SV/SOMF

Cruise RO/Spectra install

2017-02-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a very long time since the blog has been updated. Lauren used to be the blog master but she has moved on to better things and is really missed. I decided it was time I got back into the blog to let everyone know what is going on with SOMF. Currently she is in La Paz MX at Marina Don Jose while I get projects done. The goal is to leave here at the end of February and take a leisurely trip North to San Carlos. One of the main projects I did while here was convert the Spectra water maker over to a Cruise RO system, Rich Boren on SV Third Day was a fantastic help. If anyone is considering a new water maker or replacement I can't stress enough the importance of contacting him! Just Google Cruise RO and send him a message, he will respond within 24hrs, usually much quicker, Oh yeah he can be easily bribed with fresh tacos.
So on to the install. Rich has helped other cruisers convert their Spectra to his system and put a list of everything I needed to convert. The kit he put together for SOMF was so complete I only needed one extra SS fitting that I located here in La Paz easily. The one recommendation I have is that when you are determining the location of the high pressure pump to determine the length of the high pressure line add 1 or even 2 feetof length to the hose. I decided 6' was good but once I actually started the install I realized 1 extra foot would have made life easier. I know I could have had an extension made up at an hydraulic shop but the cost of the added fittings would far out weight the price of an extra foot or 2 of the line when Rich makes it up.
Two other notes, the instructions from Cruise RO only discuss mounting the High pressure pump horizontally, in my case I wanted to install it vertically on a bulkhead. A quick message to Rich confirmed it was just a matter of removing four bolts and rotating the pump head, Second, if you are using the constant duty centrifugal pump it needs to be mounted below the water line so that it is always flooded, they aren't designed to be self priming. Additionally they are better at pushing water through the pre-filters not pulling through them. The proper order is sea strainer, boost pump, 20 micron, 5 micron filter then on to the control panel.

The complete install took less then 8 hours spread out over 3 days (lots of breaks for cervesas and tacos). I reused the Spectra 22" pressure vessel so when I run the system I get 8-9 gallons of great water! The nice thing about the system Rich set me up with is that I can add a second 22" vessel and double my output to 16 -18 gallons an hour. All it takes is the vessel, membrane and a few hose connections. I will be on the look out for a pressure vessel at the swap meets.
By salvaging everything I could from the old Spectra I was able to do the conversion for around $2,500, not bad considering the original Spectra unit was $4,600 6 years ago and on it,s best day barely made 5-6 gallons an hour. You do need to have an Honda 2000 or equivalent generator to run the system as I have it but I already had that. If you don't have one or a genset you are looking at an additional $1,000 +- but I wouldn't be without my Honda.
If anyone is looking to do a similar upgrade and have any questions feel free to contact me, or if you really want the best info contact Rich, I am so happy with the quality of the unit and the help Rich provided!!!

San Carlos!!!

2012-04-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

We have been here in San Carlos for 2 weeks now and are having a great time catching up with old friends, and making new ones. Unfortuently my camera got stollen on St. Patricks day at the Captains Club, so I do not have any pictures. But we had a great night on St. Paddy's day hanging out with our friends, we have also gone to Guaymas a few times, and hung out at Ruby Wine Bar. We are also getting the boat ready to be put on the hard, we have taken down the sails and halyards, washed the covers and lines, taken down the bimini and started to stow things down below. Jerry and I are taking the bus up to Tucson on April 3rd to bring back my car that my parents are driving down from Stockton, an it just will happen to be my birthday, we will stay the night and come back to San Carlos on the 5th. We have a haul out date on the 9th, and will head home on the 11th, things are going fast here, but we are excited to head home.

It has been two years, six months and seven days since we have left the slip at River Point Marina in Stockton Californa. We have travel 7161 nautical miles (plus some when going in and out of anchorages), which is 8235 miles, and have seen 4 countries, and wow what a trip. But the time has come to go and see our friends and family back in Stockton, who we miss and are very excited to see.

San Carlos Bound!!

2012-03-16T13:28:00.001-07:00

On Saturday March 10th at 3:15 in the afternoon, Jerry and I cast off the lines of La Cruz for the last time. We were on our last leg up to San Carlos, about 541 miles which would take us 107 hours. We had a great trip, the first two night were a little rough with high seas and winds ranging from 15 to 20 knots. We saw a couple of humpback whales in the distance, and one that crossed us right infront of the boat. As always I am slow with the camera, but I did the best I could.

