Category: 2020-01 (January)

We got up as usual around 7:30, today the wind was from the north. It started sometime after midnight, we are not having much wind directly on us, as we are behind the island from the wind, mostly side effects, some waves that have been redirected around the points of the cove we are in so a little rolly but not as bad as the night before. We are planning to get underway at 10am, so no particular rush.

Today marks 3 complete months in Mexico. We left San Diego October 31. We have learned a lot about the boat, and the life of a cruising couple. We are enjoying our time together, and the closeness of living on a boat.

We got underway as planned and since we only planned to go about 6 miles, and it was all straight into the wind we did not put up any sails. The wind was significant, I am guessing as our wind instrument is broken. But I think it was around 30 knots. We had 6 to 8 foot swells in this bay. Anyway you cut it, not a bunch of fun.

As we got closer to our destination, we looked at three options, Calle Partida (this is the split between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo), El Cardoncito (a very small cove with room for only 1 boat) and El Cardonal. We had already been to Calle Partida and there was another boat in El Cardoncito so we pulled into El Cardonal. There were two other boats there with lots of room left over the wind was coming from the north, and this cove is protected from the north, so we figured this would be good. The good part was that when the wind shifted to coming from the East, there was not much FETCH for the waves to build up, so while we had quite a bit of wind, there were no waves to go with it. Still it made for an uncomfortable night.

I spent the rest of the day going through all the books and paperwork in the manuals locker and the nav station. Spent at least 3 hours and threw away a grocery bag (that was about half full) of paper. It did not seem like much, but it felt good to do it.

We watch Dial M for Murder an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Very well done. Then went to bed and tried to sleep.

Well it was a rather rough night, the wind came up late in the evening and then the waves. We had stayed up and watched a movie (rather old “Against all odds”), and the wind started before we had really gotten into bed. The wind was from the west and it is the one direction we were not really protected from in this anchorage. This late night wind from the west even has a name: Coromuel, usually starts afternoon/evening and goes most of the night. Oh well some good some bad. Biggest issue for me is that there was some pollen in the wind, and I woke up with a sinus headache to beat the band.

In any case, we got up around 7 am, read our books for a bit, enjoyed the view, had breakfast and did our devotions then I went back to bed and slept.

About noon, I woke up again, and felt a little better. We had lunch and went for a snorkel to shore. The fresh air, seawater and all helped with the sinus headache and I felt much better afterwards. Just before we took off to snorkel, Renee’ checked the battery charge and we were down to 62%. That was a cause for concern, as with the solar panels we should have started the day at about 70% (we did not check this morning) and been charging all morning. So, I looked at the solar charger (behind the settee port side behind some storage), and found the breaker for the solar tripped. The location of this particular breaker is not exactly optimal, as it is mounted with the test button pointed out (where things get stored) and it is pretty sensitive. I pushed the reset button and the solar immediately came back on charging at 25 amps. I showed Renee’ and she moved some of the stored stuff around to make it harder to bump the test button.

We got back from our snorkel trip around 2 or so, I started the generator and made sure we were charging the battery. The main reason for running the generator in the afternoon was to take hot showers after swimming. We got showers planned where to go tomorrow, and I got out the GO PRO.

We have had the GO PRO for a couple of years, Nate (our oldest son) found it and gave it to me. We have not used it very much but I have played with it a bit. When I first got it, it needed a battery charger, and a memory card and a case. So, I bought a battery charger that came with two batteries (we now have 3 batteries), a waterproof case and a set of attachments/accessories. I really only wanted the waterproof case and a float to be able to use in the water, and an adapter with a suction cup to use it in the truck, but those few adapters were going to be about $25. The entire case full of adapters , I am thinking there is something like 2 dozen (including the straps to mount the GO PRO on a dog), was only about $25. So, we played with it a bit this afternoon to make sure we use it in the future.

I have an adapter for the Mac Book Pro to connect a variety of things (HDMI, 3 USB, a network port, a USB C, and two card readers 1 SD and 1 Mini SD) I checked and I can access the Mini SD card from the GO PRO on my iPad Pro via this adapter.  This means that we might not need to take our phones ashore when we go for a hike, and when we go snorkeling in the future we can take pictures and video of the fish we see.
We saw quite a few pelicans today and a panga with some people fishing and two other sailboats, one appears to be anchored on the far side of this bay (about a mile or two away) and the other was sailing by the island. Very secluded and quiet. It actually makes the crappy weather last night almost worth putting up with.

We got up early to give us time to get the addendum to the TIP for bringing the parts in to Mexico and check out by noon. It is a bit cool at 7 am.

