03:00 We put the lights of Barra del Sachiate on our beam and are back in Mexican waters. In the distance are the lights of the Puerto Madero shrimp fleet. I maintain our heading paralleling the coast until I can find what appears to be an open spot in the fleet, then point the nose toward the flashing beacon of Puerto Madera.
05:00 Starting to get light now. We've put the last of the shrimpers behind us and are nearing the breakwater. The seas are gentle so we come back to an idle and pull in the flopper-stoppers.
06:00 We ride a low swell into the dirty waters of the Puerto Madero lagoon, just 72 hours after leaving the crystal clear ones of the Mercielagos. Running up into the west basin past the palapa city of the fishermen we drop our hook as far from the wharf as possible. I hadn't remembered quite how dirty this place is, even more so than Puntarenas.
Both of us were pooped and I went below to get some sleep but sleep wouldn't come. All I could think about was how I was going to explain the fact that we hadn't cleared out of Costa Rica. Well, might as well get it over with! We took down the Metz, put up the awning, I took a shower and dressed in long jeans and dark shirt, got out our paperwork, and headed for shore to face what might be. The fishing boat which had served as our ladder onto the big wharf was gone so I had to leave the Metz tied to a chunk of big pipe and climb the muddy bank to get ashore. I walked through the brush, climbed around the chain link fence, and started walking toward the Port Captain's office. On the wharf there were several dozen men just waiting for something and large piles of something covered with plastic. As I neared the gate the Port Captain himself came up, being driven by a young man in uniform. He stopped, greeted me in English, and asked where we'd come from. He then said that the first thing he wanted us to do was to move our boat to the east basin...there was a big ship coming in to load maize and it would need the entire turning basin by the wharf. He then said to go first to Migracion at the airport, then come to his office. He gave me a ride back to the end of the wharf.
OK, back to the boat I went. We hauled up and moved around to the east basin, anchoring with five sailboats just beyond the fishing wharves. Andre, the aggressive little diesel salesman we met last year boarded us as we went. He was very disappointed when I told him we needed no fuel, but offered to have his son take me to Migracion...for a price of course. We anchored, went ashore (after some delays to pick up laundry at other boats), and then waited and waited while he negotiated fuel prices with some other yachties. I was getting pretty impatient and finally insisted on starting for the airport, so he palmed me off on another driver. The Puerto Madero airport is about ten kilometers toward Tapachula. There I went to the Migracion desk and had a bit of difficulty until I managed to get over the fact that we wanted to check in, not out, of the country. Once I got that idea over the little chief of the office took me to another office where he issued Tourist Cards and welcomed us back to Mexico...no problema.
From there it was back to the Port Captain's office, where he looked at our papers and asked for our Zarpe. When I told him why we had none he just shrugged and sent me off to pay the 17,250 peso port fee at the Hacienda office. It wasn't until I got to the administrative office to have my crew list stamped and signed that there was any bobble...the clerk there said I had to have a Zarpe. We were at sort of an impasse but, in the typical Mexican manner, the clerk said, "Un momento." and in a few minutes another young man appeared who spoke some English. I didn't recognize him at first without his beautiful white uniform but it turned out to be David, the young assistant Port Captain at Puerto Escondido, whom we'd met several times in 1988. He was very friendly and, once we'd established that we knew some people in common in Loreto, explained that leaving without a clearance was an "infraction" which hinted of narco trafficing. I don't know if he bought my story about the problems with the war in Panama and the Aduana in Costa Rica but in any case he stamped and signed our crew list, wished us well, and sent me on my way. We are now all legal again and can relax. I'd have made a hell of a criminal! I re-read Crime and Punishment recently and can understand what Dostoyevski was driving at.
The rest of the day was very quiet. We laid around the boat and went to bed with the sun, happy to be in our big bunk again. Lots of thunderstorms through the night...we filled all our buckets with water and could have collected much more. It did cool things off a bit though, and in here it is flat calm.
I recognized this potential a long time ago and Nan sent me some 24 volt bulbs to replace the 12 volt ones in the running lights, but I'd never gotten around to doing it...we haven't run at night for over a year. Well, now I've done it. I went put new bulbs in all the lights, then jumpered the running light switch to the unused 24 volt breaker labled "HEAD". Worked like a charm! We now have 24 volt running lights and the only load on the 12 volt bus will be the radios and dash lights, none of which draw much. Hopefully this will solve the overcharging problem.
