paint done!

It's been a couple long weeks of work but the teak is finally covered with four coats of varnish, one coat of paint primer and three coats of paint top coat. I'll be happy not to have to spend the next couple days on my knees (though I have at least one more day of knee killer to go just to remove the adhesive residue from the tape).

Projects

It's been a long time since our last post. NAKIA is still in Mazatlan, with John and Ziggy on board. Linda is still in Seattle getting colder by the day. Here is a brief video of the latest project. Don't get too excited, I'm going to paint over all this varnish.

Last nights Thunder Storm

Last night a pretty violent thunderstorm came through the marina. I couldn't sleep for all the lightening so I got up to take a short video.
I've saved it to our Picasa page:

https://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/Jul172011#5630390697015866706

Fuel tank clean!

Looks like the crud in the fuel tank was definitely exacerbating our engine problems. After a couple days work the tank is clean and ready to be put back together and filled.

I put some pictures on Picasa:

https://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/FuelTankCleaning

Basically the job is this; 1) empty the tank 2) remove the tank cover (a piece of stainless about 1 foot by 1.5 feet) 3) drop a scrub brush with a long handle into the tank 4) wedge your body into the drawer opening situated above the tank cover hole 5) scrub 6) dump a bunch of paper towels into the tank and sop up all the crud 7) repeat 5 & 6 until clean.

Thanks to Brian, the worker from Marine Services Mazatlan! Without him I would have certainly gotten stuck in the drawer opening (I can fit, it's just getting in and out is a pretty tight squeeze).

John

First rains and more engine work

The first rains have come to Mazatlan. Nothing heavy yet, but we did have a pretty strong clap of thunder the other night. Ziggy is enjoying his Catio quite a bit, he can even stay outside when it's raining because his perch on the folded up dinghy is covered by a Sunbrella awning.

The broken screw turned out not to be the problem with the engine. So now I've changed to 'shotgun' mode to fix the problem. I've replaced all the fuel lines from the tank to the engine. Re-bedded all pipe connections and rebuilt the check valve that keeps the fuel from back-flowing into the tank when a filter is opened. I also replaced both filters and cleaned the filter housings. That was all yesterday and today's engine start went pretty well. The only 'smoking gun' I could find was some gunk in the check valve that was keeping it from working. Could low fuel level in the tank, coupled with the stuck check valve allow air to be sucked into the fuel line from some questionable connection? I sure hope so! I may have to clean the fuel tank to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Tomorrow I'm moving to a different slip, hopefully the engine will start right up and I won't run out of fuel getting from one slip to the other.

John

Smoking Gun?

It's been quite awhile since we've posted to the blog. Allow me to catch everyone up:

We made it to the marina in Mazatlan. Stayed our first month in the Singlar (don't say Cingular!) marina for the month of May. We tore the boat down for the summer, all sails and running rigging are removed and the dinghy is put away. I built a 'Catio' for Ziggy so he can hang out outside at night. Linda flew to Bothell, WA to stay with MJ for the summer. I started working on two main boat projects; 1) rebuilding the top of the hatch turtle and 2) rebuilding the engine.

Whoa! Rebuilding the engine!? Is that really necessary? We came to Mazatlan to answer that very question. There being a Yanmar trained mechanic available through Total Yacht Works, we figured this would be a good place to handle the work.

'Lil Thumper', our Yanmar 3QM30, has got 5100 hours and is over 30 years old. It has two problems; 1) fuel is getting into the lubricating oil and 2) it can be very hard to start. It's not far fetched that it would need at least a set of piston rings. But after spending 15 minutes bent over the running engine, Javier pronounced its compression good ("there's no blow-by, you don't need rings"). Huh. So much for the big rebuild. But what about the hard starting, Javi, not to mention the fuel-in-the-oil (FITO) problem? "We'll change the simple things first; start with the lift pump to fix the FITO and then move on from there." I should say at this time that I consider myself to be a good amateur mechanic, and have already replaced the lift pump (about two years ago when the oil problem first started). But if Javi says to replace the lift pump again, that's what we'll do! I got the spare out and he put it in.

The thing to do now was to run the engine and see if the oil level changes and see if the starting problem comes back. I waited a week before starting the first time as the starting problem seemed to get worse the longer the engine sat. After a week it started hesitantly, but well. After 3 hours the oil level hadn't changed (when fuel leaks into the oil, the level on the dip-stick raises). So maybe the FITO problem is fixed.

On the second day, the start didn't go well at all. It took maybe 20 seconds to get going, the whole time doing the ka-chunk-ka-chunk-ka-chunk thing. I resolved to bleed the fuel system at various points before starting it the next time to see if I get bubbles anywhere (a sign of air in the fuel system which would cause the ka-chunk starting).

On the third day bleeding at the injection pump showed a few bubbles. Humm, maybe the problem is there. It started and ran well, oil level steady. Fourth day, the same. A few bubbles, good start, steady oil.

