As Monday's go, it's probably not the worst....  At least I'm not headed into work somewhere.  As my time at Puerto Escondito came to a close yesterday I did some chores to get ready to get under way again. I did a couple of the most expensive loads of laundry of my life at the marina.  I moved some stuff out of the way of the battery box and connected an external AC battery charger to the engine start battery. You know, just in case. I made sure most stuff was put back in the upright and locked position to minimize the motion generated entropy that comes with being under way. I have accepted that it is not possible to eliminate said entropy, but minimizing it still feels worthwhile.

I did  a test start on the engine 3 days ago and it started without a problem or jump start, but it did seem a tiny bit hesitant on the cranking speed. I was, therefore, not suprised this morning when at my initial departer time of 0800 the engine did not start.  I implemented the back up plan and ran the generator, which thankfully still starts reliably, and ran it for 2.5 hours with the AC battery charger connected direclty to the start battery.  At 1000 I tried again and found that pushing the start button really hard in frustration seemed to help as the engine started.  

So, I'm now on the water, with Puerto Escondito to the stern and headed for Agua Verde this afternoon.  I'm continuing to run the battery charger (although it says charged at this point) and I sincerely hope to be able to start tomorrow (and maybe a few more days in a row) using the same process to hopefully get me back to CA. My plan was to do short hops going back down to Cabo, but if I have issues with starting I may just break it up into 1-2 overnight chunks and get there. My only other need to start back up is to top off the fuel which I plan to do at San Jose Del Cabo. But it is a relatively short run from Cabo to or from there so I may just go to Cabo and then backrack on whatever day I make an appointment for fuel. I don't think I want to spend a ton of money on any additional time in slips. 

The week my friend's visit was great.  It got me/us out in the dinghy to snorkel each day around Isla Danzante, and Isla Carmen.   Had some really great fish and creature sightings at each spot. Several different and bizarre starfish, snails, slugs, jellyfish, fish of every shape and color, eels, and a spotted eagle ray. The water wasn't quite "bathlike" but it was warmer that Catalina. 

This morning is lovely, light wind, sun, glassy calm seas.  I've seen two whales already in the first hour of travel. I hope that is a good sign for the rest of the day. Agua Verde should be 25 out of the 260 or so miles back to Cabo. One day (engine start) at a time!