La Cruz Prep for Leaving for Bahia Chamela - also good tools - 2012

End of December - 2012 La Cruz

We decided to go straight to Bahia de Chamela (Perula Bay) Unless the weather turns bad on the way around Cabo Corientes (Cape of Currents) we will not stop at Punta Ipala for a rest. We were thinking of this stop for an overnighter to rest up but we think it is easier to go straight through to Chamela  It is where we want to be and spend some time, possibly a few weeks at anchor there. The passage is an over-nighter with a 20 hour passage time. The weather window looks good for leaving La Cruz Anchorage Banderas Bay  tonight at 8pm to round the Cabo Corientes at 2 am.

La Cruz Anchorage - Waiting for a weather window - 2012

Late December 2012

We are sitting at anchor in the La Cruz anchorage - waiting for a weather window and getting some R&R. We will round Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents) in a day or two. It will be a night passage and we now have our auto pilot working so great!

Nuevo to La Cruz then arround Cabo Corrientes - auto pilot passed calibrateion

 Late December 2012
We got our auto pilot working!! Yes on the way out of Nuevo Vallarta (Paradise Village Marina) we tried to calibrate the auto pilot(AP) but it keep failing. We determined the seas were too rough so we set sail for La Cruz, highly disappointed. Once we got to La Cruz about a one and a half hour trip the northern point there shelter the seas enough to try he calibration again. Part of it consist of 15-20 sig sags by the AP and it takes a fair amount of distance. We pulled up by the anchorage and started our tests point south. After the first try we aborted thinking it failed. We gave it one more try before heading into the marina. This time it passed. Ya!

Our next passage is around the point of Cabo Corrientes and the point has two currents colliding and the wind is from yet a different location. Hmmm.

Mazatlan - El Cid Marina 2 of 2 - 2012

End of November 2012 we were in Mazatlán, Mexico
 Let’s talk marinas in Mazatlán, Mexico for a moment. Pros cons or so from my perspective. First at the beginning, our thoughts of cruising Mexico we had picked El Cid for our “Summer over home port” but then after more research we decided on Paradise Village Marina
Hurricane hole?

Arrived La Cruz marina - 2012

Late December 2012- La Cruz marina (Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz)

We have been in the La Cruz marina  now a couple days and will stay a total of three. The first day our first thought was this is Cabo all over again. It is a city marina so you hear road traffic and the sound of the propane truck as it winds its way through the streets with its loud speaker playing some tune and yelling propane. It gets all the many dogs barking etc. There are tourist boats in the marina that play loud music and on and on. It is not as bad as Cabo San Lucas but it was our first thought about noise when we woke up.
 The marina people are nice and the view is nice and open, you can see the mountains and the sea.

Anchored in Chacala Mexico 2 of 2 - 2012

 OK we got it set this time!
A good piece of gear to consider having is enough rode to set a stern anchor. That means possibly 300 ft forward to set the stern anchor in 5 fathoms of water. That would also mean about 250 ft for the stern anchor.

Projects - Outboard bar lock, Teak Wonder treatment, anchor light etc.- 2012

Mid December 2012  - Currently in Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay Mexico
 
We made some modifications to the original steel out board bar lock so it would fit the space where the outboard sits on the boat. We used the dremel to cut a corner off and then sand the edges and some rust sots. Debbie then cleaned it up and painted it with some Rust-Oleum

New tool - wet vac

Mid December 2012
 Just had to get one, we gave our old one away but this is missed a lt. Vacme out the refer fter a defrost, the bilge any time, the propane locker if water is in it from seas etc.

Got a new wet vac 2.5 gal at Home Depot here in Puerto Vallarta.

We summer over here in Nuevo Vallarta, Paradise Village Marina.- 2012

Mid December 2012 - Currently in Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay Mexico

The decision has been made; we summer over here in Paradise Village Marina versus La Cruz Marina or Marina Vallarta (downtown).

 It is or they cannot beat this place for us. Paradise Village Marina offers just too much for us. It is gringo-vil though. There are major hotels and condos and time shares etc full of gringos. No Mexican fishing village here. However there are all the marine services you could want and 5 miles away is PV with the rest, boat yard etc.
Mall with plenty of tables and chairs and benches. Some with 110 power outlets.
Here there is a two story mall and free WiFi throughout the mall and AC.

Projects - Air Breeze, Garmin Drive A auto pilot, stern chain etc - 2012

Mid December 2012 - Currently in Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay Mexico
 While here the last couple days we have re-coated the teak cockpit grate with Teak Wonder. Cleaning the great out on the dock then applying the product.

 We have been trouble shooting the AirBreeze wind generator with a multimeter as we have the dock to work with for bring the tower down.

Passage and anchored in Chacala Mexico 1 of 2 - 2012

12-7-2012  ChacalaMexico

With the autopilot still broke Debbie is doing the hand steering here.

