Zihuatenejo- 12/22/2015

Against all superstition, we decided to leave Chiapas to cross the Tehauntec on a Friday. Our first day out was wind off the bow, so we motored all day and through the night. We did get a chance to use "Dave" our newly purchased used autopilot. It took some getting used to.... nobody at the wheel! We did adjust, overall it worked great, but also, left us nothing to do.

The crew at Marina Chiapas.

Jack and Dave got along great!

Arturo at the helm.

Arturo is enjoying the cruise, so far. As the sun rose Saturday morning, the wind increased to about 10 kts, and allowed us to sail for nearly 10 hours. It was the perfect day; we saw dolphins, turtles, and a pod of whales!

Eventually the wind died, so we cranked up the iron sail and headed into the night.
A few hours later and the wind was back, it was close to dark, so I decided on just a headsail, for ease of recovery in the dark, and we were sailing again. Now the wind was getting stronger, and the seas were increasing. Shortly before we furled the headsail, I believe that we planed out! Our speed went from 5 to 8 kts in about 2 minutes, and we were Flyin Sideways! O.k., too much fun... it's dark, the wind is still increasing.. time to bring  in the jib and start the motor again.

During the night  the conditions deteriorated, with 4 foot confused seas and 20 - 25 kt. winds.We got a call on the VHF from Velvet Sky ; they said that they may have  hit something, and it had broken their bob-stay. I was glad they weren't taking on water or anything, and they made it into the marina in the morning.

We anchored in Santa Cruz, at our old spot, and recovered from the crossing.

 The next day was spent with Atruro, having a few tequilas while he waited for the bus to Tapachula. On Tueday we got fuel and provisions to depart for Puerto Angel the next day.

Once again we were greeted with fair winds, and sailed 24 miles to Puerto Angel. It is a small bay with only enough room for a few boats. We chose not to go ashore (much to Jacks dismay), and left the next day for Acapulco...48 hours away. Unbelievable! We got to sail again, and use the windvane! There were lots of dolphins and turtles along the way, then we arrived in one our favorite and most spectacular anchorages in Acapulco.

It's still hot. So, our mission is to get north for cooler temperatures as soon as we can. That being said, we left Acapulco the next day for Zihuatenejo. 24 hours, with very little sailing, but here we are! We'll stay here through Christmas and then on to Puerto Vallarta with some stops in anchorages we missed along the way down in 2014.

Gulf of Tehuantepec weather window

 Boat projects, maintenance, and provisioning are nearly done. Our best opportunity to make the crossing will probably be Friday...but we have to wait until 48 hours prior to safely make the decision to go. In the meantime....we did pick up an Autohelm 3000, belt driven autopilot.

The aft lazzarette....

control unit

the drive unit was installed this morning!

While slithering my way through the aft lazzarette, I checked out our steering assembly, and found a broken cable hanging from the bulkhead! Closer inspection revealed that one of the limiting cables (kind of a preventer) had snapped. I don't have any stainless cable that size, so, I may have to make due with some braided line. Normal use shouldn't put any excessive force on the rudder limits.

On Sunday, we took her out for a shakedown sail, and  within about 15 minutes of leaving Puerto Madero, we were greeted with 10 to 15 kts out of the southeast, and a 4 or 5 foot swell at about 12 seconds. We quickly raised the sails, and set close hauled at 7 knots! What fun! Sailing the wind with no destination....

We  invited our friend Arturo to come along and he was excited to join us. Earlier in the week he had asked if he could crew across the Tehuantepec with us?  Of course! This will be great; his first cruising trip! Once we got back to the marina,  we met up with some of the cruisers we just met and headed for lunch.

 Overall, things have been going smooth, just slow. That's okay...we've got time!

Just a few more things to take care of..........

Tapachula Thanksgiving

Celebrating Thanksgiving is a challenge on the boat, or in the marina; so we decided to go non traditional this year. Also, most of the cruisers we've met are Canadian, so......our friend Arturo from McCaw Tours, organised a "cantina tour". We put the word out and got 4 other couples to join us, Thansgiving day at noon, we piled into the van for the drive to Tapachula. Arturo explained some of the history and traditions of the cantina. 1st is that your beer is never empty, and as long as your drinking, they bring you food!

Arturo.

This cantina was from 1952.

Tapachula is a city of about 600,000; a mostly agriculture based economy, with many good food choices.

I'm always surprised when I see dogs on rooftops!

After two cantina stops, everyone needed a break, Arturo drove us about 15 minutes out of town, to a small Mayan ruin called Izapa, it dates to about 3,500 years ago, making one of the oldest known Mayan sites.

We learned the history of the site, but more importantly, the cultural influence that made them build it. I think everyone enjoyed the tour, and we were back at the Marina by 5!