We had the poles out the whole time, but only hooked up one sailfish that of coarse we released. Tuesday afternoon, 4 days into the trip we saw a pod of killer whales out in the distance.

killer whales, I tried to take a video, but it is even worse than the picture. But I will post it on You Tube later.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, which is not always a bad thing, we arrived at the bahia enterance of San Carlos 12:30pm on Thursday the 15th. We had a great last passage, now it is time to go see some of our old friends and have a much deserved beer up at our old hangout Club de Capitanes. Then we will start getting the boat to be hauled out the second week of April and get ready to go home for the summer.

Good Luck Hawk!!!

2012-03-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we ran into a young white lab, and our hearts just went out to him. Now through our travels we have seen many cute dogs that all need help, but this one was different. So over the last few weeks we, and another couple of SV Oceanair, have been trying to find him a good home. Well Greg from SV Oceanair has decieded that he would put up the money to get the dog fixed as long as we could find him a home. One night at Ana Bananas, Barry the owner, had a friend who has also been interested in the dog, he has even followed him around a few times, but he did not have the money to take "Hawk" to the vet and get him all fixed up. So Greg and I took him to the vet, but he had a bladder infection and needed 5 days worth of pills before he could get fixed, so SOMF to the rescue. Hawk was allowed to stay on the boat for the time he needed to have the pills, he got along great with Skeeter and even didn't try to eat the kitty that many times.

As the five days came to an end, there was even a time when Jerry thought Hawk could be an addition to SOMF, but for when Jerry is out in the Bahia alone, he is just a little big to get on and off the boat with one person. So after we were finished with the five days, and it was time for us to leave for San Carlos the next day, Greg and I took him back to the vet. SOMF donated 500 pesos toward the bill and bought some food for home and his new owner. The vet said that the proceedure would happen the next day and Hawk would stay for 8 days until he could be picked up. Unfortuently we were leaving the next day to check up on Hawk, but a week later I have emailed JC in La Cruz and he said that Barry and the new owner picked up Hawk and he thinks everything is going good. Even as I write this email my heart hurts, if it was not for the boat trip to San Carlos and the car ride up to Stockton, I would have taken Hawk in a heartbeat and tried to find him a home. But that was not the way it worked out, and I thank God that we could be apart of Hawks life and help him get healthy and happy!!!

Getting ready to leave La Cruz!!

2012-03-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

After being in La Cruz for over 2 months it is time to start heading back up to San Carlos. The major project that we had to do it get the dinghy cleaned up of after 2 months of growth on it. We took it out of the water a couple of days after Cheri left and it took a couple of days to clean the bottom and Jerry reglued a couple of the patches.

Right after we pulled it out of the water

Yes, we have a little ecosystem on the botom

After two days of scrapping!!

We had Kai and Rob from SV Vellela Vellela and Wes from SV Great Bear over for cocktails and WII entertainment.

Team Jager!!

Kai and Rob....now that is some intense driving!!

Having fun in La Cruz with Cheri!!

2012-03-06T11:34:00.001-08:00

On Monday the 27th of February Cheri (Jerry's sister from Colorado) came for a week visit. We pulled the boat into the marina for the week, so Cheri could stay on the boat with us, and we did not have to worry about going back and forth on the dinghy out in the anchorage. Jerry and I took the bus to the airport in Puerto Vallarta to pick her up, first and formost we had to stop for a beer, then went to walmart to pick up a few goodies for the boat. That night was the Pacific Rock Band at Ana Banana's, so of coarse we had to go listen to them. We were going to only stay for a while, thinking Cheri would be tired, we ended up staying the whole night and had a great time.

Dancing on the pole!!

Greg and Cheri

We had such a good time with Cheri, we first took the bus to Sayulita to hang out on the beach for the day.

Jerry and Cheri waiting for the bus on the side of the freeway!!

awesome day at the beach!!

A truck load of a large fruit (I can not remember the name), but we tried them and they were not too bad!!

The next day we took a walk on the beach to Buccarias from La Cruz, the walk was about 40 minutes.