My theory at this point was that there was air being drawn back into the injection pump when the engine is off. The tank is low and there's no doubt a bit of negative pressure on the fuel system cause by the diesel trying to siphon back into the tank. The question was: where's the air leak?

Today, Sunday, is the fifth day and I resolved this morning to give myself the day off. Oh but maybe I can just bleed the injection pump to see if I get bubbles. Open the engine compartment, unscrew the bleed screw, pump the lift pump, a couple tiny bubbles, tighten the bleed screw, break the head of the bleed screw off! I'm sure even the least mechanically inclined will realize that last step shouldn't be there. It seems the bleed screw may have been in the process of shearing off for some time, making it very hard to get a good seal on the injection pump. All the screwing and unscrewing finally did it in. (Javier also had to crank that screw to bleed the system after replacing the lift pump.)

As I said, it's Sunday, so there's nothing to do about it today. But tomorrow I get to ride the buses looking for 1) an appropriately sized screw and 2) a machine shop to drill a hole in it (the bleed screw has a tiny hole to let air out when it's unscrewed).

John
{GMST}23|16.120|N|106|27.35|W|Marina Mazatlan|Maz{GEND}

Singlar Marina, Mazatlan

On our way to Mazatlan we spent a week in Banderas Bay. In La Cruz we took on fuel, got a propane tank refilled, had laundry done, and walked the town. The secret to anchoring out at La Cruz is to be back on your boat for lunch. The mornings are pleasant but the wind blows extra hard there all afternoon until sunset. We don't really care much for this stop, but we were happy to discover a new restaurant called La Ya Ya. It's a charming place complete with birds, a dog and cat, fast Wi-Fi, a book exchange, good chilaquiles, bottomless coffee cups, and friendly service - all for a very reasonable price, which is unusual for generally over-priced little La Cruz.

From there we motored out to Punta de Mita where we were happy to see Ralph out on his new (old) boat. We were sorry to hear that he and Nikki have split up, but she is still running Mita'z Pizza and bakery. Other than more new condos, expensive homes, and an Oxxo (like a 7-11) not much has changed in the little town itself. The beach in front of the old ramada style restaurants appears to be shrinking rapidly and there's not much room to park a dinghy there anymore.

We had a long and boring overnight motor trip to Mazatlan. We arrived mid-afternoon and pulled into the Stone Island anchorage to catch up on sleep. On May 5 we motored to the marina basin and chose Singlar for its cheaper short term rates. We'll stay here until June 1 when we move to Marina Mazatlan for their five-month summer rate of $.24/foot, which we believe is the best rate to be found in Mexico.

Our primary focus since arriving in Mazatlan has been to clean and stow everything on the boat's exterior in preparation for hurricane season. The first thing we did was wash the Manzanillo grime off of everything - decks, teak, sail covers, running rigging, and halyards. Every piece of rope has gotten a soapy bucket wash and several rinses. All three sails were thoroughly hosed down, dried, folded, and stowed below. The dinghy has been broken down, scrubbed, folded up, and stowed with the floor boards in its bag on the foredeck. To make room for sails and lines we rearranged the quarter berth storage (above and below), and moved some things into the shower. The last of the halyards are drying on the lifelines today, but everything else has been stripped off and put away, even the life raft.

While we've been working harder than we're used to, we've also managed to have enough free time for catching up with our friends, Eric and Sherrell, on Sarana. We've had impromptu happy hours on the dock, and we went out for Thai food to celebrate Eric's birthday. We all took a bus to Old Town one evening for the last day of Art Walk 2011. This annual event is always a lot of fun as it gives you an opportunity to see not only galleries, but also artist's studios, homes, and interesting spaces not normally open to the public. So in addition to looking at art, we "toured" a model penthouse condo with rooftop garden; a small living room with a big screen TV showing (of all things) U.S. football; a gallery in a beautiful and completely remodeled minimalist space which may also double as a home; we walked in on one artist finishing an ice cream cone in his studio/home, spoke with an artist about her interesting monotype process in her older, lovely studio; talked to a wildlife photographer with amazing shots of panthers and jaguars in local jungle areas, and watched an exhibition of tango dancing in a gift shop gallery; and we enjoyed meeting an American woman who paints and is very involved in a local rescue program for cats. Most places offered wine and a small snack but we capped off the evening in Plaza Machado for a last drink and bite to eat before catching a bus back to the marina.

