALLY COOL equipment and machinery. Our sail customers were typically very interesting people and for most of my 10 years there I was one of the primary contacts for our sailing customers. I got to know some of them quite well. We were all sad when the business moved to another area, boo hoo! But imagine my surprise this week when I realized that Cinnabar was moored smack dab between two of the Spinnaker Shop’s old customers! On one side we had Shindig, owned by one of the first sail repair customers I met, and on the other side was AirOps, whose owner dinghied over and reminded me that he was one of our customers. What a coincidence!

We had a lovely happy hour aboard the beautiful AirOps and I actually recognized a piece of canvas that I had helped measure some years ago. We spent a fun evening with Merry, Dave and their two adorable miniature schnauzers Mocha and Kiki.

Syl, Merry, Dave and Mocha. Happy Hour courtesy of AirOps.

We were impressed to learn that Dave assembled his Glacier Bay Refrigeration system himself (72 sweat joints!) and that he built his own watermaker. What a guy!

Dave and his watermaker.

The next night we had Shindig over to Cinnabar for dinner. (We wanted AirOps to come, too, but they were entertaining others that night.) Nancy arrived looking like a million bucks. She and Rob came with garlic prawns to grill, a bottle of wine AND a fresh strawberry rhubarb pie from Ettie’s Pie Shop in Loreto. No wonder they get invited to so many parties!

Tom, Nancy and Rob mackin' on the pie.

The pie was amazing and the crust would have been approved by my sister who makes THE BEST pie crust in the world.

It turns out that Rob and Nancy are neighbors of our back home, but we had to come all the way to Mexico to find that out.

Shindig left Puerto Escondido the next day and they were barely out of the marina before they were on the radio planning another get-together with some friends in another anchorage. I think those party animals aboard Shindig chose the right name for their boat.

Tom and I (although it mostly looks like Tom, doesn't it?) have spent the past week doing various boat repairs...

Replacing the genset impeller.

Sniffing for a refrigerant leak.

Cleaning Cinnabar's bottom.

...cleaning, provisioning, making water, still coping with our troublesome refrigeration, and getting things in order for our next couple of weeks at various anchorages as we head toward La Paz, where Cinnabar will rest for the summer.

I doubt if we’ll have Wi-Fi after we leave Puerto Escondido but we’ll try to post an update or two via Single Side Band radio.

A final note, Merry from AirOps told us the dinghy chaps (pontoon covers) that they had made down here lasted about six months and then had to be restitched due to inferior thread. However, I noticed that the Spinnaker Shop covers they have (stitched with Goretex/Tenara) are still going strong. Go Spin Shop!!

So it's Goodbye Puerto Escondido! Last few pics are HERE.

Hello...Where to next?

Well, we're not exactly sure, so stay posted.