The church in Buccarias

One afternoon we took another bus to Puerto Vallarta to do all the tourist things, like shop, shop, shop. But of coarse we had to stop at some of Jerry and my favorate place for a cold beer. I forgot my camera this day, but Jerry says I have plenty of pictures of PV in past blogs.
On Thursday we took SOMF out with Tim and Linda ( a canadian couple that we met in La Cruz). Peggy (another canadian that we met), JC (who works at Ana Banana Bar) and Cheri, Jerry and myself. We cast off the lines around 9am and came back into the marina around 3pm, we had a great afternoon out on the water. Unfortuently we did not see any whales out by the Tres Maria Islands like we were hoping, but we did see some dolphins and had great weather, we even put the sails up.

Shiraz enjyoing the sun!!

Tim out on lookout for whales!!

Cheri and Linda on fishing patrol...no fish the whole day :(

JC...What are you doing??

a fleet of 420 sailboats out for the afternoon!!

JC, Jerry, and Tim...I think it is Tequila time!!

Linda, Cheri and I having Cheri's famous "Bernies" a shot of Tequila and a wedge of orange rolled in cinnamon and sugar....Yum!!!

While Cheri was here in La Cruz the Regata Copa Mexico came, this is the biggest regata in Mexico.
http://www.regatacopamexico.com/, the first events are of the J24 sailboats. This was fun, because Jerry used to sail these up in Stockton. Then at the end of the week the big, fast sailboats came down from San Diego. We did not get to see many of them, since we left before they started racing.

The last day of Cheri's trip we went over to Tim and Linda's condo and had an afternoon of hanging by the pool and had a little potluck. This is an awesome place they rent every year, Jerry and I said we will come visit them next year.

Back to work!!

2012-02-25T12:56:00.003-08:00

After a week of playing it is time to get serious about the boat again, Cheri ( Jerry's sister) is coming down the end of this month, we are going to move the boat into the marina for the week. That means we need to get the motor running and the windless working so we can move. Through a local cruiser we found Christain Gonzalez who owns Gonzales motor shop, we took the bus to downtown Puerto Vallarta and started walking blocks trying to find his shop. The was a south and north address, one on each side of the main road. We ended up having to ask few different places, but we found it. We walked in, and Christain was at the front counter, and he spoke perfect english. We described what we needed done to the shaft on the windless and he said he would have it fixed, and would deliver it back to the marina entrance in La Cruz, wow too good to be true. But it was perfect, two days later he emailed Jerry saying it was ready and the price of 450 pesos, and that he would meet us at the entrance of the marina at 10 am. That morning we walked up to pay for the part, and asked if he would be able to take a look at the motor of the windless also, and change the brushes. He said he yes and would have it back in two days, and it was!!

The only thing Jerry had to do to the windless motor was modify a drive pin

The windless shaft that needed a bushing replaced

One morning Jerry went into the engine room to check the fresh water coolant, and the cap broke, due to salt water getting into the system. Salt water is getting in through the heat exchanger, we knew this was something that was going to need to be replaced up in San Carlos, but we decieded to do it now instead of waiting. So he ordered and new cap, new thermostat, gasket and had that shipped to Casa Maru in La Cruz. The parts cost $64 and duty cost $20 and shipping was $15, and it got here in 7 days. Then he orded the new heat exchanger and that was a different story, it cost $750 and shipping was $150 and dutie was around $200, after all said and done it was about a $1200 part, but it needed to be done. We heard from Ben on SV Jase of a man who lives in San Diago who actually walks it across the boarder which saved about $300 dollars, so we had it shipped to him, then he puts it on a plane in Ensenada and had it flown into PV. Well we got it in about 14 days and it all worked out...just not going to be able to go out as much this month, but that is all part of this awesome lifestyle.

Brand new heat exchanger

Header tank and pipe

heat exchanger painted

Header tank painted with new cap

Jerry and I one afternoon put on our wetsuits ( the water is cold) and jumped in to clean the through holes and try to clean the prop and rudder as best we could. The bottom is loosing all its bottom paint and had thousands and thousands of barnicals growing after three months since the last cleainng. We were not able to do it all, because we do not have our hookah system working and the barnicals are so tough to get off it would have taken us three weeks to try to free dive on it.

Jerry coming up after diving down to attack the growth!!

Punta Mita!!!

