Judy and I arrived at the Paradise Village Marina on January 11, 2010. Freyja’s old aluminum exhaust mixing elbow had given up during the summer or fall during a routine engine running by my boat minder. He took it off and FedExed it up to me. I had National Marine Exhaust in Marysville, WA, make a new one from stainless 316L, which I carried back down in my suitcase. It raised a few eyebrows at Seatac, but none entering Mexico, even after passing through their scanner. No red light, I was in.
Got it installed, fit perfectly. Vavoooooom. However, didn't leave the dock. The rest of the trip was devoted to maintenance and getting the car repaired. The outboard wouldn't shift into forward or reverse, so took it to the new little chandlery in Paradise Village. They charged me $100 US, I think a flat fee, for a simple grease job, felt ripped off. Don't like their prices. The bottom didn't look to furry.
Went home to wind up some work I'd taken on when it looked like my mother would be with me indefinitely.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Haul Out in La Cruz May of 2009
I came down from Seattle in May of 2009 to haul the boat out at the new La Cruz haul out facility for a bottom paint job. Turned out it needed new barrier coating too. The yard was staffed with great competent people who delivered a great job on time and on budget. The cost of the job was about $400.00 US for the labor and about $1,000.00 for the Interlux barrier coat and bottom paint. I can’t remember what the haul out and lay days cost, but it was pretty fair. Total was maybe $2,000 or so. Maybe more than one would think it should cost in Mexico but cheaper than in the US and cheaper than the quote by Opeqimar at Marina Vallarta. The La Cruz yard had a nice new TravelLift, the yard was brand new with fresh asphalt on the ground. The La Cruz town center was only a few blocks away. They wouldn’t allow me to sleep on the boat, so I stayed at Philo’s. Philo’s was fun and convenient, with great live music, but the room for $35 US per night left a bit to be desired, stuffy, poor A/C, etc. Not sure what else was available in town, but will look around next time.
I spent a few days before and after the haul out in the La Cruz anchorage and went single handed sailing each day. Spent the night on the commercial mooring ball at the Tres Mariettas Very relaxing, lots of stars. Freyja is laid out so that single handing is very easy, except for the manual anchor windlass and need to go up to the mast to reef.
My visit for a week in mid-July, 2009, was dedicated to putting the boat into a deep sleep in anticipation of not being back until I was able to get my mother’s house sold and move her out of my house into a nursing home. She moved into my home on May 1, 2009. My brother Barrie came home from Arabia to help for a couple of months, and then went home to Arabia in late July 2009. I soldiered on singlehanded, caring for the 92 y/o semi-paraplegic 24/7. Finally the house tentatively sold and got her placed into a nursing home in the end of December, 2009. Then the sale flipped. But I left her there.
Sent all the halyards up to the top of the mast so they wouldn't be exposed to UV for the summer and for however long they'd be up there. Used some strong but crappy stuff as sacrificial messenger lines. Told the bottom cleaning guy not to clean the bottom. I thought I'd be down in two or three months and being really cheap wanted to save the money and also to see how much would really grow. Doubled up the mooring lines and the fenders and flew home to Seattle.
I spent a few days before and after the haul out in the La Cruz anchorage and went single handed sailing each day. Spent the night on the commercial mooring ball at the Tres Mariettas Very relaxing, lots of stars. Freyja is laid out so that single handing is very easy, except for the manual anchor windlass and need to go up to the mast to reef.
My visit for a week in mid-July, 2009, was dedicated to putting the boat into a deep sleep in anticipation of not being back until I was able to get my mother’s house sold and move her out of my house into a nursing home. She moved into my home on May 1, 2009. My brother Barrie came home from Arabia to help for a couple of months, and then went home to Arabia in late July 2009. I soldiered on singlehanded, caring for the 92 y/o semi-paraplegic 24/7. Finally the house tentatively sold and got her placed into a nursing home in the end of December, 2009. Then the sale flipped. But I left her there.
Sent all the halyards up to the top of the mast so they wouldn't be exposed to UV for the summer and for however long they'd be up there. Used some strong but crappy stuff as sacrificial messenger lines. Told the bottom cleaning guy not to clean the bottom. I thought I'd be down in two or three months and being really cheap wanted to save the money and also to see how much would really grow. Doubled up the mooring lines and the fenders and flew home to Seattle.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tenacatita to Manzanillo - January 2009
We spent the night anchored in Tenacatita and then the next day, after doing the jungle ride, in a panga because the outboard wouldn’t start, we upped anchor and headed down the coast 15 miles to Barra de Navidad.
I remembered where the channel through the lagoon was from my time here last year, so we found a spot in the anchorage with no problems. Only 12 boats were there before me. It gets crowded with 45 not being unusual during the season, and somebody mentioned the record is around 70 boats at one time. Bottom is mud, poor holding. There are a lot of problems with boats dragging anchor when the wind kicks up. The wind comes right into the lagoon from the ocean, straight down the channel.
We had a gas hanging out in Barra. It is a neat little funky town, nothing pretentious and a lot of eateries and bars and hangouts and street vendors and street markets and flea markets. I think a lot of Mexican families come here to hang out when they are on vacation. The Grand Bay Hotel is on the south side of the inlet to the lagoon. It is really a pretty grand place, as is its Marina, which is new and well up to US standards.
On the 8th Spike and Carol took the bus back to Puerto Vallarta to catch their plane home. The bus is a nice comfy bus, maybe once it would have been called a luxury bus, and is cheap and runs on time.
