Well, I made my decision. I'm going to leave the boat at Marina Puerto Azul and deal with what comes after my 90-day import permit expires later. I visited the marina today to let them know and make arrangements to move Intermezzo their tomorrow. I received some encouraging news from the marina manager that Customs is likely to take a liberal view with regards to the need to extend Intermezzo's stay beyond the 90-days for "mechanical repairs and maintenance if I pay them $125 per month. I'm going to go down that path, but definitely have a backup plan.
Puerto Azul is a very nice marina/hotel property. The dockage fee of $773 per month is pretty high for me, but much less than comparable marinas in Costa Rica and only about $160 per month higher than here at Costa Rica Yacht Club or Marina Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua. What's really great is that Puerto Azul will wash the boat every week, clean the bottom and props twice a month and run the engines and air out the boat every two weeks, all included in the dockage fees. They say they will even wax and polish the boat just before I return. They are also helping with topping up the diesel tanks, getting some canvas hatch covers made for me and arranging for a haul out and bottom painting when I get back. While I'm here, I'll have good wifi at the dock and have the run of the hotel facilities, pool, gym, etc. The marina manager and his staff seem great and most speak good English. That makes the dockage fee a good value, in my mind.
This morning I laid out a plan for getting the boat ready so that I can head back home. I'm attacking it in four phases: Exterior Cleaning, Engines/Mechanical Systems, Interior Cleaning, Packing & Organizing. Based on very modest productivity due to the sweltering heat, I think I can get everything done to fly back home on June 1. I'm going to make air reservations tomorrow to give myself a hard deadline.
Today I finished installing vents on the four deck hatches which will allow some ventilation below when the hatches are closed, but will keep rain out. The acrylic plastic dust from the hole saw and drill is horrible stuff. I spent more time cleaning the decks of the nasty stuff than I did installing the hatches. I also started waxing the topsides to provide some protection from the sun while I'm gone, putting a coat of good wax on top of the fine polishing job Juanito did for me in Nuevo Vallarta back in January, which has held up very well.
Tomorrow Intermezzo moves to her summer home at Puerto Azul and I continue washing and waxing, plus make my flight reservations. It will be 15 days and counting until departure.
