11/30/2009, 17 40.0'N:101 37.0'W
It's 7:15 a.m., there is only 4 to 5 knots of wind from the South. We are motor-sailing. I did my watch from 9 to 11 PM last night. Francois came up to do his watch, but I couldn't sleep, so I stayed with him. Let me back up a bit, when I was up in the cockpit with Bob at around 8:30 PM, the engine alarm beeped, so we turned the engine off. Bruce looked at the engine, checking the oil and topping off the coolant. The engine has been running fine since then. Now, the refrigerator is not getting enough voltage. Bruce is trying to figure it out. I didn't sleep much last night, and neither did Bob and Francois. We let the captain sleep. Now, Bruce is on watch since 5 a.m. I came up at 7 a.m. to keep a watch so Bruce could look at the fridge. Dolphins are visiting us. Antoine is up and so happy to see them. They are always a good omen!
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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11/29/2009, Pacific Ocean between Las Hadas and Ixtapa
We left Las Hadas, Manzanillo, this morning around 10:30 a.m. Now, we're going south to Ixtapa. We should get there tomorrow around 1 PM. The winds are very light, so we are motor-sailing. The winds are from the South West and we're going South East so we're close hauled with the main & jib up. It's wonderful to be at sea again after being at the Marina at Barra de Navidad for months. Not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves, but land life doesn't feel the same. We will return to Barra de Navidad some day, but we don't know when. We have a fishing line out. Hopefully, we'll catch something. Each one of us is getting into a sealife routine. Bob, our friend from Mazatlan, is with us for the trip to Zihuatanejo. Bruce made lunch for everybody. He's a wonderful captain. Francois is in his cabin playing on his computer and Antoine is having fun with his M-16, that his Papa made out of wood in Barra de Navidad. It looks really cool!
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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11/29/2009
We went shopping yesterday in Manzanillo, provisioning for our upcoming trip. Two shopping carts of food amazingly disappeared on our boat as we stowed it in the fridge, freezer, pantry, and various cubby holes. We enjoyed a nice dinner last night at the Marina Grill, an open air restaurant in the marina. The food was delicious.
Here's a photo of Calou tied up at the dock at Las Hadas. There's a very strong surge in this marina, so bad that we chewed completely through a 3/4 inch docking line in only a few hours. After that we put chafe protection on the lines, and by morning the chafe protection we had added was worn all the way through. If we ever return to Las Hadas I think we'll just stay at anchor.
We departed from Las Hadas this morning, making our way south to the port of Ixtapa. This will be a 177 mile sail.
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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11/26/2009, Manzanillo
We finally got the O-rings in today to repair our hydraulic backstay adjuster. These o-rings are less than 1/4 inch in diameter. So much trouble for such a tiny part!! We sailed out of Barra today, and headed south, to our first stop at Manzanillo. Here we are at Las Hadas, best known for the site where the Bo Derek movie, "10", was filmed.
For now, we have no internet access, so our updates are via Single Sideband radio.
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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Happy Thanksgiving!
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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Whole Turkey is impossible to find here in Barra de Navidad, so we roasted a Churkey, with stuffing and all the trimmings, on board Calou!
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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We departed from Barra with high hopes this afternoon heading into a fresh breeze. When we were about a mile offshore we started to raise the sails; part of this procedure was to tension the backstay. The backstay adjuster is hydraulic, and I found that this device was leaking oil when we were using it. So we reluctantly returned to port to make repairs. I have some new o-rings on order from San Diego ... It will be a few days before they arrive I think.
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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We said our "adios" to the wonderful staff at the Grand Bay Hotel, and to Maria from Maria's tienda, they have become friends to us and we will miss them very much!
| Mexico Sailing Trip 2008-2011 |
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