5C's Que Pasa

Sandra is still a Cat. 2 and yes she is only supposed to make landfall as a Tropical Storm.  That landfall is purported to be right here in Mazatlan.  The waves were crashing at our wall this morning and at times seeping over the top a bit.  The amount of expected rainfall for later today has more that doubled what it was predicted earlier this morning.

This morning about 8AM.

At 12:30 noon at low tide.

We are off.  Adios for now.  Will post when I can.

Yesterday was the big day with all the physical work of tearing down and storing our things.  We worked hard and fast as the forecast was for thundershowers last evening and today.  Those did not materialize.  In fact the hurricane forecast kept changing all day, who knew it was going to become a Category 4 😯   At one point the storm was to make landfall right here and it likely still will however we are hoping that it will have downgraded to a tropical depression ( not even a tropical storm ) certainly better than a Cat 1.  That means less wind and very hopefully less rain.  We have friends scheduled to travel ‘the road’ Monday and blog readers soon to be friends traveling in on Wednesday or Thursday.  The amount of rainfall determines if the road is passable or not.  One great piece of news reached us today, the first two miles of ‘the road’, where it starts next to Estrella Del Mar was graded today  😀 That means that the road is in great shape right now.  The last two miles, closest to us here is about to be paved any day now.  We have been told that it should all be paved my sometime in February.

We had an impressive sunset yesterday, likely the last one for a few nights.

Just letting off some steam from the last hours of hard work….and of course having fun.

This morning as we headed out for our walk we saw many boats on the horizon.  We have never seen so many shrimp boats so close in, there were quite a bit more to the left of the shot. I guess they were going to wait out the hurricane.

This was the brightest it got all day. We even had a very light rain shower on the way back.

Two lucky beach finds today. It was great walking with no sun overhead and the humidity was down just a tad.

It was a quiet day, put a few more things away but really just relaxed, Colin with the guitar and me catching up on blog posts and emails.  We are ready to move off the Isla if things change for the worst within 30 minutes or just move to the back of the RV Park to get away from the high waves and debris.  There is also the option of just moving back towards ‘the road’ and sleeping in the RV there, away from a possible storm surge.  What we will do, all depends on the info we get as Friday progresses.  We will be moving but to where? Thank goodness we have great internet.  What would we do without it, sure hope it doesn’t go out.  I feel naked without my backup.

The good news is that Sandra in now only a Cat. 3  I am waiting for the last update tonight before publishing this post.  Likely I will do two posts tomorrow, one midday with the latest info as well as a recap of the last few days prior to our storm watch.  At the end of the day, once we have moved I will do another post with the very latest info before we expect landfall.  Thank you all so much for your comments, emails and support.

A very special Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.  Thank you for being a part of our lives.

Earlier today. There is serious concern here in the Colonia on the Isla re flooding.

A few hours ago.

Back to the what to do thinking?   The new track just out moments ago shows her coming in stronger than what they thought this morning.

We will see what the morning track looks like before making a decision.

Sadly the title to this post is not a joke but a reality.  Feel free to Goggle Hurricane Sandra.  She is a pain in the butt…..well actually she is one of five  hurricanes that has formed in this area after November 18th in many years.  The computer model speculations keep changing, worry, don’t worry and really worry.  I am doing this on the fly as we are in major prep mode and time is of the essence.

My hair is a mere expression of the humidity we are experiencing. 43C with the heat index. Off the charts for this time of year.

We have been watching the computer and with input from friends in the know ( gracias Michael ) we decided to be pro active.  You can’t exactly get us moving on a dime or in  five minutes so we decided that we have nothing but time.  Yes we just finished setting up but caution is the word of the day.  Better to be safe than sorry.  We have gone thru dozens of options and plans and we have decided that we need to be ready to move.

So we are packing up in a fashion. We don’t have time to move things to our bodega/storage area but we have confiscated one of the 2 washrooms here for storage. Note Colin’s very wet shirt.

The car is loaded to the roof.  Our plan is to store things that will ruin in the rain or blow away in the wind.  We will leave the dust screen up well as the dog fence.  One plan is to move to the back row however things keep changing and we may have to leave the area.  Colin did put the tow bar back on the car today.  It is like we are preparing to leave as we may have to.  All that work in setting up only to be redone yet again.  But better to be safe than sorry.

Things that can stay put are being left in place.  The blue bins in the background have a case of heavy ice drink placed on top to keep the lid in place.

Looking empty around here.

Of course the gazebo canopy is gone, that would make a great sail in the winds to come.  Those are our beach stairs to the left which we brought up as the water is going to come up over the wall and we don’t want them to drift away.

With an unpredictable El Nino we have no idea what the next few days will hold for us.  Earlier today we were led to believe that rain showers were to start tonight so we hastened to pack things up before the rain.  So far no precipitation plus a complete new scenario weather wise.

At 7AM this morning this was the direction we had and it changed a few times thru the day.  We might be able to manage with winds at 55 km/h.

But at 5:20PM we were going to be dealing with winds between 80 – 110mph. The path of Sandra had shifted from Cabo San Lucas to us.

As of 7 PM a Category 3 hurricane was going to come ashore here as a Tropical Storm on Saturday.  Earlier today it was coming ashore North of us.  Things keep changing and we fell the need to be prepared.  Everything can change in an instant and you can be sure that we are watching the computer images constantly.

