2 January 2022 – Well a very Feliz Ano to everyone. Since I don’t have an “enye” (the n with the little wave over top of it) on my computer, I have to wish everyone a Happy Butthole in Spanish. My apologies to all of you who read Spanish well enough to be offended.

After riding out a fortnight of rain storms on the dock here in Ensenada, we rang in 2022 by watching the Ole Miss Rebels lose to the Baylor Bears 7-21 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, LA. The game was televised in Spanish here and it was interesting to see American football translated for the Spanish-speaking fans.

And, in a classic case of fixing what ain’t broke, I decided to drain, flush and renew the coolant in our engine per the manufacturer’s recommendations. What happened was A) I could not get the drain hose at the bottom of the engine off the fitting so I could not really drain the engine; B) Jimena and I drained some of the coolant from higher in the engine (and it definitely needed to be changed); C) I mistakenly tried to fill the engine from the top, which of course traps air in the system.

We had planned to leave today, had gotten checked out with the Port Captain and were ready to go. As we made ready I started the engine to let it warm up, and warm up it did. In about 15 minutes the high temperature alarm sounded so I shut the engine down. It was way hot.

We spent the rest of the day bleeding, cranking, filling and generally trying to get the engine back to health. We also resigned ourselves to staying put here on the dock for another few days until we can get the engine running right. It would be mindless to cast off for the rugged wild west coast of Baja with an engine not up to scratch.

The good news is: none of us has to be anywhere, and no one will be happier than Michin, who mostly hates sailing and does not mind being tied to a dock at all.