December 30-31, 2008
Along the way, a whale decides to show off nearby by breaching and causing a huge splash as it came down. We try to get closer for a picture but it descends and disappears. We see it further north heading away from us and give up our chase. This turns out to be typical we find, as each time we see any whale sign, by the time we get over to the area, the whale is gone. Ballandra Bay is pristine. Tourists mill about the beach and children play in the protected bay waters. One nice thing is that La Paz is labeling itself the eco-tourist area of Baja, so it is free of jet ski rentals and the like. So it is peaceful and quiet and we are loving our time here. The following day we rise early to travel south to our next anchorage, Ensenada de los Muertos. This is a stop we passed on our way north and heard good things about it from other cruisers while in La Paz. It is a 45 mile trip and the wind decides to help us out by filling in from the north to bring us down the coast. We arrive to find a rather large beach anchorage, much larger than it appears on the chart. We drop the hook in 24 feet among the five other boats already here. The area is comprised of some luxury homes and a restaurant, resort and golf course. I was amazed at the sight of a fairway as seen from Savannah. All that grass! Hard to describe what I was feeling. It was just weird seeing the expanse of green contrasting with the desert tans and browns that I have grown accustom to viewing.
Shortly after dropping anchor, someone came by in a kayak and reminded us that it was New Years Eve. There was going to be a party held at the restaurant at 8 that evening. Hmm. Maybe we would go. By 8:30 we could hear the band starting up. A kinda latin/country/early rock and pop mix. At 9:00, during a particularly horrendous version of 4 Non-Blondes "What's going on?", we shut the boat up, toasted ourselves and hit the sack. At midnight we awoke to some small time fireworks. We sat out and watched the show before retiring back to bed. All in all, wasn't too bad a New Years as far as we were concerned. Hope you all had a good time with yours.
January 1-4, 2009 30 miles south of us was Arena point, an anchorage we stopped at on the way northward. It is close to being the most easterly point along the Baja coastline and is our planned jump off spot for crossing over to mainland Mexico. All it is really comprised of is a sandy bluff no more than 15 feet high that extends to an eastward point. One neat thing about it is that if the winds are coming from the south, you can anchor on the north side, and if the winds are coming from the north, you then anchor on the south side. Which is exactly what happened to us, so this time we anchored on the southern side of the point. We spent the night and the following day relaxing at Arena, anticipating our crossing to Mazatlan. It is going to be our biggest crossing so far on this trip, a distance of 170 miles from coastline to coastline. We have chosen to make the 35 hour crossing with a predicted wind of 6-8 knots from the northwest. That amount of wind won't really help us get there any faster, but it won't generate any wind waves to beat us up during the long passage. As it turns out, the wind came from every direction at some point during the passage. Never enough to let us fully sail, but also not enough to hinder us in getting to our destination. We kept the main up the entire time and rolled out the headsail when conditions permitted. But we had to keep the motor going the entire journey. We sighted the mainland mountains by 9 am on the second day of our passage to Mazatlan. By 2 that afternoon we passed Mazatlan's lighthouse and entered the anchorage located on the south side of town. The anchorage seems and is small for a city of Mazatlan's size. It is also polluted with a brown scum layer at the breakwater entrance and rusty oil filters floating in the harbor water. Yuck. We slide into the middle of the boats already there and drop hook in 20 feet of water. Being in the middle of the anchored boats I feel will give us some security in the city. This is a decision that will end up costing us later.
At 570 feet, the Mazatlan lighthouse is the highest "natural" lighthouse in the world. It also has a pretty cool cave entrance.
January 5-6, 2009
We catch a bus directly in front of the club heading to the local supermarket. It is quite a distance from the anchorage and it gives us a chance to pass though the central district of Mazatlan. It is soon apparent by the zigzag route the bus is taking that Mazatlan has had very little urban planning. At least around the waterfront area. But now we are heading north along a one way street and seeing much of the business area of town. We arrive at the supermarket and restock on a few of our supplies. We really weren't prepared to go grocery shopping today, but it seemed like a good place to start to check out Mazatlan. The city itself disappoints, with heavy traffic and pollution. Maybe the newer area to the north end of town, with its beachside hotels and restaurants, is different. However, the central area leaves much to be desired from our standpoint. As I am sure you are beginning to tell, we are not enjoying Mazatlan all that much. But we will stay a few days to reprovision and explore a bit more.
