The boating world has its own language. Taking a boat out of the water is called 'hauling out', putting the boat on jack stands in a parking lot is considered putting it 'on the hard', and storing your boat on land instead of in the water is called 'dry storage'.

So, there we were, in San Carlos, Mexico.  We chose this location to haul-out because it has a reputation for being a sound hurricane hole and ints conveniently close to the United States.  Arizona lies just 5 hours north.  Proof of the ease of access was the presence of the Tucson Sailing Club.

After 5 weeks traveling in the Sea of Cortez we arrived in San Carlos and began preparing Rhythm to live on the hard in Mexico for the summer.  She spent many a winter on the hard in Washington but that's a different beast.  For Northwesterners, 'winterizing' your boat is no problem, but preparing your boat for summering in the desert is very foreign territory. The marina, and several other cruisers, gave us a checklist of things to do.  Like any marina advice, we took it with a grain of salt.  We read through the list and did what seemed logical and reasonable.  We skipped a bunch of stuff but learned a few things too.

With some hustle, it would be reasonable to do the prep work in less than a week, but since we had 2 weeks, we took our time.  We did some extra stuff like washed the sails, waxed the hull, and varnished. We did the necessary projects like bleached the tanks, put reflective shades in the windows and a big shade over the deck, disposed of ALL the food, removed the lines, and rinsed the sea water from the cooling system. We took some hot afternoons off and went for walks or for a dinghy ride.  We ate at restaurants and spent our last few days at an Airbnb.

We worked with Marina San Carlos and Star Marine and the process seemed secure and reasonably organized.  When it was all done, we drank margaritas, BIG margaritas.  And just when temps in Mexico were getting too hot, we jumped a bus for the United States.