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berkovich boat works

Day 5, Preliminary Expedition: May 19, 2016

May 19, 2016 (Day 5)

I woke to the sound of birdsong this morning. The song of a quail in the desert will always bring a smile to my face. As the sun rose, we were quickly on the move again, wanting to get to Loreto to get the boat fixed. When we arrived at the welding shop the owner told us his welding machine was broken and there was no one in town that could weld stainless steel. So we kept on, driving south and heading for La Paz. Being a big city and a large boating community, we were confident that we could find someone to fix the Zodiac.

Staying true to the film's name, The Devil's Road, we rounded the corner in the middle of the desert to find a dead cow in the roadway. There were car parts strewn all about the lanes and a dozen vultures perched in a nearby tree. We pulled over to film when a trucker passed, then stopped. He backed up, jumped out with a tow strap, and pulled the dead cow out of the roadway. We caught this on camera.

Truck driver pulling cow from roadway.

As we pulled into town and turned onto the Malecon, we rolled down the windows to take in the atmosphere. Every other bump produced a loud bang coming from the trailer. We pulled over to find that the leaf spring on one side of the trailer had partially failed and the axle was banging on the trailer rail. Fortunately we were only four kilometers from the boatyard that could fix it.

We were graciously greeted by Able Pino at Berkovich Boat Works. He agreed to do the work for us and committed to having it done by morning. We were very grateful for his help.

Able Pino of Berkovich Boat Works working his magic to weld the T-top on the Zodiac!

The director stopping to take a few shots of the scenery.

Tonight, we will go out to the point and camp on the beach for the night to prepare for tomorrow’s adventure. Our plan is to launch and visit Isla Espiritu Santo to spend the night. The next day we will head south to Isla Cerralvo.

We keep our fingers crossed that all goes as planned . . .