Yesterday as I was going in to the Port Captain's office we went by a little boat next to us with no name painted on it. I found that Rocky, a lady I had met two years ago in La Paz, was aboard. She started asking me questions about Costa Rica and I put her off, saying we'd talk to her later. Well, today when we'd gotten our work done and were sitting waiting for the 14:00 weatherfax I gave her a hollar and she and her husband came over for a visit. It didn't take long to detect a disaster about to happen! They have been in La Paz for several years, wandered their way down the Mexican mainland, and are now setting off for Costa Rica and the Caribbean. The guy, Brian, said he wanted to be in Jamaica for his birthday on the 1st of June. They are on this little ragged 30 footer, have nothing but a VHF radio, and have no idea of even how far Costa Rica is, let alone the Carib. I tried to give them a little idea of what we'd come through on the way here from Costa Rica, but both of them were already half soused and didn't want to talk about anything but their troubles. They hauled anchor soon after, and we heard them on the radio calling for help from another boat which had left earlier. There sure are some strange ones out here!
It was a pretty nice day, not too hot and the rain didn't start until after dark. It came down then but not with the fury of last night. Our weatherfax looked good so tomorrow we'll brave the Tehuantepec.
We headed out the channel just in front of a big navy ship, turn right and start the 180 mile run to Salina Cruz. The first 100 miles is an arrow straight line up the northeast side of the gulf. There are no dangers so you can run as close to shore as your draft will let you. We had hardly gotten lined up until we started to meet boats coming in, all fairly close together except for one little sailboat called Morning Star which had been left behind yesterday. We volunteered to watch for them and found them about forty miles up the coast...they had been thoroughly wetted down and slowed by the gales but now were working their way along again with no problems. One of the boats coming in was Timshel, people on whose boat we'd had Thanksgiving dinner in 1988. Norm Stump and Pam Penning from La Conner who had to suspend cruising and go back to work when the buyer of their bar and grill there went belly up. We had a nice chat with them while passing.
17:30 We've been running in glassy seas and a low swell all day long and Lois complements me by saying that I'm a "Good planner." I'd had the lines out all day but no luck so I pulled them in, poured us a martini, ate a super dinner of shrimp which Lois fixed like Marlina at Wilderness Camp does, and hit the sack while she took the first watch.
21:00 Our turn point at Puerto Arista and Lois' turn to sleep. I take over and turn to a heading of 280 degrees, directly toward Salina Cruz, while she conks out on the couch. It will take us about twelve miles off the beach but the weather is so good I decide that's no problem. The next three hours are boring but nice as we ride over smooth seas in the moonlight.
El Domingo, 6 Mayo 1990
-----------------------
00:00 My turn to catch a few winks again. Lois takes over and I'm in dreamland right now.
02:00 It didn't seem like any time until she wakened me, saying that the wind was coming up she thought I ought to check. Yep, it sure is, right out of the north. I decide to play it save and head for the beach, running directly into the building waves. At first it was just a bit slashy but as the wind rose higher and the waves grew bigger we started pitching into them, taking water over the bow and slowing almost to a stop as wave after wave pounded into us. Fortunately, we'd turned early and, as we approached the shore, the waves stayed about the same highth even though the wind built to 40 knots.
05:00 Only two miles off the beach now and the seas are well down even though the wind is still a steady thirty with gusts to forty. We've passed a lot of shrimpers on the way in...they seem to be working even in this blow.
06:00 We pass the mouth of the big lagoon, San Francisco del Mar, the place where Tehuantapecers originate. From here on it's a piece of cake! It's light now and we close in to a half mile from the beach and have a smooth ride even though the wind is still howling. During a slight lull we pull in the flopper-stopper which we'd deployed at the highth of our gale.
08:00 Wind down to under twenty knots. We pass two small sailboats heading the other direction, close in with one foot on the beach. I talk to one, Via Con Dias, and advise them of what they have coming. He thanks me, but they keep going. Close to shore they shouldn't have a problem.
09:45 Anchored in the outer harbor at Salina Cruz. The smell is awful and the wind is back up to twenty plus, but it's a safe place. There's no ship on the wharf in the outer harbor, just a couple of big tugboats. We spent the rest of the day on the boat sleeping and doing odd jobs. I changed the Racor fuel filter. Every time I do that I bless the engineer who designed it. It is so easy and clean a job as compared to changing any of the other filters on the boat.
