Leaving La Cruz….for Paradise! 12.19.10

Ahhh….it’s been a great couple weeks. La Cruz is always one of our favorite spots along the coast as there is always soooo much to do!! We’ve had a great time though – catching up with friends, eating at amazing new restaurants in town, and exploring new places.



We found a new ‘hot spot’ on the beach called Don Bidou’s which is serving $1 Margaritas or Beers.



That place is dangerous, beware. We speak from experience. The drinks are good….too good in fact. Joe & Deb, Bill, and Michael & I decided to go ‘check it out’ on Sunday. We had just come from the local Organic Farmer’s Market where they had amazing items and before that had met the whole gang for breakfast at the Huanacaxtle Bar & Grill. Randy & Thea were in for the day off of Lost Elvis and were heading down the coast so this was our only time to see them until later in the season. We had another amazing meal and then spent an hour or so roaming around the Farmer’s Market. It was about lunchtime so we all decided we would go check out this $1 beer special.



We had one. Then another. There’s really no use counting after that. We had strong arm competitions....apparently!



We left as it was getting dark, stumbling down the street. That’s when things get fuzzy for me, well, black really. Somehow we made it back to the marina, made it into Bill & MJ’s dinghy, made it onto the boat without anyone falling in the water, & made it below. I do have vague memories of mooning Lost Elvis when they left the marina. I sincerely hope they don’t have pictures!!!

All I can say is we had fun! Of that I’m sure as everyone who didn’t come with us are quick to point out. MJ had decided to stay with Ceacy on the boat and she turned out to be the smart one. Though she had some stories of things said & done that still stun us!! Haha…



Amazingly though, no one had a hangover the next day. Sure, we weren’t feeling too hot and we all had enough tequila for a few days but we didn’t have the headache/queasy/hungover feeling. Must have been good tequila! That’s a reason to go back….in a few weeks…..when they forget what we look like…. Haha!!!

We took 3 trips into Bucerias to get Joe’s tooth looked at and the root canal done, we have gone in town to Philo’s (a must-do) for pizza & internet. I’ve done Yoga with the girls, have beaded with MJ, and have enjoyed time on the boat out in the anchorage. Life is good.

This year has been exceptionally cool temperature & water temp wise. Where last year we were doing anything we could to get air moving through the boat, this year I’m in sweats & a long sleeved shirt by sundown and every morning. Don’t take that as a complaint, it’s anything but! I’m just pointing out the differences between years.

When we arrived in La Cruz anchorage there were 12 boats. Today there are almost 40. And over 50 boats are checking into the morning Banderas Bay net.

Another amazing thing about this year is the phosphorescence in the water! It never ceases to amaze me when we’re zooming around at night how incredibly cool it looks. It’s by far the most heavy? strong? bright? I’ve ever seen. The other evening we were leaving the marina and Pacific Jade was just behind us in the dinghy. I was convinced that somehow they had their light shining inside the dinghy as it looked like it was a hover boat. But it was the super shiny phosphorescence that lit up all around the boat, underneath, & everywhere. They got closer and it was even more vivid, the water surrounding them was lit up and the water shone as fish darted away from the dinghies came close. It’s nearly indescribable and impossible to photograph. It’s simply amazing, and we’re so lucky to be experiencing it. We’ve seen lots of phosphorescence in previous years but everyone agrees, it is a million times better this year. At anchor, each individual link glows green/blue and you can see about 2 feet down the chain with the glow of the phosphorescence. Way cool!

We’re moving into Paradise tomorrow. Well, we’re in paradise now but tomorrow we’re moving into the Paradise Village marina where we’ll spend a week getting things cleaned & repaired and will spend a fair amount of time at the pools & resort. I’m looking forward to taking a ‘vacation’ from our vacation. It’s a splurge but we’ve never been here before and we’re looking forward to relaxing & enjoying Christmas there.

You’ll find us by the pool, a drink with a little umbrella in our hands, soaking up the sunshine and finishing our books. Or you may find me in the yoga studio. Michael may be teeing up a golf ball. Who knows! But you’ll see us with smiles on our faces…



Merry Christmas everyone!!