2012-02-20T12:30:00.000-08:00

One afternoon Jerry and I took the bus about 25 minutes up to Punta Mita (10 peso trip) to see SV Velella Vellela and Jean Marie who were anchored up there. We could not take SOMF because we do not have an engine but more on that in another blog. It was a beautiful day, Punta Mita is a major resort town, with beautiful condos and a great surf spot. We enjoyed walking around the town and just enjoying our time on the beach.

Everyone loves a truck full of toperaries

The fishing fleet up in Punta Mita!!

Wow, I don't think I will ever be able to do that

While we were sitting at the restaurant near the beach, we met some people who were from Alaska on vacation. It is always fun to hang out with people that are only down for a few weeks, they sure know how to party!!!

The lady demonstrating the shell sound before making the final sale!!

Then we all had to try, it is harder then it looks!!

After a few margaritas Pete had to try to do the handstand move...you better keep practicing!!

Fun Times!!

2012-02-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well it is Feburary and we are still here in La Cruz, not that I am complaining. We are having fun, and enjoying the great weather. We went to Sayulita with Rob and Kai from SV Velella Velella and James, Milli and baby Colin from SV Jean Marie.

James, Milli and Baby Collin, along with Kai and Rob...Love these guys such great friends!!

Collin love the sand, they also took him in the ocean for the first time...yeah he loved that also!!

Jerry and I have also been enjoying time off the boat eating and drinking with good friends..I know what a big suprise.

Ya Ya's restaurant...great breakfast and love watching the kitty trying to get the birds!!!

Red Chair Tacos!!! pobably one of the best taco places EVER!!!

Rob of DJ Emerson up in the Sky Bar Restaurant for a sunset reggae party!!!

Huanacaxtle Bar and Cafe...probably our most frequent night spot....especially with our great friends!!

Ana Banana's every Monday for Pacific Rock Band!!!

Blessing of the Fishermen!!!

2012-02-03T09:54:00.001-08:00

On January 24th, Jerry, myself and Joan from SV Kona went to Bucerias for the blessing of the fishermen, this is a festival that goes on every year to celebrate a good fishing year. The beach was crowded, and the town was all festive for the week of celebrating. The last day of the festival is when they have a parade of fishing boats, and they come up on the beach dropping off people. It was quite a show, we found a table and enjoyed the day on the beach.

Tequilla!!

2012-02-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Our friends Bill and Jean on SV Mita Kulu took a trip up to the town of Tequilla with is about 6 or so hours towards Guadalajara ( which is a trip that we would love to do, but don't know if we will be able to.) Bill has been aging tequilla in his bildge for the past couple of years, and the other night we went over there for a taster test of his 3 year old tequilla. WOW, that is all I can say, it has a great taste, smooth yet with a hint of smokiness to it. Well after talking to Jerry about the process and how to start with the three (2 litter) barrels, and fill them up, then as they age they eveporate and you add the tequilla from the frist barrel to the second and then fill the first barrel with new tequilla. You have to do this about every month or so. Jerry had Bill bring back 2, 2 litter, barrels and 10 litters of tequilla so Jerry can start making his own aged tequilla.

Having fun in La Cruz!!

2012-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

So we are still hanging out in La Cruz Mexico, having a great time going out to listen to bands, and they had the Taste of La Cruz the last weekend. Where different businesses came out and had samples of food and drinks for a couple of hours.

The band at Taste of La Cruz!!

They had a great turn out!!

Jerry and I really love going on Monday nights to a bar called Ana Bananas, there is a great band that plays 70's and 80's music called The Pacific Rock Band.

Sayulita Mexico!!

2012-01-15T12:56:00.000-08:00

To get you up to date on what is going on on SOMF, Jerry has been still working on the battery problem. He has taken every cable off, and back on, checked terminals, checked the bildge pump, checked the solar panels and still can not seem to find where the 6.2 volts are coming from. The Nigel Calder Book say to imagine your electrical system like a water system, you have a tank of water, the battery, pipes that are the wiring, valves are like switches, ect..so we should be seeing a pool of electricy laying in the bildge.
So while Jerry is working hard on the batteries and the watermaker that is acting up, I (not being the best of crew) have been having fun, I went to Sayulita which is a 30 minute, 2 bus rides town away. It is a very large surfer town, so of caurse it seems right I go with a surfer. While he surfed I had a great time walking around this very new meets old hippy town, with an artist flare.

lots of surfing!!

Cool little town, but lots of tourist!!

the little church in the square

awesome produce stands!!

