February
6, 2013
We left
La Cruz on Monday afternoon after depositing Clark and Joan on the Tracy
Ann. Tracy and Craig were catching a
plane at about the same time so the four of them would share a cab. Then we headed out to anchor off Punta Mita,
the site of a luxury resort in the north side of Banderas Bay. It was a lovely evening and quite
peaceful. Miraculously, the autopilot,
which had been giving us an alarm signal for three weeks, worked
beautifully. In fact it seems to be
holding the course better than it ever has.
The may be due to some bolts that Earl found were loose on the rudder
and tightened.
We
started off early the next morning for a 70+ mile run to Isla Isabella,
planning to anchor there and then make the 90 mile run to Mazatlan. Things slowly started going bad. First, Earl’s plug in GPS that he uses on his
ipad navx stopped working. We can’t figure out why, but even though it lights
up, we don’t get a position. (We have
since diagnosed an operator error). The next problem was Furuno instrument
monitor turned itself off, for no particular reason. It has continued this behavior.
Next
was the water maker, It is set to turn off if the tds exceeds the WHO level of
500, and that was where it was at. When
we arrived at a rolly anchorage at Isabella, we had dinner and then went
through the lengthy processes of using a 2 part cleaner. That dropped the tds to the 350 range and we
were making water. We went to bed happy,
planning for an early departure.
Neither
of us slept much. It was terribly rolly
and periodically we would be startled by the sound of a whale spouting right
near the window. At 1:30 am we decided
to get going and Earl went up, made coffee and then started up the
instruments. More problems. First the water maker is no longer working. Secondly, we had no radar, an instrument we
really depend on when running at night.
After initially deciding to wait till morning, we both decided around
2:30 to haul the anchor and go for Mazatlan since we could run out in the open
without the radar, but approaching Mazatlan after dark and blind would be dangerous.
We now
have almost no fresh water. Although
that means I don’t need to do dishes, it is widely inconvenient especially
since the dock water in Mazatlan is not potable. We will need to load it on, gallon by
gallon.
At this
point, it does not look like we will be able to make the run to Loreto to
pickup Stuart and Teri on the 16th.
When we get an Internet connection I will need to change their plane
reservations.
The
good part is that we have had several spectacular whale shows!
Friday,
February 8, 13 – Mazatlan
We
arrived on Wednesday night feeling very limp and pretty quickly tied up, drank
up, ate up and went to bed. We had
enough water to make coffee, but not much more.
After
breakfast, Earl went to work on the water maker. It is not a comfortable job since the water
maker is in the lazaret and he is either on his knees or lying prone. Half way through his work, a 7 gallon bottle
of water was delivered which he siphoned into our water tank. Further work on the water maker resulted in it
draining all the water out of the tank, while still not working.
By this
time, I had noticed several boaters with filters attached to dock hoses,
indicating that the water was being used for drinking. I asked one boater, BJ, who is a retired
chemistry teacher, and he told me that water was safe but full of chlorine and
sediment, so the filters were for removing those. Our neighbor was kind enough to let use his
filters and we now have 120 gallons of water and are feeling rich indeed.
Today,
we are awaiting Victor, the Furuno repairman.
Hopefully he can fix our unit, but even if he can’t, I think we will
take off Saturday morning early for the 40 hour run to La Paz. The weather on Monday night is supposed to go
bad and we need to be ready to pick up Stuart and Teri in Cabo on
Saturday.
Last
week we were on dock 5 that is definitely for transients. This time we are squeezed in on dock 6 where
the long-term residents are to be found.
They are close group and have a ‘safety’ meeting on the dock every
evening starting around 4. We enjoyed
joining them.
April
9, 2013 La Paz
I am
leaving tomorrow for a trip back East for my 50th high school
reunion. Looking at my senior photo, I
wonder if anyone will recognize me now.
Before I go, I promised Earl I would catch up on this blog.
Our
stop in Mazatlan was worthwhile. Victor
was wonderful. He quickly fixed the
radar – turned out it had somehow gotten in the ‘demo’ mode, thus displaying a
totally fake picture. No wonder it did not look like what we knew we should be
seeing.
Victor
also fixed the autopilot. He
reprogrammed the black box and it has worked like a champ ever since.
The water
maker problem was due to the failure of the low-pressure switch which we have
since replaced. After heavy use over 6
years, we will probably need to replace the membranes next year. They don’t last forever and apparently
pickling the system is not good for them.
However, replacement – under $500 – is much less expensive than we
feared.
We left
Mazatlan early in the morning and had one of the nicest days in a long
time. We sat on the front deck and
enjoyed the scenery and sun. Then, when
the sun went down, the wind came up. The
next 24 hours were not pleasant! We
bumped our way west and were happy to finally get into La Paz.
Stuart
and Teri arrived February 16th in Cabo instead of Loreto as we had
originally planned. We drove down to
pick them up and took the opportunity to visit Costco, which is near the airport. It looks just like Costco at home. Beautiful American beef! There was even prime, which we rarely see
anymore – and which looks very fatty compared to our usual fare. They also had wonderful Mexican coffee that
is head and shoulders above what we have found in the supermarkets.