We had breakfast and did our devotions. Then caught an Uber to the ferry terminal. Found the Banjercito (Not really sure what this translates to) incredibly helpful! We needed copies of our TIP, and Passport, and the guy we were talking to sent us to the middle house at the entrance to the packing lot, where there was a parking guard who had a copier. He charged us 6 pesos (19 pesos to the dollar) to make copies of the TIP, my passport and the letter that authorizes us to operate the boat (since it is in a LLC). We spent about 20 minutes to get all 4 of the forms filled out and there was no cost. We took an Uber back to the marina. The driver for this trip was Sergio who speaks English and will be the driver that takes us to the airport on Monday. We have his number and will be using him in the future.

We filled the holding tank with water, and disconnected shore power. I could not get the adapter unplugged and we called for help. They sent three guys, the took the meter out (which takes the power off everything) took the socket out of the box and eventually got it disconnected. Similar to what the guy had to do to get us hooked up two nights ago. Anyway, we left the marina at about 11:30, went out in the bay, sailed for a bit and then dumped the holding tank (got down to 0%) then motored up to Espiritu Santo and anchored in Ensenada la Gallina. There was a report on the NET the other day of turtles here. 

We will stay here at least two nights, unless we have issues with waves/wind. Currently, it is very calm, no waves, no wind. As Renee’ said on a couple of occasions today, “THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS!” There are no other boats around, just us and the pelicans, a gorgeous day, a great view and no cell service or internet.

 

 

We got up as normal, listened to the NET, and had breakfast, did our devotions and planned the day.

Renee’ took the laundry up and started it. Cheaper than other places we have been, but the marina is more, so still not even.

When she got back, we dropped the box under the sink to access the suspected leak. Well, some bad news first, there is about a half inch of water under the engine. Not sure where it came from but, there is no leak visible under the sink. So, back to the top, closer inspection of the valve and …. take the top of the valve apart and there it is a loose nut that hold the valve together. I tighten that up and wipe the sink down and the leak is gone. We redid some of the insulation tape inside the engine room and at 2 pm today Michael N. will be by to help put it back up. Then I can look for the other leak on the engine. In the meantime, laundry is done and Renee’ took the shuttle into town.

At this point it is pretty clear that we will be leaving in the morning headed out to the islands again. We have reservations for our flight to Tijuana on Feb 3rd, and for a slip in this marina starting on Feb 2nd, so we will be back for that.

So here are some pictures of the day.

We went to bed last night with very calm seas. No wind, no waves. About 2 am this morning the waves started from the west, so it was kinda rolly the rest of the night. Renee’ could not sleep anymore about 6:45 and got up, I slept in for another hour, then got up.

We had breakfast, Renee’ had planned bagels which were in the freezer, but they had gotten stale, so, she made French toast out of them, and used a strawberry and apple mix she had made for the turnovers we had the other day as syrup on them. This was really good.

One thing we have noticed, is that there is a small leak at the base of the faucet in the galley. This is one of the hardest things to access to work on. The faucet is behind the sink and above the engine. Inside the engine compartment there is a box around the sink that is insulated and held up by a half dozen or so screws. The insulation is held on by metallic insulation tape and spray adhesive. When we replaced this faucet in San Diego, my friend Bob and I spent a day taking this box down to get at the faucet. There was more effort involved in taking the box down than replacing the faucet. On top of which when we took the box down, we broke one of the two engine room lights off the ceiling. How bad it can get, is if we go after the leak, and break something in the faucet, we won’t have any fresh water on the boat, as there are virtually no valves in this system. I am not sure I want to go after this leak while at anchor, as to work on this we have to drop the box on top of the engine while we work on the faucet. Which means the engine is not available while the box is sitting on top of it. In the mean time, we are mopping up the water with a sponge periodically.  Renee’ looked in the engine room and does not see any water leaking there. Which tends to suggest that the problem is the faucet itself, we bought it at Lowes, less than a year ago. I have not seen a Lowes since we left San Diego and I don’t have access to the internet to find out if there is one nearby. We will probably be buying a new faucet here at Home Depot in La Paz, if it is not something I can fix.

We have turned off the water pump (Renee’ suggested it) and depressurized the system when we are not using it, to minimize the leak.

As the wind built up and the waves got a bit taller. We thought about it and decided that it would be better to go back to La Paz and fix the sink, as we were going to spend the day sitting on the boat rocking and rolling.

We motored out of the cove, and sailed until the wind died, yeah the wind that was making the waves in Ensenada Grande just died. Oh well, then we motored and headed back to La Paz. Checked on all the stuff we ordered and got a slip in Pamira marina in La Paz.

When we got here, we backed in and it went very smoothly! Parked it right where it was supposed to be and never touched a thing on the way in, not even the roller on the end of the dock. I was pretty surprised how it worked, and I was the one driving!

They did not have 50 amp shore power available, after an hour they said we could move to the other side of the dock where it had already been fixed, or wait about an hour and they would have it fixed on our slip. We waited and the guy came out and did it. So, we are here and have shore power and we will be working on the faucet in the morning.