Tomorrow (Wednesday, May 18th) at 7:00 AM we leave Marina Palmira to head up to Pichilingue to load Raptor Dance on Dockwise Express 12.
Dockwise asked that we be alongside by 8:00 AM for instructions. Loading begins at 9:00 AM and is scheduled to be completed by 1:00 PM. 28 boats will be loaded tomorrow and we're in the middle of the pack on the starboard side of the ship. Since POSH means Port Out, Starboard Home, Raptor Dance will be treated right!
Driving into the Dockwise ship has been compared to going into a very crowded shipping lock. This should be very interesting and we're planning to take lots of stills and video.
Our friend John Semon from Semonship will be joining us as an additional line handler and the extra help is greatly appreciated.
The Dockwise schedule has us back to Marina Palmira in the early afternoon. We'll then check into the hotel for some pool time before our Thursday AM flight.
Gosh, we've got a lot done in the last few days:
- We stowed everything below for the trip,
- Emptied and defrosted the fridge (it will be off for the 9 day passage),
- Took down and stowed the Bimini, lashed down the Genoa and Staysail roller furlers (they can stay up, but for safety we lashed them down so they can't unroll),
- Inflated and made ready our extra 5 fenders,
- Removed the Monitor wind vane from the stern and lashed it on deck. The wind vane adds an extra foot of length to the boat. Dockwise really packs them in and we would be over our measured length if we left it on,
- Packed up a lot of clothes we never wore to take home
- Backed up all the computers onto my 200 GB portable USB hard drive
to have backup at home.
We also had many friends over to help us empty the fridge and finish the last of the wine and other drinks. One of the items Mary perfected was her Tamarind Marguerite recipe. Ever since we had them in Guadalajara, Mary's been perfecting her recipe ever since.
The key ingredient is tamarind pulp. Here in Mexico, you can find 1 liter bottles of the thick liquid "Pulpa de Tamarindo" in the grocery stores. It's a drink concentrate that normally makes 20 Liters. You may be able to find something similar locally where you are.
Mary's Tamarind Marguerites:
2 parts Tequila
2 parts Pulpa de Tamarindo
1 part Triple Sec
1 part Jarabe (pre-mixed simple syrup)
Lots of ice
Blend until smooth
We're both very sad to leave Mexico, it's been a wonderful season down here. Just so very short! But we're excited to start on the next adventure in the Pacific Northwest.
That's all for now from Raptor Dance!
Warmest Regards,
Bill Finkelstein and Mary Mack