Sometimes it feels like I’m melting. Then I see there’s a heat wave in the US and I think, maybe, just maybe they are hotter than me. Especially when I see that it is 110F somewhere, that’s hot.  It only gets to about 95 or so in Mazatlan. Then I started to look at the heat index. Today for example, it is 95F and 87% humidity in Mazatlan. When I compute the heat index it tells me the outside feels like 143F or 61C. By comparison in Sacramento it was 103F but only 7% humidity that’s a heat index of only about 104F (even if it was up to 40% humidity at 103F that’s only 116F). Maybe we are melting. Last summer in the Bay of LA, Mexico, things were much less humid and those hot days where it was 110F to 120F on land were about 10 degrees cooler on the water and with only 20% - 40% humidity. That sure beats a heat index of 143F.

Sherrell has been in a lot of pain and unable to really move around the boat without hurting herself more. So we’ve temporarily moved into her dad’s house while she recovers. Actually we’ve been here two weeks and I’m surprised they haven’t kicked us out yet. We’ve tried the advice of her doctor for 3 weeks now and it hasn’t been helping at all. Now we’re trying some natural homeopathic products and she’s finally not in pain all the time and things seem to be improving.  We’ve been using them for a week and she’s starting to feel better. With some luck she’ll be able to move back on board the boat soon.

I know a lot of people think we would be more comfortable in a house, but we really aren’t. Our boat has really become our home. We prefer staying in our boat to hotels, condos and other houses.  All of our food, clothes, entertainment, and personal items are there along with all of our memories. No to mention we enjoy living on the water, even if we are stuck in the marina for hurricane season. The main reason we need to be off the boat for Sherrell to heal is because she keeps using her arms too much and hurting herself. You do have to be a bit like a monkey on a boat and climb around a lot. There is also a lot of work we need to do and she’s not quite well enough to start it, but she tries anyway and over-does things.

On the plus side she’s feeling a lot better which lifts both of our moods, however things still aren’t right and we’ll definitely need another trip back to the doctors. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

If you've read our stories about traveling in southern mexico and you'd like to see these places with a virtual tour.

Click on this link where I've created a bird's eye interactive view of these anchorages.

So you might be wondering why we have hooked up an air conditioner. I know we both are, but the reality of being stuck in the hot marina, with little wind and lots of humidity has driven us to it. Ok that, and someone loaned us one for the summer.

We justify it by saying Sherrell really needs the dry air to heal. And it has made a tremendous difference in how fast her skin is closing up. One day of AC has done more for her than a week of just resting in the humidity. She's almost closed back up.

In a weird sort of way, we prided ourselves as being the only ones without AC, but now we're looking at how to insulate around it with some foam we found. What a switch. Anyway, just to record this strange turning point in our lives in hopes that we haven't turned soft. I took a picture of it in the companion way when I first pluged it in and packed some towels and stuff around it to test it.

If you're reading this we can now post our slog updates directly from the boat. How cool is that?

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Hopefully this is the last.  We went to Guadalajara thinking they would just say, “Si,  Eso es una hematoma.  Que lastima.”  But no.  The surgeon didn’t like the looks of things one bit.  So we scheduled surgery for 2 hours later.  They removed the hard “mass” which the doctor described as a cocoon encapsulating blood and fluid.  He was eager to show it to me, but I passed to avoid passing out.

Only 2 days after removing the mass Sherrell felt better than before the surgery.  She didn’t realize how badly it had been bothering her.  The tests came back negative for bacteria and cancer and the doctors best guess is it could be related to a side-effect of radiation (and an old MCTD problem in remission) or the hematoma.  Anyway Sherrell’s doing a lot better and we’ll get our lives back yet.  She’ll have all summer to heal now!

We had a great time surfing with our friends at a beach about 76km north of Mazatlan.  But now we have to go back for some more doctoring.  The hematoma is still bad and the ultrasound showed it was pretty large.  So more fun for Sherrell.

In the meantime, we took a homeless cat (they keep getting dumped at the marina) to the shelter to get fixed.  We have to pick her back up today, but we think we’ve found someone to adopt her.  Now we just need to figure out what to do with the 6 kittens, and 2 other adult cats before they multiply.

Hopefully, things will go well and we’ll be back quickly!

We canÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t seem to shake them. Sherrell returned from Guadalajara after a good scare. The doctor thought her soreness and swelling was a really bad sign, so they did some samples and found no cancer. Then before they cut her open for more tissue, she remembered falling very hard about 2 months ago. They took a closer look and thought maybe the problem was a hematoma. So they numbed her and took about 100ccÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s of trapped blood, to everyoneÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s relief it was just a hematoma. But now sheÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s sore and we have to go back again in 10 days for another exam.

Also they took another look at SherrellÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s gall stone which shows up in the liver ultrasound and recommended getting it treated before it gets inflamed. So, itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s hard to tell what might go down in the next few weeks ahead. Hopefully weÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ll get it all straightened out and Sherrell can stop seeing these characters.

We did get some work down on the boat. I scrubbed out our fuel tank and the bilge. Installed a new fuel hose. Cleaned the boat, again and again. ItÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s getting hotter and more humid.

MexicoÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s already had the first stupid storm of the hurricane season but thatÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s yet another set of problems I donÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t want to think about.

So we are going to try some surfing in a new spot with our friends before they head back to the US for a few weeks. ThereÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s supposed to be a really nice summer wave at this place, Selistinos. WeÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢re going to have a good time there!

Catching some waves at Playa Bruja (Witch Beach) in Mazatlan!

The 130nm leg was a bit of a bummer.  We only were able to sail for about 30 miles, and we beat into it the whole way.  At least we got to sail.  Normally it is a difficult direction along this coast to sail, so Sherrell keeps reminding me that 30 miles of sailing was more than she expected.  Anyway the wind was dead calm most of the night, but the seas were rolly and bumpy.

It took us about 25 hours to get here, which was really quite fast.  We had to wait for the dredge to stop working so we could enter the channel and since it’s only open for 20 minutes, there was a pile up of boats coming out.  To top it off, there were some occasional HUGE waves that were breaking across the entire entrance.   If that wasn’t a challenge enough, we had a 4 boat pile up once we got inside the breakwater.  I had to slam the boat into reverse and turn hard to avoid the chaos from the various boats that weren’t paying any attention.  It was a good thing it happened to us instead of our friends that went in front of us -- because of our small size we were able to maneuver through the mess of boats (not without a bit of a heart attack) without hitting anything.

Anyway we’re here now and tucked in with lots of fresh water and power.  Now to catch-up on some lost sleep!