SailingKnitter

Even though the temperatures were still in the high 80's at 7:30pm and it was humid-sticky, we took a walk along the beach here in Banderas Bay. Our goal was to go see the activities in the turtle nesting area about a mile up the beach - yeah, and get some exercise too. We've been such boat vegetables lately.

During the summer and early fall months, female Olive Ridley sea turtles crawl up the beach and bury their eggs. These magnificent beasts are so endangered that organizations patrol the beaches nightly, dig up the eggs, and take them to special hatching centers. There, they can mature without danger from humans, dogs, snakes, or other preditors. We've seen a couple of different species of turtles, just swimming along, during our cruising along this Pacific coast of Mexico.

Here's a picture of the manmade turtle nests. The volunteers place cones of metal screening over the nests for protection. Then, as the turtles hatch at night, they scoop them up, count them, then release them into the waters.
As we were there, we saw the sand move over a nest! Then a head popped out! Then a baby turtle - and then suddenly LOTS of baby turtles. A volunteer came over to do whatever he needs to do to get these little critters safely on their way to the big ocean. He let me hold a little guy - he was wriggling and was smooth and leathery. See all the little turtles here? So very cool!

So, I say we've been boat-veggies, and it really seems like that, hiding down in the boat with the air conditioning, but we have also been busy with upgrades and maintenance to the boat.
Also, I've been thinking up designs, knitting swatches and small items, and writing up knitting patterns for a new Yahoo! group Holiday Mystery Gifts . If you're looking for some new FREE patterns for holiday themed knits or gifts check out this new group.

With all the rain we've had this summer, we became very aware of the fact that our boat was leaking from down the mast. You see, the mast actually runs through my galley (kitchen) right through one of my counters and down into the bilge. Every morning there was a puddle of water on the counter - because it rains every night. So, off came the nasty, dirty, sun-damaged mast boot cover(seen lying on the deck in this picture). We found that the sealant had simply gotten old, so we (I say "we", I mean "Jonesy" for this icky, smelly, sticky part of the job) applied silicone sealant and reinstalled the rubber boot. This picture is where the mast runs through the decking - see how it is braced by all of these little "L" shaped pieces of wood. Anyway, a rubber boot goes over this - kinda like a gear-shift boot in a manual transmission car.

We (okay, now this means "Terry") sewed up a new sun-resistant boot cover from marine canvas, "Sunbrella", for the mast. Whooo hoooo! No more leaks and we're looking stylish! Speaking of styling - we had the canvas guy here in Puerto Vallarta make us some blue Sunbrella hatch covers, liferaft cover, and a shade for our 3 forward facing salon windows. Very inexpensive, and saved me a lot of work!!!

So, I'll leave you with this photo of a candy machine here in Mexico. It is not unusual. I've seen these items in many other vending machines.

Want a candy bar? How about some cookies? Or even some whole-grain healthy snacks? Great! Oh? You want cigarettes? Got that too!