09:00 I'd heard that there were still some boats in Huatulco waiting to cross the gulf so I put out a call on 12 Charley for any boat at Huatulco asking if they would like a weather report. Both Half Moon and Reliance came back, eager to hear what was happening in the gulf. I told them we were running along with little or no wind and that I would call them again at noon. At noon it was still calm with just a little riffle of wind on the water but it was showing signs of picking up. By 1:00 o'clock we were again running with some three to four foot seas on our quarter even though the wind was only about ten knots. By 2:00, an hour out of Huatulco, we were rolling enough to make us decide to drop the foils in the water. The seas were much bigger than could be explained by the wind we were seeing...it must have been blowing hard again up at the head of the gulf.
14:30 We sight Reliance anchored off the big Club Med in the bay of Tangola Tangola. A dozen windsurfers and a similar number of jet skis are whipping around that big bay but there didn't seem to be very many people on the beaches...I guess we are nearing the end of the big tourist season. It's surprizing to see these huge hotels covering the hillsides in what is otherwize a very lonely coast.
14:50 We dropped our hook near Half Moon in the cozy little bay of Huatulco. Here too there are jet skis roaring around and lots of people going hither and thither in the sightseeing pangas. I think today may be a holiday for a lot of the locals since Cinco de Mayo came on Saturday. We went to home configuration, then both lay down for a nap. Later Lon and his pretty little Mexican girlfriend, Halilana, came over for a drink. Lon broke a valve on his engine, doing considerable damage, and they have been here for over a month while rebuilding it. They're now anxious to be headed on toward Costa Rica but the weather hasn't been cooperating.
The next two hours were spent jumping through the necessary hoops. First to the Bancomer where we made a draw of 1 million pesos on our SecPac Visa card (The exchange rate is now 2,798 pesos per dollar), then flag down a taxi driver who took us to the Migracion office in the little construction worker town of Cruzasito about five miles away. There the migracion officer was nice but explained that we didn't have anywhere near enough copies of our papers, so off to find a copy machine. We got our copies, our driver took us back to migracion where, after carefully studying our crew list and tourist cards for a good five minutes, the officer stamped and signed the crew lists. Back to the Port Captain's office where Umberto now had the bill for the port fee made up, only 15,000 pesos, about $5.36, but in order to pay it we had to go back to the bank, about a quarter of a mile away. It was after noon and getting hot so I left Lois sitting in the air conditioned office while I hoofed it across town to the bank, paid the fee, and brought back three copies of my receipt. That finished it. The bureaucracy here is satisfied but the rest of the world will never know we stopped here...while at the copy shop I made enough copies of my original Puerto Madero crew list to give to any other officials we may run into between here and Puerto Vallarta.
There has been quite a change in Huatulco since last year. Several of the buildings which were under construction then have been finished and are occupied by restaurants or other businesses, but the most startling change is in the plasa and grounds. Where it was just a lot of brickwork and side walks last year, now all has been landscaped and there are grass, shrubs, and flowers everywhere. They are doing a very nice job. We went to one of the new restaurants for lunch and had a very passable club sandwich. (I'd have rather had a quesadilla but there wasn't a Mexican dish on the menu.) After that we wandered around some of the shops long enough to find that we weren't likely to see many bargains here...t's a pretty touristy place with tourist prices.
Back at the boat we napped a while, then did some repair on the Metz cover which got a hole torn in it the other day in the high wind. Half Moon pulled out just before dark, headed for Salina Cruz. The winds were way down this afternoon with just the normal onshore breeze. They should have pretty good going if his rebuilt engine holds up.
09:30 We passed Puerto Angel and turned westward, then north again. From here on it will all be northwest. Today nothing seemed to interupt our boredom. Even the dophins stayed away. I had the lines out all day and hooked only two small bonito. I threw one back and kept the other for jerky.
13:30 We pass Puerto Escondido, our originally planned destination. Things are going so well though, and we're making such good time, that I got to figuring that we could be in Acapulco by noon tomorrow. It's going to be an overnight run in any case...might as well get it over with. Besides, Puerto Escondido isn't a very comfortable anchorage and there isn't much of interest in the town unless, of course, you count the BareBreasted Babies on the Beach.