More to follow…
Rene

The La Cruz de Huanacaxtle vortex effect 12.17.2010

We’re currently anchored in La Cruz, outside of the city of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, in Banderas Bay which is a large bay that is most known for Puerta Vallarta. We arrived here on a Tuesday after a way rolly night in Jaltemba. I took a video of that as well, though this is nothing like what we experienced during the night.



La Cruz is known for its vortex effect as there are so many people to see, places to go, restaurants to visit, beaches to explore, and activities to enjoy! Some people like to say it’s like a big rubberband….it pulls you back each time you get ready to leave. So needless to say, we’ve been caught in the vortex.

We arrived mid-morning and threw the hook in the anchorage and enjoyed a nice, quiet, non-rolly evening. The next day started it all up. We hitched a ride in with Bill & MJ from Grey Max on their dinghy and went into town to get some dinner and listen to Mike from Ramble on Rose and Russell play music at the Huanacaxtle Bar & Grill.



On our walk to the bar we stopped and chatted with Barry & Ana from Ana Banana’s and had a couple drinks. After getting all the interesting news about town, like for instance there are 30 restaurants in La Cruz now. 30!! For such a small town, it’s an amazing number.

We finally made our way to the restaurant and had an amazing dinner there and listened to Mike & Russell play. The restaurant is a must-do if you’re in the area, very yummy food and great prices!

The next day we loaded up Michael & Ceacy’s truck with 8 of us and cruised up to Sayulita for a beach day for Bill’s birthday! It was a great day and Sayulita sure has changed. This summer there were huge storms that ripped through the area leaving bridges destroyed & homes & businesses teetering on the edge of the side of the rivers. Sayulita was no exception but instead of it turning into a bad thing, it increased the beach by about 3 times!



It’s amazing. The beach was great - sunny, the surfers were out & it was the perfect temperature.

Bill had a great time with his Birthday Hat!



We enjoyed the beach for a while and then made our way up to Rick & Leslie’s house, some friends of the group.





What an incredible view! Their house was at the top of a driveway that seemed to go straight up and once we arrived the panoramic view was breathtaking.



Rick & Leslie had two other couples at the house and we arrived with 8 of us. The drinks were flowing, the appetizers scrumptious, and the conversation was never ending! What a way to ring in a birthday. Oh, and we spotted some whales out in the bay too – something Rick & Leslie said they have never seen. We all piled back into the truck and made our way back to La Cruz and back out to the anchorage. What a great, great day….

Our time here has only begun and we’re booked almost solid for things to do & places to go. The vortex is pulling us in…. :-)

More to follow…
Rene

P.S.....I sure do miss The Big Bang Theory this season!!!

And just like that…. 12.17.10

What a difference a day makes!! Michael woke up this morning and decided he needed to work on the generator. Before starting he took off all of the raw water hoses and blew through them, making sure there was no restriction in the lines. Nope, no problem. We fired it up and as usual, after about 20 minutes it tried to die. But instead of turning it off, he just turned off the Charge setting and let it recover. About every 20-40 minutes it would happen and each time Michael would run into the engine room and look to see what exactly was happening. And time after time he discovered the fuel solenoid was not shutting down, it was wide open which means there was nothing wrong with the generator other than the fact as it was starving for fuel. Hmmm…. He looked through the system and the only possible thing it could be was a restriction in the fuel filter. This baffled him though as it’s an oversized filter and really hasn’t had a lot of fuel going through it since it hasn’t had to strain anything out for 2 years since it has been that long that it hasn’t been working properly. But he decides to replace it anyways.

Everything looks fine and the new filter is installed and….wait for it….wait for it….it WORKS!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!! We’ll keep our fingers crossed this was the fix of the season and hope it continues to provide us lots of power through the years.

Since he’s on so much of a roll he decides to tackle the shower sump pump. Part of his yearly maintenance is to pull it from its hole and clean out the layers and layers of hair that always gets wound around the pump housing. It’s evident though that this maintenance wasn’t done at the end of last season or the start of this one as there is a whole head-full of hair that has wound its way around until it is unable to function anymore. And so begins the not so fun job of unwinding all that hair & cleaning the pump. But, dropping it back inside it’s hole it is revived and pumps the remaining water from the shower sump. WOW….he’s REALLY on a roll!!!

