Day 557 Running errands again.

On Sunday evening, a small boat pulled into the marina, his outboard screaming, about 2100 and tied up to a piece of dock that is not normally a slip.  His boat had obviously seen better days but at least it was still afloat with lots of canvas on the deck acting as a dodger of sorts to protect the skipper.   There was another dingy tied along side his boat full of gear and junk.  I guess it was his storage shed for stuff.  He hopped ashore and headed up the ramp to the washroom.  He was going to spend the night.  With the office closed, there is really no one to check the docks to make sure everyone has paid.  Early Monday morning, he cast off his lines and took off, obviously not paying for his slip.  On the way out of the marina, he hit one of the other boats(no real damage) and just kept on going.  He was beating a hasty exit before he got caught.  One of the other boats in the marina saw him hit the other boat and called the harbor cops to report it.  About an hour later, two patrolman showed up to "investigate".  I talked to them and as I had talked to the guy that had called them, I referred the two gentlemen to him.  With an hour already passing, there was little chance of them ever finding him short of calling out a helicopter to do an air search.  For some reason, it had taken that long for the call the reach them from the dispatcher.  It's people like that that ruin it for the rest of us and give us all a bad reputation in harbors and marinas.  He causes problems and gets away scott free.  In our travels, we have seen numerous boats pull into marinas late in the evening after the office is closed and pull out at the crack of dawn to escape without paying the fees for the night.  I know the economy is tough out there, but most of the boats we have seen doing this are nice boats that appear to belong to people with money in their pockets.  Sometimes, I just don't understand people, I guess.

I called Enterprise to set a time to pick us up and they called later as they were in transit and would be at the dock in a few minutes.  We walked up to meet them but Tracy went back to get more money for the days purchases.  The van showed up and out jumped a man that walked down the ramp to tell us to hurry as he had appointments to make(and British to boot).  Well,  la de dah for him!!!  We had seen his boat come in late the previous evening.  It was a 100 foot(minimum) power boat(see definition of "YACHT") at least with more toys on board than we would ever think of and a crew of many to keep it running.  I guess he was used to giving orders on board and expected us to hurry it up.  The two of them had spent the night at one of the local resorts(add more money to the bill).  Hey, we're sailors and are used to taking our time.  We finally got into the van and away we went.  We let one of them check in before us as they were in a "hurry" and then we got our car.  The second man(the Captain maybe) was still waiting when we left.  So much for appointments I guess.  

We headed out towards the local scuba store to get more equipment and to see about getting one of our "new" tanks inspected.  They required a week to get it done.  They are picked up on Tuesday and returned the following Tuesday.  As we expect to be gone by then, we asked for information as to where we might get it inspected faster.  They gave us the name of two companies that inspect tanks and we called both.  One(up in Costa Mesa--a two hour drive each way) could have it done in a day.  The second place no longer inspected tanks but gave us the name of another company that did.  We called them and they were local and could have the tank inspected that same day.  Yeah!!!  We were getting lucky.  We rushed back to Zephyr and grabbed the air tank and took off for just South of San Diego to get it inspected.  Once we got there, they promised to have it out by 1630 that afternoon.  We drove around looking for a Wells Fargo Bank and I got my hair cut and we had lunch.  We took a shot and called them to see if the tank was done and it was(now all of 1400).  We drive over and picked it up.  That would save us a trip back today.

We headed off North to talk to a man that was selling some of his scuba equipment and we were looking for a new regulator set up as our "new"tanks won't work with Tracy's regulator.  He was up at Camp Pendleton so it was a good hour drive North.  We arrived and waited in the parking lot out side the base till he arrived.  Nice stuff so we struck a deal and headed back toward Zephyr as "rush" hour approached.  It wasn't to bad(traffic wise) all in all.

Last night was a seminar at Downwind Marine on pressure cooking while on board.  Very interesting on how he cooks meals while he is out on transit.  Put it all in the pot and let her rip.  Most of the cooking (even roasts) is done in about 45 minutes.  We'll have to try that when we head out.  Sure beats crackers and bottled water.

Today, I started the day making a list of everything on board that has a serial number.  It is required that you have a list when you are in Mexico just so that they will know what you have on board your boat and that you haven't sold any of it while you are in their country.  OK, another regulation I guess.

Any how, that was yesterday.  Today, get the paper work together for the consulate and buy a bunch of fans to install once we get to Mexico.  They tell us that it gets hot down there.

More to come.