Guaymas, Mexico Still March, 2019

NEW PLAN: We are heading to our favorite place!!

Removing fuel tanks

We won’t be splashing this year. 

This is depressing, yes, and we are sad for sure. So much work and so little reward year after year is disheartening. I was telling my brother that I’ve never worked harder physically and mentally. One day I counted 30 bruises, and my body is so sore I can’t get to sleep. Plus the mental component of always troubleshooting something wears on a person. I don’t mind most boat work but we’ve been hitting it hard for a number of months. Four months now without any real breaks and I think we need to figure out a better balance in the future. What trips us up is our optimism on project timeframes. We gave it all, everyday, thinking in 2- 4 weeks we would be in the water, (on both boats), but then that stretches to another 2 weeks and another 2, until we are 2 months working on HOLOHOLO. The reality is that HOLOHOLO needs a lot of work to be ready to sail. We found more rigging issues when Shay went up the mast and so we have decided to pull the mast. The spreaders are rotten and punky and there is a fair bit of corrosion around all the fittings, one of the sheaves is cracked and on it goes. Since Shay tweaked her back when she fell thru the companionway going up the mast is painful now so we can't have her spending hours and days in a harness. This means there is no time for splashing this season. 

Plus we need to resolve EM and finish her decommissioning. We will post videos of this process on FB and Insta for those interested. 

So we asked the universe if this was the right decision - to pull the masts, get EM ready for her funeral and leave town. And if we could please spend some time either in Barra or some other waterfront community for awhile to recoup before heading home to work. 

The universe responded with a big YES!, and so we are on our way to Barra for awhile after we decommission EM and get HOLOHOLO buttoned up and mast pulled. 

An acquaintance of Shay’s responded to a FB post I placed and offered his waterfront condo for free. We can’t say no to that, so we accepted the gift and are super excited to return to our Mexico home away from home.

Two more weeks. 

I think I can do a few more weeks knowing Barra is the prize. 

We had the denaming ceremony on the new boat and the naming ceremony with plenty of champagne! Shay put the new name on the stern and so we are officially HOLOHOLO!

We had a go around with customs and our TIP (visa) for the boat. Seems an old tip was not cancelled and so we had to pay $350 to get it cancelled before getting a new one. This was a major PITA and we had to get an agent, enlisted friends fluent in Spanish to help, Walter from the Banjercito took pity on us and marched us to the Aduana (customs) office to tell them EXACTLY what was needed and three weeks later we are finally finished! 

We can be legal in Mexico now!

My advice for those wanting to purchase a boat in Mexico is to have the previous owners with you when you go to the Banjercito. If anyone needs help with this process just reach out - I know way too much about what to do now.

1200 year old Organ Pipe Cactus

So it’s coming together, just not how we expected. Living this life is really interesting (on good days,) cause its easier to listen to your intuition and feel out a path. I’m noticing that when we are out of sorts for a number of days its because we’ve hit a wall on a process, project or decision. If I can be patient and open, something happens to spark an idea or a decision. Whether it’s a comment from someone, or a simple wish to be in Barra instead of the boat yard, I feel more in tune with what feels right at any given moment. When you strip away all the complicated life that the U.S. brings, things become clearer. Its so easy to be distracted by life, but when life boils down to a tent trailer and a boat there is room for the other senses to become attuned, I guess. Not sure how to explain it yet. I feel more part of the flow. 

So this decision not to splash feels like the right one even though it’s hella depressing. We have a little energy again for this final push. And then we drive south. Hopefully visiting some friends along the way. 

Until then there will be lots to do to get EM ready for her watery 2nd life as a reef. 

Cactus flowers starting to bloom!

Guaymas, Mexico- Two boats, March 2019

Still working

We are still living in the boat yard and working on two boats. I cannot overstate how old this is getting. I fear we may never escape. Its a real fear since there are a handful of guys that have been in the yard for a number of years. 

However, I still have hope for a small season. It all depends on what more we find to repair on Holoholo. 

(We found more yesterday.) 😭😭😭
Since we have been questioned many times about what we are working on I will give a quick run down. 

So far we have: 

• gone thru the engine and replaced hoses, and belt, cleaned heat exchanger and taken apart the water filter and cleaned fuel filter #2 
• polished the fuel and cleaned the diesel tank, 
• fixed the bow sprit of wood rot and painted
• maintenance on windlass,
• torn out the propane system that wasn’t working and installed new parts,
• bought and installed new batteries,
• hired Lucas to help get the electrical in order, replaced the dead inverter with EM”s inverter, and non working panels with EM’s panels,
• cleaned the running rigging and tossed out 3 halyards due to failure points
• inspected and tightened the standing rigging at deck,
• sanded the bottom,
• rebuilt the bilge pump,
• replaced faulty plumbing lines,
• attempted to repair the generator then sold the generator, same with the dinghy,
• figured out how to bring another solar panel aboard by retrofitting EM”s bimini on the stern of Holoholo,
• clean and paint the prop,
• install new solar panel parts and get power to the boat



working on bilge pump

• harvested much electrical and gear from EM- a very time consuming project

We still need to:

• replace the 4 lower shrouds due to terminal cracks and wire issues,
• replace the head hoses cause Shay needs to do this for mental health reasons,
• reprime and paint the bottom,
• get Shay up the mast to inspect the rigging and masthead,
• hire a stainless steel welder to make the frame for the solar panel,
• phase 2 electrical can happen in the water,
• replace the foot pedal for the windlass,
• new engine gauge cover so we can see the gauges,
• replace steering cable,
• get our TIP (visa) for Holoholo- don't ask about this its a headache right now. 
• sell the rest of EM. 
• Update: replace rotten spreaders and some blocks and sheaves and probably more later.
• Update: Wait for parts like bilge pump and seacock tailpiece for the raw water hose.  Not going anywhere without those!

This does not include the top side paint job, stainless cleaning, general cleaning, new canvas and fix the main sail type of work. Some of this won’t happen this year. Shay wants to get EM’s awesome railings retrofitted to Holoholo next year so the lifelines are higher and a more secure bow pulpit and stern pulpit.

In between we are slowly harvesting EM’s gear to install on Holoholo or hold till a later date. 
On bad days Shay falls thru the companionway and does the banana splits backbend and scares me to death but is ok and just covered in bruises and in pain for a few days, or we are so dirty but don't care and go to bed covered in grease and sand.

Its a lot to deal with and many days I feel overwhelmed and overworked. 

However we recently found a local estuary and are spending more time out in nature. This helps me tremendously. Just escaping the dirt for a few hours and seeing the ocean helps. 

Little comforts help

Good days are when you figure out how to make a seat for our toilet bucket with an old pool toy, or find the wire you were looking for at the FIRST store and are able to actually complete a project.

The temperaturenis turning warm now and so we will have to adopt a new work schedule to avoid the afternoon heat. Thank goodness we have Georgia’s trailer to live in as Holoholo is still not in working order to live aboard. 

Fingers crossed we can splash soon! (Amended: at all) 

Estuary