18:00 We had our evening cocktail and a dinner of leftover roast beef while watching the sun drop over the horizon. It's staying light later and the sun's coming up later as we move westward. We've come 15 degrees since leaving Costa Rica, that's a full hour of sun time. Lois takes the first watch and tonight I was able to get my full three hours sleep.
El Jueves, 10 Mayo 1990
-----------------------
00:00 We start the new day somewhere about fifteen miles off the coast. Haven't seen anything, no lights, nothing on the radar, nothing on the water. There's a bright, almost full moon playing hide and seek among the clouds.
13:00 Lois' turn again, this time a two hour watch. She wakes me about a half hour early when we come quite close to an eastbound tanker...there's another on the radar. That's the last we saw of any traffic.
06:00 Day breaks but we still can't see much. There's a smokey haze being carried over the ocean by a light offshore breeze. The sea is still flat and calm like it's been all the way, just a steady swell coming in from the south to keep us rolling a bit, never enough to be uncomfortable. The last few miles into Acapulco turn up a few fishing pangas but no sportfishers...guess the season is about over.
12:00 We tie to a mooring can after surveying the boats in the harbor near the yacht club. There are only a few cruising boats here now...most of the moorings are taken by their owners, fishing boats that normally anchor closer to their customers but come back here in the corner when a storm threatens. We cross our fingers and hope that this one's owner doesn't show up today.
We got the poles in, the Metz down, the awning up, then napped for a while, catching up on lost sleep from last night. That's hard to do. It really takes a full night's rest to get back in shape after an overnight run. Later I flagged down Larry, from a boat called Quimara, and invited him aboard for a drink. He and his wife had been traveling with Winsome Flyer when they had a breakdown heading out of here. They've been here ever since. Right now his wife, whose name escapes me, is in Florida with a sick father and Larry is batching it. He's scheduled to deliver a nice looking sailing ketch to Seattle during the next month. Seems like a nice guy!
Enough of that, two hours it took, and 33,650 pesos (Actually 40,000 because the cashier didn't have change and I didn't feel like going hunting for some). From there I went to the Commercial Mexicana, picked up some groceries and also a couple of plastic chairs which I've been looking for to replace our broken down deck chairs, then took a taxi back to the club where Lois picked me up in the Metz. On the way in I had stopped at the Quaker State place and ordered ten gallons of oil which they delivered right on schedule, so we are all set for the next leg of our journey. Lois still wasn't feeling too good this afternoon...sure hope she doesn't have something serious!
08:30 Listening to the "Costa Rica Cruisers Net" on the radio I find that amongst the class of '90 are George and Chari on "Sail About", a boat we first met in Avila on the way down the coast.
I broke in to say hello to Chari and wish them well...they're heading for Isla Coco.
09:15 We come up on a big pod of killer whales, the first we've seen since the Sea of Cortez. They are evidently feeding because they are really churning up the water as we approach from a quarter of a mile away. Naturally, when I get the camera ready they all disappear.
9:30 Pass a boat called "Bond Cutter" also headed for Costa Rica.
13:00 I'd had a bit of lunch (Leftover Luau Ribs a la Lois) and was had started down to do an engine room check before taking a nap when Lois said, "You'd better take care of your fish first!" Sure 'nough, there was a wake on one of the lines. Hauling it in I found a nice little dorado...dinner tonight! I fileted it and got it all tucked away when she hollared again, "There's a fish on both lines!" Yep, two more dorado! Three in one day is a record for us. None were very big, the largest maybe five pounds, but the three made a nice pile of filets. Just goes to show that you should never give up.
17:00 Anchored behind the breakwater at Papanoa. We'd gotten into home configuration and I'd poured us a drink when a panga approached carrying three heavily armed men in the blue uniforms of the Mexican armada. Two came aboard carrying their automatic rifles while the other stood by in the panga which they had commandeered. One guy paced the deck, weapon at the ready, while the other came inside with me. He had a handprinted form on a piece of scratch paper which I filled out for him with the boat name and number, my name, where we came from, and where we were going. He then wanted to know why we had stopped here and seemed satisfied when I told him we wanted to rest. Finally he asked for our "dispachio" and I showed him a copy of our crew list from Puerto Madero. After studying it for a bit he smiled for the first time, wished us a good evening, and left taking his buddies with him. We felt a little sorry for them in their dark blue uniforms and heavy boots as we watched them hiking back to the Navy building at the top of the hill.