Should he try for yet another fix?! He decides yes and fixes himself a sandwich. Two fixes in one day is something to celebrate. It’s time for a much needed rest & finding out the secret of “The girl who played with fire”, the book he’s reading at the moment.

We got some super good news today too on some other ‘fixes’. Our autopilot reversing pump is on the fritz and after a quick call to the manufacturer, they just happen to have a couple new pumps sitting in the back and they’ll happily ship us one for about ½ the price we could find it elsewhere. They shipped it to Alaska and we waited with baited breath to find out if it actually got there in time for John & Jillian to bring it with them on Saturday when they fly to Puerta Vallarta. And….it made it! Woohoo!!!!!!! We are meeting with them on Monday to pickup the pump and get it replaced before we leave in a week.

Not only that….are you sitting down?! I posted a message about our stolen outboard on our blog which links to Facebook, where a lot of our ‘cruising friends’ catch up on news. Well…Chris & Sandy from S/V Faith responded to the post and said they had an old outboard they’d give us if we would like it. WOW!!! We were speechless (and still are!) It’s such a nice offer and we gratefully accepted it. We have been in touch with them as they were just leaving La Paz and were going to spend the holidays in Mazatlan and would not be in La Cruz (where we are now) until after the New Year. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get it here. We could take the bus up to Mazatlan, pick it up, and bus back to La Cruz which would take 2 days. We could rent a car and drive up but would more than likely drive back the next day, still taking 2 days. Hmmmm….. Finally we contacted Elvira, our good friend and Office Manager for Marina Mazatlan and asked if she had anyone coming down to La Cruz that we knew (or she knew) that wouldn’t mind lugging a dinghy engine down for us. It turns out….she did! Another boat, someone we don’t know yet called Irish Diplomacy was leaving Saturday and said he would bring it down to us, no problem! We contacted Sandy on Faith and told her the news, Chris got in touch with Elvira, got in touch with Irish Diplomacy, and just like that, the handoff was made and the dinghy engine is on its way down the coast. How cool is that?! The kindness of the cruising community strikes again.

So here we are, sitting in an absolutely gorgeous anchorage, things appear to be on the mend and functioning properly right now, all in all. We still have a leaky watermaker but have a temporary appointment with a repairman for Wednesday to have it serviced. Once we have the reversing pump for the autopilot in hand we will schedule an appointment with a repairman hopefully for the following day. Michael’s finger is doing OK and he’s been having fun wearing my ‘unique’ bandaids. Today’s looks like a piece of bacon. Yep, bacon wrapped finger….yum! ;-)

More to follow…
Rene

Dolphin Video 12.16.10

Here it is….the long awaited dolphin video! Again, please ignore the crazy squeals of delight and me talking to them….I do get so excited to see them!! Haha… Enjoy!

One of those days… 12.15.10

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing, and I mean nothing seems to be going right? That everything you touch breaks? Yep, that was Michael's day today, and if truth be told, yesterday too!

It started last night. He was taking a shower when the sump pump (the pump that pumps the water out of the boat) malfunctioned. It had been sounding ‘a little funny’ lately but, well, we ignored it! That was mistake #1.

Waking this morning we started the generator, which after 20 minutes, died. Oh GREAT! What the hell!!! And before you ask, the answer is yes. Yes, we just got it working, finally, after it being dead all last season. That’s #2

We had noticed a leak in the watermaker so he decided to leave the generator be and take a look at what was going on with the watermaker, which is mounted underneath the settee in the main cabin. He went to grab his big flashlight, which didn’t work. So he went back and grabbed his headlamp which was also dead. (We have been using rechargeable batteries on board for several years and in the past 2 seasons have noticed they do not hold a good charge anymore) So he decided to remove the batteries from both flashlights and put them in the charger, incredibly pissed off. Now Michael has been using his headlamp for about 4 years and just recently a small piece on the battery holder has bent, teetering on the edge of breaking. As you can imagine…it broke at this exact moment.

By now, Michael is pretty close to exploding. He’s frustrated. More than frustrated he’s trying to hold his frustration inside which is not helping anything either!

