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Enjoying the mountains this week. 

Free Boat Adventure

A friend of the magazine called up and offered me his cruising boat ... for free. Sound too good to be true? Maybe.

I went to work weighing the pros and cons. You should know up front that I have not outgrown the 'anything is possible' and 'every challenge can be an adventure' way of thinking.

The boat was a 1974 44' Gulfstar ketch called ... Adventure! The owner Paul, had cruised her around western Mex. As can happen on a downwind sail, sea water got sucked into the exhaust and into the engine. So you know, this can happen if you don't use an aqualift exhaust and/or siphon break or one malfunctions. Paul drifted into the paradise known as Las Hadas. The Las Hadas Resort and Marina is north of Manzanillo between Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatenejo.

Once in the arms of the little marina, coldy in hand, Paul pumped out the water and filled the engine with a fuel/oil mixture. He did this a couple of times being careful to recycle the waste oil at the fuel dock. Before he got the big engine fired up it was time to head back to the states. You know what happened next. Life gets in the way. The boat sat for a few years and eventually developed some back slip fees. This is where I come in. Paul wanted his boat to go to a good home. I checked out sister ships online and decided it was worth a look. We figured out what we thought it would take to get her out cruising again.

One of the side services I provide, as a delivery skipper, is liberating yachts from Latin American authorities who had suddenly developed cruising plans of their own. When a boat is left in a place too long, it often catches the eye of some official looking to upgrade his panga. I've learned, over the years, how to motivate officials to let go of captive boats. It's not always mordida (payment) that's required, sometimes they'll settle for a favorable review of their port.

I contacted the marina and a friend of mine in Mex checked on the boat's status with the authorities. I cut some deals that would get us the boat for cheap - contingent on inspection of course. I arranged some parts to bring down through my friends at S&W Diesel in socal and packed up some tools.

I called up my favorite fellow adventurer Dena, and laid it out for her. I didn't sugar coat it. We were going to check on this old boat. If I liked it I would work for a couple of days to get the motor running and make a parts list. She could sit poolside if she preferred. And I left the door open for a likely side trip. I didn't have to talk her into it. I found a crazy low online rate for the resort and we put our names in to fly last minute standby.

My friend Terry runs a dive shop near the resort: aquaticsportsadventures.com. I let him know we were coming down. He emailed me 'look for an old man sleeping under a tree and turn left' type directions to his dive shop. He also put me in contact with Manny and T who run one of the greatest Lats & Atts Harbor Hangouts: Schooners. They're on the main drag by Hadas.

We landed, got our rental car and headed to the Las Hadas Resort and Marina. Yep, it's that beautiful white hotel where the movie '10' was filmed. Out of season, we couldn't find anyone to weave the Bo Derek braids into Dena's hair. We got a nice room though, way up on the hill, overlooking the bay.

After unpacking and rolling around we headed down to check out the boat. As expected, Adventure was pretty rough. She needed a good clean out, scrub and paint. The wood paneling covering the interior was falling down and had termites. There was minimal cruising gear, no instruments and the builder had taken some shortcuts. I was skeptical whether the engine was salvageable, the soggy black rust in the gear box was a deterrent. It could be made fun for local cruising but I could see she wouldn't hold up to my brand of harder sailing and global adventuring. I shot off an email to the owner to see if he would be interested us selling her together. I posted pictures and info on the sales part of my website to see if there was any interest.

Then we retired and set up camp poolside. Las Hadas has a sprawling pool which crawls around the grounds and under a rope bridge. Of course there is a swim up bar. No need to expend the energy to swim up when you have cantina Latinas bringing drinks to your lounge chair. That night we ate at Frieda's, one of the little restaurants overlooking the marina. The food was OK, the paintings were spectacular.

In the morning we tried out the buffet breakfast on the pool deck. So you're not disappointed if you visit, Las Hadas is no longer multi-star (hence the reasonable rate). It mostly caters to high end locals and we found ourselves all but ignored when trying to get our very few needs addressed. Still worth it.

We paid a visit to Terry's dive shop. Terry and son led us over to Schooners where we hung out with Manny and his lady T. We had some amazing food and good conversation. Manny told us all about his Sea Scout program for the local kids. Later, we were treated to some entertainment when a drunk American lass ambled in, danced around, laid herself across our table and expressed her interest in the visitors. I think Manny was embarrassed but as it added to our adventure, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

We asked about possible side trips. Manny told us to visit Colima and the volcanoes at Camala. Sounded great. We got directions and hit the road. On the way we stopped off at one of the roadside stands for coco treats and some aqua de coco (the standard coconut milk out of a chilled green coconut). So you're up to date, the new kewl things they are selling at these roadside stands is stuffed stuff. They had squirrels (ardilla) and lizards (lagartos) and snakes (serpiente) (groooosss: per Dena).