The following day we head back out and visit the historic Catholic Church in the center of town. It is located on the north side of the city plaza and the area is full of activity from visiting tourist and locals. The Cathedral is beautiful and we enter with a bit of awe. As we proceed around the perimeter to a side door a security guard reminds me to remove my hat. Whoops. "Pardon, pardon", I say. "No problem" and he gives me a friendly smile. A bit embarrassed we duck out the side door back into the plaza area.
Three Kings Day (January 6th) is the gift exchange day in Mexico unlike Christmas day in the states. This holiday bread (a kind of fruitcake), called Rosca de Reyes, was stacked up in bread stores everywere we went. It seemed everyone on the street was holding one. When I asked what holiday the bread was for, the store clerks looked at me like I had lived in a cave my whole life.
Later that night, back on the boat, disaster strikes. Just before midnight the wind kicks up and I awake to hear voices close to the boat. We go out to find that we have dragged anchor with the high winds and are right next to a boat that we had previously been 50 feet ahead of in the anchorage. We start the motor and begin to raise the anchor when a strong gust blows us back. The stern portion of our boat then swings around and bangs into the front bow rail of the other boat. Thankfully no one was hurt and their boat suffered only some minor damage. Savannah, for some reason didn't get damaged at all. In fact, if I didn't actually see it happen, I would never believe that our boat could have done the damage to the other. We re-anchor and radio Matsu, the other boat. We apologize as profusely and sincerely as we can and tell them that we will do whatever we can do to help them repair any and all damage. 15 minutes later the wind dies and in the aftermath we find out that two other boats in the anchorage have also drug. The following morning we go over to meet Duncan and Audre aboard Matsu. We give our assurances that we will cover all repair costs and Duncan lets us know how much better he feels, now having met us in person. Audre does as well, saying that she thought we were going to be "runners". A "runner" is someone who is responsible for damages to another boat, but pulls anchor and disappears in the middle of the night. I guess it is a common enough occurrence to have had a slang term attached to it. They then told us that they have been cruising off and on for 16 years, and this is the first time that anyone has hit them. Yikes. Then they laughed about it. I guess that was a good sign. We truly felt just horrible about the whole situation. The fact of the matter is, we have the easy job here of just having to write a check. Duncan and Audre have to deal with all the trouble of getting the repairs done, which is not going to be an easy thing to do in a foreign country. They depart later that day to sail to Puerto Vallarta and we will catch up with them down there. Hopefully they will find a shop to do the repairs and have them completed in a couple weeks when we arrive. The other cruisers in the anchorage were very supportive of us and let us know that we did everything we possibly could to avoid the collision. And sometimes these things just happen. They then tell us thier own story of the time that they dragged. Dragging has definitely shaken my confidence with my anchoring ability. So we discussed the what and the why of that night with some other experienced cruisers, and it turns out that I learned a lot from the discussions and will modify our anchoring technique a bit, especially when it deals with shallow water anchoring. The most important thing I learned is that scope length ratio (anchor depth to chain length) is not a set formula when anchoring. The depth of the water effects how the scope reacts to the anchor. So in real shallow water (12-15 feet) you need a higher scope ratio then when anchoring at a much deeper depth to get the anchor to stay set. It is almost counter intuitive. The deeper the hook, the lower scope ratio you need. The new rule is, no matter how shallow, no less than 100 feet of chain out. And if the wind blows 20 plus knots, dump in another 30 or more feet.
Sunrise in Mazatlan
January 7-8, 2009 We rest up and depart for the city San Blas and the Ensa de Matechen anchorage. This will be a 130 mile passage and the last overnighter for sometime. We depart at noon and get to sail during the afternoon and into the evening. The wind dies out just after midnight and we continue on under power. During the night we get a hitchhiker in the form of a yellow footed Boobie. It remains perched on one of our lower spreader poles (the arms that stick out from the mast) and occasionally flies off and circles the boat to return a few minutes later. This doesn't really bother us, but it is driving Logan nuts as he has become quite obsessed with the Boobie. At daybreak, the Boobie is joined by another and after a few bird decorations on the deck I shoo them away with the halyard line. We arrive at Matechen Bay and find the anchorage completely empty. As we make our approach, we spot a huge whale shark (16-18 feet) floating on the surface. These are the largest fish in the world and somewhat rare. This is made more astonishing when we see another 5 minutes later slowly making it way towards the first. The size of the head alone on these things are enormous spanning 3 feet across. Anyone feel like swimming? We motor into the shallow bay around 2 p.m. and drop our hook into 17 feet of water, making sure to let out plenty of scope. Just before sunset, Max and Sandy, a couple we met in Mazatlan, arrive on Volo. Max built Volo from aluminum in Australia, his third hand built boat. They have been cruising for more than 29 years, the last 5 on Volo.