Getting Ziggy used to marina life takes up a lot of our time. The main reason John wanted me to take Ziggy to Seattle with me was to get him out of John's hair while he's trying to work on the boat. But we've decided to forego the expense of Z's ticket and keep him on the boat this summer. And that's the worst part - he refuses to stay on our boat and insists on roaming as far and wide as we'll let him. Currently the routine is roughly this: 0400-0530 Z jumps on our bed and pesters us to let him out. We throw him off the bed. Repeat half a dozen times. 0530-0900 One of us finally gives up, feeds Z, puts him in his harness, and sits outside on the dock (with coffee) to make sure he doesn't wander or get on an unoccupied boat. When the other person gets up around 0700 (sunrise) we take turns keeping an eye on him. Sometimes we put him on his leash and a long tie down to give ourselves a break. 0900-1600 (plus or minus an hour) Z sleeps. 1600-1930 (sunset) He's back out on the dock either tethered on his leash, off-leash but supervised, or let loose to explore the part of the dock opposite us from the ramp to the gate. There are other cat boats at that end who don't mind an occasional visitor. At sunset he comes inside with us for the night. Since he's normally allowed full in and out privileges when we're at anchor this must be the hardest change for him to accept. John's planning to construct a "catio" on the foredeck so that Z can be outside and unsupervised for at least part of the time. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it will satisfy some of his urge to be in the great outdoors.

So far the weather has been hot and sunny during the day with an excellent dry breeze in the afternoon, and cool enough to still need a blanket at night and a sweatshirt before the sun comes up in the morning.

Linda

Hasta luego Manzanillo!

It's been another enjoyable month in marina Santiago. Well, technically it's an anchorage and we moved a few times within the small bay, but we stayed so long it almost felt like living in a marina. Several times we discussed moving to the "big city" of Las Hadas anchorage but due to inertia or disinterest, we still have not stayed in the part of Manzanillo Bay made famous by Bo Derek's debut in the movie, "10". For us the only benefit to Las Hadas is having a proper dinghy landing. But we're not hang-by-the-pool kind of people and we prefer the La Boquita and Club Santiago area in spite of the surf landings. If we needed to play it really safe, we used La Boca (the mouth of a little river into a lagoon behind La Boquita) for drier takeoffs.

We spent the last month doing the usual housekeeping chores, and fetching and carrying of things like laundry, groceries, fuel, and water. John got to know the water truck guy so well that Enrique would wait for John at the La Boca dinghy landing on pre-arranged delivery days. There were more futbol games to attend, and our favorite taco vendor returned to keep the fans fed. On Sundays with no soccer games John and Stan went to (very) minor league baseball games to which they brought their own beer and snacks. A typical "play date" with Stan and MJ usually went something like this: John and I took the bus to SolCasa (what we call their house) in Santiago. Sometimes we would bring our computers to do a little surfing, or we would watch some U.S. television, and play with the cats. We'd walk into town for lunch at tasty little comida corridas (daily specials), or splurge for higher-end, delicious meals at places like Carlos and Tanilo's (for shrimp and fish) or Sam's Pizza. It was such a treat to meet genuinely warm people like Carlos (and his wife, Sussy, who owns the lavanderia we took our laundry to) and Derek, a Canadian who married a local woman and named his pizza place after their daughter, Sam. After lunch we returned to SolCasa to spend the rest of the day playing cards. The guys had fun making micheladas, a strange beer-on-ice concoction consisting of Clamato or spicy V-8 juice and whatever other interesting things came out of the spice cupboard like worcestshire sauce, hot sauce, garlic salt, etc. I'm not a beer drinker so I didn't partake although I tried it once to be polite at a birthday party at Diana's house (she's one of the PATA founders). I could drink it, but it's still not my beverage of choice!

Through Stan and MJ and their PATA connections we became acquainted with several of the local ex-pats either living here permanently or as snowbirds, and we were invited to a few of their beautiful homes for dinner. On these occasions we broke our back-before-dark rule, but were always happily surprised to find our trusty dinghy still on the beach where we parked it, even over a busy holiday weekend. One weekend I volunteered to dog-sit for a Canadian couple who drove to Guadalajara to do some shopping for their brand new house on the golf course. I rattled around in a two-story, three bedroom, gorgeous house with a pool for a few days while John stayed on the boat with Ziggy. He came over with Stan and MJ a couple of times to visit, but having the rest of the time to myself was bliss.

Stan and MJ treated us to a day of sightseeing a little ways down the coast, and we visited a turtle refuge (tortugario), salt museum, and crocodile refuge. These were places that required a car for access and we really appreciated being out and about on another road trip. The cocodrilario was especially beautiful with a mostly tree-shaded, raised (and heavily fenced) wooden "trail" circling a small lake in which we spotted a few lazy crocs.

On days we spent aboard Nakia we didn't get a whole lot accomplished due to a new wonder of technology. A cruiser told us about a web site where we found TV shows and movies to download, and now we have a growing entertainment library. It's nice to finally catch up on media not available to us (or only on poor DVD copies), and it will be especially appreciated once we're back in more isolated places like French Polynesia.

