Karin wrote
The last week has been filled with some ups and downs, literally! We left Punta Mita on Wed. after a frustating attempt to renew our fishing licenses. We were going to go to Chamela but would have arrived there at night so decided to carry on and go all the way to Tentacatita, thinking that going around Cabo Corrientes at night might be a little easier. Wrong......we got steady north 26 kt winds with gusts to 38 along with 4 to 6 ft breaking chop from the west (not in the forecast). We have now put a wind vane high on our purchase list, hand steering the whole way made for a very tired crew.
Arriving in Tentacatita we were greeted by some very friendly cruisers and enjoyed our first Raft Up with 31 other dinghys!
Sunday we motored over to La Manzanilla and wandered around the charming little town.
Monday morning we set out to Melaque just 14 miles away. Here is where we made our first mistake that led to our biggest mishap yet. Outside of Melaque we decided to continue on and go into the Barre Navidad Marina to get some work done on our main sail. We quickly changed course and without time to put in waypoints we just decided to visual it, as we entered the Barre I was on the radio trying to reach the marina. Joe saw a panga in the center of the channel and turned to go left around him, he got confused as to which way the marina was and with me down below on the radio he had no one looking at markers. I heard him yell for me to come up because we were at 4 ft and then we felt that horrible bump as we went aground.
Some pangas came to help but alas we were stuck hard with a tide going rapidly out. We had no other option than to wait for high tide.
So we spent the afternoon as a channel marker for what seemed an endless parade of fellow cruisers entering Barre de Navidad. Flyin Sideways was now Listing Sideways.
The last week has been filled with some ups and downs, literally! We left Punta Mita on Wed. after a frustating attempt to renew our fishing licenses. We were going to go to Chamela but would have arrived there at night so decided to carry on and go all the way to Tentacatita, thinking that going around Cabo Corrientes at night might be a little easier. Wrong......we got steady north 26 kt winds with gusts to 38 along with 4 to 6 ft breaking chop from the west (not in the forecast). We have now put a wind vane high on our purchase list, hand steering the whole way made for a very tired crew.
Arriving in Tentacatita we were greeted by some very friendly cruisers and enjoyed our first Raft Up with 31 other dinghys!
Sunday we motored over to La Manzanilla and wandered around the charming little town.
Monday morning we set out to Melaque just 14 miles away. Here is where we made our first mistake that led to our biggest mishap yet. Outside of Melaque we decided to continue on and go into the Barre Navidad Marina to get some work done on our main sail. We quickly changed course and without time to put in waypoints we just decided to visual it, as we entered the Barre I was on the radio trying to reach the marina. Joe saw a panga in the center of the channel and turned to go left around him, he got confused as to which way the marina was and with me down below on the radio he had no one looking at markers. I heard him yell for me to come up because we were at 4 ft and then we felt that horrible bump as we went aground.
Some pangas came to help but alas we were stuck hard with a tide going rapidly out. We had no other option than to wait for high tide.
So we spent the afternoon as a channel marker for what seemed an endless parade of fellow cruisers entering Barre de Navidad. Flyin Sideways was now Listing Sideways.
8pm we tried, 8:30 we tried, 9pm we tried and it started to look like the tide was starting to switch back out. We gave up and hoped that maybe the little higher morning tide with some pangas to help would work. 9:15 we decided for one last effort and with a little stress on the engine we broke free. Cautiously we creeped into the marina and were greeted by Kyle and Herman on the powerboat "Pacific Prospector" next door. They fed us rum,steak and kindness, we were sooo grateful.
Oh, and during our stranding Jack fell halfway through the head hatch and Joe had to rescue him. What a day!!!
Hope all's well with the engine.
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