Make Me Laugh Again

We woke up early, listened and then took our sweet time getting together. The night had not been as good as we hoped. Just as we were getting into bed the anchor alarm went off, and we checked, yes we were dragging our anchor. We were in about 7 feet (or less water) with our great anchor (Rocna) on the bottom, with about 50 feet of chain out, even counting the level from the surface of the water to the bow roller (5 feet) we should have had plenty of anchor chain out, as I usually count the length of chain at the end of the snubber to the anchor. So, we had to reset the anchor and put out more chain before going to bed. So, when we reset the anchor we put 75 feet of chain, Then went to bed. I stayed awake for about a half hour watching to see if we were dragging.  In the morning it did not look like we had moved (MUCH!) so, we asked about it on the net in the morning, and after the net someone suggested more chain, as in 100 + feet. So, we put out almost 150 feet of chain, and watched for an hour or so, then went ashore, and played in the pool.

When we got back to the boat, we checked and decided, yes we had drug again. Okay so let’s talk about this, we are in very shallow water, with a mud bottom with clay under the mud, we have a great anchor that when it comes up is filled with mud. So, it is sort of like trying to stand on ice. While there was no wind blowing, there was a tidal current (not huge but still there) and I think that was what was moving us. After discussing this, we decided to suck it up and pay for a slip in the marina. As we pulled the anchor up, I used the wash down system to wash the mud off the chain and then the anchor. What a mess! We tied up and felt much better about the boat not moving!  This is the first time/place our anchor has not held.  We took a walk into town and finally calling it a day played a game and went to bed.

We woke up to the coffee making at 7 am, and slowly got ourselves together and underway by 8 am. Then spent the day motoring (no wind) to Barra de Navidad. This is an interesting location, there is a lagoon to anchor in, somewhat shallow (as in we draw 5 feet, and much of the lagoon is less than 6 feet. We are anchored now and our depth gauge showed 2.3 feet. We are floating, so I think that means 2.3 feet below the keel. In any case, all the wind we did not see today is here, 25 knots through the anchorage. We arrived and had our anchor down by 2:30 or so.

Pérula (town)

We got a better night’s sleep than the last two rolly anchorages (Punta de Mita and Impala).  Of course, we slept in too…staying two nights here.  Neil woke up with his sinuses blocked and that developed into a migraine.  He doesn’t get these often.  He took a morning nap while I enjoyed watching the world around our boat from the cockpit.  After lunch we dropped the anchor and headed for the beach.  There was wind and waves but we timed it right and landed on the beach nicely.  We used the handles attached to rope and threaded through the bow rings to pull the dinghy up on the beach.

Next, we did some restaurant hopping and some walking (along the river Malecon that was beside the town).  We had some beers, a margarita, coffee, and a shrimp cocktail.  We also did some shopping – avocados and a hairbrush.  We spoke with a man on the beach (a Mexican) who lived in Michigan and retired from General Motors.  Next came the fun part…getting the dinghy off the beach…yes…we got wet!

We got up at 6:30, and I pushed the button for the coffee maker and we went back to bed. About 20 minutes later, the machine beeped and we got up. It was a pretty rolly night. Not great for sleeping. We got underway by shortly after 7 am.

There was a hint of wind for a little bit then it went away for about 3 hours, so the sails were up, but not really helping. Then about 10:30 or so, the wind was at 10+ knots apparent from directly behind us and we put the sails out as far as we could using a preventer for the main and the staysail, and just putting the jib out on the other side. The wind was blowing from the same direction very consistently and built up over the day to probably 20-25 knots apparent with us doing as much as 8.5 knots! This was a pretty fast sail.

We arrived and had our anchor down and engine off by 4:30. The wind is blowing in the anchorage, but at least there are no waves. We plan to stay here for 3 days. So tomorrow we will get the dinghy down and go in and see what there is to see.

The membrane that we ordered for the water maker has arrived in La Cruz and will be there when we get back, in about 2 weeks.

We did not go ashore at Punta de Mita, and we will not be going ashore at Ipala. We got up at 6:30 and underway by 7 am. Virtually no wind, so motored for several hours (good it charged the batteries fully, bad we had to listen to the motor all morning). We had a little wind shortly after noon and sailed for an hour or two, then again no wind and motored the rest of the way into Ipala. This not a very protected anchorage, and it will be a rolly night. On the way down, we saw a turtle right next to the boat. Renee’ did some fishing and caught a Bonito, about 19” long. So fish tacos are on the menu for tonight.