We arrived at Colima after dark and got sort of lost trying to figure out the address system to check out places to stay that we found earlier on the internet. Colima is beautiful with grand old Spanish buildings around the big square in the center of town. It had a safe, friendly feel. You could tell there wasn't much money but it was one of those places where the people had everything. Couples young and old and even whole families were out for a late walk, they played and laughed together. We asked for directions to a hotel and the guy escorted us to see big Angelia. She gave us a plush room for 400 pesos ($35). We walked to the square for a late dinner - chips, salsa, carnitas, Pacificos and music from strolling mariachis. It was perfect.

We took off early the next day to drive up to the mountains to catch a glimpse of the active volcano. It was impressive towering above us, a plume of smoke rising up from the top. Neither of us shy away from rough driving roads followed by hard hikes but we were not successful in finding a trail to the volcano. We did find an amazing mountain lake where we had lunch under the trees. We made it back to Manzanillo and stayed at a motel on the beach, another great restaurant just a couple blocks up.

The boat had some investment potential. I could spend a couple weeks and a 'few' dollars on cleanup and re-power, sail her into San Diego and dump her on the market. I'd make some money and get some cruising out of it. But I had a better idea. Why not leave her where she was and give her to the Sea Scouts. Manny didn't say no. The owner and I got the paperwork sorted out.

I wasn't a week back home when the pictures and emails started to come in. The Sea Scouts were thrilled with their new clubhouse. They jumped on the boat and scrubbed her spotless. Expats and locals alike came together to get, fix and install the things the boat needed. It was wonderful to see the community come out for the Scouts and their new project. And the satisfaction from the small part I played was a much larger profit than I had expected.

If you're ever in the Las Hadas area, do stop into Schooners and say hi to Manny and T. For directions, updates or to help out with their Sea Scout program, contact Manny at: nacawe@prodigy.net.mx

====================

Select updates from Manny:

"Scouts cleaned her up. Expats held a fishing contest with proceeds going to Scouts. Old Catapillar mechanic/volunteer determined engine beyond repair.

The energy has been restored and two batteries have been changed, Michel our Mechanical Engineer from the Ferries in Victoria has done a preliminary check of the engine. Murray from the SV Tarazed has arrived he is a cat engineer and will be here for a month and is eager to help. Carpenter friend work for free we just have to get the boards for him.

SV Adventure is now kept clean and all electrical systems are in working order, will be realing in the anchor and cahin next week to get it cleaned and have a whole plan of work. The kids love having a club house. Perkins engine similar to the one onboard that we will be buying soon, we have been seling T shirts, doing carwashes and all sorts of things to raise the money for it. Some San Diego friends that are willing to help us pay and refurbsh it some.

Two hurricanes in the season and thank God nothing has happen, Beatriz came close but stayed way out and went west so we just got a little. New manager Karina is kewler.

We are also happy to report that all of the leaks through hatches, portholes and mast have been dealt with, all water pumps repaired and the kids do a great job of keeping the vessel pretty clean a ohh and we can blast some music now thanks to Jimmy Brows of the fishing Vessel Double Trouble who donated a 50 foot power line so we can have juice aboard, which is great!!!

As for a new engine we have located one in good shape but is out of reach for now but on hold for us so will get there.

Hi Woody !! Thks for e mailing las Hadas , they have been treating us much better since and Karina is doing everything she can for us and everybody else and for the first time in years fees are down so thks again it works!!!!.

Last Friday I got up and thanked the Gods for having steered Dora out of the way and into the blue,

That same Saturday Trish turner presented us with a newly refurbished Laser which we named Lalito in honor of her late husband ( my friend Ted)."

Adventure in Manzanillo

A friend of the magazine called up and offered his boat for free.  Sound too good to be true?  Maybe.  Dena and I went down to see it.  I worked out what it would take to get it out of hock with the marina.  The interior especially needs some work.  It would be a great project for someone with carpentry skills.  Details here:

 http://vesseladventure.blogspot.com/

While we were down that way we stayed at Las Hadas resort, where '10' was filmed.  We also drove out to the the cool town of Colima and the volcanoes at Camala.  