Dorado for dinner of course, good as always.
11:30 Into the harbor at Zihuatanejo. There's quite a change from when we left here last year. The anchorage is almost empty with only one cruising sailboat still here, the VIVA! from San Francisco, a strange looking vessel which I guess you'd call a cat rigged schooner. It has two mastsof equal highth, one right on the stem, both rigged with "wishbones". One big power cruiser, the CONQUISTADORE, is at anchor, otherwize there seem to be nothing but the resident sport and commercial fishing fleet, most on buoyed moorings. The boating season is truly past. Zihuat isn't the most protected harbor...we'll hope our tropical depression goes on its way as predicted!
We got down the Metz, put up the awning, got dressed, and headed for the big city but there wasn't much doing here on this Mother's day Sunday. About the only things open were the bars and the knick-knack shops. We went to the hotel and put in a call to Mom (We had tried on the high seas radio earlier but got no answer at the apartment. We did get through to Dick so Lois got her Mother's day contact.) but still no answer. Mom & Dad must have been out. I tried again on high seas later and the operator said an answering machine said they had gone to dinner. Oh well, Mom knows we're thinking of her.
My favorite place was closed but we had lunch at another Mexican joint we found open...Tacos Bistec, something we've not had in quite a while. Then we headed back to the boat. Gimmy had cooled down by then so I went to work changing his oil, hopefully for the last time before we get to Puerto Vallarta. Got through that with only a very small slop and a couple of skinned knuckles ...not as good as last time but better than usual. Toward evening another sailboat appeared, the COWABUNGA from Miami, a boat we saw in Acapulco with a man, woman, and two boys aboard.
Had dinner on board and another muggy night. Guess we can live with that if the sea stays flat.
11:10 We decided that if we were going to be on the boat anyway we might as well get in an hour or so of travel, so we hauled up and said goodby to Z town. It's only seven miles around to Isla Grande but it's an hour we won't have to do tomorrow.
12:30 Anchored at Isla Grande. The place was going full bore when we arrived. The big Club Med Trimaran was here, plus all the tour boats, and they have now added Jet Ski to their rental inventory. We were "entertained" all afternoon with people using the Sea Raven for a turn point. No matter, it all shuts down promply at 4:00 o'clock when the boats leave for home. From then on the anchorage is a peaceful place.
We napped for a while, though the racket didn't allow much real sleeping, then I went over the side to scrape the prop. Actually, it didn't need much. Our bottom paint is holding up pretty well. There are almost no barnacles on the hull itself, and the prop only had some very tiny ones. Before we leave the boat in Puerto Vallarta I'll use an air tank and do a thorough job on the rudder shoe which has the most growth on it.
We had an early dinner and went to bed after deciding to get up at 2:00 AM and make a direct shot for Maruata tomorrow rather than stopping at Buffadero.
06:00 Light now and through the morning haze we can see a ship at anchor off Lazaro Cardinas, the big west coast shipping port. The day's run was as we like it, uneventful. We have so much fish in the freezer that I didn't even put out the lines. Other than for a few visits from dolphins and some acrobatic demonstrations by big rays, there was little to break up the boredom until late afternoon. Then as we were passing the spectacular granite cliffs between Pichilinquillo and Maruata the sea became very lumpy. It appeared as if the big pacific swell was bouncing off the sheer faces of the cliffs and being reflected back to form haystacks with the incoming waves. Old Sea Raven was bobbing around like a cork.
16:30 We arrive Maruata just a little ahead of schedule and what a disappointment! The peaceful anchorage we enjoyed so much last year, and which we were looking forward to visiting again, was being pounded by a very strong southerly surf rolling far up onto the beach even at low tide. Spray was being tossed high in the air over the reefs where we snorkled and it was obvious that if we stayed it was going to be a very rolly night. Perhaps the high surf is being generated by the first tropical storm of the year which has been given the name Alma and is packing 65 knot winds 500 miles to the south. Fortunately she is going away from us, but we might be feeling some of her power anyway.
We drop the hook and have a drink while we decide what to do. We either have to try to get a stern hook to hold or go on to a better anchorage. Since it looks like Maruata isn't going to be easily accessable by dinghe for at least tomorrow, we decide to move on. If we go slow we can be in Las Hades at daylight.
