Feb 10, 2008
(The Grand Finale)
Last full day on the island and I finally get to see some Seahorses.
I don't know if Mother Nature would approve of the 'Save The Humans' bumper sticker but it was a great color choice for the car.
This dive boat is getting kind of a late start, buzzing by after the Sunday morning AA beach meeting.
I went to the Mission restaurant on 30th for a late breakfast and was intrigued by this bug's rust pattern.
On my way home I stopped by the open air, wood fired, chicken rotisserie, BBQ for a day shot to compare to a night scene of their banked fire. In the morning they just add kindling and another log.
Once home I climbed over onto the neighbors roof again for a final look at the remodeled street out front and the growing condo across the way. The condo is up to the second of four floors. There goes my view. Maybe I'll try room #6 next year. They are planting young palms in the sidewalk's holes. The curbs are low and rounded so cars and Triciclo's can easily mount them.
Here is the deck outside #5, overlooking the street. Can you imagine hurricane winds peeling ceramic tiles off the cement overhang? Note too the death defying ladder from hell. That is how one gets to the roof. Gotta want to get up there pretty bad. That rusty old red propane tank was replaced this week. They waited until it was empty to switch tanks. It was sitting in the cool shade when they switched them. Now it is sitting in the sun and the little remaining gas has expanded, what a stink. How bad is the smell. . . . Under that little roofed cover is a swarm of flies you wouldn't believe. That smell might be useful in trapping them somehow. You can see the second bed from my room in the forayer, I don't use it during my visit.
Here is the view from that deck. Yup, two more stories and the condos will be complete. Prices starting at $179K, usd.
If you follow that street above to the left it joins the ocean front after a block. Here is a Gemini Catamaran anchored out during a visit to the island. That is Playa Del Carmen, 9 mile off on the horizon.
That big sailing cat joins this tin trawler, swinging on the hook. Note the gin pole crane for launching and recovering the inflatable dingy.
This guy, the 'Tyco Responder', has been anchoring just out of camera range this week and finally tied up to the cruise ship pier today because there are no cruise ships on Sunday (family day in Mexico)
She looks like a cable layer and is riding so high out of the water she must be empty. Notice the submerged bow bulb. It improves performance significantly and most modern ships use it.
OK, Monday morning, crack of dawn and I'm off to the airport for a noon flight home.
I wanted an early start so I'd have time to disassemble the Triciclo for shipping in hopes they'd take it as extra baggage.
And take it they did, but this year they wanted $40 as an excess baggage fee. . . . but they took another excess bag free. In years past all my excess baggage has been free returning. Oh, well.
This year we flew over the bone fishing bay on the North end of the island on our way out.
Here is another look as a teaser for my angler cousin.
This is the North coast of the Yucatan in the area of the meteor strike causing the last 'Extinction'.
Three hours later I look out the window to see the NW corner of Lake Harriet here in Minneapolis. You can almost see the band shell (Hah!)
OK, do you locals recognize the Lake Nokomis bridge?
Last chance, how about the Ceder Ave/Cross Town cloverleaf, looking NW.
Thump, thump, thump and we're home again. By the time I got all my gear together US Customs was closing up shop and lifted the partitions. I found myself standing in the middle of the arrivals area with out ever moving.
Many thanks to Ted B. for his generous offer to haul me and my collection home in his Windstar van.
The next question is did my 30 year old Benz diesel start? It has a small electric heating element in the engine's water jacket like in a home hot water heater. I emailed the service team guys at my apartment tower and asked them if someone could plug my car in the day before I returned and they did. That smoky old Benz burst to life, first crank, after a 3 month rest. The motor thought it was in Miami. Thanks Tom for the plug-in.
One of my stops when I got back was the boatyard at Hooper's Yachts in Afton for lunch and a visit with the guys. I have a Spinnaker Sail in a sock for sale on consignment out there and wanted to see if a prospect they had told me about had bought it, (not yet).
Here is a look at my sail for sail.
They have an excellent inventory of used boats this year so I'm going to have make sure I leave the check book home when I visit. (All sailboats)
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A problem I've been having with the car since I got back is, no windshield washer. Can you imagine selling windshield washer solvent in Minnesota that freezes?
I disconnected the reservoir and brought it inside to thaw out with warm water. It's now back in the car and filled with the -20ºf stuff.
I sure miss having a warm shop to work in.
Another visit this week was to the local library.
Wow, all those books. . . . . and they are in English.
=)
Thursday night is my AA homegroup meeting Downtown, 'Central Pacific'. It's 'call-up' first half followed by a main speaker. The room is set up for ~300 people and we usually fill every seat. It was wonderful to see so many friends again and all in one place. It's kind of like a giant cocktail party without the throwing up and fist fights.
This is what that Nokomis bridge looks like from the ground.
Here is the weather outlook for tonight.
Some have asked what below zero temps and a brisk wind feel like and thinking about that as I plugged in the car's engine heater tonight. . . It feels to me like blowing sand. The cold stings, even on numbed skin.
The thermometer in my freezer reads about 5º above zero and the ice cream is good and hard.
I may have come back a little early this year in that it's been overcast every day so no local sunsets. In parting, here is a 'sunrise in PDC' that I don't think got used.
-Home-