Isla Mujeres: Day 6 - New slip

We got up early this morning an embarked on our second glorious sailing passage to a new slip a few hundred feet away. Some mega-yacht was coming in, so we had to move. Jan was on the dock and threw me the bow line at first, but no one was there to grab the stern line. So she threw that to me and I made an epic catch just as the coil came to an end at the last bit of rope (think Indiana Jones style whipping sound). I was then rocking both the bow and stern line like some sort of cowboy. I was the only one who noticed this awesomeness...

We are now surrounded by fishing boats.

The dock is lined with fisherman at the end of the day, drinking beer while cutting and cleaning their catch for buyers.

We got some more work done on the boat today. The rain kept us from doing some of our projects, but we still got a decent amount done. I had to swim under the boat to declog the A/C seacock. That was fun in the gross marina water. I kept looking around thinking there was a barricuda under me.

We went for another little walk in the rain afterward, just to get out of the hot-as-balls boat (with broken A/C). This time we walked along the east side of the island along some old rundown boardwalk thing.

We got the A/C working again in the evening! The pump needed to be re-primed. It's so nice in here again!

Isla Mujeres: Day 5 - Working on the Boat

I found out Gary has a nice set of resistance bands on the boat, so I can workout on the boat! I am developing exercises to replace what I did at the gym at home. I imagine they'll be much more difficult at sea.

After working out, we got a ton of work done on the boat. We first replaced the lifeline connectors as they were looking rather rusty.

The next job was not on the list, but we noticed the cotter pin on the forestay was angled so that it might tear the staysail when raised. Also, it look pretty rusty. So we replaced it and flipped the bolt so it wasn't an issue anymore.

Another ad hoc job involved finding a replacement bolt for our boom vang because the old one was rusted to the point that it was about to break. We have a temporary bolt in the picture here until we have a replacement custom-made.

After that, we figured we would have some fun and did a test raise of the staysail.

Then it was back to work. We found a leak in the foreward starboard port and had to re-caulk it. This was a really tough job as the port frame did NOT want to come off. You have to be super gentle taking it off because the frames bend so easily, but at the same time, it requires a ton of force to remove. Here is our beautiful completed job.

This took us all the way to sundowner hour, and we're not allowed to do any work after sundowner. So beer time!

We found out our 'free ride' is over. There is a mega-yacht coming in tomorrow that we have to give our mega-slip to. So we are getting up early tomorrow morning and moving the boat.

Isla Mujeres: Day 4 - El Centro

We spent the morning doing some more work around the boat. Gary and I took apart and greased up the windlasses while Minnie swam under the boat to de-clog a seacock for the forward head.

Afterward, we grabbed some lunch and beers at the resort pool bar. There were iguanas everywhere for some reason. One scared us as soon as we sat down, he suddenly came running full speed at us and stopped at our feet. We thought he was attacking, but I think people just feed the iguanas here and he wanted food.

We all walked to el centro (downtown) to find some fresh lobster or something for dinner. It is a really nice place with a ton of little shops and restaurants. Looks even better at night though.

We didn't end up finding the fish market, so we just went back to the boat and made a nice Italian dinner.

I really wanted to swim with the famous wild whale sharks here, but they don't migrate through until summer, so no luck there.

Isla Mujeres: Day 3 - Work Day

We've decided to spend today getting things done around the boat to have her all ready for our next passage.

It's a good week long trip to Panama, so we're looking at a potential stop along the way as a full week of good weather is unlikely. We're considering either Cayman Islands or somewhere in Honduras.

Here are a few shots of the high-end marina that we are staying in.

The first task of the day was to take apart all the wiring to the windlass and clean off all the corrosion. The windlass wasn't working properly and we thought it could be because of the corrosion creating resistance in the system.

We then sprayed everything with some anti-corrosion stuff.

Minnie and I went for another walk after all the work was done for the day. We saw some really nice beaches and I found a whole peso on the ground!

Isla Mujeres: Day 2 - South end

Here is a shot of the dock we got at the resort. It is normally reserved for mega yachts, but it was the only slip they had, so we got lucky!

Jan, Minnie and I went on a long walk around the southern part of the island today.

There were iguanas everywhere. I even saw one fall out of a tree (haha). This particular guy was huge.

First stop was at the turtle farm. It was on the water and had a beautiful beach.

There were little baby sea turtles,

and some sort of albino sea turtle,

crustaceans,

kabuto,

more crustaceans,

sea horses,

Bart Simpson fish,

and starfish.

I asked this guy to smile for a picture, but he was a little crabby.

This stingray came out of nowhere in the crab aquarium. I thought he was just the ground.

Here is a really ugly rock fish with a beautiful lion fish behind him. Lion fish are highly toxic and have invaded the caribbean waters. They have no predators in this area and are eating up all the local game fish. Authorities are trying to kill them all.

There were a few big turtle tanks outside as well.

This guy would allow you to swim with his nurse shark for money. I might have to do that!

We went for lunch at Captain Dulches, which was unbelievable.

You could choose to sit on the beach and have your food and drinks delivered there.

The bar was converted from an old gaff-rigged sailboat. As sailors, we obviously chose to sit near it.

Still a great view of the beach though!

Fish tacos for lunch washed down with a margarhita.

They had a bunch of pet Macaws on the path to the restaurant (look in the trees).

A Jamaican bar called The Joint. I could not resist taking a picture of it.

A really nice view of Garrafon Park. They had snorkeling, ziplines, beach beds, hammocks, etc.

This was at the most southern point of the island.

Another restaurant/bar with a great view.

Isla Mujeres = "Island of Women"

And our final stop for the day was a house that was shaped like a giant conch shell, Casa Caracol. You can rent it for $1,200 a week.