We left Vallejo about 2 pm Thursday April 5th. Drove until we almost couldn't see straight ...stopped in Boulder City, Nv. at 4 am. Drove next day to Tucson, Az to meet the
skipper of Quetzal and show us the way south. Left Saturday morning and crossed at Nogales. (side note...we are paying about 3.80 gal for
diesel Bay area) Tanked up on the Nogales, Az side of the border for about 2.90 gallon.
First stopped by
USA border
inspection before crossing. Next stop after crossing was the Visa and
insurance place shortly after crossing into
Mexico. Very friendly people. I think i paid about 38 dollars for limited Mexican
insurance on the truck. The visa seemed like it was about 30 dollars. It took us 6 hours to drive to
San Carlos from Tucson. Guys, it was absolutely wonderful experience. We drove my one-ton
diesel down highway 15. I think there were 2-3 toll stations. The peso is at 18 per american dollar. One of the toll stations was at 128 pesos and the other was at 78 pesos.
The Mexican gov't is throwing a lot of
money into the road infrastructure. There are many sections that are modern concrete well designed roads comparable to the best US Hwy. You can see some road diversions while they finish the new sections. It was never unsafe at any point. The only police you will see are the Federal Police in Dark Blue/White sedans. There are plenty of them. I think i was told the Federal Gov't wants that corridor to be safe for the transportation sector and vacationers.
Hermosillo is an absolute bustling and modern city as we traveled through it. Modern
airport and infrastructure looks very good. Soon, we found ourselves in
San Carlos. Amazed at the Teta Kawi peak that looms over the marina.
Hotel was 4 star and beautiful right on the beach. We ate at Hammerheads a couple of nights. We ate at a thatched roof taco restaurant called J.J.'s multiple times. We ate at Soggy Peso Bar and Restaurant one evening.
Average bill was around 10-15 dollars for drinks and
food for three. We never spent over 20 dollars for a dinner for two. I fell in love with chili relleno tacos. Mexicans....never can say enough good about their tacos...to die for. Soggy Peso bar...at the north end of
Bahia Algodones got it's name from sailors whose pesos were wet after dingy rides from their boats to drink and eat....very fun and beautiful place to sit and watch the sun transit.
So, I bought another
boat. See the link for pictures...
1990 Condor 30 sailboat for sale in Outside United States
It is a Condor 30
trimaran that is trailerable. The previous
skipper is John Hulburd. He was a good steward of this vessel. She is in very good shape and i paid less than the asking
price of 34K. Much less...I will leave her down in San Carlos for the next year to avoid the almost 3k in
california taxes. I paid the yard bill of $1100/yr and she sits in the Marina San Carlos. Interesting thing about the marina storage/work yard. It is not connected to the
water at all. Everything is put on a tractor
trailer and hauled on city streets about half a mile away to the
ramp and marina. Facility has first rate
security. Even gringos are closely watched and timed. So, if you want to drive your truck into the yard
work area you must first go get a pass from the office. Every person must have a pass...even a visitor. You are allowed 15 minutes in the yard with a truck. Then they come and remind you to move it. This fee allows you to move the
boat out of the yard, launching, and retrieval back to the yard once a month.
Of course the Summer season is no joke that far south. Hurricanes can get that far north. John owned the boat for 4 years and he only had one nail San Carlos. His boat had some
solar panels peel up on the after sections of the amas. There was some major damage to boats in the
monohull section. I guess one of the boats in a long line of boats on stands fell and created a domino effect. Messy situation for insurance. None of the
trailer boats were effected. Still....i do have my concerns...who wouldn't?
The boat? Solid construction...mast is rectangular sectioned and boom is solid. Condor 40
race boat was too heavy to be a competitor. Condor 30 designed as an off shore racer/fast cruiser. The boat is so much roomier than the
Corsair 31. Both port/star side berths pull out to full size beds.
Lavac toilet in bow with standing room and fore
deck hatch. Room to
shower if you are stupid enough to do that inside the boat instead of the
cockpit. Long
cabin and short
cockpit....i like. Mainsheet track right at
companionway. Awkward but convenient for the helmsman. Plenty of
storage area in cockpit lockers and
hatch in cockpit floor to access
hull to
deck space. Boat comes with a new
Raymarine 1000
autohelm.
Sails are decent. Headsail is on a Profurl. Sailboat has a spinny....with retractable
bowsprit. Tohatsu 9.8 from 2013 and fired up in seconds on the
electric start and hadn't been started since Nov. 2017. Retractable dagger board is heavy as hell and heavy pivot
rudder in massive
rudder case.
Paint in decent shape and
bottom paint still okay. Ama's have a hard
epoxy coating with no
bottom paint. John said that he only needed a scotch rite pad to clean scum and a plastic
paint scrapper to knock off small
barnacles after several months sailing from San Carlos to
La Paz and back. This guy is about as honest a man you could ever hope to meet.
So, I have the boat of my dreams. A solid trailerable boat that has enough accommodations to meet me and my Kitty's needs. My truck is stout enough to haul that 5000 lbs trailer and boat. The disadvantage, of course, is the time necessary to de-ama, de-aka, de-mast the boat. But it is consistent with my
retirement plans of drive, assemble, splash, sail, de-assemble, move to next splash location...enjoy the best....live long....God knows i worked long enough and hard enough for such a
small boat.
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