January 9, 2009
We wait for the bus while a slightly deranged, but very friendly older man comes up to us and proceeds to tell us his life story. It was a nice way to pass the time while waiting. He moved off after 15 minutes and we continued to wait. And wait. After an hour, we talked to an English speaking customer purchasing pan. She said that we could flag a taxi heading back into town and it would only be 10 pesos per person. Buses cost 6 to 8 p.p. so 10 was a fair fare. 15 minutes later our taxi drops us off at the plaza in the center of town. The city of San Blas has a rich history as a seaport town. It was established in the early 1700's and all of the Spanish pacific exploration ships were constructed and crewed from San Blas. An old Spanish fort lies in ruins under the lighthouse and a re-creation has been constructed on a bluff overlooking the town next the historic church, also undergoing some limited restoration.
Tom and Shirley are a Canadian couple cruising for the season before they bring Rio Nimpkish back up the states for summer. One thing they lack is the typical Canadian accent that we have encountered with others we have met from Canada. So I am a bit suspicious and will keep my eye on them. Just kidding. If you listen closely, every once in a while when Shirley speaks she will slip in an "aye" and a "yeah" at the end. So maybe they really are Canadian after all.
January 11, 2009 We had a great time today on the jungle ride and the swim at the end was fabulous. I cannot say it enough, swimming in fresh water is one of the greatest luxuries in the world. During the ride we saw dozens of different bird species and also turtles, iguanas, wild crocodiles, tree crabs and huge termite nests.
Jodie will post more pics from the jungle ride on Picassa
We end the day by hiking to the church ruins and the recreated fort. The view of the city from the fort was impressive. The city is quite large in contrast to the small town feel you get when walking around the plaza.
The only downside to the town is the bugs. The abundant freshwater means that there are many mosquitoes and no-see-ums flying around everywhere. And they like fresh meat for they don't seem to bothering the locals as much as us. Despite screens and using bug spray, we are covered in bites. Maybe we didn't use or reapply frequently enough? I am considering getting a mosquito net to drape around the bed if we continue to encounter these conditions elsewhere. Also, we have read about a liquid coating that you can apply to your hatch screens to repel the no-see-ums that want to crawl through to feed. (No-see-um can be seen, however they are extremely small. About a quarter the size of a fruit gnat). Little buggers. One great thing is that we are finally in the tropics. Everywhere you look is green and covered in growth. This is a nice break from the endless sand and rock we have seen for such a long time. I know in a year it will be the exact opposite and we will be sick of the color green. But for now it is a nice change of scenery.
January 13, 2009 Time to go. We have had our fill of bug bites and are heading to Chacala, 20 miles south. We are the third boat leaving the anchorage today, all heading for Chacala. Rio Nimpkish left about an hour ago and Volo has just pulled up anchor. We fall in behind Volo, trailing about 3 miles back. The wind is a steady 10-12 knots from the northwest and we are able to sail the entire trip to Chacala. Chacala is a small resort town nestled in a slight indentation along the coastline that can provide us with the needed protection to anchor. Chacala will be just a pit stop for us on our way to La Cruz. We will get some laundry done and snorkel a little. We haven't gone swimming in a long time due to the poor water conditions. Also, I haven't cleaned the hull for several weeks. I hope it won't be in too bad of shape.
January 14, 2009 Well I dove the boat today. Barnacles everywhere. Really bad the first two feet down, then they taper off. I don't really know what a barnacle is, just that they live inside a hard pyramid shaped cone that will cut you like a cheese shredder if you're not careful when scraping them off. I managed to clean half of the hull today, but was too tired to do the other side. They come off easy enough using a plastic scraper. I then follow with a green scotch pad. The prop and shaft are going to be a bit tougher. Without the bottom paint under them, they don't want to come off easily. I went at them with a metal brush, but didn't really seem to make much headway. I am going to try a metal putty knife tomorrow. After I get the hull clean we will depart for Point Mita, a 35 mile trek. It should take us around 7 hours to get there if all goes well. Then a short 10 mile trip La Cruz where we'll meet up with Matsu. It will be good to get that business settled. I really won't be able to enjoy our adventure fully until the repair work has been completed and we have settled up with Matsu.
