Lazy Daze

Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion, BCS, Mexico

One of the great things about not having to be anywhere is the luxury of just sticking around when you find a nice place. Bahia Concepcion is such a place.  After 6 nights at Playa Coyote, we have finally moved on; but only a very little.

Our original plan was, after spending the Easter break here, to start heading south towards La Paz and on to the Mexican mainland coast south of Mazatlan. However, Bahia Concepcion is such a beautiful place and there are so few boats here that we are having a hard time tearing ourselves away. One of the deciding factors is that we keep hearing from the boats further south (via the morning radio nets) talking about how busy the anchorages are and how windy and rolly they have been. Why would we want to trade our idyllic anchorage for that?

We did move north a couple of miles two days ago, mostly because the forecasts are for strong northerly winds and Playa Coyote is quite exposed to winds from the NE. We now find ourselves anchored off of Playa Santispac, which is very well protected from winds from all directions except the SE. Yesterday and today have seen some gusty North and NW winds up to around 22 knots and we are quite happy with our decision.

We were here last July, much later in the season, when there was hardly anyone around and everything was closed. Right now, there are quite a few "gringos" in residence (they have homes along several of the beaches here), plus quite a few campers along the beach. This means that the beachside restaurant that was closed last July is now open. We had a late lunch / early dinner there today and will no doubt be back. The clientele is mostly Americans but there were a few Mexicans as well. Great, inexpensive food. Apparently they have a fancy dinner and dance on Saturday nights; maybe we will try it out.

Just to reinforce our decision to stay put for a while, we heard from a couple of boats that did leave the bay this morning. They all turned back except one that had left around 3 AM - they reported that the steady 20+ knot winds have kicked up some very sloppy seas and they were having a very uncomfortable passage. Right now we have about 9 boats in the anchorage (the most we have seen so far). Lots of room though - this anchorage could easily hold 30 or 40 boats. The forecast for tomorrow is for slightly less wind, returning to stronger winds the day after - all from the north. What we are seeing is the affect of a couple of cold fronts that have hit the west coast of the U.S. Our temperatures have dropped from the highs of 35 a couple of days ago to around 26 now. It is actually cool enough at night (maybe 17 degrees) for us to want a blanket. Such a tough life!

One of the bonuses of these north winds is that the boat faces north most of the time, which keeps a lot of our solar panels exposed for most of the day, and the days are getting longer too. This all means that we have had plenty of power for such luxury items as a nightly movie. We have run the engine a few times for about an hour each time, mostly to allow us to run the water maker for extended periods of time (our tanks were not full when we left San Carlos and I would like to remedy that) and to generate some hot water for the ultimate cruising luxury of hot showers. Suddenly all that trouble and expense of putting in that new water heater back in Mazatlan last year seems like a very smart move.

In summary, we basically do not have a clue of how long we will be here. We have lots of diesel and a huge amount of food. We will just take it day by day for now.

{GMST}26|45.75|N|111|53.1|W|Playa Sanispac, BCS, Mexico|Playa Sanispac, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

The Coyotes are howling

Playa Coyote, Bahia Coyote, Bahia Concepcion, Baja California Sur, Mexico

A great passage across the Sea of Cortez, back to the Baja peninsula.

We left the dock at Marina San Carlos sometime after 8 AM yesterday morning. After a short stop at the fuel dock (we used only 263 liters of diesel since we fueled up in Santa Rosalia last July), we exited from San Carlos Bay at precisely 9 AM.

This is actually a bit early in the morning for leaving on this crossing of only 87 miles (we didn't want to arrive at the approach to Bahia Concepcion at night) but we figured this would allow us to sail more, even if the winds were light, as we had lots of time in hand. As it turned out, our plan worked wonderfully. Even with only 6 to 8 knots of wind, mostly on a close reach, we were able to sail steadily at between 3.5 and 4.5 knots, using our favorite combination of a double-reefed mainsail and a full Genoa. A lot of the time, we were deliberately trying to sail too close to the wind in order to slow the boat down, so as not to arrive too early. When the wind died to the point that we could not maintain our heading, we did motor, but at very minimal RPMs in order to keep our speed below 3.5 knots. In all, we sailed for over 14 hours and motored for about another 12 - what we would call a very successful trip. The seas were really smooth too, probably less than 1 foot of swell - no fear of the crew being sick on this crossing.

On the way, we had our closest ever encounter with a whale. Just as the sun was setting, Susanne spotted a whale crossing our path up ahead. We were sailing quite slowly at the time and were no threat to him. However, he must have got curious about us and he turned to meet us and passed across our bow and along our starboard side about 5 feet from the boat. This was not a really huge whale, maybe about 1/2 the size of the boat, but still quite an experience for us. Other than that, the only wildlife we saw was a couple of sea lions floating along the surface, and I heard a few dolphins around the boat in the middle of the night, although I could not see them in the dark.We arrived at the entrance to the huge bay of Bahia Concepcion around 9 AM and made our way to the largest anchorage in the bay, at one of the smaller inner bays called Bahia Coyote, anchoring along with 3 or 4 other boats, just off Playa Coyote (Coyote beach).

