Time for repairs in Puerto Escondido

Maggie

Yes, Maggie, we're back and we'll play ball with you every day for the next 30 days in the afternoon whilst slaving daily to make necessary repairs to our beloved "Shakedown"....








We arrived back in Puerto Escondido just in time to participate in the annual "Loreto Fest", which was hosted in prior years by the now dismantled Hidden Port Yacht Yarbor.  It is similar to the Bayfest down in La Paz.  We arrived on the first day (Friday, May 27th) for the 2 day event.  Having secured to a mooring ball, we attended the festivities through closing on Saturday night.  On the following Monday, we paid for 2 days rent, and then rented the ball for a 30-day period.  The repair clock started ticking....

There were two major items that needed to be dealt with.  The main sail was hard down now, because of the accident of an unexpected (and unwanted) gybe of the boat caused the main sail to slack off from a down wind run, proceed towards midships, the ship's angle having been altered by a very large swell/wave, causing the main boom to drift to the centerline, and then, as the wave threw us back on course, the sail filled again, and naturally caused the boom to careen back out to its original location, causing the sheet (rope), which controls boom angle left or right, to tear out the track (rail) that it was attached to.  

Time to assess the damage....and make a plan to fix the boo-boo....

Finally, the fix was in....had to cut out the old wood, replace with new wood, sand, scrape, shape, screw, seal, and so on.  The final result is that we can once again use the main sail!

Item two was dealing with the raw water pump on the main engine.  This pump had been slowly leaking (drip, drip) for as long as we've owned Shakedown.  Even when we hauled the engine in 2007 in Bellingham, everything was dealt with except this pump.  (Well, and forgetting to change the senders for the oil pressure and water temp guages).  

Well, it took so long to make the sail track right, there was only about a week left to deal with the pump.  Knowing full well, with the lack of easy access and rust/corrosion, this was NOT going to be fun in a relatively cramped space.  The first two days involved removing (or moving out of the way) the cables and hoses blocking access to the all-important bolts holding the pump to the engine (a direct drive pump, no less).  Used up almost half a can of liquid wrench during those two days in hopes that the bolts would break free without too much fuss.  After four painful days, the pump was free and ready to be dealt with.  

Having brought the pump to "show and tell" at the afternoon meeting of the Circle of Knowledge, the general concensus was there was no local facility available to deal with a pump rebuild.  Luckily for us, our friends from La Paz, John & Linda Botts had driven up a few days before and were taking a liesurely cruise with the Shearwater cruise in local waters here.  So we begged they take us to La Paz with them when they journeyed home.  They of course, indeed offered us said ride.  We took off on Wednesday, June 22nd, arriving in La Paz about 4:30 pm, drove straight to the pump repair place, showed them the pump and was promised we could pick it up at 1100 the next morning!  What a deal.  And we got a room with a view.

We got a room at the Blue Hotel in downtown La Paz.  John & Linda had just moved into a new place and had yet to procure a bed for their guest room(s).  On Wednesday, we did some shopping and picked up the newly rebuilt pump.  On Thursday, we jumped on a bus and rode it back to Puerto Escondido and were back in time to report a successful pump repair to the Circle of Knowledge folk.  

Spent the next day scraping and applying Ossfo to the rusty areas on the engine, then painting those areas with a nasty-smelling engine spray paint.  The following morning, four hours were spent reinstalling the pump and performing a successful start of engine with zero leaks!  This was the morning of our last of the 30 days on the mooring ball. 

Problem was, we weren't quite ready to go, so we extended our lease by two more days. We said our goodbyes and headed out the morning of the 29th to attend the 4th of July party in Concepcion Bay (we hope).

Cruising the Sea again - Part II

Moving right along...

Our next stop, Caleta San Juanico It is a large bay with dramatic rock formations in the water. Definitely a place to return to and spend more time. Because of the rocks, snorkeling would be good and we saw a lot of fish, big and small. Instead of staying, we decided to push on.

We set sail north towards Bahia Concepción. This is a huge bay with many small bays within it. The town of Mulege is at the northern tip of the bay. We were now also traveling with Julie and Greg on s\v Adventura. They hail from Spokane, Wa. and we met in Los Gatos. We all decided to drop anchor in Playa Santispac, which we did and headed for shore. There we met Carlos and his wife, Thelma. They own Anna's restaurant and even offered to take us to town in the morning. We had cervesas and dinner and met more cruisers.

By now we had quite a group of friends and we decided to do a pot luck dinner on the beach. The food was awesome and the scenery inspiring. We had a great time.

We moved from bay to bay with each other and shared meals and cocktails. We found a taco stand\restaurant across the highway and were very impressed with their twice baked clams. It quickly became our favorite spot!

Meeting so many great people, it was hard to say goodbye. But that is the life of the cruiser. We can hope to see each other again along the way.

Shakedown crew is on a schedule. Yes, the forbidden word, schedule! All cruisers know that living on a boat that traverses the waters of the world, should never have a schedule. But here in Mexico, visitors must renew their visas every six months (180 days). So it is back to Puerto Escondido, leave the boat on a mooring ball, fly from Loreto to Tijuana, walk across the border and wait for brother Vern to pick us up. (We always enjoy visiting Vern and Christina. We shop and have fun and this time, returned to the boat two days later.)

As it turns out, on the journey back to Puerto Escondido Shakedown sustained damage to the mainmast traveler located in the cockpit. The sea reminded us of the ocean that day, with swells from 8 to 10 feet and winds gusting to 25 mph. The mainsheet traveler ripped out of the wood and lodged itself through the dodger-bimini tearing the fabric and ripping out the after portion of the railing that frames the bimini. The captain lowered the sail while the owner/first mate held the wheel and the traveler main sheet so as to prevent further damage. It was a rough day at sea!  The raw (cooling) water pump attached to the main engine decided to open up as well during this cruise.  It has been dripping ever so slightly since we bought the boat, but now must be attended to while in Puerto Escondido.  That's boating....as a famous captain once said "if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!"

Fair winds and calm seas to all our friends and family!