Las Hadas Resort

Fight breaks out at the roadside Coconut juice stand

Las Hadas - Woody Tracker

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Longitude:-104.3472
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Home for Christmas

We haven't gotten far but this one's wrapped up. We left Guatemala and had a prop shaft problem. We had to haul to fix it. We spent a week in the La Ceiba Ship Yard. It wasn't all bad.

We just put the boat away at Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Gonna get some sleep before I fly home.

Isla Mujeres - Woody Tracker

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Longitude:-86.74765
GPS location Date/Time:12/17/2010 09:06:15 PST
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Off the Yucatan - Woody Tracker

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Longitude:-86.61356
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'Tween Utila and Roatan - Woody Tracker

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Latitude:16.19589
Longitude:-86.75446
GPS location Date/Time:12/15/2010 13:11:16 PST
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48' Tayana, La Ceiba Honduras, (136)

We were holed up on Honduras's Roatan Island, side-tied by the dive boats at Fantasy Island Resort . The boat was a real nice 48' Tayana cutter called Island Time. Onboard was first mate Phil and deck crew Chris. We were supposed to be headed east but were sidetracked by a serious prop shaft wobble and some other issues. A mainland boatyard visit was our immediate future.

When I arrive on the weekend, sometimes I'll wait to do the official country check-in on Monday. It's always faster and usually cheaper. It's not good advice, it's just what I do when I think I can get away with it. I called the port captain and arranged to meet him at his office. I cabbed to town and waited for him. He was only 40 minutes late, pretty good for third world. He was a frowner, which had me regretting I hadn't dressed up more. Dress shorts were all I had clean. Always wear a collared shirt and clean full pants (I prefer those thin khaki pants that zip into shorts - REI.com). For that or some other reason, he sent me to the airport for immigration. Two more cabs. On the bright-side, the women who helped me there were beautiful and cheery. The PC had left by the time I got back, contrary to his word. And I noticed the immigration office had opened up across from his. Probably best for him that he had left. I decided to complete our check in when we got to the mainland boatyard. Again, not sound advice ... unless you have a plan.

The good news was while I checking out downtown Coxen Hole, aptly named, I bumped into some cruisers and one of my 7 fans. Wayne, Elda, James and Carol had just sailed down from the states on sv Big Fun. They were staying at the best dive resort on the island, Coco View. After a group shot for posterity (what does that mean?), they dragged me off on a Roatan inland tour - love the cruising community. We ended up at a jungle lunch place for cocktails and burgers. Later I got a tour of Coco View, the perfect low key dive resort.

We wanted to arrive at the entrance to La Ceiba before sundown so we left Fantasy Island at 0430 ... with no moon. Still without a chart, we took it slow and followed our path out. The sea opened up to us and we set sail and shot off to the south. As we closed with the high mainland we lost our wind and fired up the chopper. With the shaft wobble, the spinning prop made a thump-thump. I had dove on it back at Fantasy. The movement was slight, the shaft was heavy 2”, damage at low RPMs was unlikely.

We were getting clouds and rain off an on which obscured the already tricky entrance. I thought back to a few days before when I misplaced an entire peninsula in my navigating. What I've learned to do is to get up close to a confusing obstruction in order to properly decipher the situation. But not so close where there is not an easy, sure-thing, way out. We pulled up, just outside the breakers, watched a set go through and cruised in. It got shallow but we made it. Inside were some more obstructions: a dredge, an oil drum, fishing boats (why are they whistling at us?) stacked out across the channel.

We did make it to the boatyard dock. I miscalculated the current and had to use the training wheels (bow thruster) to keep it clean - don't tell anyone. We were greeted by the security guy. He had to set down his shotgun to tie us off. Hal was parked in front of us on a very kewl ancient Colin Archer. The kind with the low house and long bow sprit. Hal was good about giving us the low down on how the yard operated and where to get parts. Look him up if you get there, he intends to stay forever.