We certainly enjoyed our stay in Santiago Bay but it was finally time to pull up stakes and head to Mazatlan where we'll put Nakia in a marina for the summer. The plan is for John to stay on the boat, crossing things off of his To Do list. He's decided it will be easier for him to do the work without having Ziggy or me underfoot or complaining about the heat and humidity. So I'll be flying to Seattle with the cat to spend four months in Bothell where MJ summers; she has graciously invited me to stay with her. We'll be taking summer classes at the local college, working out at a gym, and we may even get jobs to support our more upscale U.S. lifestyle (just as long as there's no dress code)! After I return to Mazatlan John and I will get Nakia ready to head back to Manzanillo for another winter. We'll try to keep you updated with any interesting activities in the meantime.

Linda

PATA Manzanillo 5-day clinic

A PATA Manzanillo 5-day free spay/neuter clinic for dogs and cats was held March 17-21 (http://www.patamanzanillo.com). This is one of two big clinics held each year (the other one is in November) and John and I were fortunate enough to be here to volunteer our help. The clinic turned out to be especially successful with a total of 298 animals over the 5-day period and a record breaking 77 animals for a one day total on Saturday. Ten volunteer veterinarians rotated through the days with some coming from as far away as Texas, Guadalajara, and Colima to round out the local group. Other volunteer labor was provided by local nationals, full time ex-pats, and snowbirds from Canada and the U.S.

John and I did a little of several things including cleaning crates and cages, helping MJ sterilize surgical instruments, and attending to animals in the Recovery area. John was especially helpful lifting the (sedated) big dogs from Surgery to Recovery or into crates as they began to come out of the anesthesia. Being a cat person I hung out with those little guys who took a long time to wake up. A few were dirty and covered in fleas but most were in better shape than the dogs. Dogs in Recovery were given a spa treatment of tick removal and matted hair trims, so that they usually looked better than when they first arrived. Recovery animals were monitored for temperature, gum color, and pulse to ensure there were no complications coming out of surgery.

The days began at 0800 (or earlier for some) while John and I usually arrived off the bus at 0900. We'd try to leave in time to get back to the boat for a swim and a bath before dark, and one day we had to leave early because of a Carnaval parade which was scheduled to close the main road. We made two exceptions to our "back before dark" rule. First for the final day of the clinic and second for the thank you dinner for volunteers the following night. We made it out through the surf just fine because we left the dinghy on a well-lit part of the beach (where no one bothered it during the day, over a holiday weekend!).

It felt strange to be on our feet and "working" long days after so much time off doing our own thing. We went home each night feeling tired but extremely satisfied. It was especially gratifying when an owner came to pick up an animal and recognized our efforts with a handshake and a "muchas gracias" accompanied by a big smile. Kudos to all the many people who made this event a success and who will continue to work to improve the lives of local cats and dogs.

Photos from the clinic may be viewed at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/PATAManzanillo5DayClinic#

Linda

Colima overnight

On March 14 Stan and MJ picked us up in their van for an overnight to Colima. Ziggy stayed on Nakia under the capable supervision of Tony and Shannon, S/V Sweetie, anchored nearby. Stan drove the back roads, both to save about $10 USD in toll fees and to give us a slower, more scenic route. We enjoyed seeing the big brick ovens which are themselves used to fire bricks. We even saw a man cutting bricks out of prepared mud just off the side of the road. There were lagoons, salt ponds, and orchards galore of mangoes, limes, tamarind, papaya, and who knows what else.

Our first stop was a museum in the little village of Nogueras. As we pulled into the parking lot it occurred to us that it was Monday and the museum might well be closed. To our surprise it was open and we happily bought our tickets and entered the first exhibit. We had the place mostly to ourselves for awhile and then tour busses arrived with passengers from a cruise ship we'd noticed in the port of Manzanillo. For once we were very happy to be inundated with tourists because we were certain that was the only reason the museum was open for us that day.

We saw a nice exhibit of artwork by Alejandro Rangel, who might be best known in the U.S. for the Christmas cards he created for UNICEF in the late 1950s. The museum has been created out of his former hacienda, and there are other displays of local artifacts he collected, in particular the "Colima Dogs" and other figures. The museum displays are absolutely beautiful with English translations. After seeing what was on offer in the gift shops we took a stroll through the gardens learning the Spanish names for some of the trees, plants and herbs growing there. Stan even hopped a short fence to rescue a turtle flipped on its back in the hot sun.

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/460-la-hacienda-de-nogueras-in-comala-colima

Then it was on to Comala for a much needed visit to the botaneros for their famed feast of snacks which are included with drinks. Taquitos, tostadas (coaster sized, wafer thin, flat chips of corn meal) spread with guacamole or ceviche, and mini soft tacos were just what we needed by mid-afternoon. After sampling some of the local "ponche" we went off in search of a few bottles to take home. Ponche is a drink made of cane alcohol with flavors like walnut, coffee, peanut, coconut, and pomegranate to name a few. We liked the thick creamy coffee flavor the best and think it will go well in iced coffee.

The rest of our stay included a stroll through the gift shops off of Colima's main square (jardin), more eating and drinking, a visit to the museum off the jardin, and finally a trip to Sam's Club for supplies. It was a great getaway with good friends to see something more than just the coast for a change!