17:30 I drop the parafoils in the water, haul the anchor, and we head out again. As soon as we get out a mile the swells are big and slow so Lois can fix some dorado for dinner. We eat that as we round Punta Telmo and get lined out on the heading for Manzanillo, then she takes the first watch while I try to sleep.
10:15 I come awake with a jiggling motion of the boat. Must be a rain squall somewhere near and the waves are getting sloppy. I stand watch the next three hours as the lights of Manzanillo start coming into view. We are running at 5.5 knots with an ETA of 06:00...time goes awfully slow and the lights of the big power station seem to never get closer.
El Miercoles, 16 Mayo 1990
--------------------------
03:00 Back on watch now after Lois takes a couple of hours. The waves are short and right on our nose as we pitch our way along. I'm glad that we're running slow.
05:00 We finally seem to be getting somewhere as we put Punta Compos and Roca Vela on our beam and head into the bay. I consider going into Bahia Santiago which I know would be much more peaceful than Las Hades but it's still dark and having never been there in the daylight, I decide to brave the waterskiers of the big white fantasy resort.
06:00 The sun cooperates and lights our way to anchor behind the breakwater at Las Hades. It's not crowded...in place of the dozens of boats we left here in January of '89 there is one small cruising sailboat and two others that look like locals. Without even bothering to pull in the flopper-stoppers we fall into the sack for some much needed rest. It's been a long haul!
And rest we did, for most of the day. Las Hadas turns out to be not all that bad a place when the tourists have gone home. It's the beginning of the off season and we didn't have more than a half dozen water skiers and a couple of jet skis the whole day long, and with only us in the bay there's enough room for them to play without being on top of us. We slept for two or three hours then put the Metz in the water, the awning up, and went ashore for lunch at Giovanni's. Their "frajitos" were just as good as I remembered them from last year. After stuffing ourselves there, I went back to the boat for another nap while Lois went shopping at the boutiques which are scattered all along the sea wall. She only had an hour and a half before they closed for the afternoon siesta but by the time I came back to pick her up she had managed to find a new swimming suit, plus some gifts for her grandbabies. We bought a few goodies at the little grocery store then went back to the boat for the rest of the day.
13:30 We roll into Chamela, the last bay before the long run to Punta Ipala. I was hoping to find the island anchorage unoccupied but, as luck would have it, there was a sailboat, the only one we've seen all day, anchored right in the best spot, so we ran on into the bay by the village. There are hotels and other developments all along the five mile shoreline of Chamela, not the Ixtapa type of super tourist center but evidently a popular Mexican beach resort. The buildings are smaller, widely scattered and the beach is very nice. At this time of year they all look deserted though.
14:00 Anchored and settled into home configuration. We didn't see anything that looked like it was worth going ashore for, so we just lazied around the boat for the afternoon.
I discovered that water is leaking from somewhere around our hot water heater. I couldn't find the source of the leak without tearing into things so we just shut off the pump when we are running. It's not much of a leak right now, but if it got worse and we didn't hear the pump running we could loose a lot of water. One more thing for the list when we get into Puerto Vallarta!
13:00 Anchored at Punta Ipala(N20 14/W105 34), a nice little fishing community about fifteen miles south of Cabo Corrientes. It's just a tiny cove but provides protection from the prevailing afternoon winds from the northwest and also cuts out most of the westerly swell. When we were here before there were six other boats; today we have the whole place to ourselves except for a half dozen pangas anchored close to the beach. Soon after we arrived a panga with a hooka came by with a boatload of big clams. We declined. We've yet to find clams down here worth the trouble of cleaning...they just don't have the flavor of their cold water brothers. We again spent the afternoon on the boat. We'd considered going on to Yapala but it would have been after 6:00 when we got there and I could only remember the trouble we had finding a safe anchorage when there before. It's comfortable here and will be a nice easy run into Puerto Vallarta tomorrow.
06:15 Anchor up and, as usual, Lois idles her way out of the anchorage while I go below to shift the hydraulics to the cruise generator. This time though, I also change the fuel valves to draw from aft starboard and return to forward port. I had her bring up the RPM to 1000 and all seemed well.