January 15, 2009 We decided to stay another day in Chacala so I could finish cleaning the bottom of the boat. I switched to a small piece of plywood for a scraper and it worked quite well. The larger size gave me some extra room for my fingers and I was able to avoid cutting them further. The prop shaft came clean as well. I just used the backside of the metal brush (it's a stainless BBQ style brush) and scraped/knocked them off. Then I used the metal brush to get the remnants off.
January 16, 2009 We
depart Chacala with a faint tailwind breeze. Not enough to sail
by, but at least it is not on the nose. One thing I haven't
mentioned is the electronic chart issue that has cropped up.
Since San Blas, our position on the chart has been off as much as 1.5
miles to the west and a half a mile to the south. Back in the
1600's, when they used sextants to locate themselves and draw their
charts, they were a little off sometimes. Well, 400
years later, with the good ol' space age and satellites telling us
exactly where we are, no one has corrected the charts. Everyone
knows that they are wrong. Sometimes as much as 3 or 4 miles off,
and no one will fix the charts. It has been 30 years since the
global position satellites have been launched, but the government won't
modify the charts. So the electronic chart manufactures (C-map,
Navionics, etc.), fearing lawsuits, just scan in the government issued
charts. Back to sailing. Well, motor sailing anyway. We have about 35 miles to our next anchorage, so with no wind in the forecast we head out early (about 7:30). Two other boats are leaving Chacala today (Sapphire and Mandy) and heading to Banderas Bay, but there is no sign of activity on either boat as we pull up anchor and head out. Banderas Bay (Bay of Flags) is Mexico's largest natural bay and is home to Puerto Vallarta. We are planning on ducking just inside the northern portion of the bay at Punta Mita. About 20 miles into our trip, I see a long row of two liter soda bottles, spaced at 40 foot intervals, across our path and heading out to sea. Uh oh. I standup to get a good look and, sure enough, I can see under the surface a line strung between each bottle. We have just encountered our first long-line. This is a fishing technique used in Mexico, where one long line, called the main line, has baited hooks attached at intervals on shorter lines that hang down in the water. Hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks can hang from each single line and the main line can be several miles long. You can imagine how much fish can be caught on one of these suckers. The downside is they catch several other unwanted creatures as well, including birds and turtles. Spotting the long-line, I quickly cut the throttle and disengage the transmission. We slowly cross over the net and snag it on our rudder. This could have been disastrous, but I stopped the propeller before it crossed the net and therefore avoided wrapping it around the prop shaft. As it was, the row of bottles formed into a V form behind us as we started to tow the net. Well I guess it was time for Jodie to go swimming. Just kidding. We have a telescoping boat hook that is made just for this sort of event. I extended it to its full 16 foot length and, after a few attempts, slipped the net off the rudder. Away we went, leaving the net behind us. I'm sure the fishermen who put it out were happy we didn't foul it. We decided that we should warn the other two boats heading down to Banderas behind us, so we gave them a call on the radio. Yesterday evening, a sailboat came into Chacala and hauled out a big hunk of netting from under their boat. It was still wrapped around the prop shaft and they threw it back into the water to deal with it the next day. Just after we get the long-line off, we notice that there is a significant wind sign further out to sea, about 2 miles to the west. It was relatively calm around us, but to the west we could see whitecaps on the crests of the waves. So we pointed west and a half an hour later found 15 knot winds blowing south. Woohoo! We stopped the engine and sailed the remaining portion of the southerly leg. Throughout the day, we spot whales breaching almost every hour of our trip south. Sometimes far off in the distance and other times quite close. They are everywhere. When we had reached the northerly point of Banderas Bay we had to make a decision. With the chart discrepancies, we really didn't know our exact location. Even taking compass bearings on land points can only get you so close. Knowing exactly where we were as we entered the bay was extremely important due to some shallow rock hazards that are present just south of the point. When I say "some" hazards I mean three. One was located ¼ mile offshore and was pretty easy to locate due to waves that form directly over the surface. Anything less than 1-2 feet underwater will cause breaking waves. It was the two 5 foot hazards we were worried about, for waves may not be breaking over them. We had two choices - skirt the point at a distance of 3/4 mile to go in between the hazards, or continue south 3-4 miles till we were clear of all the hazards. Continuing south meant we'd have to come back up the same distance once we made it around the rocks. This would have added 6-8 miles (about 90 minutes) to our trip and didn't sound like too much fun, so we decided to risk it. We used the radar to determine our distance to shore and proceeded with caution. As we made our way east we discovered a buoy placed in the ocean. This buoy was not shown on any of our charts and we didn't know if it was identifying a hazard or