Up until now, this blog has been primarily focused on the wonderful side of “the yachting life,” with the occasional anecdote about problems we’ve faced along the way. This entry differs from the rest. It is focused almost entirely on the things that are difficult about living on a boat. The list is not exhaustive (there are many things we don’t touch on such as insect infestations, mold, leaks, seasickness, trying to cook creatively using canned goods, sailing under adverse weather conditions, etc.). Instead, we go through some of the specific challenges that we’ve experienced during the past month since leaving Zihuatanejo - starting with the present, most pressing issue and working back in time. (NOTE: Don't forget to check out our Fotki site for better quality and to view additional photos from our adventures between Zihuatanejo and San Blas.)
This blog entry is being written from San Blas. San Blas is a small town located between Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. The anchorage is in an estuary, and to get in here you have to navigate through some tricky shoal areas. Just a couple of days ago, a sailboat got stuck on a shoal near the estuary entrance. We were able to navigate our way into the estuary, no problem, and we didn’t even use our engine. No, we haven’t suddenly become top-notch sailors. We were towed in here.
Let’s back up. Rumiko left Banderas Bay – the bay where Puerto Vallarta, La Cruz and other towns are located – last week. Initially, it was rough going. In the first 24-hours after leaving we only made 24 nautical miles (usually in 24 hours we can sail 60-75 nm). We had very little wind, and we were fighting a current. Eventually, in a fit of frustration, we decided to fire up the engine and try to get further off shore thinking that the current might be less strong out there. But immediately upon starting the engine Dan noticed that there was NO OIL PRESSURE. He added some oil, tapped the pressure gauge, etc. Still no pressure. So we turned off the engine and waited for wind. It eventually arrived, and, in fact, the next day we had one of our best days of sailing. During a 4-hour stretch in the afternoon we averaged 5.5 knots/hr, and for shorter periods of time we were sailing at 6-6.5 kts. For lil’ Rumiko, that’s quite fast!
We were planning on anchoring in San Blas, where we figured we’d have access to some of the supplies needed to assess our engine problems. But we arrived in the area after dark, so we opted to drop our anchor (there was no wind by this time) in the nearby Mantanchen Bay – a big, shallow bay with very few boats in it.
The next day, we made contact with some of the boats in San Blas. We had offers from a number of them – Pisces, Third Day, Smoke N Blues – to come and tow us from the bay into the San Blas estuary so that we could be closer to town. We told them we were going to first look at the engine, and then sail the three miles to the mouth of the estuary AND THEN see if someone could give us a tow through the tricky shoal areas. The thing about the cruising community is that people are SO GENEROUS that it’s difficult to say no. Within minutes of telling folks we were going to sail over, we got a call from Jodee from Smoke N Blues telling us that her husband Russ and Rich from Third Day were in Rich’s dinghy and were on their way over. In the pouring rain, nonetheless.
So that is how we ended up being towed into the San Blas estuary.
And believe us, we are very glad to that Rich and Russ were so persistent. It meant that we were tucked in when the big storm hit that night. We felt 47-knot winds in the estuary. If we had remained out in the bay where we would have had a very exciting night indeed.
Our engine problems are causing us quite a bit of stress. Not because we rely heavily on our engine – although it is very handy when you need to maneuver through areas like shoals or marinas. No, we are bummed because we have a number of friends and family members who have booked tickets to visit us - in La Paz. (Alan and Laura arrive there February 22, Anthony and Julia arrive March 9, Dan’s dad arrives on March 25). Dan has spent a good part of the past 6 days in San Blas cloistered in our engine room (i.e., Rumiko's galley) troubleshooting the problem, getting input from Russ from Smoke N Blues and a Yanmar mechanic in Mazatlan. After much investigation, sweating, cursing, head-scratching and eureka moments that haven't panned out, Dan thought he had honed in on the heart of the problem, i.e., a clog in the oil uptake system. He blew out the clog and voila! Oil pressure. But today when he tried to fire up the engine we did not have oil pressure. The Yanmar mechanic, upon hearing this, now thinks that we need to have some fairly major work done on our engine (the rings or pistons may be shot). The positive side of this saga is that Dan has learned a lot about our engine. The downside, of course, is that for now our engine appears to be dead. And given this fact, we have to decide how to proceed.
