Author: Neil Scheuerlein

We got up around 8 or so, the plan for the day was to get the dinghy going and get ashore for lunch. Well we got the dinghy down, and pumped up (it has been about 2 and half months since we used it) then we got the outboard on it and got it to run. Pretty easy to get it started just a couple pulls on the cord. But, the connection to the tank leaks. Another thing to get on the parts to get list.

We talked to Steve and Denny and they were ashore for lunch, we were going to join them, but it was just getting too hard. Steve came by after they were back out and supplied us with the parts and we made a temporary fix that will also us to run the dinghy until we can get the right parts.

Somewhere in here, Reneé paddle boarded for a bit.

Steve and I talked for awhile about boat stuff and he gave me a couple of ideas of things to get or at least look into. I gave him a set of grabbers, he did not have a set on board.

Reneé repaired one of the snaps on the screens, and that has pretty much been our day.

We started the engine to start charging the battery at 5:15 pm 79% charged.

Reneé was up at 7, to start the bread she is making today. Banana, Beer, Blueberries, should be great! I got up a bit later. Breakfast was our normal Sunday breakfast, oatmeal.

We had Denny and Steve Pepper from S/V Brendan, and Rick from S/V Alacran on board this morning and we watched the easter service from North Coast Church in Vista, California from 2020. With limited internet, I was unable to get anything current, and we already had that one downloaded. It was a very good message.

Reneé served a 3 B bread (Beer, Banana’s and Blueberry bread) with butter, honey, and coffee.

Before the sermon the guys worked on the winch with the issues, it is less of an issue than I thought, but still not everything is ok, I will be working on it more in Banderas Bay.

We downloaded the weather via satellite, and at this point we are thinking of leaving early Wednesday morning, and going to Yelapa which is about 10 miles closer than La Cruz anchorage. We would get a mooring ball (or two, as it is sorta rolly there) and spend a couple of nights there before going to the anchorage at La Cruz and starting back into the crush of getting things done. We have reservations at Paradise Village on May 1 to have a slip and get started preparing for hurricane season. We will leave the boat and be back in the states. Which is a whole bunch of other issues.

In the meantime here in Bahia Chamela there is still a crowd on the beach. This is the end of the easter week, and things should get back to “normal” after today. Yesterday when we were on the beach it was pretty crowded. We saw at least a half dozen tour buses. Chamela is a pretty small town, so to see hundreds of people on the beach is not really normal. Especially with it having been foggy until after noon and overcast and “cool” most of the day. It did get up to 81 degrees at some point in the afternoon.

We ran the engine again to charge the battery. We also went for a swim around the boat. This water is dirty and once we had the engine running and water heated up we got showers.

Not quite 2 hours from 80% to full charged on the batteries.

We had a somewhat lazy morning. When we got up is was cold and foggy., (about 68 degrees outside), and everything was wet. We had all the windows open and the condensation was dripping off the windows onto what ever was below it. It took until after noon for the fog to burn off. That is when Steve and Denny came over in their dinghy to get us to go to shore. We still had somewhat rough water as the wind had been blowing for a few days. It takes time for the seas to calm down. In any case, as we were getting into their dinghy, one thing led to another and I was in the water. I did not lose my hat, my glasses on my face or the reading ones in my pocket. My phone and wallet were in the dry bag, so there were unaffected. Just my pride was hurt, but yes once again, I was in the water.

Reneé was still on our boat and relatively dry, I was in the dinghy but soaked. We elected to use the side ladder and Reneé put it down, I got back on board and changed clothes while they ran into the beach to see how bad the surf was and getting into the river with the dock. By the time they were back I was ready and we tried again, this time I stayed relatively dry.

We went up the river. They have built a seawall here with three docks for pangas (the small boats that are everywhere in Mexico) we went to dock 1 and found a place to tie up then walked around town, looking for a place with WiFi. Finally down on the beach one of the servers said yes they did (I suspect that she was not supposed to say that) as the lady who took our order when we sat down said No, there is no WiFi, when we said but the other lady said you did, she went and got us the password.

After snacks, we headed back to the dinghy and back to our boats, but now the tide was really out and the river was really shallow we bumped a couple of times and finally made it out.

Once back on board we rested for a bit, then when the solar stopped putting current into the batteries, I started the engine and charged the batteries. It took about 2:45 minutes to go from 70% to 100% fully charged. This is the advantage of the Lithium batteries. The alternator has an external voltage regulator that protects the alternator from overheating, so it limits the output based on the temperature. At the beginning of the charge, we were putting about 102 amps into the batteries but shortly after that it settled down to around 60-70 amps. The alternator is rated at 110 amps, but it is not good to run it at full load. The lithium batteries take basically whatever we can push into them, the actual number is I believe 1/2C (capacity, which is 600 ah) so a maximum of about 300 amps. We have a 110 amp alternator, a 110 amp charger and a 60 amp solar charger (limited by only having 470 watts worth of panels, so about 40 amps max). So, theoretically, we could push a maximum of 260 amps. But the reality is everything is limited by temperature and as a result we typically only see about 60-70 amps from the charger or the alternator, and the solar is not performing at all well so typically a maximum of about 20 amps, so 150amps is normally the most we can do. We have seen as much as 190 amps at 98% state of charge on the batteries. So, this system really works. Most of the time.

We played a game of Qwirkle. Then I got caught up on the blog and Reneé read her book. Tomorrow is Easter, and Steve and Denny are coming over to watch an Easter service with us.

We got up early (4:00 am) and underway by 5:15. Which considering it has been a couple of months since we took the boat out. The Peppers beat us by about 15 minutes or so. We buddy boated up to Bahia Chamela together and anchored around noon. Ahead of the higher wind speeds that were predicted. Then spent then day on our respective boats and slept. No marine life except some birds.

Up early, Reneé went to the market in town. I started the water maker and filled the tank, 77 gallons used in about a week. We went to the aqua-aerobics, then back to the boat to rest. Tonight out for dinner with the Peppers. 

The restaurant we went to specializes in dinners made with baked potatoes and lots of cheese. Some of my order was lost in translation and I got a carne asada plate with tortillas and no potato, on the other hand I got no cheese either. It was still good. 

After dinner we walked through a gated community in Barra for those with money. The Peppers are considering buying a lot here and having a house built, they wondered if we would be there neighbors, Reneé is considering it. Then back to the water taxi and home to get some sleep before getting underway.