Onelly was the very sweet office manager. She got us checked in. The owner Giovanni met with me and we figured out our plan. I know how these places work. They are blackholes for the unsuspecting. You need a solid plan and the ability to second guess your obstacles. We met many cruisers there who had fallen into the yard and couldn't get out. I got more funny looks everytime I explained my in and out plan to the afflicted.
I quickly got to know the main yard guys, the guys responsible for getting the work done. George ran the travelift and was good entertainment. David was the labor organizer. They all spoke enough English to make things easy. The yard had an outside 'mechanic' that had the tools to pull the shaft and the old bearing. I got him right to work. I got the yard to do an estimate for bottom paint and checked with the owner. That was a go. It's a good thing to do whenever you haul. I could tell where the first hold up was going to come from. The yard wasn't sure how long it would take to get the new bearing. I asked around and found the part in town that same day from Raul at Kawa Motors. Cut off the delays before they happen.

We spent the evenings with the yardies (yachties living in the yard). Carl was the crazy happy German dude with burns all over his head - I didn't get a chance to ask. There were a pair of catamarans and their owner's, Mark in one and Jim and Marley in the other. And you may have heard of Steven Ladd and his book “Three years in a 12' boat”. This guy still hadn't had enough. Now he's in his new, big 18' boat which of course invites the question, why not have crew join the adventure. He was sailing with some young hot treehugger.

The town of La Ceiba was adventure in itself. You could take a cab for 20 Lempira if you secured the deal upfront. Or you could walk out and catch the bus for 6L - don't ask the price, just hand the money. I always take the bus to get 'in touch' with the locals. On the way to wave down the bus, we dropped off laundry and picked up some fresh hot tortillas from the corner shack.

Once in town, we followed our new friend Hal to the wood place. It was someone's backyard filled with amazing jungle hardwoods of the stateside unobtainium variety. Between the piles of the nearly free priceless wood were some of those old-school belt driven saws. After that we split up. I walked into town while Hal tempted the boys into his favorite bar - Expatriates. An adventure from which they would not soon emerge, I reckoned.

I walked through the mini city of La Cieba ending my trek on the misty, wave pounded beach by the entrance jetty. It seemed like a violent place in contrast to the tranquil draws of the happy town. It never seems that way at sea, just at the transition from sea to land. Sort of a heads-up to the contrasting perils as you switch sides.

Day 2 in the yard got the bottom sanded and paint started, we changed a batten in the main, cleaned the decks, got the coupling off the motor (after suggesting heat) and pulled the shaft. I started narrowing down a marina for our next destination. We got cleaned up and had dinner with some yardies and watched a movie back on the boat. It was a nice balance, enjoying the crazy other-world machinations and challenges of La Ceiba and then retiring in the evening, showered, to the beautiful relative luxury of a modern boat interior. Screens on the ports and hatches, we could still enjoy the breeze, sounds and scents from the jungle around us.

Day 3 was a Friday and the day I had imagined, with some luck, we could have possibly splashed. The paint got done including some nice two-part barrier coat work where the boss had found some reef in Belize. I was checking on Louis, our shaft mechanic, as I did often. He said he was building a tool to pull the bearing. This sent me back to the yard guys who had told me that they had a puller. They couldn't find it. Monday splash? The bearing did come out right around quitting tme, coincidence? I checked the weather (wx) for Monday, it looked a little bumpy.

Isla Mujeres and our continuing adventure, next month. Quality, Balance and a Clean Wake.

Update from a boatyard in Honduras

I left the big cat to come down to Guatemala to move a Tayana 48 from the Rio Dulce to St. Thomas.  The cat has arrived at her destination in Ensenada with my crew and a skipper we flew in from San Diego. 

On the Tayana, we made it to beautiful Roatan before developing a shaft wobble.  We redirected to the mainland to haul out and replace the thru hull cutlass bearing. 

We're at La Ceiba Ship Yard.  It's going good so far. 

La Ceiba Honduras - Woody Tracker

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Longitude:-86.76007
GPS location Date/Time:12/07/2010 17:24:17 PST
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La Ceiba Honduras

Quick update: the big new cat made it to ensenada

48' Tayana, Roatan (135)

Last month we started moving a 48' Tayana cutter called Island Time out of Guatemala.  Onboard was first mate Phil and deck crew Chris.  The boat was supposed to go to the Virgin Islands but ... sea happens.  We had made it out of the jungles of Guatemala, down the amazing Rio Dulce and over the shallow bar at her entrance.  Finally, we were at sea.

The boat had mainsail furling so we had to head into the wind to hoist.  We brought in the headsail, fired up the engine and turned into the wind and waves.  Once some main was up we fell off the wind, shut down the engine (peace), re-launched the headsail, and Island Time charged off across the low swell.