Bees on a Boat...oh no!!

2012-01-15T11:06:00.000-08:00

One afternoon I was hanging out on SV Finess (which is a 28 foot sailboat anchored less than 100ft away from SOMF) when all of a sudden Donnie (the owner) came rushing in through the companion way shutting the doors faster than I could ask what was going on. Looking out the side portholes we could see thousands of bees swarming in the cockpit. They were so loud, we did not know where they came from or why they choose this boat to try to make a hive on. But about an hour the noise started to die down so slowly looking out the campanion door we could see them all bunched in the port side cubby hole. Not quite sure what to do, the first instint Donnie had was to try to get them off his boat so he took a can of carbarator fluid and sprayed the massive swarm. Well to say the least that pissed them off, they all took off flying, after about another hour or so of being trapped in this small, hot boat we could not hear them anymore, so we ventured out. We were not sure if they were still on the boat, we had a feeling that they might have moved up under the sail cover, but we were not sticking around to check it out. I got in my kayak and went back to SOMF, while Donnie went to shore. That evening I saw Donnie go back to the boat, did not check around, just went inside and lock up. The next morning I dinghed over to his boat to see if he check to see if they were still on the boat, he said he had not yet but was about to . So going up to the front of the sail cover, and slowly unzipped it, and WOW there they were, so he jumped in the dinghy and we took off to go see Steve on SV Go For Broke, who we heard was the guy to see if you have questions about bees. About an hour later Steve was on Donnies boat while we were safely in the dinghy, if we needed a fast get away, but I'll be damn, a couple of hours later Steve had almost of the bees in a box with only one sting on the arm.

First Steve added honey to a box try entise the bees into it

Second, Steve had to find the bees

There they are!!!

Third, he put the box with honey up to the box and....

Skrapped them off!!!!

While a bunch started to fly around, there were quite a few that went into the box, he repeated this process a couple of times till he got the majority of them in the box

He then stuck the box up there (with the lid tapped shut) and a small opening for the rest of them to find there way in. He claims that they want to be in that box, because the queen is in there. And after a while almost all of them went in there.

After Steve had the box safely taped up, I invited him and Donnie over for a beer to celebrate a victory. He then went and released the box in a open field far away from the boat, and said that the would find a new place to build a home. The few bees that were left, would expend their energy and die off. I have to say that is was quite an experience and thank got it was not on SOMF!! Great Job Steve!!!

Boat Projects!!

2012-01-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

While we have been here we have been trying to take care of some of the issues we are having on the boat. Jerry went down in the engine room one afternoon after calling the Gillete Genorator Company trying to figure out why the the genorator is not genorating any power and why we had that black smoke. Well we figured out that it was the fan on the back of the genorator and the set screw came loose and that allowed the fan to move forward into the coils causing it to freeze and producing black smoke. Jerry put the set screw back in place of the fan, started the generator, no smoke but no power, so now we will have to have the whole genorator taken out (which ways 148 lbs) and have the the coils rewound. So back to using the 1000 watt genorator, so thanks again Dad Wilhite for saving our butts!!

Trying to get the fan back in position to put the screw back in...

The genorator with the side panel off!!

We bought three 6 volt batteries off SV Blue Dolphin here in La Cruz, to add in line with the eight that we have already. We are hoping that with this addition the solar panels will be able to keep up our house battery bank over night.

Starboard battery bank of the original 4 batteries

Port side battery bank with the addition of the new battery

When adding the new batteries and new cables that Jerry made up, he got a spark of electricity off of one of the battery terminals (when there should not have been any volts running through). After testing and testing and more testing of all the batteries and connections we still have a 6.2 volts comming off the ground when all the batteries are disconnected. We are going to have to do some research of this problem, and will keep you up to date on the prognosis.

Making som new wire cables for the battery banks

Ta Da!!

Happy New Years!!!

2012-01-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

I wish to all our friends and family near and far a very Happy New Years, may 2012 provide all your wishes to come true!! For us on SOMF, we had a very happy new years eve on the boat with our friends Tim and Joan from SV KONA. Joan brought over shrimp and dip and I made some tortilla roll up sandwiches and a pizza, we enjoyed drinking and eating and playing monopoly on the WII (which I won!!) until ten minutes till midnight. At midnight we ejoyed the wonderful fireworks across the bay while toasting to good friends and great times with a bottle of champain.