Since he has a broken headlamp he decides to fix it, it should just take some super glue, no problem. We purchased 4 tubes of super glue before we left Mazatlan. I know what you’re thinking, you think they were all dried up, right?! Wrong. Dead Wrong. He couldn’t find them. Now as a side note I will tell you that we have a ‘junk drawer’. Everyone does, I know it, it’s one of those drawers where you put those things that you need to have at the ready or you just don’t know where else to put them. We have one that has a lighter, scissors, candles, rubber bands, twist ties, etc. That’s logically where I would have put the super glue. But no…..Michael wanted to put them ‘away’ when we got them. So I don’t have one iota of where he has put them.

He begins looking. Inside the crate under the floorboards….nope. Inside many crates underneath the other settee….nope. Inside the tacklebox in the engine room…..nope. The frustration continues to mount. He can’t find those little tubes of super glue ANYWHERE!!! And for some reason I don’t help a bit when I mention if we had just put it in the junk drawer we’d be able to find it! Boy….he sure is sensitive… ;-) I’m only trying to help! Haha… But I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Finally he gives up and jumps into the dinghy to scrub the hull as we have millions of little teeny tiny barnacles clinging to the starboard side of our boat. He takes some of his frustration out on the little barnacles and comes back inside for lunch. He says to me in his most exasperated voice “I can’t believe I can’t find the super glue! I remember putting it in a ziploc baggie and putting it in a logical place!” And he opens up the first place he looked first thing this morning and just like magic, there it is. Inside the little ziploc baggie, inside the first tub. Aauugghhhh!!!!

He glues his little headlamp battery holder and decides he’s done for the day. He figures he might as well quit while he’s ahead and goes up into the cockpit and reads his book. I am working on the computer and ask him if he needs to check his e-mail before I shut it down. Sure, he says. He comes below, touches the computer, and the little 3G dongle we use to connect to the internet bleeps out (which it often does and is not his fault but doesn’t do anything to make him happy about it anyway). What’s that like #5!

We make a journey into town as Joe broke his tooth in while we were anchored in Mantanchen Bay and needs to have it looked at. He has a root canal scheduled at 6pm at the dentist in Bucerias. So Michael, Deb & I go to the restaurant just across from the Dentist’s office and have dinner while Joe’s getting his tooth worked on. After he was finished we wandered the streets of Bucerias looking for the Posada celebration that we had heard about and finally find it, though it was winding down and we decide to get back home.

Now I’ll bet you’re thinking this is the end of this sad tale….I wish it were. We get back to the boat in the dinghy and Michael is getting the dinghy setup on the davit system so we can lift it out of the water, which requires clipping a snap shackle onto a padeye in 3 places on the dinghy. I’m below in the back cabin when Michael yells to me “Rene, please bring me a couple of paper towels as fast as you can”. Uh Oh. I ask what the problem is while I’m getting the towels but he’s unable to answer. The short story is that he got his finger caught in the pinching end of the snap shackle just as the boat lurched as it does in rocky seas. It’s pinched him before, but this time it took a chunk of finger with it. He’s bleeding like a stuffed pig and it hurts like mad. He gets aboard the boat and we lift the dinghy into place and go below to take a look. It’s about a dime sized wound, it hurts a lot, and is still bleeding. We wrap it up and he sits still and patiently waits for it to calm down. Finally we put a bandage on it…..and go to bed. Yep….that would be it for the day and it’s enough for today! With days like these, who needs bad ones!

Please tell me tomorrow will be better… :-)
More to follow…
Rene

The little dinghy engine that could 12.13.10

On our 2nd day in the anchorage, we checked into the morning net and announced we were looking for a small outboard, something to get us by until we figured out what we were going to do for a replacement. Immediately, a boat named ‘Puddytat’ called us and told us they had a little Honda 2hp dinghy engine that they were looking to sell and to swing by when we had a chance. Luckily, they were the boat right beside us in the anchorage so Michael dropped the dinghy in the water and rowed over to their boat. They were asking a little too much ‘coconuts’ (It is illegal to sell anything in Mexico unless you’re a legal citizen) for the size and shape of the outboard but to our surprise said that we could borrow it while they were in the anchorage as they were going to sell it anyway and it could use some exercising. Wow, GREAT!



I have mentioned the Cruiser Karma account and this is one example of how the cruising community really comes together, always helping out a fellow sailor in need. You see, we have had such good fortune in the past few years with having things working well on the boat but always lending a hand when someone needed it, a spare part if we had it, etc. Now we’re blessed with having a total stranger in the anchorage loan us a little dinghy motor. How kind is that?! We’re surrounded by such wonderful people, it’s humbling being on the receiving line of this kindness.