marking a route. We looked to the far side of the point to see if there was another buoy. That would be strong evidence that the buoy provided a route that ships could sail a direct course between the two buoys. But we could not locate another buoy. So we continued on, going slowly and keeping one eye on the depth sounder and the other on the radar. Soon, large fishing vessels flanked and slowly passed us on the port and starboard sides. The fact that they were using the same route as us gave us some reassurance. Also, that they dropped their boat speed considerably (fishing boats like to pass by you as fast as possible, they like to see the mast swing side to side in the wake, j.m.h.o.) in this stretch of water let us know that there were definitely dangers present. We make it through unscathed, along with the power boats that go screaming off. Peter, from Sapphire (one of the boats from Chacala), radios us and asks us our present location. Turns out that he is 4 miles behind us and saw us cut the point. He has to decide whether to make the same decision and wants to know how we did it. So we relay the information "“ turn at the buoy, head 140 degrees magnetic, use your radar, etc., etc. He decides to cut the point as well following our method and also makes it through without any problems. Since we found favorable winds that blew us down the coast and having cut the point, we find that we have plenty of time to bypass Punta Mita and head straight to the La Cruz de Huanacaxtle anchorage. It is only another ten miles and we arrive well before nightfall. Just as we are dropping the anchor, Max and Sandy from Volo arrive in their dingy along side us. They had left Chacala two days ago and stayed at Punta Mita, arriving at La Cruz just a few hours before us. They tell us of a South Pacific cruisers meeting about to take place at the La Cruz yacht club. "They're going to talk about all sorts of important stuff that you'll need to know when you get ready to make that crossing next year. Can't miss it." Ahh, heck. We're tired. And need a shower. Ok, we'll be there. But after we take showers. Showered up, we drop the dingy in the water and head into the marina. When we arrive at the meeting, we find we missed the whole thing. See there are two time zones here in Banderas Bay. Puerto Vallarta (or Jalisco) time, which is equivalent to the Central time zone, and La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (or Nayarit) time, which is equivalent to the Mountain time zone (Jalisco and Nayarit are different states in Mexico, separated by a river that flows into the center of Banderas Bay). So we find out the hard way (as did Max and Sandy) that cruisers are on Jalisco time even if they are located in Huanacaxtle. It is all very confusing, especially after a 9 hour sail and doubly if you don't know what a Jalisco or a Huanacaxtle (whowanna-what???) even is or are. We gotta go to sleep. Which we did, after getting roped into having some beers with some fellow travelers. Hey there are Merle and Allison, the Canadians with two boys we met during our shakedown summer. And Dave and Marilee from Tamara who we met while in Ensenada. And there is that kinda crazy dude that we met in Ensenada as well. And lastly, here were Duncan and Audre from Matsu. Bet they never really thought we would show up and make good on our promise to pay for repairs. So a couple quick ones and back to Savannah. Ahh. Sleep.
January 17, 2009 Today we rested up and did a little laundry. Jodie has insisted that we take our bath towels into a launderia to have them washed and dried. It isn't the washing part of the towels she has a problem with, it's the way they turn to cardboard by line drying them. You would think the way they flap around outside in the breeze that they would be pretty darn soft. As I feel the towels I can see she has a point. They are not very fluffy or soft. So if we can find an affordable service we will use them for the towels. We head over to Matsu that evening to discuss how the repair is going with Duncan and Ausdre. The bowsprit is supposed to be done by tomorrow and delivered by the end of the day. Of course it will not really be done, but that is the story they have been told. I just hope that the quality of workmanship is high, whenever it gets here. Duncan and Audre have been around the world plus some, so they are an excellent source of information and we chat with them about our plans. Of course we have to take some of their advice with a grain of salt. Their experiences will not be ours, as things change constantly. Places that were dangerous when they were there are now generally safe due to the ever increasing emphasis on tourism. But it is not worth trying to explain that to them (more than once) so we tell them that we are still planning to go places they find "just not worth it" due to danger. This is a trend that we have found in older cruisers, not just Duncan and Audre. They try and avoid places that have a history of violence. Of course, the history is that once, three/five/ten years ago, someone got hurt/robbed/killed, so don't ever go there. Well to us, the most dangerous thing we used to do was get on the freeway in our car, and we made ourselves do that nearly everyday. So life is full of risk. And reward. But you have got to take the risk. I mean just look at what we are doing now. This whole adventure is risky business. Anyway, we have a good time with them and stay way too late. There is just a hint of wind and no swell as we make our way in the dingy back to Savannah. It is always nice to get back to the boat without getting your bottom wet.
