Settling in to Bahia del Sol

After clearing Customs and Immigration we stayed at the outer hotel dock for a few hours tidying up and washing the considerable salt off EV, which always immediately improves the quality of life aboard after a passage. We were just about to take a nap when a knock on the hull sent us outside again to find the Agricultural Inspector wanting to inspect our agriculture. This is the only time besides the Galapagos that anyone looked in our fridge and freezer.

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This very friendly guy looked at all our produce — and there’s not much because we’re leaving and I’m clearing out — making comments in Spanish that I didn’t understand and turning up his nose at a couple of tomato ends in a Ziploc bag that had fallen down the rabbit hole. I tossed them in the trash while the inspector pointed at the edge of the lid frame where the gasket gathers crumbs and such and told me I should clean that. How embarrassing! I grabbed a kitchen sponge and wiped the rim. To be helpful the inspector held the lid up, but not knowing how the lift spring works he let it go at the wrong time and the heavy lid clocked me so hard I saw stars. We’ve been here before. I smiled through the swirling constellation trying to focus again and reassured him that I was not permanently damaged.

Then he pointed to the freezer. Ahh, good. That lid has a gas lift. I opened it up and he picked up each FoodSaver vacuum-packed item and read the dates. Right away he wanted to jettison everything because all the dates had passed and he assumed they had expired. I managed to convey that those were the dates of preparation, not expiration, but he checked them all anyway. When he was done I showed him how to push the lid down, but he kept his hand on the edge and as the lid got to the last few inches it slammed down right on his fingers. Great, we’re two for two on lid drops, and now I was the one who needed reassurance that he was ok.

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We both survived the inspection, thank goodness. And now finally we can move to our new home for the next few months, a mooring just a little way up the estuary. We can see a small settlement on the island and every morning a woman walks along the beach selling bread or something in a big basket on her head and announcing her arrival with a Clarabelle horn. It’s a new wakeup sound to add to the list that includes roosters in St. Thomas, sheep in Grenada, howler monkeys in Panama, sea lions in the Galapagos and scarlet macaws in Costa Rica. Sure beats traffic.

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1 Comment

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One Response to Settling in to Bahia del Sol

  1. Glad you are off the seas and in a friendly place. Hope EV sailed great!
    We are holding in Madeira for another week to allow bad wx to move thru. We have liked the Madeira bananas better than the Caribbean ones… they seem sweeter but are smaller.

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