We had a great morning sail.  It was sunny and we had that perfect, warm, el Carib breeze.  The wind slowly moved forward and we sheeted in the sails until we were beating.  As the wind get's stronger you want to flatten sails a bit to depower them.  This worked good on the headsail but we couldn't flatten the in-boom main.  We fired up and motor-sailed for the rest of the afternoon.

Then the helicopter arrived.  We could hear a quick thump, thump, thump, thump.  It was coming from the boat.  Changing engine rpm did change the speed of the thumping which meant that it was drive line related.  It wasn't louder in the engine room - good news.  I could hear it best in the aft stateroom.  Something wrong with the prop or shaft probably.  If it was kelp, you would want to back down.  We slowed slightly, pointed to Roatan and listened for change.

We were briefly distracted from the chopper landing on the aft deck by smoke rising into the dodger.  There is nothing worse than a fire on a boat.  Where do you go if you can't put it out??  And the autopilot wasn't autopiloting.  We quickly determined that the whiff of smoke did not come from the cabin but from the gauges above the companionway.

We later figured out that the Raymarine Seatalk system had fried.  There was nothing wrong with the autopilot.  It stopped working because it stopped getting signals from the rest of the system.  And then the GPS went down.  Lame.  Buy the TV and DVD player separate.  You want modular.

Out came my trusty portable Garmin gpsmap unit which got me around the world and then some.  The only important 'gauges' on a traveling sailboat are the depth sounder, working gps and the masthead windex.  The depth sounder was fortunately, a separate unit here.  We were back in action.
With the faint smell of burnt electronics and a growing helicopter sound, we hoisted our colors and made landfall at the beautiful island of Roatan, Honduras.  We had considered stopping there anyway to top up fuel.  Did I mention the mainsail furling line had removed it's own cover?  I can't check everything pre-departure.  I should point out that the charts on my old gps were not entirely accurate.  I sailed us up to the wrong side of a peninsula.  I had to consult my pc charts for the in close navigation.

The sun falls fast in the tropics.  By the time we arrived at the entrance to the reef it was night.  I had a good cruising guide and my charts.  They didn't agree so we pulled up close to decipher what buoys were what.  We got lucky when a big fishing trawler made it's way out.  We followed it's path and parked on the back side of Fantasy Island.  “Zee Chopper, Zee Chopper!”

In Tatus place, we got Jerry, and he was kewl.  He welcomed us and gave us the lowdown about the restaurant, pool, diving, internet, and cruiser happy hour.  Full use of the island was $20 a day for the whole boat, love it.  We'd make the most of it.

We cleaned up the inside and gave the outside a quick rinse to get the salt off.  The boys headed in for a meal.  For me it was an outdoor shower at the dive center and dinner onboard.   Mmm better, and ready for tomorrow's assault on our boat issues, third world style.  Bring your sense of humor.
I meet other delivery skippers in ports like these.  Some have been poolside for days.  They broke something on the boat and they tell me, “I don't work on them, I just move 'em”.  It doesn't seem right and besides, there's no challenge in it.

In the morning we left Chris to oversee fueling while Phil and I caught a ride to town with the marina cruisers.  We hit the bank, got a local sim for my cell, and some food to keep us out of the restaurant.  We were waiting on a couple still in the store.  We were 8 people in a minivan and it was tropical.  The consensus was to close up the van, rev it up and run the air conditioner.  On the downside there were gas cans onboard and the fumes were strong.  They persevered.  Old habits chosen above health, interesting human experiment.

We got back and moved the boat around to the front of the resort and I hopped in the water to see where the helicopter was hiding.  The strut cutlass bearing was good but there was some play at the shaft log/stern tube where the prop entered the boat.  I pulled a piece of shredded plastic out.  While I was there I cleaned the dirty prop, it's the best way to raise motoring speed and save fuel.  I couldn't get the techs at Raymarine to help me isolate the other gauges.  They just wanted us to send everything in for some hi-budget service.  Not very convenient for most cruisers.

And then there were monkeys!  Between projects I would whip into the lobby to wifi the owner, do part searches, find boatyards, and send poolside pix home.  On my route there were monkeys leaping between palapa beach shades.  Are you kidding me?  Monkeys??  They never got tired of playing the same games and I never got tired of watching them.  Everyone loves monkeys.  Right?

That night we got to chill with the cruisers at the dock BBQ.  It was great to hang out with my fellow adventurers. They were all very nice, in various stages of their adventure and all from crazy different walks of life.  The food was awesome.  We brought hot dogs while others brought real food.  There was quesa dias, flan, brownies and on.  Jerry had the old school rap mixed with easy listnin', cranking out the back of his vessel.  It was awesome.