AVERTING A JIB BLOWOUT
Our jib has never worked properly. The outside of the sail, the leech, almost always flaps. In talking with Doug, the sailmaker and one of the previous owners of Rumiko, the jib was made according to the Bayfield specifications. But even for Doug the sail never worked properly. There is too much tension in some areas, and not enough in others. It is not surprising that eventually the parts of the sail bearing the tension would rip from the strain. This happened on the first morning of a two-day sail from Chamela to La Cruz. We noticed the rip at 10 a.m., and within 15 minutes it had doubled in size (to about 8 inches) so we pulled down the jib and applied some “Tear-Aid” tape to the rip. We also noticed a second smaller tear and put tape on that one, too. The tears did not expand during the two days, and in La Cruz we were able to buy some heavy duty sail repair tape from the sailmaker there (PV Sailing). The sail tape is holding well, and we expect to make it back to La Paz where we can get the jib repaired by Snug Harbor Sails.
THINGS THAT CAN GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Humpback whales are migrating along the Pacific coast of Mexico right now, and there is a large concentration of them in and around Banderas Bay. We’ve had some great shows, and some scary encounters, over the past couple of weeks. It’s incredibly fun and exciting when the whales surface close to the boat in the daytime. There’s nothing like seeing whales hurling themselves fully out of the water, or watching the graceful arc of their backs and barnacle-laden tails as they slip back into the sea. At night, however, when all you hear is the deep, hollow whoosh-of-air exhalation from these giant beasts and see the dark silhouettes break the inky surface close to the boat, your heart starts beating with the realization that you were almost hit by a whale! We heard that a sailboat was recently hit by a whale in Banderas Bay, so it really does happen.
JELLYFISH CLOUD
You might remember from an earlier blog posting that Dan had a rather serious encounter with a jellyfish at Honeymoon Cove. We didn’t want a repeat of that experience, so when we looked over the side of our boat in the outer bay of Tenacatita and saw masses of jellyfish floating around the boat we donned our lycra suits before jumping in. We quickly swam out of the jellyfish zone and had a fun snorkel around the rocks and reefs in the bay. When we were approaching our boat on the return swim it appeared that the jellyfish had been madly procreating. In a 50-foot area around the boat they were so densely packed that it was almost impossible to avoid touching them. Swimming through that jellyfish cloud brought back memories of playing Asteroids, that video game in which you’re trying to maneuver through a field of, you guessed it, asteroids. But unlike in Asteroids, we didn’t have a gun to blow up the approaching jellyfish. We just had to do our best to dodge them, and occasionally break through the cloud to get a breath of air. It was intense. Lisa got one small sting on her wrist, but thankfully that was the total damage.
JUNIOR IS UNHAPPY
One thing we’ve heard from most cruisers who sail along the eastern Pacific shore is that you can expect to eventually flip your dinghy trying to get through the heavy surf. Dinghies get into trouble when waves break on them or hit them broadside, swamping them or causing them to flip. If your timing is good, you get to shore without a wave breaking on you. But sometimes, as we found out, the waves can be very deceiving.
We were in an anchorage in Melaque (which is a very popular destination for Canadian snowbirds and thus, we were able to buy gringo-type items like romaine lettuce and peameal bacon). We thought we had enough time to get to shore between waves, but we were wrong. A wave broke on us and FLIP! We were both fine – no major bruises, except to our pride – and we were able to retrieve all of our loose items. Thankfully we didn’t have our computers with us (note to self: always put computers in waterproof case when going ashore). Since the flip incident our dinghy motor “Junior” has not worked. When we got back to Rumiko Dan worked on Junior for a while, but was not able to get it running. We’re still hoping to get Junior working when Dan has more time to play with it. In the meantime, we’ll continue toning our arm muscles rowing ourselves into and out from shore.
