Right after Clayton left San Carlos via taxi for the airport, Anne-Marie and I hauled up the anchor to take Starship to Marina Seca Guaymas. It was good to know we could still manage to operate Starship without Clayton's assistance.
The bay and city of Guaymas is very interesting, it is very industrial with the major industry being fish and shrimp processing. There is no tourism industry what so ever, since San Carlos is much nicer and just 20 miles north. The down side of the lack of tourism and the industrial nature of the town was that the bay water was disgusting. The water was brown, and the terrible smell of shrimp boats passing up wind could be smelled a quarter mile away. We heard from one cruiser in the area that a few weeks before we arrived, there was a problem at a fish processing plant and they dumped all their fish into the bay. They said you could practically walk across the bay on top of the fish and the smell was terrible.
Luckily we only spent a couple of days in the bay before being hauled out at Marina Seca Guaymas.
Note to cruisers hauling at Marina Seca Guaymas: Bring your own paper roll and painting tape to cover the travel lift slings, or you will have stripes of bottom paint up your hull!
We decided to put Starship on the hard in Marina Seca Guaymas, the least expensive dry storage yard in Mexico, to escape the summer heat and hurricanes. The restrooms and showers at the yard were surprisingly nice and well cleaned. Gabriel, the owner and manager of the yard, was very nice and helpful. He even arranged for a super long extension cord so a welder could do some work on our boat.
It took us 4 days to decommission Starship, and it was terrible! So exhausting in the 110+ deg heat and humidity, at times we felt on the brink of collapse. Boy were we glad when we got on the air conditioned bus to Phoenix!
In Phoenix we met up with Anne-Marie's best friend Katrina and boyfriend Brian. It was great to see them and go on a trip to Flag Staff and The Grand Canyon. We had lots of great meals and enjoyed driving around in her new car (nacho). P.S. Freeways are terrifying compared to sailing.
When we got back to my home town of Harrow Ontario, my Dad Herb immediately put us to work on a deck he was working on by Lake Erie. It was really nice to spend some time by the water again, but Herb was working us pretty hard. Anne-Marie really enjoyed learning about deck construction and how to use some new tools like a miter saw. After a week of grueling labor the deck was complete!
Now we are in Toronto for a couple of weeks. It is great to have a break from deck building, and to see Anne-Marie's family. We will be bouncing around between Harrow and Toronto for the next month and half until we return to Starship on October 10th. So that is us signing off until the next Mexico cruising season begins in October. Enjoy the remainder of the summer and fall!
Hey guys! We heard about you through the grapevine, fellow young couple cruising on an I36! Hopefully we cross paths this summer- we would love see what you have differently/the same with your boat. We're staying in the Sea this summer. Lanea and Conor www.svmoondance.wordpress.com
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