Thanks to giving my Fitbit a huge workout we are ready for anything from staying put under a torrential rain to moving to the back row to just getting out of here.  Of course if we leave the Isla there is a very great chance that we won’t get back here for up to two weeks as ‘the road’ is likely to become impassible for us to return to our home here.

So for the next 36 hours we wait and watch and play the deciding game hour after hour.  What to do?  No matter what, we know that we now have to do yet a second set up once all is said and done.  But as Colin says, we have nothing but time and it is well worth the effort to protect us, our things and our RV.  Still it is a waiting game.  I will keep you posted as things progress.  If you don’t hear from me after Friday, you can assume that our internet is out. As I no longer have my backup ( ATT locked my hot spot device out ) you will just have to hang in there till I reappear.

As of this moment it has all changed again.  A few hours ago we were told that we would be getting rain showers starting tonight, now there is no rain in sight until 3AM Saturday but then we will be hit with winds up to 100 km/h as well as heavy rain.  The computer models keep changing.  It truly is a waiting game but we are ready to deal with it.

Certainly an adventure.  Stay tuned for the next chapter.

Please forgive me for not proofing this post but it is almost 11PM, it has been a long day and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

…but few photos.  It was a go go day and somehow the camera stayed in the RV.  I recall that on the morning walk Colin said ‘take a photo of that’ and of course we didn’t have the camera.

Yesterday was extra special as we began our weekly Monday massages, 90 minutes for me ( and why not ) and 30 minutes for Colin cuz that is all he wants.  It was pure bliss and I am counting the minutes till next Monday.

The girls got a nice bath after the morning beach walk with Johnsons Baby Shampoo.  We try to do this at least every three weeks however we always hose them off after a beach walk to get all the salt off.

After the massage we were supposed to relax….yeah right.  It seems that the weekly plant guy has not been showing up so we took some action and checked in with Amailtan and their botanical department.  They agreed to sell us some plants from their nursery but it had to be right now. 

At the time we assumed that we were simply setting up an appointment but the representative  came and sat in our car to direct us to their nursery,  so Colin had to sit sideways in the back of the HHR.  We actually only use the front two seat with the back two folded down as storage.  So first we had to bring Esmeralda back to the RV Park so we could unload and then finally we proceeded to the nursery.  I was so upset that I had no camera but we still bought some plants but they had no hibiscus which was our main focus.

By the time we dropped Esmeralda off and picked up our laundry it was after 5PM and we were tired.

A quick preview of our lighting for the season.

My humble and very poor attempt at an almost full moon.

That was is for Monday…..too busy to take photos.  Enjoy the rest of your evening.

The days are beginning to blur and we are losing track of time.  One day is blurring into the next and so many things seem to happen.  No plans but the day just simply becomes busy.  For instance today, Monday, so much spontaneously happened but I did not have my camera handy.  However that is a post for manana/tomorrow.  Today I will try and fill in the last few days.

Saturday night we went to the small restaurant down the road, Miguels. Turns out that we missed Rae as well as Bob & Marjorie by a few hours.

However we did meet Shelli and Nathan, a film editor who does his work here on the Isla. They live in Woodstock, New York half the year and really were there for Woodstock. Very cool people.

Yesterday I saw this person more interested in texting rather then enjoying her ride and the view.

Yet another morning visitor. By the time this local lady friend left I had to make another coffee as mine was cold. You never know how the day is going to unfold. We are looking forward to Chris & Juan being here for a bit as then we can really catch up on the local info. Between us, Colin and I only got 25% of what she was saying.

This is the matriach of the family up the beach that we have been helping for a few years ( the bikes ).  She was bed ridden last year and is now walking the beach.  I believe she has had heart surgery which has changed her life.  She told us that they have to leave in 3 months.  They have been squatting in a house on the beach for a few years now but the owner now wants it back.  At the moment they plan to head to a colonia in Puerto Vallarta despite having no family there.  It would be nice to have more details on their situation.

Still knocking things off the to do list such as securing the bottom step of our beach stairs.

Yet another cruise ship in port today but also many nationals visiting.

Colin did a lot of work on Sunday including a deep clean of the inside of the RV. He gifted me most of the day off  ( I read a book ) and I decided to go for a solo beach walk. It appears that while I was gone both the girls decided to sit in our chairs. Sadly Carmeh jumped up to her chair  on the right without even using a stool. She is fine and we can’t control her every move but it does bother us.

We were invited over to Marjorie’s for drinks when Jose and Pat invited all of us over to their happy hour. Thanks Pat for taking a photo with me in it.

A blurry shot of the Holland America ship heading out. I always love seeing ships pass by that we have sailed on in the olden days….before RV days.

Hey Inger and Robert, sorry to read about the Arctic front you are dealing with back home.  The snow and the cold you are dealing with make me strong to handle the mosquitoes.  Thankfully the noseums are quiet at the moment.

Back home for our first BBQ of the season. Thank you Sue & Gerry for picking us up a piece of dorado for dinner.

What a better way to end a Sunday then with a tasty baked potato smothered by BBQ’d onion and dorado cooked with a layer of cilantro and lime accompanied by steamed green beans and a very tasty caeasar salad.