BIRDS CAN DRIVE YOU BATTY
The bird life on the mainland is incredibly diverse and there are lots of them. It’s very common to see pelicans swarming around fishing pangas, or boobies diving on schools of small fish. And it's actually quite mesmerizing to watch the pelicans, boobies, herons and other sea birds plunge over and over again into the ocean and come up with fish in their beaks. We are less pleased, however, when the fish digested by these birds end up on our deck and canvas.
Zihuatanejo was the worst location for bird droppings. Almost every morning there would be fresh leavings. It got so bad that we decided to stop trying to wash away the filth every day – it seemed like too much work. So we waited until we left Zihuat Bay. Big mistake. The bird poop became sunbaked onto the deck and it took forever to scrub it off.
Yes, there’s a lot to love about the sea birds. We were certainly charmed when the cute yellow-footed booby hitched a ride in our dinghy when we were sailing south of Chamela. When we’re away from our boat we always enjoy seeing night herons looking like little old men with hunched shoulders, peering into the water in search of prey. But we’ve grown to loathe seeing night herons perched on Rumiko’s bowsprit. In Zihuatanejo we kept a handful of pebbles on board so that we could toss them out of the front hatch and try to scare off the herons. We saw other sailors shaking their halyards and shouting obscenities at their uninvited avian guests. Kacey got into a face-off with a bold booby that did not scare easily. It took a swipe at Kacey, but Kacey kept swatting back and eventually the booby flew away. Birds are great, but they can be crappy company.
ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Despite the spate of challenges in the past month our spirits remain high. We’ve tackled and solved some of our problems, which always feels good. And we've continued to have great experiences along the way. We had fun boogie boarding in Caleta de Campos with Isis before parting ways with them around Maruata. We did a great hike along the coast at Chamela, had some decent snorkeling outings at Tenacatita and other places. We’ve met incredibly generous, interesting cruisers (e.g., from the boats Third Day, Smoke N Blues, Pacific Pearl, Pisces and others). We were surprised and pleased to to see our friends Liz and Michael from Saoirse in La Cruz, and had two great nights of socializing with them. And we’ve had some great days of sailing along the beautiful Pacific coast of Mexico.
Our time in San Blas has been a blast. Literally. We arrived at the beginning of “San Blas Days.” It’s been a week-long celebration of “Saint Blaze.” Some of the festivities have included the blessing of the fleet, where the church’s statue of San Blas was hauled down to the waterfront to stand beside the priest as he threw holy water onto the pangas. For several hours before and after the blessing pangas were zooming up and down the estuary, engaging in water fights, sometimes colliding, but generally having a great time. We were sitting out watching them and laughing, and one panga saw us and invited us to go for a ride. Of course we accepted. So we were on the panga when it was blessed by the priest. Then we went zooming off and grabbed the folks from Pisces (Julia and Jacob) who came along for the ride out to Piedra Blanca, a rock outside the estuary that has a statue on it that appears to be the Virgin Mary. It's covered in bird shit, of course (those darned birds!).
Later that night we attended the cruisers’ potluck at the marina, and then everyone headed into town for the big “Saint Blaze” fireworks extravanza. We had seen a fireworks tower being constructed earlier in the day, and were amazed to see the final edifice that they had managed to construct. Five stories tall, it loomed over the town plaza. A crowd of hundreds of folks were gathered, tightly packed, around the tower. At 9:30 p.m. a fuse was lit and a small model airplane started spewing sparks and shot along a cable from a palm tree into the tower. Then the big show started. A single firework was shot from the church roof, followed by a tremendous explosion on the lowest level of the tower. There were pieces of metal spinning and fireworks shooting in all directions, accompanied by an intense squealing sound. When the fireworks on the bottom level were spent, another signal shot came from the church and the next level up started its dance of color and light and smoke and noise. Eventually the top level of the tower exploded and a ring of fireworks went spinning off into, well, the crowd. It burned itself out before hitting the ground, but we're not sure where the metal ring that held the fireworks landed. . . The grand finale was a series of fireworks sent off from the church - so big and so close that you could feel the ground shake. You just don’t experience shows like this in the U.S. or Canada.
WHAT NEXT?