Photos from the trip may be viewed at:

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/svnakia/ColimaAndComala

Linda

Pacific Track

I finally put some of our old tracks into our navigation software (OpenCPN). It made for such an interesting picture I thought I'd share it.

Santiago Bay

Some of you may be wondering how we've been spending our time now that we are finally back in Mexico again. First and foremost we've been enjoying spending time with our good friends, Stan and MJ, who live full time in Santiago. We've also renewed cruising friendships with several boats, and met people on boats new to Mexico since we left. A lot of time is spent at Ramada El Rey which is one of the restaurants lining the beach here at La Boquita. The cruisers have regular bocci ball games on the sand followed by Mexican Train dominoes and drinks at El Rey. We don't usually join the games, but are happy to partake in the refreshment portion of the ritual. Another semi-weekly event is an outing to La K'Melia which is a botanero (I think I have that right; from the root "botana" which is "snack") complete with live entertainment. Stan and MJ introduced us to this concept before we left Mexico. These are bar/restaurant establishments in which you order drinks and are then served a variety of appetizers at no additional charge. The snacks are usually things like simple tacos, ceviche, taquitos, etc. and they bring you enough to make a meal of it. The one we went to gets started at around 4 PM and the entertainment wrapped up by 6 PM (the day we went it was a band and singers). We don't quite understand how they stay in business, but it's a fun concept.

Having ordered a full set of poker chips while we were in Hawaii, John organized a Friday poker game at El Rey. Eight people played Texas Hold 'Em for 50 pesos each and the game lasted a good 2-3 hours with several changes of fortune amongst the players. We had a lovely surprise when the ultimate winner kindly donated her winnings to PATA Manzanillo (http://www.PATAManzanillo.com), the animal welfare non-profit that Stan and MJ spearheaded after their move here.

On Sunday we all attended a 3 PM futbol (soccer) game played in the local stadium between our local Picudos and a team from nearby Colima. Stan was organizing cruiser attendance for these games before we left and now, between the cruisers and the local ex-pat community, I think the gringos almost out-numbered the locals. It's a fun chance to yell and shout, although we miss the vendor who used to sell messy tacos. Now we bring our own snacks, but you can still see 10 year old boys delivering cups of beer to their dads in the stands. We won this game 1-0 after lots of blood and sweat. Everyone is so welcoming and one of the trainers even shook our hands and thanked us for coming.

The more mundane side to our lives involves re-learning how to do surf landings and take-offs in the dinghy. After two wet take-offs we've taken to going into the mouth of the small river and landing in the protected water there. The downside to this method is that the tide can be very strong, creating rapids at the entrance especially on an ebb tide when the surf is breaking. I will most likely never take the dinghy out by myself again after I over confidently returned to the beach ahead of John with clean laundry and promptly filled the dinghy with about six inches of sandy saltwater. It isn't nearly as easy as John makes it look, especially since he has me hop in first and I had no idea that he was continuing to push us out farther before he climbs in.

So I dried all the salty carpets, towels and blankets and made a second trip to re-wash it all a few days later. I've since made another trip with all of our salty passage clothes. I take what I can carry stuffed in my backpack and one plastic carryall, which is what will just fit into a medium sized front loader. I opt for auto-servicio (do-it-myself) and no dryer, and I carry it all back to dry on the boat. It's a dinghy ride to the beach, half hour walk to the bus stop, and a 6 peso bus ride to Santiago proper (I think the peso is about 12 to 1 at the moment). Reverse to go home. John keeps trying to get me to take a 60 peso each way cab ride (and MJ keeps insisting I can do it at their house!), but I kind of like getting the exercise. Actually I'm probably done with that and will do the light nylon things by hand and drop the rest off at a fluff and fold place from now on. It was just those first few things that needed special handling.

John has kept busy fixing things like our anchor windlass, battery charger, an old backup PC which he wants to give away, the pressure water pump (surprisingly yukky), and servicing (cleaning) the hand pump for our head (double yuk!). He's decided he's not going to tear apart the bilge pump to try to fix it, but will just buy a new one. As original equipment on the boat he thinks he can retire that item! He's also made two visits to the water truck which has a regular schedule to the beach restaurants, and has bought a total of 12 five-gallon jugs of water to fill Nakia's tanks.

We didn't notice any particular behavior changes in Ziggy other than his joy at being able to run from down in the cabin, up the companionway steps, across the cockpit, and up the main sheet onto the boom. He also wants to jump in every dinghy that stops by for a visit and is remarkably polite to people he doesn't know (i.e., he tolerates holding and petting). We've already had two visits from dolphins, and there are numerous pelicans, frigate birds, booby birds, terns, gulls, and herons all after the bait fish that frequent the murky greenish brown water. With 24-hour access to all the sights, smells, and sounds we think he's a pretty happy cat.

As are we!