06:20 I take the wheel and turn a bit to port, thinking we may be cutting the rocks on the point a little too close, when Gimmy starts to lug. I pull back the throttle and rush below to open another fuel valve but I'm too late...he gives a few gasps and dies! I have Lois hit the starter...nothing! We're now drifting a hundred yards off the rocks, not a pleasent place to contemplate being a power boat without power, and the adrenalin is running freely. I open both port and starboard valves, come above again, and give the starter a long workout...still nothing, and I'm beginning to think about how much battery we have left and how to conserve it. Finally, on the third try Gimmy gives a couple of chugs. I hit the starter again and he chugs some more, then keeps on turning over at sort of a half speed idle. In another minute the idle is normal and he responds by coming up to full RPM when I push the throttle forward...crisis past!
06:25 On our way again, this time drawing from the forward starboard tank. We've had trouble with that aft tank before but never until it was almost empty. This time the line itself must be plugged.
08:00 As we round Cabo Corrientes we get another break in boredom as a couple of marlin put on a real jumping show near the boat, leaping high out of the water at least ten times. One treated us to a couple of tailstands. There's no wind and only two or three foot swells as we run past the dreaded cape and turn eastward into Bandera Bay toward Puerto Vallarta.
09:15 I change valves again to draw from the aft port tank and return to forward port. This time I do it the smart way, changing while running at full RPM and watching the fuel vacuum gage as I do...there's no increase in vacuum as I close the starboard valve and Gimmy keeps running smoothly. I still go below every few minutes to check.
Running across Bandera we are treated to more aquatic acrobatics as giant rays splash all around us. We've never seen so many or so much activity. They rush at high speed along just under the surface leaving a mountainous wake, then come high into the air, flapping their huge wings and landing with a monstrous splash.
11:30 We've been monitoring several channels to see if we can pick up the yachty frequency in Puerto Vallarta, which I've forgotten, and finally hear a boat called EAGLE'S SONG making a call. I break in and get a comfirmation that the Nuevo Vallarta channel has indeed been dredged to a minimum of nine feet. We didn't go in last year because of the silted in bar at the entrance.
12:15 Back to the forward starboard tank as we approach the Nuevo Vallarta entrance, two rock jetties projecting out into the big bay. Inside it opens out into a nicely enclosed harbor with a hotel on one side, condos on the other, and several hundred floating mooring slips most of which are empty. We cruise slowly around the marina to get the lay of things. All the end ties are taken and the inner finger piers all all very short, about thirty feet or less, so we decide to tie to a long concrete wall where the fuel pumps are until we can check in at the office.
13:00 All tied up and secure behind a French boat called STELLA. We went to home configuration, then took a walk to check out the facility. The office was closed, but the guard said we were OK where we were until Monday. In the lower level of one of the big condo buildings we found a "Mini-Super" grocery where, for rather inflated prices, we can get the essentials. Walking out one of the floats to EAGLE'S SONG we found Peter and Diane on a big power cruiser. They have been here in Nuevo Vallarta for three years and are all settled down with even a big satellite TV dish installed on shore off their float. We picked their brains for info for a while and got a recommendation from Diane to try the restaurant La Bistro for our anniversary dinner tonight. After that we walked over to one of the hotels, a nice place on the beach with all the tourist facilities you'd expect, then back to the boat for a nap before dinner. Later I went back to the Mini-Super and place a call to Mom to wish her a belated Happy Mother's Day. It was nice talking to her and Dad although I was sorry to hear that Mom had accidentally gotten shampoo in her eye and was in quite a bit of pain.
Diane had said to expect to pay 18,000 pesos for a taxi to town and the guard told us 20,000, but when we had the hotel call a cab for us he wanted 38,000. At that I balked and, as luck would have it, none of the other taxis we'd seen coming and going all day seemed to be around. Lois was game though, and we took off walking toward the highway about two miles away. We'd probably walked a half mile when a taxi did come by, and for 25,000 pesos agreed to take us to dinner. The Bistro wasn't bad but, at least for the Mexican food which we had been craving, wasn't all that good either. It's a touristy place with a jazz band theme in the river park of old Puerto Vallarta amongst all the cutesie shops ...very picturesque. It cost us 30,000 pesos to get back home. That is going to be the problem with Nuevo Vallarta. Peter says their moorage rate is 12 cents per foot, very cheap, but it's about ten miles out of town and we'll have to find some more reliable and less expensive means of transportation. More?