On the Wednsday before we went back to Puerto Vallarta with Joan and Tim walking around downtown!!

Yummy!!

love our taco carts!!!

WOW!!! love all the creative art along the malacon!!

Tim, Joan, myself, and Jerry at Cheeky Monkey!!

Jerry...yeah he doesn't need a mask!!

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas and Christmas Eve on SOMF, having our share of really good food and listening to Christmas music!! Christmas Eve morning, while trying to light the propain on the stove to make some coffee, we ran out of propain. We were pretty nervious not knowing if we were going to be able to fill our propain bottles on Christmas Eve, but we had to try. We halled the bottle down to the dinghy then up past the marina and out to where taxi's stood. Ezequiel, our taxi driver who spoke great english, new right were to take us, and it was busy. Everyone needs propain to cook Christmas Eve dinner, he informed us that tonight was the major celebration for Mexicans, then they sleep all Christmas Day cause of to much Tequila and Cerveza's. After lugging the (now heavier) propain bottle back to the boat Jerry was able to make homemade Chicken Pot Pies, that were delicious, while we had "Becky's" Pain Killers and caught up on Burn Notice on the computer!!

Christmas morning we woke up to a present under the tree left by Santa, yeah we were hoping he would figure out our GPS cordinance here in Mexico. We know this bailey's was left by Santa cause it is way out of our cruising budget, so thanks Santa, we had a great morning drinking our coffe with baileys and listening to the morning nets.

Our present awaiting us under our Christmas tree!!

After watching a Christmas Story, a SOMF tradition it was time start cooking for dinner!

Poor Jerry, I always make him and the animals wear the hats for pictures!!

On Monday, Jerry and I want grocery shopping at Mega (the major market closest to La Cruz) and saw that they had Rib Eye cuts of steak, so we went back a couple of days later to get a roast. We asked the meat counter man for a roast with two bones and he went back to the back and came out with two entire roast, we then tried to explain that we wanted about half of one of the roast with at least two bones in it. He then started to cut away at the bones we quickly got him to stop that and again showed him where to cut and to wrap it up as is, no cutting the fat or bones away. Finally with our poor spanish and the butchers lack of knowldge of American roast cuts, we got our three bone in Standing Rib Roast!! Christmas Day Jerry packed the roast in rock salt (the salt we found was little smaller than rock salt, but worked) and boy did it turn out perfect!!

Our Christmas Table on SOMF!!! We had the wonderful roast, along with green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with brown suger, garlic and cheese mashed potatoes, homemade pumpkin pie and plenty of vino!!!

Yes I made a pumpkin pie, and I have to say it turned out wonderful!!

We enjoyed a wonderful night on the boat, with a wonderful sunset over the La Cruz anchorage!!

Puerto Vallarta!!!

2011-12-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

On Thursday Jerry and I spent a day in Puerto Vallarta, we got on the bus around 10am and didn't get back to La Cruz (by bus) till 10pm. We had a great day sightseeing, especially since it is the holiday season and it is all decorated!

The beautiful nativity scene on the malecon

How did they do that???

Got to love the coca cola tree!

These pinatas are all over!

We first went in and looked a smaller church that was more on the outside of the centro area!

We then went and looked inside the main Cathedral, it was so beautiful for the holidays!!

The sculptures along the malecon were amazing!!

Rest Time!!

Had to have the $1 margaritas at The Cheeky Monkey!!

Now those are some mushrooms!!

The Hangout Bar, what fun!!

On the malecon there are talanted men who construct these beautiful sand sculptures.

Farmers Market in La Cruz!!

2011-12-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

They have a lot of markets in the Banderas Bay area going on different days of the week. Sunday's in La Cruz, Thursdays in Nuevo Vallarta, a couple more that I can't think of.

A wonderful band playing at a Sunday Market!!

We could not have better weather!!

There is also never a shortage of other things going on here. At Marina Riviera Nayarit in La Cruz there is Mexican Train Happy Hour on Fridays ( I won the free margarita last week...Yeah!), they also have movies at the amphitheatre on Wednsdays and the week of Christmas they are doing a womans tea gift exchange, and are having a christmas boat light contest. Unfortuently they are only for the boats in the marina, but I am going to be a judge. Around town there are always happy hour specials, music jams, open mic nights and lots of good food.