I had to break the news to the guys.  We were going to have to haul out to change the stern tube bearing.  We weren't going to make it to the Virgin Islands on this trip.  The blow was softened when I explained that there were hardly any virgins left anyway (I'd been there 6 times).

The cruisers in Paradise were mostly Texan.  It made sense, we were close.  I'm a big fan of characters.  An old timer waldled up and gave us the lowdown on “the best boatyard in these parts”.  He explained about the entrance to the harbor and the town of  La Ceiba and “the 1$ beers and 2$ women”.  Chris perked up, “Where's that?”  Chris likes beer.

La Ceiba and the Island of Women, next month.   -Quality, Balance and a Clean Wake-

Paradise island

On a particularly brutal upwind delivery, a quick fuel and repairs stop. 

Roatan - Woody Tracker

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Latitude:16.35856
Longitude:-86.43872
GPS location Date/Time:12/03/2010 18:24:41 PST
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48' Tayana, Rio Dulce Guatamala (134)

I had moved the 48' Tayana cutter called Island Time once before. Professional cowboy Phil and I, sailed her downwind from Curacao to Honduras across the southern Caribbean. It was a beautiful trip. The boat's very cool owners, Paul and Maggie then did some extensive cruising of that part of Latin America. After getting their fill of paradise, they called us back in to move her again. This time we would be driving her upwind, upcurrent, upswell. Paul kept a tight ship so I figured the cruise would be a breeze ... if a little on the nose.

For this adventure I re-enlisted my old friend Phil. Originally from TX, Phil and Vicki now run a ranch in CO. Our third was an easy going young Floridian named Chris. Phil, Chris and I all met up at a hotel in Guatemala City. We had some early morning grub and then made our way to the bus station. The ticket lady didn't like the looks of my older US dollars. I produced a couple fresh ones and we were on our way.

We were treated to a long bus ride through the green mountainous interior of Guatemala. We even got a restaurante stop along the way. The bus is a good way to get to know a place. I had to change money and buy some stuff. The locals always offered me the good rate and when I overpaid, they corrected me. That says a lot to me about the people.

The boat was at Marios Marina (a Lats Harbor Hangout), way the hell up the Rio Dulce. We arrived at Fronteras and called Marco for a boat ride to Mario's. He said 15 minutes. That means an hour and a half in local time, by the way. It was tough waiting at the pick up point; an overwater bar where we sat in the shade while a beautiful local girl served us dollar coldies. Phil bought trinkets from the Indians. This place was warm and jungly, the way I like it. There was no rush now as we eased into third-world time.

At Mario's there was a fun cruising group hangin' out at the bar but I headed up to the office. I thought I'd get things rolling with the checkout. Young Myrna faxed our paperwork to port captain Raoul in Livingston. With that done I had a look around. The mini pool was empty for repairs. There was a kewl overwater bar/restaurant that was connected to the docks. I met the owner Jim and gave him a fresh Lats burgee. He said Mario's was for sale but I wasn't ready to settle down. Cruisers Trish and Bob introduced themselves and gave me the full low down on check out, the river, provisioning, etc.. It's what cruisers do, and it's much appreciated.

I met up with the boys. Chris stayed to represent us at the bar while Phil and I went down to check out the boat. It didn't look bad considering it had been sitting for two months. We did some quick cleaning and got some electronics fired up. I downloaded satellite weather off the efficient Skymate system. I still had the software on my netbook from last trip.

We spent the next morning, prepping the boat for sea. Trish and Bob dragged us out on a harbor cruise and we saw the old fort, and then they helped us provision in town. It set us back a couple hours but it was a nice thing to do. We got off the dock in the early afternoon, just in time for the afternoon rain. We parked at the fuel dock and waited for a break in the wx so we could fill up.

And finally, we were underway. I'm not a huge fan of inland cruising, there's always a bunch of stuff that you're about to run over or into. I prefer the serenity of the open ocean. Cruising the Dulce in the evening provides a unique challenge as fishermen lay their nets right across the navigable part of the lakes. We survived with some focused maneuvering and interesting hand gestures between us and the fishermen. Not those ones. So you know, random arm waving means come this way.