However, the little dinghy engine that could turned into a bit of a nightmare as it was always dying. For no reason! The first day we used it, it was….problematic but we seemed to be able to get it functioning. Well, kind of. We were going into the marina and were following Bill & MJ in and got 2/3 of the way in and it died. Bill & MJ turned around and we told them we thought it might be low on gas so they zoomed over to their boat and grabbed their little 2 gal gas tank and brought it to us as Joe & Deb towed us into the dinghy dock. Doh! We filled up with gas as we were getting ready to go back out to the boat, it fired up, made it to the main channel…..and died. OK, this is really starting to get frustrating! We were towed back to the boat by Bill & MJ. The next day Michael calls David from Puddytat and tells him of the issues and David tells him it’s OK to tear into it. Michael figures it has to be fuel related and begins with the injectors, cleaning them up.

Day #2. With fresh injectors, Michael hooks it up to the dinghy and does a circle around the boat. No problem! Woohoo! We attempt a trip into the marina again, it gets 2/3 of the way…..and dies. Damn it!!!

Day #3. He tears into it again and finds a leaking gas tank. Maybe that’s the problem! He replaces the thing-a-ma-bopper at the bottom of the tank so it won’t leak anymore and does 2 circles around the boat. Woohoo! Things are looking up!

Day #4. Another attempt into the marina. We make it ¾ of the way in this time and….it dies. You’re got to f$(#%&ing kidding me!!! We row into the dinghy dock and go into town anyway. We’ll row back to the anchorage, no problem. We didn’t time it quite well enough though because as we were leaving to go back out to the anchorage it was about 3pm. Now if you’ve been to La Cruz you know that the winds pick up around 2pm and blows about 15-20 knots until about 6pm’ish. So we have the wind against us. No problem, Michael’s muscles can handle it! A funny story too, as we were rowing out of the marina there is a group of Mexican fishermen who are playing a card game on one of the pangas we have to pass by while rowing out. They’re having a great time, laughing and joking. We row past….whosh, whosh, whosh. And one of them looks out at us and gives us the universal sign for pulling the ripcord on the dinghy engine to get it started!!! Hahaha!!! So THAT’S what we forgot, to pull the cord!!! We explain to them that it’s not working and they go back to their game while we whosh past. Silly gringos….

Luckily for us Herb & Juliette from Synchrony are zooming into the marina and offer to tow us out to the boat. Michael didn’t argue so Herb dropped Juliette off and swings back by to grab a line and tow us to our boat. Michael’s going to give it one more chance as there is a little in-line filter at the bottom of the gas tank that he’ll check. After that, it’s going back to the owners, this is getting ridiculous.

Day #5, maybe 6 as he took a break from working on it for a bit. He checks the filter, all is OK. He takes it on a circumnavigation of the boat….and makes it 3 times though he can tell it’s still not right. He decides to call David on Puddytat and take it back to him. David says something about it sounding like it might have an air lock and Michael decides to investigate the fuel cap, making sure it is open. The fuel cap has a little valve on it that is open but for giggles he takes the cap 90% off as well and…..whalah! It’s fixed. He does about 10 doughnuts around the boat and it’s running like a champ. And the angels sing…..aauuuuuuuuu!!! haha…

So for the past couple days it’s been working like a champ. No fuel leaks, no stopping 2/3 of the way in, no tows back out. All is right with the world. Or at least all is right with the little dinghy engine that could. We sound like a mosquito buzzing through the anchorage, and it takes us about 30 minutes to get anywhere, but by golly, we’re making it in and out!!! :-) Keep your fingers crossed it keeps functioning until we leave!

More to follow…
Rene

Hanging in Chacala 12.5.2010

We have spent the past few days in a lovely anchorage called Chacala. Our first attempt at leaving Mantanchen Bay was on Thursday. We were out about 4 miles from the anchorage when Grey Max reported trouble with their engine – it was acting up. They diagnosed the problem – a part on the fuel line had split and air was getting into the line. Their engine was not functioning at all. Ahea Kali to the rescue – or at least tow rescue! We hopped in front, threw them a line, and towed them back to the anchorage where they fixed the defective part and the engine was happy again. Whew! It was just after noon when everything was fixed so we decided to stay the night again and get an early start the next morning to Chacala. All in a day’s cruising!

