SPLASH - Beltane was launched Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m. We anchored just outside the marina to check out her systems in preparation for the season. Living on the boat close to town (and our truck) let us easily transition to boat life. That's more important to me (No.1) than to the seasoned captain. But I got used to finding things to occupy my mornings and afternoons instead of being productive by the hour like I was used to doing in my 9-5 job back in Denver. I spent my time watching other boats, watching pelicans, reading, getting into my new routine, and learning Spanish.
All systems were a go on the boat and Steve said "we need to start our blog. Make it so No. 1." so here we are. We were able to access the Internet and also to call home on Skype in the marina cantina. Steve liked to watch las guapas there.
Provisioning - the way to get propane in San Carlos is to flag down the propane truck. How do you find it? You look for it on the road or at a restaurant, etc. Or you go to the police station and ask if they know where it is. That's what Steve did and the police were very helpful: two got on the phone and one went down the street to ask someone. We had propane in about 20 minutes. Grocery shopping entailed two very large super Walmart type stores where we had to decypher Spanish labels and brands, but we got what we needed.