And finally, we made it to Texan Bay. Well, I thought we were in Texan Bay. We anchored up and enjoyed a perfect night on the hook. We had a light breeze and no moon and the stars were spectacular. The next morning we found the real Texan Bay and parked in front of the marina. It was recommended to us that we don't try to anchor off Livingston because it was not safe. Sherrie, owner and manager of Texan Bay Marina, could shoot me down to Livingston to check out. That sounded fun.

She rolled up in a big center-consul panga with a boy driving. Paperwork in hand, we took off and headed down the river. While it's open and wide up river, as it winds down to the sea the Dulce turns into a gorge. They must have had this gorge in mind when they came up with the word gorgeous? Crazy beautiful and understated in the guide. We sped through towering jungle walls and past the occasional reed roof shack with a dock out front. Back home you know you've made it when you have a dock in front of your house.

Sherrie and I walked up through Livingston, got some bread and hit the bank. The town didn't seem so bad. I'll probably do the anchor check out next time without the pre-faxing. I suspect those are what singled us out for the high fees. Roaul charged us 630q ($81). And there was a fee for the launcha. I saved a couple of bucks by putting a temporary fix on the outboard, (filter had clogged, bypassed it).

Back at Island Time we hauled the hook and headed down the gorge again at a more civilized pace. We ambled by dugout canoes hand fishing, the jungle huts, and a riverside bar/restaurant with a dock ... tempting. We got a good look at the vertical limestone walls, large white birds contrasting against the dark green of the gorge face. With a sailboat, the shoals are suddenly relevant. We followed the cruising guide track and kept to the deeper water.

The Dulce has a serious river bar at it's entrance. It is 6 feet deep at high tide and we drew ... six feet. We arrived an hour and a half before high tide which gave us some time to get off if we found a shoal. We had waypoints from other cruisers, the advice of the cruising guide and the previous track from when the boat came in. I played it by ear. We saw 5.7 at one point but never felt the bottom. Our patience had paid off and we were back in the safety of the sea. - - -

More next month on our cruise to Fantasy Island and our boatyard visit. Now an update on our cruising environment. There are people that believe that the world is flat (it's not, I checked), that the earth was created a few thousand years ago, or that man's doubling of CO2 won't affect our Climate. Most don't agree. But everyone agrees that high CO2 is wrecking our oceans. The ocean sucks up most of our CO2 which is causing the destruction of the food chain base and our coral reefs. See: nrdc.org/oceans/acidification . The good news? The switch to renewables has begun. To help, we must maintain our firm stance against pro-pollution companies and their reps in congress that profit by injuring our friends, family and our living planet . It is a time for heroes. Step up.

Rio Dulce, Guatamala - Woody Tracker

Woody Tracker
Latitude:15.67511
Longitude:-88.9827
GPS location Date/Time:11/30/2010 17:27:12 PST
Message:Just checking in.
Click the link below to see where I am located.

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46' Sailing Cat, Mexico (132)

