Change in Plans

Location:  La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico

We have changed our plans for the summer season and decided not to continue our journey north.  As we were making our voyage plan to cross the Sea of Cortez and move up the Baja Peninsula, we were also watching the weather.  Hurricane season starts May 15^th on this side of Mexico and there was a potential storm system brewing just south of here.  With no waiting on weather days and just a few rest stops, it would take us 15 days to make it to San Diego.  Then, we reminded ourselves that we are retired, not in a hurry and not on a schedule.  So we decided to stay in the Puerto Vallarta area for the summer and to do some inland trips to the mountain towns in order to soak up the culture and escape the summer heat.  We were trying to get to San Diego because of our insurance requirement to be north of Ensenada by June 1, but Puerto Vallarta (Banderas Bay) is a hurricane hole and we were able to get insurance with storm coverage and no huge storm deductible as long as we stay in this area. We are just north of Puerto Vallarta in a small fishing village called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (La Cruz).  There is a nice marina here, plenty of small restaurants and street taco stands and a good music scene.  On Monday, we are going to move to Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta, where we will have access to their resort amenities and, since it is in an estuary, better protection if a storm does occur.



Wind Festival - La Cruz, Saturday, May 17. 
There were at least 75 kite surfers
plus at least 20 wind surfers.



Kite surfers on the beach,
preparing to launch.



Kite surfers waiting for the
race to start.

On the journey up from Ixtapa, we made a few stops.  One in Manzanillo Bay near the Las Hadas Resort.  They filmed the movie “10”, with Dudley Moore and Bo Derek, here in 1979.  Even though we were at anchor, for a small fee the marina allowed you to come ashore in the dinghy and use the resort amenities, swimming pool, restaurants, trash drop-off, etc.  The Paradise Restaurant near the marina had yummy blackberry margaritas.  Next stop was at Chamela for an overnight and then on into the La Cruz marina.

View of Manzanillo from the anchorage.

 

View of Manzanillo, 
Notice all the bougainvillas.

Sunset, Manzanillo Bay.

We have been keeping busy with boat projects.  We had the outside of the boat cleaned and detailed, including removal of the rust stains and waxing of the stainless steel.  We had the teak decks cleaned, stained and sealed.  We installed the old shelves from the lazarette in the steering flat, stowed all of the loose items and took a few things up to the dumpster.  We’re also working on routine maintenance items and getting our inventory system up and running.

In addition to the chores, we’ve also managed to have some fun.  There are many brands of Mexican beer and we were having a hard time deciding which we liked the best so we decided to have a beer tasting contest.  We assembled ten different beers, filled a bowl with peanuts to cleanse our palates between tastes and found a blindfold.  It turned out that Dave and I have very different beer taste buds.  He liked the heavier beers best with Bohemia being his favorite and I liked the medium beers with XX lager being my favorite.  We’ve also been walking for an hour every morning trying to work off our beer bellies.

Dave finishing off his favorite.



B beer tasting.



The ten beers included in the contest.

We’re looking forward to having visitors this summer and to doing some fishing offshore and more exploring. 

Until next time…

Earthquake

Location:  Ixtapa, Mexico

We’re still in Mexico, continuing to work our way west and north.  We stayed in Chiapas for almost a week after Dave got back from his trip, waiting on weather, doing some re-provisioning and waiting for our new shelving to delivered and installed.  It turned out very nice and has more than doubled our shelf space in the lazarette.  We will re-install the original shelves in the steering flat for stuff that we must carry but seldom need.

New aft lazarette shelves, sitting
on the dock waiting to be installed

New lazarette shelves being
carried down the dock



Fernando (the carpenter) and his
son-in-law installing the shelves

 

Lazarette shelves installed and stocked

After being inspected by the Navy, we left the marina in Chiapas on the morning of April 3^rd, for a 32-hour trip  (237 miles) across the Gulf of Tehuantepec.  The weather window looked good for the voyage with very little wind and some swell, but no rough seas.  We traveled about 10 miles off the coast and arrived at Bahia Tangolunda on April 4^th at a little after 3:00 p.m. 

