San Carlos at last

A short history…..Jim retired to San Carlos about 6 years ago. He bought a sailboat, Abigail, and lived aboard in the Marina for several years.....on C dock. He began to ask around for a mooring in the bay, as it was quieter and less expensive. He was offered a mooring if he would caretake a house on the Caricol, a peninsula that forms a side of the bay. Eventually the house sold and he went with it, living in an apartment on the ground floor. I met Jim in 2008 when my brother and I went to San Carlos on vacation. I had been to San Carlos before with my Mom, as she had a time share there. It is one of my favorite places. Steve and I wanted to learn to scuba dive. Jim was our instructor. In July of last year, Jim invited me down to go diving……and the rest you know!

We drove to San Carlos the 1^st of March. It is about an 8 hour drive south of Phoenix. We did not know what to expect at the border as Jim had never crossed with a motorhome, towing a jeep. We had no problems and it was an uneventful trip until we had a blowout on a rear tire. As there is no AAA in Mexico, we limped along until we came to a llantera (tire store, pronounced yantara) which was just a lean-to on the side of the road and a huge pile of used tires. The mechanic kept his tools in the trunk of his car. Unfortunately, he did not have a tire iron that would work, much less a jack. We kept going, at 15 miles per hour, praying that the other tire would hold. We finally came across a “Green Angel” eating dinner at a roadside café. The “Green Angels” are mechanics in green pickups that patrol the highways of Mexico to help motorists. Their services are free, but as he had a huge jack and a breaker bar and fixed us up in no time, we gave him a generous tip.

As a result, our trip was a lot longer than planned. We had a magnificent sunset to keep us company on the final leg into town. We finally arrived in San Carlos after dark and had to negotiate the detours through town due to damage to the roads from hurricane Jimena last fall. (As some of you know, Jimena stalled over the Sonoran coast, dumping over 40” of rain in 36 hours. The main road in San Carlos was washed out in 2 places where the bridges collapsed. There was also a lot of damage in the boat yard where Jim’s boat is stored when flash floods surged through the yard, to heights of over 8 feet. Many boats were swept out across the highway to the beach. It was a devastating storm, resulting in over 40,000 families losing their homes, mostly in the poorest sections of Guaymas. We had been assured that Jim’s boat, Abigail, was undamaged, but we were anxious to see for ourselves.)
(Youtube video and photos of Jimena, there are more on youtube if you are interested) 

We parked in an RV park called El Mirador, which overlooks Marina Real and the west coast of San Carlos. We soon decided to look for another place, however as the facilities were not in that great of shape, it was very windy with no shade and very expensive.

The day after we arrived we went to the marina to see who of Jim’s old friends were in residence and to introduce me around. We found out by chance that a small private RV park happened to have a recent vacancy. We were able to move in there and were so pleased with it. Jose and Socorro have a beautiful house out in the “Ranchitos” which is an area on the north side of town, in the desert, next to the mountains. They have 4 full RV hookups with concrete pads. There is a compound all around the property with bougainvillea & oleander hedges, orange & ficus trees and roses. We had free use of the washing machine, although I had to use a clothesline for the first time in 25 years! It was very affordable and comfy and only 2 houses down from our church. Lots of places to ride our bikes, close to town but out in the country.

We went to inspect Abigail as soon as we could, and she survived with only minimal damage. As we had gotten to San Carlos in March and would be leaving the end of May we decided to postpone any work on the boat until the fall. (San Carlos scenes) That left us with plenty of free time to go diving……