We're not sure. We may sail to Mazatlan where there are certified Yanmar mechanics that can work on Rumiko's engine. But that would entail sailing up there without an engine. We could truck Rumiko to Mazatlan, which would be pricey. We could sail to La Paz, but the real Yanmar experts are in Mazatlan. We're going to review our options and we'll be sure to keep you posted via the blog.
- BUSTED-DOWN IN SAN BLAS
- AVERTING A JIB BLOWOUT
- THINGS THAT CAN GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
- JELLYFISH CLOUD
- JUNIOR IS UNHAPPY
- BIRDS CAN DRIVE YOU BATTY
- ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
- WHAT NEXT?
This blog entry is being written from San Blas. San Blas is a small town located between Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. The anchorage is in an estuary, and to get in here you have to navigate through some tricky shoal areas. Just a couple of days ago, a sailboat got stuck on a shoal near the estuary entrance. We were able to navigate our way into the estuary, no problem, and we didn’t even use our engine. No, we haven’t suddenly become top-notch sailors. We were towed in here.Let’s back up. Rumiko left Banderas Bay – the bay where Puerto Vallarta, La Cruz and other towns are located – last week. Initially, it was rough going. In the first 24-hours after leaving we only made 24 nautical miles (usually in 24 hours we can sail 60-75 nm). We had very little wind, and we were fighting a current. Eventually, in a fit of frustration, we decided to fire up the engine and try to get further off shore thinking that the current might be less strong out there. But immediately upon starting the engine Dan noticed that there was NO OIL PRESSURE. He added some oil, tapped the pressure gauge, etc. Still no pressure. So we turned off the engine and waited for wind. It eventually arrived, and, in fact, the next day we had one of our best days of sailing. During a 4-hour stretch in the afternoon we averaged 5.5 knots/hr, and for shorter periods of time we were sailing at 6-6.5 kts. For lil’ Rumiko, that’s quite fast!
We were planning on anchoring in San Blas, where we figured we’d have access to some of the supplies needed to assess our engine problems. But we arrived in the area after dark, so we opted to drop our anchor (there was no wind by this time) in the nearby Mantanchen Bay – a big, shallow bay with very few boats in it.
The next day, we made contact with some of the boats in San Blas. We had offers from a number of them – Pisces, Third Day, Smoke N Blues – to come and tow us from the bay into the San Blas estuary so that we could be closer to town. We told them we were going to first look at the engine, and then sail the three miles to the mouth of the estuary AND THEN see if someone could give us a tow through the tricky shoal areas. The thing about the cruising community is that people are SO GENEROUS that it’s difficult to say no. Within minutes of telling folks we were going to sail over, we got a call from Jodee from Smoke N Blues telling us that her husband Russ and Rich from Third Day were in Rich’s dinghy and were on their way over. In the pouring rain, nonetheless.
So that is how we ended up being towed into the San Blas estuary.And believe us, we are very glad to that Rich and Russ were so persistent. It meant that we were tucked in when the big storm hit that night. We felt 47-knot winds in the estuary. If we had remained out in the bay where we would have had a very exciting night indeed.
Our engine problems are causing us quite a bit of stress. Not because we rely heavily on our engine – although it is very handy when you need to maneuver through areas like shoals or marinas. No, we are bummed because we have a number of friends and family members who have booked tickets to visit us - in La Paz. (Alan and Laura arrive there February 22, Anthony and Julia arrive March 9, Dan’s dad arrives on March 25). Dan has spent a good part of the past 6 days in San Blas cloistered in our engine room (i.e., Rumiko's galley) troubleshooting the problem, getting input from Russ from Smoke N Blues and a Yanmar mechanic in Mazatlan. After much investigation, sweating, cursing, head-scratching and eureka moments that haven't panned out, Dan thought he had honed in on the heart of the problem, i.e., a clog in the oil uptake system. He blew out the clog and voila! Oil pressure. But today when he tried to fire up the engine we did not have oil pressure. The Yanmar mechanic, upon hearing this, now thinks that we need to have some fairly major work done on our engine (the rings or pistons may be shot). The positive side of this saga is that Dan has learned a lot about our engine. The downside, of course, is that for now our engine appears to be dead. And given this fact, we have to decide how to proceed.AVERTING A JIB BLOWOUT
Our jib has never worked properly. The outside of the sail, the leech, almost always flaps. In talking with Doug, the sailmaker and one of the previous owners of Rumiko, the jib was made according to the Bayfield specifications. But even for Doug the sail never worked properly. There is too much tension in some areas, and not enough in others. It is not surprising that eventually the parts of the sail bearing the tension would rip from the strain. This happened on the first morning of a two-day sail from Chamela to La Cruz. We noticed the rip at 10 a.m., and within 15 minutes it had doubled in size (to about 8 inches) so we pulled down the jib and applied some “Tear-Aid” tape to the rip. We also noticed a second smaller tear and put tape on that one, too. The tears did not expand during the two days, and in La Cruz we were able to buy some heavy duty sail repair tape from the sailmaker there (PV Sailing). The sail tape is holding well, and we expect to make it back to La Paz where we can get the jib repaired by Snug Harbor Sails.