The next morning we were out of there with no problem. I will admit, I was glad to be gone. Since having the engine stolen we slept with one eye open and any new noise woke us up with a start. I put it all behind me as we left the anchorage, though I couldn’t help but wonder which one of them had my motor…



We had an uneventful motorsail to Chacala, though we spotted a few whales and lots of jellyfish! Maybe I should have had lycra Laura make me a jellyfish suit afterall! Naw… ;-)

We anchored in Chacala, which is one of the anchorages that suggests both a bow and stern anchor. Although we were the first 3 boats in the anchorage, Pacific Jade and us decided to throw a stern anchor. We all kicked back on the boat and made plans to go in town the next day. By the end of the day we ended up with 4 other boats, one in between Pacific Jade and us.

The first night at anchor the wind picked up significantly and crazy swells pushed us all around. Our stern hook didn’t hold (doh!) and about midnight or so we spun around. Thankfully the small Hunter beside us was just out of reach and there was no problem with us swinging, though Michael stayed on anchor watch the remainder of the evening.

The next morning we re-set our stern anchor, deployed the dinghy, and rowed into the beach. In Chacala, there is a small reef and a nice protected dinghy landing where the fishing boats are worked on and we all 3 rowed into shore here.



We walked into town and found a palapa that served cold beer. We decided that we would walk the town so we went ahead and ordered some food so we would have enough energy for the walk. The walk around town consists of about 2 short blocks including two tiendas for groceries and 3 stores for all other goodies. It was a Saturday afternoon and before we knew it we had seen & shopped it all so it must be time for dinner! :-)

Since Mantanchen Bay, Deb had been craving….I forget the name…but it’s a type of preparation of fish where the fish is smoked. We found a palapa that had it on the menu and they had a 3 kilo dorado that looked perfect! YUM!!! It was incredibly scrumptions. The fish was filleted into 3 slices and smoked to perfection. We all scarfed the fish, rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, & salsa. Mmmm….



When we returned to the dinghies we found a group of young kids playing around them and fishing for little fish and they instantly took a liking to our dinghy. We had about 4-5 kids ‘helping’ us move it around back into the water and when we were pushing off they all had hands on the stern and were kicking their feet…propelling us out! They became our motor! I chatted with them for a while and as the last one left us he yelled back to us ‘hasta la vista baby’! haha….

The next day I went over to Grey Max and MJ helped me re-string & fix my favorite broken anklet while she made herself a new anklet. She has such talent! I wish I could do half of what she can!! Once that was finished we all rowed into shore again for another day on the beach. We went to the same palapa for drinks (no one could argue we’re not creatures of habit!) and walked the entire beach.



Apparently there used to be a really nice RV park here that is now shut down & guards have been placed at the entrances. They have signs on the property for no camping….and, um….no pooping too… ;-)





When we arrived back at our dinghies we found that the group of kids playing in the are were using it as ‘base’ or ‘safe’….as they were chasing each other and then running and jumping into the dinghies. All 3 of us cleaned a ton of sand out but nothing was harmed.

The sunsets here are absolutely spectacular here and we spend each evening looking for the ever elusive ‘green flash’. It’s absolutely gorgous….



We’re heading to Jaltemba tomorrow and will spend a couple days there. That’s the plan! :-)

More to follow…
Rene

Leaving Mantanchen…a lot lighter 12.2.2010

Mantanchen strikes again. Apparently it’s just not our spot – it’s such a lovely place and I really do love coming here….but it doesn’t like us. Our dinghy motor was stolen off of the boat while we were sleeping on the first night we were here.

We had anchored and took it easy all day and went to bed early. At some point in the night (I didn’t look at the clock) I heard what sounded like a bird hitting the rig. It woke me out of a dead sleep and I laid there listening, thinking that still something wasn’t right. I climbed over Michael and stumbled into the door (stupid sprained ankle!) and came into the main salon where I stood and watched/listened. Something still wasn’t right so I grabbed the flashlight and came into the cockpit and flashed it all around, looking for the source of the noise. Not finding anything I convinced myself it was probably nothing and went back down to bed.