We dropped the hook and settled in for a couple of cold beers and a good night’s sleep.  Bahia Tangolunda is one of seven small bays near the town of Huatulco.  There are plenty of large resort hotels in the area with lots of people vacationing, riding jet skis, kayaking, wind surfing, etc.  We decided not to go ashore, but we did jump off the swim platform to cool off.  We stayed another night on Saturday and then Sunday morning left for another overnight journey to Acapulco (241 miles, 33 hours).



Resort hotels at Bahia Tangolunda

Acapulco

We dropped our anchor in the bay near the Acapulco yacht club at about 4:00 p.m. on the 7^th.  We decided again not to go ashore.  We didn’t need any provisions and we were both tired, so we hung around on the boat and did some light chores and voyage planning for the next day.  On the 9^th we left Acapulco early morning before the sun came up and traveled to an anchorage called Papanoa.  On the way there, we spotted a huge group of spinner dolphins, jumping, playing and spinning in the water.  They are named spinner dolphins because they spin on their longitudinal axis, sometimes doing up to four rotations in one leap.

Group of spinner dolphins

 

Spinner dolphin spinning in the air

Spinner dolphin riding the bow wake

We arrived at Papanoa and made our way inside the breakwater before dropping the anchor, in time to watch the sunset while drinking a few cold beers before dinner.  The next day was a short run (38 miles, 5 hours) to Zihuatanejo, where we planned to stay for a few days to explore the town.

Zihuatanejo (or Z-town) is a mid-size coastal town, with nice shops and restaurants and it is easy to walk.  They have a large fishing fleet of pangas that takes up much of the beach but have an area set aside where people can park their dinghies.  Someone is always there to help you come into shore and to launch again and for 20 pesos a day (about $1.50 US) they watch your dinghy for you.  We stayed for five nights and went to town almost every day for either lunch or dinner, to buy fresh fruits and vegetables from the market and to wander around and see the sights. We met a guy from Jamaica Plain, MA (near Boston) who drives 3000+miles each way to spend the winters down here. He gave us a few good tips on where to eat nearby.

On the 15^th, we left Z-town and moved the boat about 5 miles north into the Ixtapa Marina.  This is a huge marina, with space for over 500 boats.  It was the week before Easter (Semana Santa) which is a major holiday week for Mexicans.  The marina was very busy with boats going on day trips out to the nearby islands, going fishing and just cruising around.  One day we took a bus back to Z-town to shop for some small boat rugs that are hand made by indigenous Indians. 

Marina walkway after the earthquake

Friday morning, as we were eating our breakfast on the 2^nd floor of the golf club, a 7.2 earthquake rattled the area.  The epicenter was between Ixtapa and Acapulco.  In Ixtapa there was no major damage, but there was a lot of settling around the marina area, some broken glass in nearby stores and other minor damage.



Marina walkway after the earthquake

Dave and I both headed for the airport mid-day Sunday for a quick trip to Houston.  Dave to get his passport renewed and me to get a visa for a trip to Angola.  We ran a few errands, picked up some parts for boat maintenance and made a quick trip to Austin to see the kids and grandkids while waiting for all the paperwork to come through.  We carried back enough Buna-N gasket material to replace the gaskets on the rest of our fuel tank manhole covers so that will be the chore when we get back to the boat.  Then we’re headed north again with Puerto Vallarta as the next major stop.

View from the back of a "collectivo",
a small mini-bus.  This is an alternative
to taking the taxi into town, cost 20 pesos
per person ($1.50 each) versus 200 pesos
($15.00) for a taxi

Until next time…

Chiapas, Mexico

Location:  Puerto Chiapas, Mexico

We arrived in Mexico on 12-March and will be slowly working our way up the coast with plans to be in San Diego, above the Pacific hurricane zone, around 1-June.  After leaving San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, we anchored one night at a roadstead called “El Transito” and then moved on to a small marina called Puesta del Sol (translated to English “sunset”), both in Nicaragua.  The marina owner has dreams of this being a fancy resort:  It has dock space for about 30 boats, two three-story hotel buildings, each with ~10 large suites, two pools – one near the beach and one near the marina, a club-house and a palapa bar/restaurant.  Future expansion plans include a golf course and other amenities.  This is the only existing marina on the pacific side of Nicaragua, and although it sounds really nice, the dream and the execution of the dream haven’t quite come together.  A few examples:  no hot water in the showers, the food at the restaurant was fair and the wait staff acted as though you were imposing on them if you actually wanted to eat there.  We were having some trouble with our dinghy and asked the dockmaster if he knew an outboard mechanic.  He did and said the guy would come to the boat about 11:00 that morning.   Needless to say, he never showed up.  Not to complain too much, the beach pool and palapa were really nice, just like having your own private resort.