Jerry and I have decided that most likely we are going to do Christmas on the boat for a couple of reasons, one we love being on the boat with the boys (Skeeter and Shiraz), two many of the places in town are closed for Christmas, and most importantly we will be able to listen to the Packers - Cubs game on Serius Radio. Go Pack Go!!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season!!

Christmas is comming!!!

2011-12-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

Well we have been in here in La Cruz anchorage about 7 days now and have really been enjoying ourselves, except for some of the rolly nights we have had. I finally got to put up our Christmas decorations on the boat..Yeah!!

We went to the farmar's market on Sunday morning that has all had made items and organic veggies. Sunday afternoon we had a great time with SV Mita Kulu watching the Packers game...Go Packers!!

The official Packers bar in La Cruz at Huanacaxtle Bar-Cafe'

Yum...the Cubana and Giant Burrito!!

La Cruz!!

2011-12-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

After having a great couple of days swimming and kayaking around Santiago Bay we pulled up anchor around 1 am on the 7th to head the 152 miles to La Cruz in Banderas Bay. We chose to leave at that time because we wanted to go around Cabo Corrientes at night time, due to this area having strong winds sometimes. We had a great 31 hour motor up to Banderas bay, we did have to slow down once in the bay due to some cruise ship traffic and then fishing boats leaving in the morning. We dropped anchor around 8:15am with about 20 other boats in the anchorage.

love watching the turtles

anchorage and La Cruz marina

when we anchored there are tons of little bait fish jumping all over!!

After lots of hard work, Jerry has finally got the 1000w generator that Jerry's dad has given us working. This has been a life saver for us since our big generator is not working...Thanks Jerry Sr.!!!!

Santiago Bay!!

2011-12-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

After a last minute trip into town to say Happy Birthday to Sergio we pulled up anchor (by hand) and left Zihuatanejo around 4:30pm.

band practice out by the bus stop!!

Surgio gave Jerry these luers that he maks as a thank you gift. We love Surgio, if you are going to Zihuatanejo go see Sergio at the resturant Valeria 2 on the malicon. He know everything about that town!!

We pulled around Caleta De Campos anchorage at 8:15am the next morning, looking at the anchorage it was really rolly and a very deep anchorage, so we decieded to move on to Santiago Bay by Manzanillo which was about another 120.9 miles. We had a great trip up to Santiago Bay, we went through two different shipping channels, so we had to keep our eyes open. We arrived in Santiago around 8:10am and dropped anchor, we had plenty of places to anchor because we were the only boat in the large anchorage. We got the dinghy into the water and took a trip around the bay, there is also a great snorkeling area of the beach. In 1959, a category 5 hurricane caused a great deal of damage and loss of lives to many coastal towns in this area. Included in the damage was the 300 foot, steel "San Luciano". This cargo ship sustained damage and eventually sunk directly off the beach of La Boquita.

Yummy dinner at a calm anchorage, Yeah!!

We love all the activities on the beach, and there were a lot!

brightly colored table tents up and down the beach

They had a protection over the area they called " The Aquarium" which had a large coral area!!

What you can see of the sunken ship above water

SV KONA arrived into Las Hadas in Manzanillo Bay two days later, which is about 4 miles around the bay. One day we took the dinghy over to Las Hadas, so we could use the dinghy dock instead of beach landing in Santiago, and took the bus into Manzanillo for the day of shopping. We had a great time, got a few provisions and then had a very long and wet dinghy ride back. Yeah don't think we will do that again.

wonderful produce market!!

Moving on!!!

2011-12-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday I spent the day cleaning bird poop off the cabin top, deck and a lot of the teak side rails. I being an animal lover, am getting really sick of the Boobies birds here, they sit up on our spreaders and taunting the dog and then crap all over. So it took about 2 hours to scrub and clean the deck and still did not get it all off, what the heck. While I was busy doing that Jerry, still trying to rest his back, was working on our little watt generator, since our main one is not working. He got it running for a little while, but then it stopped, so one more time to clean our the fuel lines and he will try again. We enjoyed a nice evening on the boat with Joan and Tim from SV Kona, then had a good nights sleep to get ready to leave on Thursday for our next anchorage Campos.