January 18, 2009 The refrigerator is getting pretty empty so it is time to reprovision. We've found out that there is a supermarket named "Mega" just outside of La Cruz towards Puerto Vallarta. We head over to Merle and Alison's to get the lowdown on the local bus route and fares. It is always better to know before hand what the fare is supposed to be so the driver can't "accidentally" charge you more. Each bus here is individually owed and operated under license, so you never know if you are going to get an honest driver or not. It is also best to have the exact amount of fare as you are not likely going to receive change back from the driver. Alison says that she needs to go shopping as well so we invite her to go along with us. She quickly accepts and jumps into the dingy and we head off to the marina dingy dock. The marina is nearly new (open just over a year) and is bending over backwards to provide the cruisers excellent customer service, even if you are anchored out in the bay as we are. We find out that they have a special cruisers rate for all those heading south. At 40 cents a foot per day (less than $20 USD for us), it is the cheapest rate on the planet for temporary berthing. I have been trying to equalize our batteries (I explain this later) and find it is nearly impossible to do while at anchor. So we will probably take advantage of the special rate and come in for a few days. The three of us head into town and catch the bus. Our fare is 7 pesos (53 cents) p.p. for the 10 mile or so trip. The first time on the bus in any new town is always a treat. The fifth or sixth time and it gets to be quite a drag. But this is the first time in Banderas Bay and it's a treat to see all the new places. The air is warm and the grassland rolls slowly away from the ocean before climbing and turning into the mountains in the distance. As we near our destination we can see Puerto Vallarta ahead, the high rise hotels and timeshares dotting the beaches. The air is clear and there doesn't seem to be any smog downwind and away from the town center. This is quite a difference from Mazatlan. There the smog was thick and dark. OK. OK. So I didn't like Mazatlan. Get over it, right? Fine. We finish our shopping before Alison so we split a slice of pizza at a deli located inside the store. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I wonder how long before we get to get our hands on some really terrific pizza? Then the best part. We share a soft serve ice cream cone. McDonalds does do a few things right. And an 8 peso cone is right on target. Now that was done, where is Alison? Seems that she is enjoying her shopping time immensely, or maybe it's more the long break from the husband and kids. We hunt her down and she heads to the checkout line. She bought a ton of food. I guess it takes a bunch to feed two kids. Both Jodie and I have to help her and we add onto our load a few of her bags. We make it to the bus stop and down to the marina. By the time we get to the dingy, we are tired and hot. Alison thanks us for helping her and invites us over for dinner to repay us for our labor.
We didn't do much today, a few small boat projects which included defrosting our freezer. As I removed large chunks of ice from it, Jodie decided to put the ice to good use and made some ice cream. We have this soccer ball size ice cream maker that has a central metal container that you put the cream into and surround that with ice. Works perfectly and makes around two cups of ice cream for your effort. Today's flavor was butter pecan. Yum.
January 20, 2009 We decided to venture all the way into Puerto Vallarta today. We were on the hunt for an Asian food store and found out that there isn't one in P.V. But we did locate a specialty store that had an Asian food section and they had what we were looking for - wide rice noodles. Jodie loves to make, and I love to eat, Pad se yew. But it is impossible to find the wide rice noodles that go into the dish. The very thin noodles are everywhere, but the wide noodles have been difficult to locate. Till now. So we bought them out. Ten packages worth. Maybe that will last us till we actually arrive in Asia. We walk around the downtown area and end up at the malecon (boardwalk) area along the beach. There we find some cool sculptures and artists selling their work. One artist did not have the use of his hands and painted solely with the brush in his mouth. He has won several awards and has been featured in magazines. We wander around some more before hoping on the bus for the 30 minute ride back to La Cruz.
