04/28/2012, Marina El Cid, Mazatlan
As the old saying goes "it's in the mail". We tried to search for a rebuilt injector pump and couldn't find one. These things do not fail - except for operator error. Chip on Miss Teak up in Dana Point even tried to get one from the Yanmar dealer up there. All to no avail. We bit the bullet and had Total Yacht Works, the local Yanmar dealer working on our dilemma, order us a new one from the main Yanmar depot in Georgia. If we missed getting that one then we would have to order it from Japan and who knows how long that would have taken. It only costs $3000 (cough cough) so it is going to be a short season with us only being on the hook until we pull out in June. Well it got shipped to California Friday and sent by truck down here. It should only take another 5 days to get here. It has to go through customs in Guadalajara which can be a pain as things get "lost" for a time. Any way "it's in the mail".
In the meantime, sitting in the cockpit looking at spectacular sunsets could not be any better a place to be stuck in.
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Comments [5]
Be safe you two.
04/23/2012, Marina El Cid, Mazatlan
While tied up at the dock waiting for repairs, we have been watching a BIG tent going up across from us on the opposite side of the marina entrance. This thing was clear plastic and two stories high. It had chandeliers and a huge stage erected. Colored lights were set up to shine across the marina to light up the boats.
As it turned out, it was a wedding for the niece of the mayor of Mazatlan. There were 450 guests some great music and the most spectacular fire works that we have seen in Mexico.
We heard that it costs about $50,000 to throw this shindig on. There is money in Mexico.
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04/22/2012, Marina El Cid, Mazatlan
We have had to run north and south the last few months for various reasons so have been off the air and let slide doing any postings to our blog. We are back in business and can start chronicling our adventures once again.
What a way to start.
There is an old saying that you should not start a trip or crossing on Friday. Well, we did. Not only did we leave on Friday, but we also picked Friday the 13th. Should have known. We hurried (key word) and filled up the fuel tank and headed from Mazatlan to La Paz. We were buddy boating with Roger and Di on Di's Dream. At first, we ran into some lumpy seas and took some water over the bow, which was no big deal. During the night and about 40 miles out the engine suddenly quit. I knew I had plenty of fuel and thought it might be low oil. Roger was able to pass me some oil to top off the engine. No good. The engine would still not start. When out on deck I noticed the fill plug for the diesel was lying next to an open fill port, that's a big deal.
That means salt water in the diesel. We decided to turn around and try to head back to Mazatlan. Of course the wind died so we were just floating. Luckily the current was heading straight back to Mazatlan. It was only one and a half knots but in the right direction.
The day broke with blue skies, sun, and flat water. No wind. Since we were not going any faster than the current, it was fun trying to keep the boat headed with the current without any steerage. Marilyn thought it was great "sailing" without the noise of the engine, sunny, warm, and reading her book. The wind picked up in the afternoon so we were able to make some good time under full sails. With the wind we thought that we would be back to El Cid in Mazatlan when it was still light. When we got to about 10 miles from El Cid in Mazatlan the wind died. We finally got to an anchorage at about 9:00 PM and dropped the hook. Whew, we made it.
Patrick on Just A Minute had heard our chatter on the radio and followed our progress. He organized a flotilla of dinghies to come get us the next morning and tow us in to the marina. That makes it two nights and a day to make the 80 mile round trip from dock to dock. At least we made it back safe.
Next we had a mechanic check out the engine and found that the injector pump was toast. It seems that when salt water hits the hot diesel in the engine it turns to glue and plugs up the works in the injector. Result was the pump head cracked. We are now seeing if it can be rebuilt in Mexico or we will have to get a new one for $3000. That is going to drastically cut down on the cruising season.
Anyway take your time at the fuel dock and make sure everything is secured and think twice about leaving on Friday the 13th.
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08/19/2011, Santa Rosalia
We invited Pam and Rick to help us celebrate our 50th anniversary tonight. We had cosmos and martinis followed by a grilled steak dinner and a special bottle of wine that Eric had hidden away for this special occasion. It was delicious. When we got married August 19, 1961, we never dreamed we would be celebrating our 50th anniversary in Mexico on our sailboat. We are still enjoying the cruising life and being together.
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Cathie
Sarah and Darrell
sv/El Tiburon
08/04/2011
We left San Juanico on 8/3/11 at 7:35 am and arrived at Loreto at 12:25 pm (26 miles south). We visited the historic mission church, Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto and the museum next to it. This was the first of the 23 missions built throughout Baja and California. We found the hot dog stand in Loreto so we could compare them with the delicious bacon wrapped hot dogs we had experienced in Santa Rosalia. They were good but the Santa Rosalia hot dogs have the best buns. We had a very rolly night in the anchorage so I think Gerrit was glad to get off the boat when we took him to the airport to fly back home. It was great to be able to show Gerrit the islands in the Sea of Cortez that we love. I think he had a good time too!
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08/03/2011
After Bahia Candeleros we worked our way up to Caleta San Juanico making stops in Puerto Escondido (7 miles north), Loreto (14 miles north) Isla Coronados (6 miles north) and Punta Mangles (15 miles north). Punta Mangles is known for the sea caves and we wanted to explore them (see our photo gallery for more photos). We arrived at Caleta San Juanico (8 miles north) on 8/1/11. There were very few boats there compared to when we were there in May with all the Baja Ha Haers. During all this traveling, Gerrit has been spending a lot of time reading many of the books we have on board by Michael Creighton, Tom Clancy and James Patterson. He's also looking forward to his Spanish class when he goes back to school next month.
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