Marina Puesta del Sol, Beach Pool

Sunset at the beach pool

There was also an excellent local restaurant in the village near the marina, Joe’s Place.  Mostly a surf camp/hostel, they cooked delicious meals.  Joe, Portuguese from the Azores, spent much of this life at sea, fishing, etc. and had some very interesting tales of the sea to share.  Apparently, Joe and the marina owner do not get along very well.  The story is something like this:  After the marina was built, the owner tried to prevent people from anchoring in the river.  In most places, rivers, ocean and sea front (bays, coves, etc.) are public domain and you can anchor for free (national parks are an exception where you would normally pay a park fee to anchor).  In order to make a point, Joe, with permission from the port captain, anchored his boat in the river, near the marina.  The marina owner had the boat impounded and there was a year-long battle over anchoring rights.  Joe prevailed and now anchoring is allowed in the river near the marina, as long as you have written documentation from the port authority.  Needless to say, Joe is not the marina owner’s favorite person, which is too bad, since Joe’s food and service were much, much better than what we found at the marina.

After staying a couple of days, we cleared out of Puesta del Sol and headed into the Gulf of Fonseca and El Salvador.  The Gulf of Fonseca shares borders with El Salvador (northwest), Honduras (east) and Nicaragua (southeast), with islands and coastline split amongst the three countries.  We cruised into a cove near the island of Meanguera and dropped the anchor for the night.  Shortly after getting settled, the El Salvador navy tied-up alongside and came on board.  They asked the usual questions:  Where are you going?  Where did you come from? etc., and looked at our paperwork.  We hadn’t cleared into the country yet, but all of our documents were in order, so they didn’t make a big fuss.  One of the officers had gone to school in the US and spoke English very well and they were very friendly and welcoming. 

 

Birds soaring over Island Meanguerita

We spent a peaceful night on the hook and liked it so well we decided to stay another night.  The next day, two local fishermen came by and asked if we wanted to buy some fresh oysters.  We agreed to buy three dozen and they shucked them for us while we talked and waited.



Fisherman shucking oysters at Meanguera

From Meanguera, we cruised to Barillas, a small marina up the river in the Bay of Jiquilisco.  In order to get up the river to the marina, Barillas sends a pilot boat out to meet you at an agreed meeting point near the entrance of the bay. 



The Barillas pilot (Walter) leading
us up the river to the marina

One hour prior to arriving at the meeting point, we radioed the marina on the VHF to tell them we were on our way.  The pilot boat was there to meet us as promised and we followed him (Walter) up the river about 10 miles and into the marina mooring field.  He helped us hook up to our mooring and then he went ashore and came back with the port authority, customs and security to check us into El Salvador.

Alligator at low tide, near Barillas Marina

The marina is located amongst the mangroves and is very peaceful and quiet.  The grounds include a palapa restaurant, lots of mini-palapas amongst the palm trees near the swimming pool, a mini-mart, a playground for kids, showers (with hot water), etc.  They have a mini-bus that takes people into town on Tuesdays and Fridays, so we signed up for the ride into town, Usulutan, the next day.  When we arrived, there was only one other cruiser at the marina, Steve (Witch of Endor), and he liked it so well he had been there for 18 months.  He knew his way around town and let us know what was available and how to find things.  We ventured to his favorite watering hole , La Pirraya, for a beer and then went to the supermarket to pick up a few supplies.  On the way back to the marina, we stopped at a roadside restaurant, Palomar, for a bite to eat.  While we were in town, a German sailboat, Bora, pulled into the marina with Gunther, Volker and Brunhilde aboard.