Linda

Manzanillo

We had a terrific last evening at sea in spite of the haze obscuring any real sense of "land ho." Our good friend Stan greeted us on the VHF radio to arrange a rendezvous for the next day. He didn't even have to identify himself because we recognized his voice as if we'd spoken to him just last week! There were whale backs breaking the bioluminescence and fluking whales off our bow by moonlight. As we entered the anchorage at Carrazol we were treated to the same wonderful scent of flowers that greeted us three years ago. Early the next morning we spoke to our first "live" person in over a month on a boat called Narama from Sydney, Australia.

We were mistaken about the time zone here and had to make one more change to U.S. Central Standard Time to catch up. We hustled over to the actual Port of Manzanillo eight miles away so that John could spend the day waiting in offices for officials to figure out how to process us in to the country. Not too many sailboats clear in here and there were special manuals to be searched for to find the special code for "sailboat" to be entered into the computer. This was after being redirected to about three different offices in search of the right place to begin. But we probably saved a couple of hundred dollars by not using an agent, and John got to spend the day hanging out with Stan while they waited together.

Formalities were finally completed by late afternoon and we motored the short distance back to the other side of the bay to anchor at La Boquita in Santiago Bay. This is a beach where the roads ends at the mouth of a small river. There are lots of beachside palapa restaurants offering all manner of fish lunches with vendors strolling by exhorting you to buy jewelry, woven masks and baskets, brightly painted pottery, wood carvings, beach cover ups and dresses, and assorted gew-gaws. John bought a woven finger pull toy without even blinking at the requested price, and Ziggy now has a new toy. We shared a table with Casey of V'ger and Stan, both of whom made sure John got his fill of Pacifico!

Before going to shore for lunch we spent yesterday setting the boat to rights by undoing all the things we did in preparation for passage making. Our projects were pleasantly interrupted by the appearance of old friends and acquaintances visiting by dinghy to say hello and catch up on news of each other. This is one of the main reasons we're back in Mexico, and it's already fabulous!

Linda

{GMST}19|06.338|N|104|23.722|W|La Boquita|Santiago Bay{GEND}

HI to MX Day LAST!

I'm happy to report that we've arrived safely in Ensenada Carrizol, Manzanillo Bay Mexico. We'll be moving to Manzanillo town later this morning to get checked in.

According to our charting software, we sailed 3445 nautical miles to make a rumbline distance of 2881 nautical miles. It took 34 days 9 hours for an average speed of 4.17 kts. Not our fastest passage by a long shot, but we're here and it was a mostly boring passage which is important.

{GMST}19|05.750|N|104|26.232|W|Hawaii to Mexico Arrival|END{GEND}

HI to MX Day 34

We should arrive early tomorrow morning and none too soon. We've been dealing with ship after ship. I'm not sure if we just happen to be off one of those points on the globe that sees a lot of shipping traffic or if all these ships are going in and out of Manzanillo (I can't imagine the latter, it would make Manzanillo busier than San Francisco).

We had a little extra excitement last night at about 1 am. Linda had started the engine after the wind died and had just put it into gear when BANG! there was a very loud sound. She said 'what was that?!,' and I said 'turn off the motor!' We looked over the side to see if maybe a line had caught in the prop, but saw nothing there. We took the engine cover off and checked the belts and shaft coupling, all good. I checked the oil and it was a little low, but not milky or anything out of the ordinary. Finally I noticed sitting on the floor a small chain that holds up one of our large aft port holes. Ah, that's what it was. These port holes are about 10 inches in diameter and are very heavy. If you drop the opening part from the top, stowed, position it will make a serious BANG. Kind of like slamming a door. Why the chain chose the very moment that Linda put the engine in gear to drop off, we have no idea.

Counting the hours to arrival ...

4:30 PM local time (which converts to MST in the States), Wednesday, February 16. Linda here:

Well, it's been a busy last 48 hours what with all the ships and trying to keep the boat moving. We kept track of all the ships yesterday and last night, but finally gave up entering them into the log book today since there were so many. Closest one was eight tenths of a mile away on John's watch. I had one at 1.5 miles but I turned away quite a bit to increase the distance or it would have been closer than that. Both in the day time so not bad, but with the humid haze we only have about 4 miles of visibility.

So "land ho" became, "yeah, I can sort of see the white guano on those rocks off the coast." We still can't see much more than the outlying rocks and we're only four miles from shore. We've been motoring on a mostly glassy sea all day. I was excited to see my first turtle again, but then I was sad to see that the top of it's shell was dry and it was barely moving on the surface of the water. I thought it must be dying until I saw a dozen more just like it in the space of 20 minutes. Some even had booby birds which had been sitting on them for so long that they had left their "mark" like whitewash all over the shell.