THINGS THAT CAN GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Humpback whales are migrating along the Pacific coast of Mexico right now, and there is a large concentration of them in and around Banderas Bay. We’ve had some great shows, and some scary encounters, over the past couple of weeks. It’s incredibly fun and exciting when the whales surface close to the boat in the daytime. There’s nothing like seeing whales hurling themselves fully out of the water, or watching the graceful arc of their backs and barnacle-laden tails as they slip back into the sea. At night, however, when all you hear is the deep, hollow whoosh-of-air exhalation from these giant beasts and see the dark silhouettes break the inky surface close to the boat, your heart starts beating with the realization that you were almost hit by a whale! We heard that a sailboat was recently hit by a whale in Banderas Bay, so it really does happen.JELLYFISH CLOUD
You might remember from an earlier blog posting that Dan had a rather serious encounter with a jellyfish at Honeymoon Cove. We didn’t want a repeat of that experience, so when we looked over the side of our boat in the outer bay of Tenacatita and saw masses of jellyfish floating around the boat we donned our lycra suits before jumping in. We quickly swam out of the jellyfish zone and had a fun snorkel around the rocks and reefs in the bay. When we were approaching our boat on the return swim it appeared that the jellyfish had been madly procreating. In a 50-foot area around the boat they were so densely packed that it was almost impossible to avoid touching them. Swimming through that jellyfish cloud brought back memories of playing Asteroids, that video game in which you’re trying to maneuver through a field of, you guessed it, asteroids. But unlike in Asteroids, we didn’t have a gun to blow up the approaching jellyfish. We just had to do our best to dodge them, and occasionally break through the cloud to get a breath of air. It was intense. Lisa got one small sting on her wrist, but thankfully that was the total damage.
JUNIOR IS UNHAPPY
One thing we’ve heard from most cruisers who sail along the eastern Pacific shore is that you can expect to eventually flip your dinghy trying to get through the heavy surf. Dinghies get into trouble when waves break on them or hit them broadside, swamping them or causing them to flip. If your timing is good, you get to shore without a wave breaking on you. But sometimes, as we found out, the waves can be very deceiving.
We were in an anchorage in Melaque (which is a very popular destination for Canadian snowbirds and thus, we were able to buy gringo-type items like romaine lettuce and peameal bacon). We thought we had enough time to get to shore between waves, but we were wrong. A wave broke on us and FLIP! We were both fine – no major bruises, except to our pride – and we were able to retrieve all of our loose items. Thankfully we didn’t have our computers with us (note to self: always put computers in waterproof case when going ashore). Since the flip incident our dinghy motor “Junior” has not worked. When we got back to Rumiko Dan worked on Junior for a while, but was not able to get it running. We’re still hoping to get Junior working when Dan has more time to play with it. In the meantime, we’ll continue toning our arm muscles rowing ourselves into and out from shore.BIRDS CAN DRIVE YOU BATTY
The bird life on the mainland is incredibly diverse and there are lots of them. It’s very common to see pelicans swarming around fishing pangas, or boobies diving on schools of small fish. And it's actually quite mesmerizing to watch the pelicans, boobies, herons and other sea birds plunge over and over again into the ocean and come up with fish in their beaks. We are less pleased, however, when the fish digested by these birds end up on our deck and canvas.Zihuatanejo was the worst location for bird droppings. Almost every morning there would be fresh leavings. It got so bad that we decided to stop trying to wash away the filth every day – it seemed like too much work. So we waited until we left Zihuat Bay. Big mistake. The bird poop became sunbaked onto the deck and it took forever to scrub it off.