January 22, 2009 As expected, Duncan and Audre's bow pulpit never showed up on Saturday. So today (Thursday) we decide to join them and head over to the shop where the work was being performed. As we board the bus I hand the bus driver a 100 peso bill and he gives me the change and puts two bus stubs in my hand. As I sit down, I count my change, and sure enough, he short changed me 22 pesos. This is what I meant earlier about having the exact change. He knows we are not locals and is trying to take advantage of us. I know if I go up there, it's not going to be pretty. Jodie will have nothing of it though and approaches the driver at the next stop. She holds out the change he gave me. "We gave you ciento (100). You owe us bente dos mas (22 more)". He just gives her a "huh?" look. "Bente dos mas". Jodie insists. He then reaches down and gives her the additional change. She returns the hero and everyone including the locals on the bus, are all smiles. When we arrive at the welders shop it turns out that there is some kind of holdup with a third party service vendor. It appears they had to send the pipe to Guadalajara to be bent to the proper radius. So it should be back to P.V. in a day or two. Thank goodness Audre can speak some limited Spanish or we would have never figured out what the problem was. Next on our to-do list was to try and find a much larger anchor for Savannah. We currently have a 65 pound anchor and by all the sizing charts it is adequate for our boat size. But we thought, given what happen in Mazatlan, we would try to get a really big anchor. Our same brand of anchor comes in an 88 pound model and there is a different brand that has a 110 pound anchor. The 110 pound one would definitely be overkill, but we might sleep pretty soundly knowing that bad boy was sitting on the end of our chain. We headed to the largest (and only) marine supply store in P.V., Zaragosa's. They didn't have not one decent anchor, I mean they did have some anchors in stock, but they were Danforth anchors, the worst kind of anchor that is made. 30 or 40 years ago it was the anchor to have, but things have come a long way since then. I guess that means we will be sticking with our 65 pound anchor for a bit longer. We will keep our eyes open and continue to hunt for one on the radio nets and in towns as we head south.
January 23, 2009 We decide to take advantage of the low rates being offered in the marina and head into a slip for a couple of days. Most import thing that needs to happen while we are here is to equalize the batteries. Here is a quick description of our house battery system. We have a total of four, 6 volt batteries. Each battery has a total of 370 amp hour capacity. We combine two of the batteries together in series (via battery cables) to create "one" 12 volt battery. This "one" battery now has 370 amp hours at 12 volts. Since we also combine the remaining two batteries, we end up with two battery banks, with a total of 740 amp hour capacity. These batteries are referred to as house batteries. We generally consume 120 amp hours per day, the majority of which is replaced by our solar panels each day. The process of draining and recharging the batteries causes sulfur to slowly coat the plates inside the batteries. A build up of this sulfur reduces the batteries ability to hold a charge. The only way to remove the sulfur coating is to overcharge the batteries. This must be done in a controlled manor to avoid damaging the batteries. This process is called equalization of the cells. This over charging is what I have been having difficulty achieving at anchor. It takes a significant amount of time to slowly bring the battery voltage from 13 to 15 volts. During this time we would have to have the generator running to power our 110 volt charger which handles the equalization process. Being in the marina and connected to shore power will provide us the opportunity to equalize the batteries without having to run the generator for hours and hours. I say again and again, the hardest thing about a sail boat is getting her in and out of a slip. And after being in the wide open ocean since the end of October, the channel leading into the harbor looks so narrow. We make it in just fine of course and tie Savannah to the dock cleats. We are just a few slips down from Matsu and the bowsprit should be here tomorrow. It will be so nice to get it installed and put this behind us. Both Duncan and Audre has been very nice about the whole thing and Duncan likes to joke about it each chance he gets, which I think is a good sign.
January 24, 2009 This morning the completed bowsprit arrived. We quickly set about reinstalling it aboard Matsu. With all 4 of us to lift and pull and whatnot, it went together pretty fast. The finished work was acceptable but not great. I knew that the workmanship would leave a little to be desired and Duncan was hoping for the best and expecting the worst. I think in the end Duncan was just happy to get it back and reinstalled. I started to equalize the batteries today. That entails pushing a recessed button and monitoring the specific gravity of each cell in the batteries with a meter. The battery charger will equalize for a maximum of 5 hours and then resume normal operation. Well I had never done this before and didn't know what to expect with the whole process. After 2 hours the batteries seemed to stay at 13.5 volts and remain there for the remaining 3 hours, never increasing. Was this right? The manual was no help at all (which is why I never read manuals). We will try again tomorrow and see what happens.