Lunch at Palomor, Usulután, El Salvador

We spent the weekend lounging, swimming in the pool, drinking coconut and strawberry smoothies, and sharing sea stories.  Volker and Brunhilde headed back to Germany and Gunther new crew-mate, Angelo arrived.  We asked Steve if there was a good outboard mechanic around and he recommended that we ask Walter if he would look at the dinghy motor.  He worked on it for about an hour and got it running again.  The next day we had problems again and asked Walter to have another look.  We had purchased a spare carburetor, but it wasn’t quite the same as the old one.  Walter puzzled it over and then matched half the old carburetor with half the new and it has worked like a charm ever since.



Dave enjoying a smoothie under a mini-palapa

On Monday night, Steve invited all of us into town with some of the marina staff to have dinner at a Swedish restaurant that had recently opened.  What a treat and a cultural experience, to share a meal with El Salvadorians, Americans and Germans in a Swedish restaurant in the middle of Central America.

Dinner at the Swedish restaurant in Usulutan

Tuesday was going to town day again, and because they have a good machine shop, we decided to have our engine room fan housing repaired.  We had taken it apart in Panama and found it to be severely rusted.  We dropped it off at the machine shop and they promised to have it repaired and ready for us to pick-up on Friday mid-day.  On Thursday, Dave, Gunther, Angelo and I went on a walk through the jungle to see a group of monkeys (spider-monkeys and one other kind, which I can’t remember) that hang around between the marina and the village.  Our guide, Mauricio, pointed out different types of trees and plants, and talked about the wildlife that is typical in the area.

When you arrive at the place where the monkeys hang out, the men start calling “Pancho…  Maria…” and the monkeys come crashing down through the trees.  We took a few bananas with us to feed to them and they came right up and gently took the food out of our hands.  We watched them for a while and then started the trek back.  In order to get back to the marina, we had to walk across a small damn, which was very wet and slippery.  Angelo slipped on the moss, fell into the water and cut a huge gash in the top of his foot.  Mauricio radioed the marina.  They sent the van and Gunther and Angelo headed into town to the hospital for stitches.

Cart carrying plantains for the
monkeys, notice the wooden wheel

Monkeys

Monkeys

 

Friday, we piled into the van for our trip into town.  About half-way there, one of the marina staff called the driver and said that there was an alarm going off on our boat (Thanks brother Pete for helping us install the audio alarm system).  We decided that once we got to town, Dave would take a taxi back to the marina to investigate.  After picking up a few things at the local market, I walked over to La Pirraya to meet up with Steve and Gunther.  Shortly after I arrived, Dave called from the marina and told us that one of the generator seawater hoses had split and asked if Steve could find some replacement hose.  Steve and I walked over to the auto parts store and found a shaped piece of radiator hose that had the correct inside diameter, so we bought it.  Then we proceeded to the machine shop and to pick up the repaired fan housing.  They decided that it was too far gone to repair and instead built a complete new housing.  They had is reassembled and we tested the fan to make sure it still worked before heading back to the marina.

Loading coconuts from a boat
to a cart at the marina



Fuel tank cover gasket,
mid-hold, port side

We were planning to leave and head north on Saturday, but decided to wait until Monday and do a few chores instead.  As reported in an earlier blog, we have had some issues with the gaskets on our fuel tank manhole covers.  The forward port tank seemed the worst and had leaked when we fueled in Panama.  We had been using the fuel out of that tank so that when it was empty enough, we could remove the covers, inspect the tanks and replace the gaskets.  We had enough buna-N material left to make gaskets for two covers, so we decided to do the one that was leaking in the mid-hold and also the one in the engine room.

Sunday we installed the new fan housing and did other “prepare for sea” type chores.  Monday morning we went into the marina for one last coconut smoothie and to get our clearance papers and check-out of the country.  We got underway at about 1:30 p.m. and followed Walter, the pilot, back to the Pacific. Barillas is one of our favorite places to date.  The people are extremely friendly, it was quiet and peaceful, the town had everything we needed for repairs and provisioning at good prices and we had a wonderful time.  Originally we were only going to stay for 3 days but we ended up staying for 10 and would have stayed more if we didn’t have a deadline to get north of the hurricane zone.