I had a bit of an anxious day yesterday. Maybe the lack of sleep caught up with me, but I find I usually have a brief period of depression during the last 48 hours of a long passage. I think it's partly the thought of re-entry into "normal" life and the small stresses we have to look forward to. We've been in this self-absorbed bubble for so long, entirely focused on sleeping, eating, keeping the boat moving, and entertaining ourselves. So it's somewhat of a transition to get back into shore mode again. And partly the enormity of what we've accomplished finally sinks in, and there is a bit of a let down to think it's finally over.

I'll state here for the record that I have never (and I don't think John has either) experienced the hallucinations of extra crew members or things like that on any of our passages. Many cruisers report vivid experiences of talking to an extra person on board. Maybe we are lacking in imagination, but that's never happened on Nakia.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my captain for bringing me safely across another part of the ocean. John does these passages practically single-handed, doing all the sail handling, navigation, repairs, and maintenance, and I get to come along for the ride. I wouldn't be doing this without John and I can't think of another sailor I'd trust my life with out at sea.

We'll be finishing up this passage just in the nick of time - we only have one page left before we finish our current passage log book and have to start a new one. Hey, John's calling me to come out and watch a pair of whales. And so ends another day at sea.

{GMST}19|08|N|104|48|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 34|Day 34{GEND}

HI to MX Day 33

We're in the home stretch now, less then 200 miles to go. We've had some great wind the last couple days so we should arrive a little ahead of our last estimate. Last night the waves got pretty bumpy for a few hours which made sleeping difficult, but it calmed down this morning so we're getting caught up on rest now. We've really been lucky as far as getting good rest the entire last half of this passage. We're both getting enough sleep that we could easily walk off the boat on arriving in Manzanillo and go for a day in town without collapsing from exhaustion. Normally we're able to do a few things but would be looking forward to getting to bed before 9pm on the arrival day.

We've been able to fly our (asymmetrical spinnaker) quite a bit over the last three days, which has been keeping the boat moving well. The only down side is we have to run the auto pilot when we're sailing under the spinnaker as the wind vane wanders too much, so we use more electricity. We really haven't flown this sail much since we got it 6 years ago, it's normal use is as a big pillow when we're sleeping in the quarter berth on passage, but this passage I've been happy to have it as a sail instead.

The other day I was running the generator to charge the batteries and the battery charger started acting up. I took it apart and found that a teaspoon or so of salt water had gotten into it when that hose broke. The water corroded a resistor so badly the solder connection to the printed circuit board completely disappeared. So now we don't have a battery charger until I can find an electrical parts supplier and replace the resistor. Good thing I got the alternator/regulator working!

Still no fish, and the water clarity continues to decline. I'm keeping the lures out just in case. We still have one onion, half a carrot, 1/4 of a cabbage (we really haven't been going through the cabbage on this passage) and a pound of ground beef so we're not hurting for fresh food. (We also have canned and dry goods for another 2-3 months, just in cast anyone is worried that we have to live on hale a carrot and a pound of ground beef for the next two days).

We've had to turn off the VHF radio so the off watch can sleep. Mexican fisherman just love to talk on the radio, even if there's no one to talk to. When they get tired of talking they sing, when they get tired of singing they do barn yard animal impersonations. It's pretty annoying. We're keeping a hand-held VHF radio on down below so if there's anyone close by calling us we'll hear them.

The wind is supposed to die tonight, so we'll no doubt be motoring the last 100 miles (we have fuel for 200 miles motoring, so we're in good shape there).

{GMST}19|55|N|106|59|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 33|Day 33{GEND}

HI to MX Day 32

This is really too good to be true. Yesterday was a nice day in spite of having to motor all afternoon. It got very clear and calm by the end of the day and John announced good potential for a green flash sunset. Sure enough that last blip of sun turned bright green. Unfortunately John will never know what one looks like since he's slightly color blind.

John shut the engine off at 8 PM and he furled the jib and hoisted the spinnaker an hour later, just in time for my watch. Aside from a few hours early this morning we've been flying it ever since, and have been cooking along at about five knots. There's been some wind chop coming down from the Sea of Cortez to give us a bit of a roll now and then, but otherwise it's a very smooth ride.

The entire night and all of today have been almost eerily crystal clear without a speck of cloud in the sky, for the first time of the entire passage. It's just surreal. And warm! The sea surface temperature rose to 70 degrees at Noon yesterday and has been in the low seventies since then. The only downside to that is that we've lost the beautiful indigo blue of open ocean and now the water is a greener brown that we associate with coastal cruising.

Lots of voice traffic on the VHF today with ships calling port control somewhere. John heard cruising boats hailing the marina in La Cruz (near Puerto Vallarta) so he tried giving Sarana a call, but no joy there. I even heard a boat calling El Cid marina in Mazatlan.

We ate our last chicken breast today and have one package of hamburger left in the freezer. John's had both fishing lines out, but so far has caught only a piece of plastic.

Almost forgot - we took fresh water showers in our head yesterday. How fantastic is that on top of everything else?!

Just a little over 200 miles to go as I write this!