This morning in preparation for leaving, I was getting ready to put the last of the water jugs into the tanks, when I noticed that a boobie bird was up on the spreader. I went to go try to get him to fly away, with no luck I gave up and went to finish filling the tanks. I guess I pissed him off, the SHIT on my head, yes I said it that stupid bird pooped on me. Now Joan has told me that it is supposed to be good luck, so we will see, but at the time it did not feel so lucky. Now after taking a long shower, finished putting in the water, tying down the rest of the stuff on deck, getting the bottom of the boat cleaned we are ready to leave. We have on stop to make on shore to go see our friend Sergio who has been a great help and friend to us while in Zihuat, then we will lift the hook around 4 pm to head our 75 miles north.

Whats Next???

2011-11-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

Lasagna

Jerry and myself have been enjoying Zihuatanejo, but this last week we have been having a little string of bad luck. A week ago Jerry threw his back out while trying to get the dinghy back down to the water from shore, unfortuently there was no one to help, so the two of us drug it down about 20 feet. Monday morning Jerry woke up and was not able to even get out of bed, it has been 8 days now and he is doing much better and even able to get off the boat, into the dinghy to take me to the pier to drop me off to go get some much needed groceries, while he stayed in the dinghy till I got back. It is not 100% yet, and he might go see a doctor when we get up to Puerto Vallarta area, but until then he is taking it easy and we deffinetly will be looking into dinghy wheels.

SOMF at anchor

So with Jerry not able to move of coarse few things had to happened, we had some large swells a couple of nights due to some rough weather outside the bay, we lost our side boarding ladder. The dinghy was tied and chained up to the side of the boat, and somehow the ladder got pushed out of the brackets to never be seen again. Well we learned our lesson, we heard it bounceing around, but thought that there was no way for it to come out of the brackets. During the same rough swells the dinghy must of gotten pushed under the boat and the chain that we have locked to the outboard snapped one of the motor mount clamps off, but it looks like it is fixable with a little MacGyver type manuvering. Thirdly the antenna tuner for the single side band radio got some water in it, back when we were down in El Salvador, and now must have corroded some of the internal componants and it will not tune correctly. Then there is the generator, with the new raw water pump it was working great until one night we heard a clunck sound and noticed that it was not putting out any charge. We quickly turned it off, then started to smell some smoke. I lifted the floor board to access the engine room and a cloud of smoke rose out, Jerry new right away that it smelled like a fan belt. Because Jerry is still trying to rest his back he has not gone in to give a thourogh assesment, I have jumped in and looked around and took some pictures, he is thinking that something caused the generator not to turn and burned the belt, probalby a bearing. Looking at the specks in the manual it is fixable, but needs to be taken out and it weights about 132 lbs....wow, so that will have to wait till PV also. So we are back to running the motor to help charge the batteries once and a while, good thing we are getting fuel today.

Looking toward the motor fan belt

The same main motor fan belt on the generator pulley

Other than that we are having a great time, playing a lot of cribbage (which Jerry wins alot..I think he cheats), and had an amazing dinner on the boat for Thanksgiving.

Bacon wrapped Dorado, homemade coconut shrimp, homemade cheesy roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and sauteed veggies

Sea Turtle Conservation Project!!

2011-11-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

Conserving Sea Turtles has become a widely known and popular project all over the pacific coast. When we were down in El Salvador, right on the other side of our hotel was an area where the turtle eggs were protected to grow without the threat of predators, human or not. Then when they are hatched and big enough, they are released back to the ocean. I was lucky to have been able to witness this event a couple of mornings while on the beach

one of the little guys going out to see, there were about three or four dozen being released at a time!!

The other day, while Jerry, myself, our friends Joe and Jackie were out having some margaritas on the beach we got to witness a mom turtle coming up to shore to lay her eggs. She was very causous about the journy up to shore, once she found a spot she liked she took here time digging a hole and laying here eggs. Then after carefully covering them she sped back down to the water. It was deffinetly a sight to see. I did not take any pictures of this event, not wanting to spook her any more than she probably was, having the four of us around. There were also some others including a guard to make sure no one stole the eggs before they could be collected to take to the near by area.
There are a tone of sites to learn more about this in Mexico and all over:
http://gomexico.about.com/od/adventureecotourism/a/saving-sea-turtles.htm

http://www.projects-abroad.org/projects/conservation-and-environment/mexico-sea-turtle-and-costal-ecology-project/

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0505/volunteer_conserving_sea_turtles_in_mexico.shtml