Sea Turtle

The distance from Barillas to our next stop, Chiapas, Mexico, is about 300 miles or 43 hours at 7 knots.  Leaving mid-afternoon on Monday, our scheduled arrival in Mexico was Wednesday morning.  We saw the usual dolphins and turtles, were followed by brown and blue-footed boobies and talked on the radio to a US Coast Guard cutter patrolling Guatemalan waters.  We mostly did 4-hour shifts and overall the voyage was uneventful, the best kind.  We arrived at the marina at about 8:30, checked in with the Navy and the Port Captain and headed to the restaurant for breakfast.  We unlaxed and rested most of the day and then went to happy hour about 5:00.  Steve, from Barillas, arrived here a day ahead of us, so we sat and told stories with him. 

We settled in and did chores for a few days and met some of the other folks in the marina.  Since we knew we would be staying here for a while, we asked the marina if they would recommend a carpenter who could build some shelves for us in our lazarette (the storage area behind (aft) of the engine room). Friday morning, Fernando showed up.  He took measurements and worked up an estimate, so we agreed to have him do the job.  Next we had to empty the lazarette and disassemble the existing shelves, so we did that on Saturday and Sunday.  Monday morning Fernando showed up for his down payment so that he could buy materials. 

"Stuff" in the lazarette

Lazarette empty except for the existing
shelves

On Tuesday, Dave headed for the airport for a 10-day trip to Amsterdam and Scotland, leaving me here to fend for myself.  Wednesday a group of 6 of us went on a tour of the local town Tapachula including the museum, city hall and the church; Izapa, the ruins from a Mayan settlement that may have been settled around 1500 BCE; the border with Guatamala (the Suchiate River); and up into the mountains and the coffee plantations.  We stopped in some small towns and wandered around the local markets and had lunch at a roadside restaurant.  It was a great day.  We learned a lot about local culture and history.  One of the most interesting things we discussed was the immigration of the Guatemalans across the border into Mexico to do farm labor.  The state of Chiapas is a very rich in agricultural, with coffee plantations, cacao plantations, mango orchards, etc.  They don’t have enough local labor to do the work (or who want to do the work) so most of the labor comes over the border.  Similar to what the US experiences with Mexicans crossing the border to do farm labor in the states; some are legal and some are illegal and it is a big topic of conversation.



Mural at city hall in Tapachula



Stained glass window,
City Hall Tapachula



Stained glass window,
City Hall Tapachula



Museum, Tapachula



Museum, Tapachula



Izapa ruins



Mexico / Guatemala Border,
Suchiate River



Coffee Plantation



Tour Group, Miguel, Ethan, Anne, Doug, B, Zada, Nancy

Thursday, Ann (Galivant) and I went into town to do some shopping at Home Depot and Wal-Mart. We discovered that we both like to read and traded lots of Kindle books.  Friday, I met some cruisers from Alaska, Jill and Doug, and went over to their boat for a tour and to get some hints and tips about travel up north.  It turns out Jill is a writer and has written several non-fiction books.  One is “Rowing to Latitude” about their adventures rowing in Alaska, the Yukon and other places in the far north.  I am reading it now and would highly recommend it.  Jill, Zada (from Eyoni) and I then walked over to our boat for a quick tour.  While we were on the bow, Zada looked up and saw that our sat system antenna was covered with a swarm of bees.  They weren’t anywhere else on the boat, so we left them alone and decided I could talk to the marina about it in the morning. 

Bees on the Sat System Dome

I walked over to the restaurant to drink a beer with Steve and to wish him good sailing.  Six boats had been waiting in the marina for a good weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec and Saturday looked like the perfect day to go, very little wind and calm seas.  The port authority and the navy arrived early Saturday morning to check everyone out and then there was a parade of boats leaving.

Paesano, heading north
They had engine problems and
returned late the same night

Galivant, headed north



Witch of Endor, headed north

Eyoni, headed north

Companero, headed north

Sundowner, headed south

I checked on the bees Saturday morning.  They were still on the antenna but had moved around from the starboard side towards the bow.  After watching everyone leave, I checked again about 11:00 and, as mysteriously as they had appeared, they had disappeared. 

Today, Sunday, there have been a lot of new boats arriving, most headed south.  Speaking of maintenance, I was happily sitting here in the air conditioning typing the blog when the engine room bilge alarm went off (Thanks to brother Pete again).  I went below to see what was going on only to find that the seawater supply line to the AC pump was leaking.  Shut that down, pumped the water out of the bilge and am now sitting with all windows and doors open, hoping for a breeze.

Until next time…