Punta De Mita Anchorage and Banderas bay - Whales - 2012

Mid December 2012 - Anchored in Punta De MitaMexico
The short eight hour or so passage to Punta De Mita we saw some whales.

Punta Mita anchoring then on to Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta - 2012

Mid December - 12\12\2012 Anchored in Punta De Mita , Mexico

Ok so the guide book said this anchorage was a nice slow swell rolling in from the stern as the wind blew from shore. OK they did not say all that but just the same as it was a comfortable roll. Not so for us and the weather could hardly be better. As the wind clocked around in evening the boat drifts around and the swell hit you on the beam (just like in Chacala). A flopper stopper (Rock N Roll Stabilizer) would be nice although none of the dozen or so boats there had them deployed. We rolled all night so our sleep was a series of naps.
 This anchorage did serve the purpose of an all-night rest area before moving on to our current location at Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico (a few hours trip away) and so it was just fine.
  There are some good surf spots in Punta De Mita and the area is quite nice from the sea at least.  A lot of boats had surfboards on them! A big golf course in front of us.

Anchored in Punta Mita, Mexico - 2012

12-10-2012 Anchored in Punta De Mita , Mexico

Punta De Mita, Mexico is at the beginning of Banderas Bay.

This was a planned stop and we anchored here because we could not make Nuevo Vallarta before dark. Tomorrow on to Nuevo Vallarta and Paradise Village Marina

We had a nice shower on the hook thanks to the hot water heated by the engine and now for some dinner.

Stern anchoring in Chacala with our Fortress anchor #16 - 2012

After stern anchoring with our Fortress anchor #16 and see how hard it is pulling up 20’ chain I looked up the amount of chain recommended on the Fortress web site.

Mazatlan to San Blas\Mantachan Bay - 2012

Late November early December 2012.Anchored in Matanchen Bay
Avoid shrimp boats! We must have seen a dozen about ten miles out.
We had to get off our course (route) a few times to avoid them.

Mazatlan -El Cid Marina - 1 of 2 - 2012

At the El Cid Park across from the El Cid Marina there were weddings are a lot. Some were like concerts. The ferry was the way to get to the park\wedding.  

New MASTERVOLT AGM batteries batteries installed - 2012

2012 Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA
Debbie labeled all the cables for re-installation.
 Changing over to the new MASTERVOLT AGM batteries was a bit of work. luckily the cables were still good to fit the new batteries in length.

Harken Furler - Furler problem was resolved in Mazatlan, screws - 2012!

January 2012 - Tied up in the El Cid Marina Mazatlán, Mexico
 So the furler problem we had while making the Cobo to Mazatlán passage turned out to be set screws. All three set screws came out of the Harken furler at the same time? Yep and so we went to Home Depot in Mazatlan (mid November) and got some metric fine thread screws and used them. 

Rollerblading the board walk in Mazatlan - 2012

11-20-12 Currently in El Cid Marina in Mazatlán, Mexico
Rollerblading the board walk in Mazatlán, Mexico was something we wanted to do for a long time. 

It is a long and beautiful board walk with a beautiful beach. We were at marina El Cid Marina in Mazatlán, Mexico so we walked out to the road from El Cid Marina and took a bus to the board walk. We put on our gear and went rollerblading! It was fun and by the end we were real tired.

Home port is San Diego - graphic for stern - 2012

 Home port is San Diegobecause the law requires that we have one for documented vessels which ours. Really our home port would be some place in Mexico and for now will probably be Puerto Vallarta (PV) Mexico. That is because we are cruising the Mexican Riviera and it starts about there. That means what we do not see this year we can easily get going and see next year from PV.

Lee clothe

Before leaving on the Baja Ha Ha (10-29-12) Debbie made a lee cloth for the settee for the crew to sleep on. This may also serve us sometime in the future but we are kind of hoping not as it means a long passage in bad weather? She added two zippers for ease of getting into and out of bed, the settee. So far it has and was not used however.


Anchored in Matanchen Bay - To a trip to San Blas - 2012

 12\12\2012 Anchored in Matanchen Bay, Mexico

Yesterday we dinghy'ed in to shore then walked down a dirt road to Matanchén, the town. We are anchored in Matanchen Bay. They make good banana bread there and have a Corona distributor there. From there we went to the bus stop and waited with three locals for the bus. A cab came by and they flagged it, asked if we would join them so we jumped in. A good ride to San Blas, Nayarit it was and then we went to the plaza. It was lively and interesting. We walked around enjoying the goings on and all the locals. We decided to look for a restaurant with WiFi that is in the Pacific Mexico Guide pg 53 and 56 the Wala Wala restaurant. We eventually found it. On the way we almost went to the marina for a look see and to say hi to a couple Elizabeth and Brian on Autumn Wind that had just left Matanchen Bay to stay there a couple days. We decided it was just too hot. We made it about 80 percent of the way. Oh well...so we went to the restaurant. As it turns out the WiFi was broke so we had some food and had some good conversation with the owner.