Today is the start of the huge Mexican holiday of Semana Santa, a week-long celebration that closes pretty much everything down from today (Thursday) until Sunday. The beaches here in Bahia Concepcion are packed with tents, trailers, cars and partiers. There is a lot of boat traffic, fishing boats, banana boats, water skiers, jet skis, kayaks, etc. And as the evening comes on, so does the music and laughter from the shore. Should be an exciting few days. This holiday is one of the reasons we wanted to get away from San Carlos when we did. Talking to some of the locals, it sounds like it gets pretty manic there, with the Marina (even most of the washrooms) closed, our favorite coffee shop running on 1/2 days and with a lot of strangers wandering around the marina - security can be an issue.

We are not sure how long we will stay here - at least a couple of days.

{GMST}26|43|N|111|54.1|W|Bahia Coyote, BCS, Mexico|Bahia Coyote, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Adios San Carlos

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Looks like it is finally time to blow this joint.

The nasty storm (wind?) front has passed us by and we are in for a few days of calm seas and light winds (hopefully not too light). We were testing out our computer interface to our sailing instruments to monitor the wind speed here in the marina over the last couple of days, We saw winds gusting near 30 knots at the dock - it is probably not as bad out at sea because I am sure the surrounding hills funnel the winds into the marina. We probably should have left today to take advantage of these winds but, while we like some wind, we do not like the larger wave action that goes along with it, especially when we have not been sailing for over 5 months - our sailing skills, such as they are, are a little rusty.

Yesterday and today we have been finishing off our provisioning for the upcoming months. We left the produce run until today to get the freshest possible fruit and veggies. The Santa Fe market is surprisingly well stocked for such a small store. We still have time for a couple more last-minute runs to the store, if we think of any last-minute must-haves.

Tomorrow morning we will make an early start, stopping first at the Pemex station for some go-juice. Looks like a pretty easy gas station - even I should be able to dock without tearing down any signage this time.

Sine Timore - Eager for action!

Note: If anyone is trying to get in contact with us, you will have to resort to our "sailmail" address as I doubt we will have any Internet access in the near future.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

That's the way out of here - head towards those peaks and turn left...

Best Laid Plans

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

We are scheduled to leave the dock here tomorrow morning.

Here comes the bus to San Carlos

For the last few days we have been making trips to the local grocery stores (a brand new Santa-Fe market has opened just a block away from the marina and a new Leys Express within walking distance).  We also took the bus into Guaymas to get a few things at Walmart that are not available in the local stores, and bought a bunch of fish, shrimp and scallops off the back of a pickup truck here in the parking lot. At this point, we are well provisioned for a couple of months.  I have re-patched the dinghy and am ready to put it to the test.

Suddenly the weather has turned against us.  After 10 days of predictable calm mornings and light afternoon winds, a big blow is forecast for tomorrow - 30 knot winds and big seas!  So chances are we are not going to leave in the morning.  I have talked to the marina and they say they can fit us in somewhere for a few more days - the dock we are at right now was reserved for a big boat supposedly coming in tomorrow so we can't stay there.  Of course it is Sunday today and it is difficult to get any firm answers about anything until tomorrow.

Just to break up the monotony, this cool-looking catamaran docked next to us for a single night.  We have never seen such a rig before - a two-masted Cat-rigged catamaran.  And to top it off, it is a 36 foot boat that folds it's 24-foot width onto an 8-foot wide trailer.  I couldn't resist going over and lending a hand with the haul out, just to see how this all works.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}

Boat Maintenance for Idiots

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

Yesterday we officially moved onto the boat.  Up till then, we were still staying at the nearby Marinaterra hotel - we had prepaid the room on the assumption that the boat would not be back in the water until Monday afternoon.

As it turned out, getting launched on Saturday turned out to be a good decision.  On Monday afternoon, the winds started howling through the marina at a steady 20 to 25 knots - no way I would have been able to maneuver this beast in these tight quarters with that kind of wind.  As a bonus, I was able to accomplish a couple of tasks that were a lot easier without us trying to live on the boat at the same time.  My proudest achievement was being able to equalize the batteries.  For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, here is a quick lesson:

Boat batteries, especially those that operate primarily on solar power (as ours were for the entire summer and while sitting in the work yard for the last 5 months), suffer from a lack of opportunity to get a full charge.  This leads to a gradual loss of battery capacity, leading to premature failure.  To reverse this process, the batteries need to be given a blast of several hours of over-voltage charging to bring back that lost capacity.  This is know as equalization.  Unfortunately our shore-power charger does not support this function.  Our solar charge controller does have this feature, and our newly re-installed solar panels on our spiffy new stainless-steel rails were just begging for a trial run.

Since we were not on the boat and did not have any need to turn on an power-hungry devices such as the fridge, I was able to dedicate our full solar output to the equalization task.  In spite of the wind, we had a clear sky and were able fully equalize the batteries in about 4 hours.

Another plus was getting the dinghy pumped up.  I was able to jury-rig our kayak pump to work with the valves on the dinghy.  Since I am on such a roll, I decided to tackle one of the more important tasks on my to-do list...