Later in the morning, Michael woke with a start when he heard a noise on the stern rail of the boat and raced out of bed and up into the cockpit only to see the dinghy engine being lowered into a panga. He yelled out to the guys who at the same time fired up their engine and roared away….with our dinghy motor.

Now we always, always lock everything up. In fact, Michael had locked everything else earlier that day in preparation of going in town the following day but because we were planning to go in the following day, the dinghy was just secured with lines, not with a lock or cable. Who would have thought that someone would stealthily unscrew it and remove it while we were sleeping? We’re pretty convinced that they didn’t come onboard, but more than likely stood on the toe rail and definitely held on to the stern rail as there were plenty of handprints.

To put it mildly, it fucking sucks. I know it happens everywhere and accept that it’s ‘part of it’ but it still is a huge bummer. And yes, I know – lock everything up – every time! It has taken the fun out of it the past couple days as we have had to report it, which was no easy task, to the Port Captain and the District Attorney’s office.

Reporting it to the District Attorney’s office was frustrating. We had to report it in 100% Spanish and thank goodness we had a patient gal who worked with us to get the facts. The frustrating part was that she didn’t understand living and cruising on a boat. For instance, she asked where we lived when we weren’t on the boat. We explained we lived on the boat full-time and she was insistent that we couldn’t possibly do that. Also, she didn’t understand what the dinghy was….even though we explained that it was the small boat that was used to get us to land. She kept insinuating that now we couldn’t leave because we had our motor stolen. No, this was an auxiliary motor, for a smaller boat that lived on the big boat. You can see the confusion. We probably spent 2 hours talking to her, and most of the day dealing with it. Thankfully, we are cruising with good friends – Joe & Deb on Pacific Jade, Bill & MJ on Grey Max, and Mike & Julie on Slacker who have been shuttling us to and from the beach so we can deal with it and hanging with us while we report to the authorities.

After doing the official report, we met with everyone at the San Blas Social Club, a must stop, and visited with Laura & Augustine. And had the requisite ½ pound burger and a couple ‘Martin & Lewis’ specials – a beer & shot of tequila. In fact, as we left the San Blas Social Club I had forgotten all about the damn dinghy engine.

The next morning Julie from Slacker and I went for a long beach walk while Mike from Slacker came to the boat to help Michael try to identify the hiccup in the generator. Michael met me back on the beach and we went in town to report the theft to the Port Captain. Funny enough we hitched a ride into town and an old man stopped and picked us up in an old beat up pickup truck. I climbed in front and Michael jumped in the bed of the truck. The old guy and I had quite a conversation, all in Spanish, and I told him about the theft. I don’t know many swear words but I know for a fact that they were flying as I described what happened. He was so incredibly pissed and apologetic and then he told me he was not only a farmer (growing yaka & mangoes) but also a fisherman and before we left the vehicle he said he’d keep his ear to the ground and would keep an eye out and would report anything to the authorities if he heard anything. It was so nice – what a kind, kind man.

We met with the Port Captain who also expressed his embarrassment and frustration and said he would alert all of the other Port Captains in the area and would be on the lookout for it. We thanked him but know that the engine is long gone and we doubt we’ll see it again. Sigh…

But life goes on. We will figure out getting to shore until we can rummage up another one, hopefully we can find one in Puerta Vallarta/La Cruz area. Until then we’ll be rowing into shore when we can, hitching a ride by our amazing friends, or just swimming! :-) It’s not going to ruin the entire season. We’ve made our $2K donation and hopefully that’s all it will cost us this season. We’re counting our lucky stars that no one was hurt and that the generator is treating us good right now!

Oh, and one ‘nice’ thing that happened the day after the motor was stolen we were up on deck getting things organized for the trip into town when a pod of dolphins, maybe 8 of them, came right to our boat, swam around it, under it, talking away, and then swam away. Now logically I know they must have only come to our boat because we had the tastiest food underneath but I have to also believe in my heart they were coming over to remind us to appreciate the beauty and to make us feel better. That not everyone is bad. I choose to believe that anyway, and it did make me feel better to see them.

We’re heading out tomorrow, next stop Chacala! Hopefully it will be better to us there…

More to follow!
Rene