The practice when anchored in the lagoon is to either dingy over to town or to VHF hail one of the many, and cheap, water taxi pangas, which run frequently and maybe all night. It is so easy to catch a taxi to town, hang out, and cruise home pleasantly stuffed and groggy. And lots of fun to be zooming along at high speed through all the boats and harbor traffic.
We took a water taxi into town one day and walked to the Port Captain’s office to check in. It was easy, took only a few minutes, and if memory serves it was free. Nothing tricky in Spanish, they did the paperwork. Ditto on the check out. Vilma later explained to me that it was impossible for her to have checked me out from Paradise Village, that the yacht Captain has to sign papers personally. That may only be true in PV, or may be true everywhere. However, the Barra Port Captain didn’t even raise an eyebrow about my lack of paperwork from PV.
In the morning the French Baker can be heard on the VHF, letting you know his location and when he will get to your area in his panga, and asking for your order for that morning and for special orders for the next morning. He is a great baker in the true French style, using quality ingredients including a lot of butter. Amazing how cheap his stuff is, too. Bread, pastry and pies. Yummmmm. He pulls up in his panga and displays his wares, daring you to buy only one or two things.....
The lagoon is one of the main anchorages on the Gold Coast of Mexico. It is very shallow and tricky, and it is at least a weekly occurrence that somebody goes aground until the tide changes. Since the bottom is mud, there is usually no damage to the boat if you just relax and wait for the tide. Don’t go aground at high tide, though. That said, a friend of mine got stuck in the lagoon close to what is called Dog Island (because of all the dogs that live on it) and asked a big panga to tie onto the bow of his old Formosa 56 (54 or 58?) and spin him around 180 degrees. His boat spun all right, but his rudder didn’t spin as fast as the boat. He bent his rudder controls and thereafter couldn’t really steer properly. He could turn to port or maybe make a degree or two to starboard. A bunch of fellow sailors showed up with tools and managed to straighten out things enough so that he was able to limp to Mazatlan for a haul out and repairs.
As a note, I was really amazed at how soft the shaft coming up from the top of rudder was. Really soft metal that, under the force of the dragging, had developed a big twist. Also, the emergency tiller's connection to the rudder post was so incredibly lame, dangerous even, but was probably the state of the art in the mid-1980s for Chinese made boats. I don't think it would have worked out in a big storm at sea, either.
I remembered where the channel through the lagoon was from my time here last year, so we found a spot in the anchorage with no problems. Only 12 boats were there before me. It gets crowded with 45 not being unusual during the season, and somebody mentioned the record is around 70 boats at one time. Bottom is mud, poor holding. There are a lot of problems with boats dragging anchor when the wind kicks up. The wind comes right into the lagoon from the ocean, straight down the channel.
We had a gas hanging out in Barra. It is a neat little funky town, nothing pretentious and a lot of eateries and bars and hangouts and street vendors and street markets and flea markets. I think a lot of Mexican families come here to hang out when they are on vacation. The Grand Bay Hotel is on the south side of the inlet to the lagoon. It is really a pretty grand place, as is its Marina, which is new and well up to US standards.
On the 8th Spike and Carol took the bus back to Puerto Vallarta to catch their plane home. The bus is a nice comfy bus, maybe once it would have been called a luxury bus, and is cheap and runs on time.
The practice when anchored in the lagoon is to either dingy over to town or to VHF hail one of the many, and cheap, water taxi pangas, which run frequently and maybe all night. It is so easy to catch a taxi to town, hang out, and cruise home pleasantly stuffed and groggy. And lots of fun to be zooming along at high speed through all the boats and harbor traffic.
We took a water taxi into town one day and walked to the Port Captain’s office to check in. It was easy, took only a few minutes, and if memory serves it was free. Nothing tricky in Spanish, they did the paperwork. Ditto on the check out. Vilma later explained to me that it was impossible for her to have checked me out from Paradise Village, that the yacht Captain has to sign papers personally. That may only be true in PV, or may be true everywhere. However, the Barra Port Captain didn’t even raise an eyebrow about my lack of paperwork from PV.
In the morning the French Baker can be heard on the VHF, letting you know his location and when he will get to your area in his panga, and asking for your order for that morning and for special orders for the next morning. He is a great baker in the true French style, using quality ingredients including a lot of butter. Amazing how cheap his stuff is, too. Bread, pastry and pies. Yummmmm. He pulls up in his panga and displays his wares, daring you to buy only one or two things.....
The lagoon is one of the main anchorages on the Gold Coast of Mexico. It is very shallow and tricky, and it is at least a weekly occurrence that somebody goes aground until the tide changes. Since the bottom is mud, there is usually no damage to the boat if you just relax and wait for the tide. Don’t go aground at high tide, though. That said, a friend of mine got stuck in the lagoon close to what is called Dog Island (because of all the dogs that live on it) and asked a big panga to tie onto the bow of his old Formosa 56 (54 or 58?) and spin him around 180 degrees. His boat spun all right, but his rudder didn’t spin as fast as the boat. He bent his rudder controls and thereafter couldn’t really steer properly. He could turn to port or maybe make a degree or two to starboard. A bunch of fellow sailors showed up with tools and managed to straighten out things enough so that he was able to limp to Mazatlan for a haul out and repairs.
As a note, I was really amazed at how soft the shaft coming up from the top of rudder was. Really soft metal that, under the force of the dragging, had developed a big twist. Also, the emergency tiller's connection to the rudder post was so incredibly lame, dangerous even, but was probably the state of the art in the mid-1980s for Chinese made boats. I don't think it would have worked out in a big storm at sea, either.
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