A quick and easy oil change

Again, for those of you not familiar with how things work on a boat, here is a typical, routine oil change procedure:

Step 1 - Drain the oil from the engine.

Looks real pretty but doesn't actually do anything.

Slight complication on a full-keel boat such as ours since there is no access to the bottom of the engine.  Instead, we have a convenient hand pump plumbed into the drain plug which normally will allow me to get most of the oil out in as short a time as an hour of brisk pumping.  No today though!  Pump seals must have dried out or something since nothing I could do could get a single drop of oil out of it.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to take the pump apart.  I tried lowering the whole assembly into the bilge in hopes that the oil would run into the pump and prime it - no luck!

Maybe if I start the engine and get the oil a little hotter, it will flow better.  On goes the engine.  As long as I am running the engine, might as well make sure the transmission is OK - put it into forward and reverse - seems fine.  Now Susanne wants to know why there is a dripping sound coming from the engine compartment.  Hmmm!

Notice the pretty black stipes it leaves as it throws water
all over the engine compartment

OK, it appears that the dripless shaft seal is dripping.  I fixed this back before the summer but obviously it is at it again.  So out comes the Allen wrench to loosen the stainless steel slider and a couple of hammers and a crowbar to try and apply a little more compression on the slider while I tighten the Allen screw.  It sort of works - I get another 1/8 of an inch or so of compression - the water is stopped for now.  Wait a minute, what is that obviously broken hose clamp doing there?  Oh yeah, holding the non-moving (carbon) part of the shaft seal attached to the tunnel that the prop shaft runs through.  Not a big problem since it is double-clamped and not leaking as yet - but does need to be replaced.  There probably could be a more awkward place to try and put on a hose clamp but I can't think of one off-hand.  An hour later a new clamp is in place and all is well.

Now, where was I on the oil change procedure?
Oh yeah, step 1, getting the oil out of the engine.

While thinking about how I am going to do that, I decide to replace the engine zinc.  This is little piece of zinc attached to a brass bolt that is screwed into the raw water side of the heat exchanger to prevent the salt water from eating up all of the more important pieces of metal in the raw water system.  All I need to do is grab the right size wrench and back out the brass screw...  After a few attempts I have now nicely stripped the hex nut into a perfectly round piece, and it has not budged - even the vice grips don't seem to affect it.  Soak it in WD40 and come back to it later.  Put everything back together for the night and head for the Marina Cantina, where the draft beer is only 10 pesos (78 cents CDN) per mug.

Step 1A - Continue to drain the oil from the engine:

This morning, when we woke up and wandered out onto the dock, we were met by a beautiful white bird, which I took to be a sign of good luck.  Things have to go better today.

After a coffee and muffin at the coffee shop, I take a trip to the Star Marine chandler.  I find and buy a new oil-draining hand pump.  This pump uses a small hose plunged into the dip stick hole (that is the little hole hiding near the bottom of the engine - that round ring shown in this picture is the handle of the dip stick).  Basically, this pump works, although it seems to pump at a rate of about 5 drops per minute, requiring an immense amount of effort for very little gain.  It doesn't help that it seems to be impossible to keep the hose in the dip stick hole actually immersed in the oil.  Susanne is not happy with the drips and smears of oil I am leaving everywhere.  Still, after only about 4 hours of pumping, I had as much oil as I was apparently going to get - less than 4 liters of the 6 liter capacity - not great but better than nothing.

One of the nice things about spending so much time in the engine compartment is that you have a chance to look around.  That's odd - why is there a hole in that engine mount?  OMG, there is supposed to be bolt in that hole!  I swear I check these mounts every day when I check the oil, ever since our near disaster with broken engine mounts back in BC a couple of years ago.  How is it possible for the bolt to have come completely undone without me noticing?  And where is it?

Before

After

After no more than another hour of groping around under the engine with various sticks and such, I managed to find the bolt, lock washer, regular washer and the nut.  All appear to be completely normal and look like new - it just came undone.  A fairly simple matter to put the bolt back in and tighten it.  Checked the other bolts while I was at it.  2 of the other 3 bolts were loose on the front mounts.  The rear mounts were fine.  No harm done as far as I can tell.

And just like that, the draining of the engine is done!

Stop 2 - Replace oil filter:

Actually pretty simple.  This engine has a basic spin-on filter and, once you find it, it is pretty easy to take off and replace.  Of course, you have to do it by feel as you can't actually see it from above.  Note: Wrap everything in an oil absorbent rag to prevent an ecological disaster.

Oops, almost forgot about the engine zinc.  Try again with the vice grips - they work this time (thank you WD40).  Replaced with new zinc from the chandler.

Step 3 - Refill engine oil:

Again, pretty straight forward.  Things are going smoothly now.

Tested everything by running the engine for a while and checking the oil level.  Looks good!

Checked the dinghy.  The bottom does not appear to be holding air - so much for that repair!  Welcome to the wonderful world of boating.

{GMST}27|56.8825|N|111|03.3573|W|San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico|San Carlos,Sonora, Mexico{GEND}