The
kids were ready for a vacation and we were certainly ready for a nice visit
with them. For 10 days we cruised, up to
Loreto and back. Although the weather
going north was not great, the seas were generally fine for running but usually
too windy to fish, although Teri did catch a dorado.
Whenever we were anchored near a nice beach,
the kids would go ashore and do yoga. We
had a good view of Stuart standing on his head while Teri balanced in
extraordinary positions.
We
dodged bad weather coming south from Puerto Escondido. We left in mid afternoon when the winds had
dropped a bit and ran to Aqua Verde. The
next morning, we ran to Isla San Francisco, arriving just shortly before the big
north winds that had been predicted struck.
It was a wild night. Gusts up to
50, but we were snug as could be. At 2
am, we were woken by our vhf radio. A
boat was drifting in the anchorage and since we had our dingy down and a motor,
Earl and Stuart went off to provide assistance.
They found the people on the boat were already awake and struggling to
bring in their anchor by hand. No fun
for them, but we were able to go back to bed feeling noble.
We
spent the last couple of days of their trip in La Paz. They played a round of golf at the Costa Baja
course and enjoyed it. There was wind,
which added a degree of difficulty.
Stuart, Teri and I also visited Ibara, my favorite pottery, and Teri
ordered some bowls that I have picked up and will ship off to her when I am
back in the US.
We
spent the next week doing odd jobs around the boat and looking at Steve Job’s
new yacht, Venus, which was tied up in the marina. It cost $120 million and appropriately is
very futuristic looking. Stuart pointed
out the top has the same profile as the ipad.
It took all the fuel that was available before leaving.
A week
after their departure, our friends Judy and John from La Conner arrived. Unfortunately, John was sick with some crud
that has plagued the La Conner community all winter. He wisely went to bed for a couple of
days. Our good friend John Nielsen
brought him antibiotics. That, tons of
fresh orange juice and rest did the trick and he was back on his feet within a
couple of days. While he was ill, Judy
and I did some touring around La Paz.
She loved the pottery place!
The
weather had finally decided to behave.
We had a lovely cruise north to Puerto Escondido, and finally saw some sea
life. The water was warmer, although we
were not tempted to swim, and the porpoises, mobulas, and whales put in an
appearance.
We have
found many more kayakers this year than ever before. There are organized trips and more and more beaches
that used to be deserted are now covered with tents and people. Sad for us, but no doubt good for the
locals. We were particularly distressed
that Los Gatos had been invaded. The
beautiful red rocks were covered by people and wet suits.
Having
John on board was wonderful. In fact,
once he was feeling well, we were challenged to find odd jobs to occupy
him. He is a fixer! The first thing he did for which I will
always be grateful was to fix the guest room latch. It had never closed easily. As a result everyone always slammed, something
that drove Earl nuts and generated lots of complaints. Now, it closes like a dream! Then he fixed the barrel bolt on the trash
compactor and another on the bridge. He
then mended the blender. His next task
was to fix the slide that we had installed on the salon table that was supposed
to allow us to move the table in an out.
It was warped and not working well.
John studied the situation and suggested a solution that involved
sanding down the glide. He did, and it
worked. We love our table. We were just running out of tasks, when the
generator stopped working. John and Earl
spent most of a day trying to diagnose the problem. Finally a phone call confirmed their
suspicions that it was an electrical problem.
They bypassed the faulty reset switch and we were back in business. John should have lots of time his hands now
that he has finished remodel his house.
Any one with odd jobs in La Conner should give him a call.
Less
you think that John was the only one working, you should know that Judy was
busy cleaning my boat and dishes! They had never been so clean.
When we
arrived at Puerto Escondido, Judy and John got in contact with their friend
Rosemary. She has a beautiful house in
Loreto! Before Judy and John left, we
took a trip up to the mission San Javier.
We had tried several years before to visit this mission, but we turned
back when the pavement ended and there were still 15 miles to go over a road
that was more boulders than gravel. This
time we found to our delight that the whole road was paved. Indeed the last half of the road was much
better going than the first half which is mostly a climb into the
mountains. It was a beautiful trip and
the mission was quite charming. It is
about 300 years old and in excellent condition.
The
generator was still not doing what Earl wanted.
The gauges were indicating that the engine was warmer and the oil
pressure was not as it should be, so we headed right back to La Paz instead of
going north to San Juanico. That trip
will need wait until next fall. Once we
were in La Paz, Emilio and two of his assistants came and spent 2 hours on the
boat, methodically checking every bit of the wiring for the generator. Finally they found that the wiring harness
for temperature and oil pressure data was not making contact as it should. Once diagnosed it was a quick fix, but it was
not something that could have been by one or even two people. Total bill for 6 hours of good electrical
work was $100.
The 'Pavilion',
which I had opposed, has turned out to be wonderful. It took some tweaking to get the canvas just
right, but now we love it. It has made
launching the dingy much quicker and easier, and provides more shade and
unobstructed views from the boat deck.
Earl did well!
