Cultivating Patience

Still in Marina Chiapas, and missing yet another glorious weather window. It’s conceivable that we could be crossing the T-Pec right now, enjoying almost 48 hours of light winds…but no. It would have been a tough push to break in our new-to-us engine and get out of here, and rushing through crucial departure prep never works.

Old tappets versus new.
Old tappet versus new.

Instead, we are diligently running our engine, varying the speed, getting it broken in. Tomorrow will be the first oil change; so far, everything is going swimmingly. In fact, we seem to have more power at lower RPMs—obviously, right, after a complete rebuild? But we weren’t thinking about that when we pulled the engine apart—we were focused on oil leaks. The extra power is a nice bonus. Things seem less rattley at low RPMs, as well. We’ve been excited to not have diesel engine oil everywhere, but now we’re excited about the benefits of a new engine.

Newly rebuilt engine, going back in. No, we didn't get it repainted.
Newly rebuilt engine, going back in. No, we didn’t get it repainted.

Meanwhile, we wait for the next weather window. We hang out with our friends, we clean the boat, we stock up on things and then deplete our stores. We do school. We eat ice cream. We watch movies—including a trip to Tapachula to see the new Star Wars movie, an early birthday present for T.

Last week, it was hard to be patient. Every day, we’d check the weather, and wonder about the timing—would the engine be ready? Could we make the next break in the winds? But now that the engine is good, we know we can be ready to pull out of here the next time the weather’s clear. We’re still in good shape to meet up with family, although we might be traveling on T’s birthday, and possibly Christmas as well. We’re reminding ourselves that we can always head back south of Bandaras Bay for a bit, and explore some of the coast we’re being forced to bypass. We also plan to head to Guatemala for a half-hour or so, and re-enter Mexico to re-up our visa; that’ll give us even more time to explore in the Sea of Cortez at the end of our trip.

There are so many ways in which patience is forced upon us as sailors. The small space forces us to be patient in moving around, in accessing stuff. Isolation and close quarters force us to be patient with our family members. Breakdowns, bureaucracy, timing all force us to adjust our expectations. And the weather is the overarching force to make us slow down and be patient.

In other exciting news...that's a mouse hole in our screen. So far, the little bugger has escaped a conventional trap and a glue trap, while enjoying our peanut butter and bread.
In other exciting news…that’s a mouse hole in our screen. So far, the little bugger has escaped a conventional trap and a glue trap, while enjoying our peanut butter and bread.

3 Comments on “Cultivating Patience

  1. Enjoyed your latest post (as always). Winter is slow to arrive here but have enjoyed an extender duck/goose/swan layover. Merry Christmas to you all, and Happy Birthday to T

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