We are heading into the town of Bucerias today. Every year in January, there is a festival celebrating Our Lady of Peace (La Virgen de la Paz) who is the patron of the local Catholic Church. The fiesta lasts for nine days, during which the streets fill up with vendors of everything under the sun as well as scores of carnival rides and games. Today the panga fleet decorates their boats with balloons and has a parade, ending with landing the pangas on the shore. Tonight is the finale with a large festival and the lighting of the Castillo (Castle) - a three story tower filled with fireworks. The Bucerias plaza is filled with locals and families. Three different mariachi bands, all within 50 feet of each other, are all performing at the same time. It's like a battle of the bands, shotgun style. Things get even more loud and hectic when they start up the dancestage and begin to play prerecorded music in that area. Quite festive, but not out of control at all. Everyone is having a good time and we are greeted by locals shouting "Peace and love!". Two things I'm quite in favor of. There are also carney style games with interesting prizes. A marble game, where if you score the right amount of points, you win a boom box or a cd player. Or throw the dart and pop a balloon and you win a can of ice cold cervesa. Pop three in a row and you win a whole six pack! There is even a bowl of limons (limes) for your cervesa. My kinda games and you can guess which one I tried my luck at. Limon por favor.
January 26, 2009 Yesterday we continued with the equalization of the batteries. This time they went up to 13.7 volts before resting at 13.5 volts. I kept checking the specific gravity (you are going to have to look this term up) and it was improving slowly. I guess we were making headway. Around noon I started to feel a little tired and by 12:30 I felt like I had to go lay down. Jodie took my temperature and it was 99.4. By 2:00 it was 100. It finally topped out at 101.45 at 5 that afternoon. By the following morning I was fine. Never physically sick, just the temperature. We come to find out that a lot of others are having the same fever and that it is typically lasting for 2 to 3 days.
January 27, 2009 I finished up with the batteries and making some solar panel supports that had gotten lost along the trip. I modified the design to allow placing a cotter pin in the base of the support to engage the pole. Hopefully no more lost supports poles. It was time to head back to the anchorage. It feels good to get out of the marina. Life is just different there. It's a little bit exhausting, for you try to get so much done while in the marina. We leave in the late afternoon and settle back out in the anchorage, just outside the marina enterance.
January 30, 2009 Yesterday we did a provision shopping trip. We will need to make one more run to the store before we leave Banderas Bay. We've really enjoyed La Cruz and P.V., but it feels like we have stayed a little too long here. We had to make sure Matsu was all repaired before heading out, so now it feels like we can leave with a clear conscience. While doing some miscellaneous boat chores, we hear on the radio that there are whales nearby the anchorage. We come out and see six whales a hundred yards out. We jump in the dingy and head over to them. We spend the next half hour cruising with the whales. It was awesome. They would split up and then regroup in twos and threes. We would try to get close but not too close. Then they would change directions underwater and move away. Once, one headed right for us, popping out of the water 20-30 feet away. It was a challenge to keep away from him for they can swim quite fast. It was only slightly terrifying in our tiny dingy. The whales had been moving deeper into the bay heading east for a bit, then they turned around and started to make their way back out. Two ended up passing right through the anchorage. We took a short video of them here. We plan on stopping at two small anchorages located on the south side of Banderas Bay before departing for points further south. One has an excellent snorkeling area and the other has some waterfalls inland that you can hike to and swim in the pools below. Whether or not we return to La Cruz has yet to be determined. It seems that we do more fun activities when away from the larger cities. But it is going to be hard to beat the dingy ride with the whales. What an experience.
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We
wake up and are ready to go exploring. We tie up the dingy at the
local yacht club and pay a small fee for the dock usage. We have
accepted this fee as it does provide some security for your dingy while
you are away. Anyone can take your dingy at any time. Even
if you lock it. It is nearly impossible to secure your
dingy. Think of choosing between leaving your car at the curb or
with a garage attendant. But here is the kicker, with the keys
left in it. Some even go as far as messing up their own dingy,
making it ugly, to try to make it less attractive to steal. So we
pay a couple bucks for some peace of mind.