Linda

{GMST}20|33|N|108|24|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 32|Day 32{GEND}

HI to MX Day 31

Sometimes it seems like everything happens at once. Last night we were sailing along under double headsails with the wind slowly shifting to be more on the beam. The double headsail rig is only good for almost dead downwind, so when we were finally 30 degrees off course I decided I had to make a change. Start with the main, hoisting it so the drifter can come down in its lee. Then drop the drifter. Furl the jib. Take down the pole (of course the control line for the pole jammed in the pole mount so I had to get back to that). Move the jib to the starboard side. Finally finish putting away the pole. This is about 20 minutes worth of activity, during which my attention is focused only on NAKIA. After everything was put away I take a look around and right there off our bow is a boat, or at least a light from a boat. It's very bright white, which should mean I'm looking at the stern of the boat but since we're back in Mexican waters the color of the light doesn't mean squat (Mexican fisherman don't seem to carry a copy of the navigation rules). So I do all the things I normally do when there is a boat close; I turn on all the deck lights and start the radar. The radar takes 2.5 minutes to warm up so while I'm waiting I grab the binoculars and go on deck to see if I can tell which way the boat is headed. When I get there, the light is gone! Great, I think, the fisherman has seen me put my deck lights on and figures I see him so he can turn his light off (don't laugh, they actually do this kind of thing). So I start squinting through the binoculars trying to see a boat with a very dim light when I notice a brightly back-lit cloud on the same bearing as the boat. I wait a minute or so and a nice bright planet (probably Venus or Jupiter) comes out from behind a cloud. It wasn't a boat at all, it was this planet rising on a clear horizon! You'd think that after almost 20,000 miles at sea in the last 6 years I'd learn.

{GMST}21|38|N|110|55|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 31|Day 31{GEND}

HI to MX Day 30

Well, John finally took it all off today - his hair that is! He shaved off his beard (except for his original goatee)and took the electric clippers to his head, and now I have my Bruce Willis guy back again. I was off watch for the event so I haven't seen the before and after pictures yet, but we'll post those when we have internet again.

As John already wrote, we've run out of fresh fruit and now it's finally time to break out the Thai banana chips which were a going away gift from Mike and Mon on Windy City (thanks guys!). I've been saving them for last because I knew we'd appreciate them most at the end of our trip. They are a good treat and even with careful rationing I'm sure they won't last more than a few days!

The water temperature has increased slowly but surely over the past few days, giving us hope that we'll soon be back in tropical weather. Last night we didn't see less than 66 degrees for the first time in awhile. I'm not sure we'll be able to re-acclimate in less than a week (after four weeks of feeling like we were freezing!) but hopefully the Mexican mainland winter temps will be easy on us before we have to face the Baja summer.

On Thursday John's fishing line caught a two foot piece of the kelp. We's noticed several floating by the day before. He reeled it in and we put it in the cockpit well for Ziggy's entertainment. It turned out to have the bonus surprise of half a dozen assorted sized "bugs" crawling on it. These closely resembled what we call "beach roaches" but instead of being black, these were kelp colored. Ziggy was completely captivated by the creatures, but when he decided the "toys" made good food, we pitched it back over the side. Of course Ziggy managed to scoot into the cabin below with one last snack. He spent the rest of the afternoon periodically checking the well to make sure he hadn't missed any.

Friday morning at sunrise we had the pleasure of seeing a fishing boat headed in the opposite direction. We had the twin headsails rigged and must have been quite a sight for them with our blue and white striped drifter. They came in for a closer look, but I was disappointed that they never got close enough to wave. Later we heard Asian voices on the VHF so maybe that was them. Now we seem to be getting the fishermen out of Cabo yakking day and night on channel 16.

Of course after John ran the generator to charge our batteries Friday morning the wind completely died by late afternoon and we had to motor until early evening. It never seems to fail that we have to motor after we've already run the generator. Kind of the opposite of the ukulele effect! This seems to be the pattern lately. Windy sail at sunrise, tapering off by lunch. Motor from noon to mid/late afternoon. Sail in extremely variable, and mostly light, winds all night. Repeat.

Hopefully only to be repeated for five more nights (but who's counting)!

Linda

{GMST}22|15|N|112|12|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 30|Day 30{GEND}

HI to MX Day 29

NAKIA is back in the tropics! The nights are still cool (the water temp is still just 66 degrees) but at least we're not freezing every night. I haven't shaved since before we left Hilo so I would have the benefit of warming facial hair. It's been very itchy and I'm ready to trim it back today, after taking a 'before' picture for the blog of course.

We have about 600 miles to go, and with fuel to motor for 250 of that we'll probably keep going on to Manzanillo. The forecast looks a little better in the near future and if we can manage to sail 75% of the time we should make it just fine. Anticipating Thursday, February 17th as our arrival time. We'll see.

We're now out of fresh fruit, the last orange went yesterday.

{GMST}23|3|N|113|58|W|Hawaii to Mexico Day 29|Day 29{GEND}