The last few days we have focused mainly on cleaning, and finding everything we need to get underway. 

Back on the boat!

Well,... it has been a long time since we've updated the blog! Where to begin?
Our time at home was productive, and fun! Many improvements to the house; interior and exterior paint, a new roof, some new plants, and  tree trimming. We also had to do some repairs to the Toyota; new u joints, and rebuild the rear differential.
 We did have fun too!  While we were in Scottsdale we did get to visit  Karin's family. We had alot of fun playing domino's with her brother Kevin and his partner Ron, and had lunch together on Ron's Birthday.

Then a complete surprise; I won a three day trip to Portland, Oregon at a company party, so we were able to see Ron and Judy from Cetacean,

and Brandon and Virginia on their Columbia 43' Oceanus! Then on an absolute whim, we decided to go on The Price is Right!

What fun!... we didn't get on stage, but it was was great to be in the studio, and see how they do everything.
As someone said..."quit fooling around and get back on the boat!"

We hit the road about a week before Halloween, and we were on our way. We made the transition through the border with no problems, then continued the 2400 mile trek to Tapachula. The highways were pretty good, except for all of the construction. It's great that we saw so much improvement, but it really slowed us down.. it took six days to get here!

When we finally arrived at the marina, our hearts were filled with anticipation of what condition the boat would be in. To our absolute amazement, everything was just as we had left it! No mold, no bugs.

There are many stories from the drive,  the hotel we stayed at, and  the people we met along the way, but the most important thing was getting the boat back in the water. That said, we've been at the slip for a while now, cleaning, organizing, and ...watching Netflix! It is just too hot in the middle of the day, and our 7000 BTU LG air conditioner has been fantastic. When it's 95 outside, we can keep the cabin at 86 until sunset, then it will cool down to the 70's overnight!

Of course we had a few issues once we started "bringing her back to life". When we filled the water tank, a hose came undone and leaked 20 gallons of water into the bilge; which turned out to be a blessing, because we found out our bilge pump was not working! Once the water was removed from the bilge, I could see that the pump had stated to disintegrate. Oh no, where am I going to find a new bilge pump here? and we're not leaving without it! Luckily, Enrique and the staff here at Marina Chiapas keep some parts around, and in less than an hour, we had a new case on the pump, and it works. Nothing is easy.... the switch for the pump isn't working! I elected to bypass the switch and go straight to the breaker, now it works... but wait! now the main engine room bilge pump isn't working...... just a bad connection..whew!

Now, all we need to do is inspect the fuel tank, change the oil, inspect the sails, take out our anchor chain, and install our Helmsman 3000 autopilot. It's a belt drive unit designed for use in calm sailing or motoring conditions.... I think that's it. If all goes well , we should be on our way in the next two weeks. 

LIFE MUST BE LIVED FORWARD,BUT CAN ONLY BE UNDERSTOOD BACKWARDS.

Reflecting on this last season has led to many soul searching thoughts. We have questioned why are we doing this and what we want to do in the future.

When we were in Bahia del Sol El Salvador we were told many stories about how Nicaragua and Costa Rica were places to avoid. Lots of crime and difficult officials.

OK, we left El Salvador planning a straight shot to San Juan del Sur Nicargua (48 hours) rest for a few days and then onto Panama. We left El Salvador raised our sails and withing 40 minutes we reefed, then we reefed again, then we brought down all sails and turned on the engine.  That night we sought harbor in Fonseca and declared our asses kicked.  We hung out there and met up with Cetacean and then proceeded our way down the coast to San Juan del Sur, as has already been documented in the blog.

We finally made it into Bahia Ballena in Costa Rica where everything proceeded to break....Our watermaker boost pump, our dingy engine and then our solar charge controller broke.

It was HOT and HUMID... we were not living the dream...going to shore was difficult and we got drenched many a time going and leaving shore. Time to go back to Mexico, that was our decision. That meant a stop back in El Salvador.  What an amazing place that will be in our hearts forever.

After a month there we went back to Marina Chiapas to haul out the boat and pick up the Toyota.  We were so happy to be back in our beloved Mexico.  Enrique and crew are like family to us.  For some reason we have no photos.  We were pretty burnt out by then. So here are some Costa Rica photos.  We met some awesome people there.

The people that we met in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were amazing.  We never had a problem with check in and check out of any of the countries, we did our research and were respectful and have nothing but great memories and appreciation of the people we met.

We are now settled back in the US, back at work at the dropzone and working on the house.  We think we will bring the boat back up the coast of Mexico and drop the hook in Puerto Penasco Mexico, where we can take friends for adventures to Isla de la Guarda.

We hope to take an air adventure to Chile in July.