Yes, there’s a lot to love about the sea birds. We were certainly charmed when the cute yellow-footed booby hitched a ride in our dinghy when we were sailing south of Chamela. When we’re away from our boat we always enjoy seeing night herons looking like little old men with hunched shoulders, peering into the water in search of prey. But we’ve grown to loathe seeing night herons perched on Rumiko’s bowsprit. In Zihuatanejo we kept a handful of pebbles on board so that we could toss them out of the front hatch and try to scare off the herons. We saw other sailors shaking their halyards and shouting obscenities at their uninvited avian guests. Kacey got into a face-off with a bold booby that did not scare easily. It took a swipe at Kacey, but Kacey kept swatting back and eventually the booby flew away. Birds are great, but they can be crappy company.ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
Despite the spate of challenges in the past month our spirits remain high. We’ve tackled and solved some of our problems, which always feels good. And we've continued to have great experiences along the way. We had fun boogie boarding in Caleta de Campos with Isis before parting ways with them around Maruata. We did a great hike along the coast at Chamela, had some decent snorkeling outings at Tenacatita and other places. We’ve met incredibly generous, interesting cruisers (e.g., from the boats Third Day, Smoke N Blues, Pacific Pearl, Pisces and others). We were surprised and pleased to to see our friends Liz and Michael from Saoirse in La Cruz, and had two great nights of socializing with them. And we’ve had some great days of sailing along the beautiful Pacific coast of Mexico.
Our time in San Blas has been a blast. Literally. We arrived at the beginning of “San Blas Days.” It’s been a week-long celebration of “Saint Blaze.” Some of the festivities have included the blessing of the fleet, where the church’s statue of San Blas was hauled down to the waterfront to stand beside the priest as he threw holy water onto the pangas. For several hours before and after the blessing pangas were zooming up and down the estuary, engaging in water fights, sometimes colliding, but generally having a great time. We were sitting out watching them and laughing, and one panga saw us and invited us to go for a ride. Of course we accepted. So we were on the panga when it was blessed by the priest. Then we went zooming off and grabbed the folks from Pisces (Julia and Jacob) who came along for the ride out to Piedra Blanca, a rock outside the estuary that has a statue on it that appears to be the Virgin Mary. It's covered in bird shit, of course (those darned birds!).
Later that night we attended the cruisers’ potluck at the marina, and then everyone headed into town for the big “Saint Blaze” fireworks extravanza. We had seen a fireworks tower being constructed earlier in the day, and were amazed to see the final edifice that they had managed to construct. Five stories tall, it loomed over the town plaza. A crowd of hundreds of folks were gathered, tightly packed, around the tower. At 9:30 p.m. a fuse was lit and a small model airplane started spewing sparks and shot along a cable from a palm tree into the tower. Then the big show started. A single firework was shot from the church roof, followed by a tremendous explosion on the lowest level of the tower. There were pieces of metal spinning and fireworks shooting in all directions, accompanied by an intense squealing sound. When the fireworks on the bottom level were spent, another signal shot came from the church and the next level up started its dance of color and light and smoke and noise. Eventually the top level of the tower exploded and a ring of fireworks went spinning off into, well, the crowd. It burned itself out before hitting the ground, but we're not sure where the metal ring that held the fireworks landed. . . The grand finale was a series of fireworks sent off from the church - so big and so close that you could feel the ground shake. You just don’t experience shows like this in the U.S. or Canada.
WHAT NEXT?
We're not sure. We may sail to Mazatlan where there are certified Yanmar mechanics that can work on Rumiko's engine. But that would entail sailing up there without an engine. We could truck Rumiko to Mazatlan, which would be pricey. We could sail to La Paz, but the real Yanmar experts are in Mazatlan. We're going to review our options and we'll be sure to keep you posted via the blog.
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