Nancy, Kirk, & I were out before 9 am, to the field behind the beach a mile or two north of the RV Park. The 2 metre electric Radian worked like a charm, and I spent a half hour or so, cruising up and down the beach at a few hundred feet of elevation. Even this early in the day, the air that the Frigates made look so effortless and smooth turned out to be pretty active and turbulent. I put it down to their higher wing-loading (couldn't be pilot skill, could it?). The landing was uneventful, as was the retrieval from the meadow (none of the Coral Snakes nor fleas that Nancy was anticipating)
Cruising by for a photo
On final (you may have to zoom in, the Radian is just to the left of the picture centre)
Ocean out front - Jaltemba Bay
Mountains behind
The Bigfoot house batteries cutoff switch is used to isolate (shut off) the batteries for storage, or to prevent them from being over-charged when plugged into shore power for extended periods (like now). I hit the store button, but the LED remained illuminated. Reading the manual (something to which most men will not admit) said that the LED may remain illuminated if there was another source of 12 volt power. We unplugged from shore power, LED went off, meaning the batteries were in fact, isolated (not being continuously charged), and we plugged back in, well satisfied.
The second learning experience of the day concerned propane (or butane/propane mixture here in Mx). Last night when Nancy was cooking, I noticed that the stove burner flame had a large component of feathery orange, and not the usual light blue. I was concerned that we were low on propane and checked the monitor, which indicated 1/2 full tank. This did not make a lot of sense since we left Manitoba with our 90 pound house tank full, had used the furnace/stove sparingly, and the fridge should have been running on electrical when we are plugged into shore power. Well, the fridge was on auto, and trying to maintain the interior cool temperature in an environment of 42 C humidex may have resulted in the fridge switching to more efficient propane. Quien sabe? So we asked the go-to guy in the Park, Antonio, to have the propane truck stop by to refill our tanks. It didn't take much to fill, either 17 litres (in which case it was fairly expensive) or 17 gallon (in which case it was quite cheap) I will find out in the morning when I get the recibo translated..... Either way, we were a long way from out.
I noticed "our" Mango tree puts out new leaves in purple, then once they are full-sized and functioning, they turn the more usual green. This is the opposite of purple leaved ornamentals at home, which produce new leaves in green, which turn purple as they mature.
We took the advice of TTK (Those That Know) and left our La Peñita shopping until 3:30 pm. today. Mornings are hectic, they said, no parking; try later afternoon. Worked like a charm. Centro was much more laid back and parking was abundant. Cash, groceries, and rum were acquired painlessly. (This advice does not hold when shopping for fish, or things in short supply).
We bought some rib eye steaks for dinner 76 pesos, hmmm, they were ok but a little tough. TTK later told us we need to ask for Sonora beef which is about twice the cost but more like home. Live and learn (in Mexico). One new bird today Mexican parrotlets.
This little fellow (above) has decided the flies at the feeder also make it a gecko feeder.
Gecko stretched out along stick nearly invisible.
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