Cental America
And Back
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theDiesel Naziand Billionaire Sheep Leaving San Juanico we decided to explore the west side of Isla Carmen. Great decision. Carmen is one of the few islands in the Sea of Cortez that are privately owned. Rumor has it that the island is owned by Mexico's ex president from the early nineties who gave Carlos Slim the Telmex cell phone concession, thereby proving it's who you know. Bahia Salinas was once a salt mining operation and exploring what is left of the village you can still find the original payroll safe in the main office building, but the salt ponds were the real prize here. It looked like it had recently snowed but it was a warm if overcast day. The island is home to about 600 long horned sheep and each year they cull the herd by inviting hunters to pick off a few (maybe 20 in total according the caretaker). Each hunter will pay between $50,000 and $80,000 dollars (depends on the size of the “kill”) for the honor of taking home a sheep’s head. The meat stays in the village. Ewe. Not a good place to go for a hike in the mountains. We stayed the night at the dock, filled our tanks, washed Ashika down and did 8 loads of laundry while waiting for the diesel Nazi to show up the next morning. He only over charged us by about 15% so we figured that into is tip. It rained buckets the following night and gave Ashika another wash. It rained so much we could have filled our water tanks too. But such is the unpredictable weather of the Sea. When we left San Carlos on mainland Mexico, we topped off our 180 gallon water tanks, filled a 5 gallon container (emergency back-up) and bought a 5 gallon container of purified water. Since then, about a month later, we have not washed any clothes, bedding, rugs or towels. Our “sailor” shower time has been cut in half or more and we only rinse the decks with salt water. Our most flagrant uses of fresh water include dish washing and Ginger’s allergy shampoos. We arrived in Puerto Escondido with less than 3 gallons of purified water left. We are water hogs. The water outlet is located at the gas dock and we needed diesel as well. Dois and I are very familiar with this particular gas dock. Here is where the diesel Nazi lives. Last time we were here, he made us wait 4 hours while smaller fishing boats were allowed to gas up while we jogged around the bay. When we did pull up, he wouldn’t let us stay at the dock to fill the water tanks and untied our lines and pushed us off. This time we would ask very nicely and perhaps slip him a big tip. Finally it was our turn, the diesel Nazi hopped into a small boat and waved at us, very friendly-like too. We figured he was putting away a rental boat and he would be right back to help us get diesel. It was just a little after four o’clock but he never came back. Apparently he closes shop at 4:30 and we were going to make him late, so he put away his boat and left. Ready to sail south; we are gassed, watered and re-provisioned but the forecast is for a large norther so we are going 9 miles north to a well-protected bay on the eastern side of Isla Carmen. There we can do a little diving and playing on the beach waiting for our window to head south. The plan is to stop in Agua Verde for a night then Los Gatos for a couple of days. Dois has discovered a very small leak in the diesel engine fuel pump and so we are going to sail mostly and use the engine sparingly. Hopefully we can find new seals and a mechanic to help in La Paz. Peace. |
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