Last month we had just survived an exciting Tehuanepec crossing on a brand new Leopard 46' catamaran. With me was my right hand, Oc and our trusty third, 'the commodore'.
We were headed for Acapulco to fuel. Running one motor as usual, we lowered rpms to get in after sunrise. The boat had an experimental square top mainsail. The square top trailed off the wind and luffed when reefed. Best not to put experimental gear on a cruising boat. The boat had stack pack style mainsail reefing, a joy to use.
As the CO2 content of the oceans shoots up, things like shellfish, corals and the base of the food chain are at risk. On the bright side, jellyfish love it. And which animal eats jellies? Turtles. We saw tons of turtles, aka Guatemalan speed bumps. We could avoid them during the day but at night they had to fend for themselves … thump. It was good to have them around.
I do enjoy the pre-dawn watch. We had a full golden moon setting on the port bow, my Pleiades overhead and the Southern Cross aft to port. There were no stars on the starboard bow, just the high darkness of land. There was a nice warm breeze running through the exposed cockpit.
As it was, we arrived while it was still dark. We rounded the corner and were treated to the 'bowl of diamonds' city-lights view (per Rains). I got the boys up to enjoy the spectacle and the arrival. We took a mooring off of the Club de Yates Acapulco. We had made the rough crossing with fuel to spare and minimal wear and tear. I went below for a cat nap while the boys stayed up on deck and chased down some coldies with good sea stories.
First thing in the morning we cruised into the fuel dock at the Yacht Club. As the boys topped her up I went in and asked about a slip and about checking into Mex. The office started the paperwork for us. Turns out we had the wrong zarpe. The zarpe I had was for a big power boat. That's right, the drunk American dudes on the motoryacht (see last month) distracted our young agent with their pawing and she gave us the wrong zarpe. I should have checked. The good thing about using an agent is that the right zarpe got faxed over with a phone call.
I sent the guys to the bar and spent the rest of the day washing the boat and checking fluids, etc. We all met up at the pool later. I shot off an email to the next skipper before enjoying the sprawling pool. The challenging part of the delivery was over and I had to get back to the Caribbean to finish up a different boat. We walked over the hill for an awesome dinner on the beach, gourmet tacos, natural pina coladas and 'cheers to us' for our impressive sailing prowess ;).
The owner's skipper got back to me in the morning with bad news. He was sick and could not come down. He didn't seem right for the job anyway. I shot off some emails and got some responses. Two responded with “I'll need to check the schedule.” Ya, I thought, you go do that. There are lots of part time delivery skippers. Full time skippers say, “Yep, where do you want me”. Lee Pearce of learntosailsandiego.com is one of those guys. Two hours after the search began, Lee had a plane ticket.
Modern phones make these kinds of fast foreign arrangements easy. Mine is a Droid but I hear the others work well too. I keep it in airplane mode so there are no accidental cell calls. I can do email, internet, phone calls etc, through wifi. In civilized, wifi is everywhere and almost always free. Oddly, Skype renders itself useless by mandating a cell data connection. No worries, Fring offers the same web phone service for pennies a minute. And then there are the awesome and cheap, Navionics charts that run with the phone gps giving you a chart plotter too. Tides, celestial ... the list of things this freak device offers is nearly endless. And then there's Google Voice that will transcribe your voicemails into text and email them to you.
I enjoy these beautiful stops and the crew deserves a good restaurante now and then (and I get paid by the day) but we were there to make miles, so at 1400 we pulled away from the dock. Even when cruising I don't tend to linger in one place too long. I say leave a place while you still like it. Leaving Acapulco during the day gets you some beautiful scenery. Fun vacation homes crown the steep rocky shoreline. We stayed inside Isla Roqueta to enjoy the tourist beaches and maybe catch a glimpse of the famous Acapulco cliff diving.
It was an overnighter to Ixtapa. A quick tip on diesels. I had heard this from mechanics and the new Yanmars manual confirmed it: Operate your diesel at no less than 60% of horsepower. 70-80% are preferred. For these engines, 60% is max achievable revs under load minus 500 rpm. 70% is m.a.r.u.l. minus 400 rpm. If you have to run the engines light for a while, run them at marul minus 100 for a bit. Diesels love to be loaded and can experience glazing if run to lightly.
We rolled into the little entrance early in the morning. Oc, always impressing me, had his lines ready to go and, even more surprising, done the way I like them. Elsa and Erica run Marina Ixtapa and were professional, knowledgeable and helpful. Cost there is $1 a foot. A 50 cent bus will take you downtown, over to Zihuat, or anywhere else in the area.
We headed into town and made final arrangements for the skipper switch. Oc's family had a beautiful condo in the hills, overlooking a sparkling, golf course-side pool. After the work was done we headed up there for dip and some homemade guacamole and salsa. Got the boat laundry done too. Oc's expat neighbors, Scott and beautiful Georgia, own strip clubs in Canadia. They were great fun to hang out with. They had Harley's and a boat in the harbor which they took out almost daily, and great stories.
The guys stayed at Oc's while I enjoyed my last night spread out on the boat. At sunup, I washed down the boat, changed the oil and filters x2 and checked fluids. Around lunch I went over the boat again with the guys. Then I skipped town, headed to my next delivery, a Tayana 48' on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. ---
I'm not much for causes, but if you've seen what I've seen out there ... . You all have been good about my including environment references in my pieces. I haven't been getting the pro-pollution emails (kinda miss 'em). I think the corporate emailers have given up on me. I do get questions about what more we can do. As you know, cruising is about the cleanest way you can live your life. This month's tip: mind your $s. Spend less with companies that don't represent your interests. When convenient; shop local, recycled or more natural products. See you next month in el Carib. Quality, Balance and a Clean Wake.

In the Tehuanapec - Woody Tracker

Woody Tracker
Latitude:14.04783
Longitude:-97.19235
GPS location Date/Time:11/19/2010 17:44:35 PST
Message:Just checking in.
Click the link below to see where I am located.

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