Leg 5 – Nighttime Panga convention!
14 July 2013 | Abreojos
Chip
San Juanico was really cool - if we come down again this is a place to stop for a longer period in spite of its "out of the way" location. The first couple of hours on our way to the next stop was somewhat bumpy but calmed down around 0300 to a nice ride for the most part. Along the way we came across at least, and this is absolutely no exaggeration, 50 Pangas net fishing. Of course each of these vessels, along with their respective net, was well lit and easy to locate (NOT). Dan and I played dodge the Panga for a solid 2 hours before reaching the clear zone (Jack was off shift thank god - if he'd seen this many boats fishing there'd be no stopping him from tossing in a couple of lines). Our leaking main seal is a very weird deal - 2 days ago we had a fair amount of oil on the absorbent pad I placed under the engine, last night there was only 2 small drops. Whatever the case it's not right and will require attention after we're home! In an effort to turn our San Clemente home into a beach front property by raising the sea level, for the third day in a row we donated most of our fresh water supply to the ocean (I felt like screaming)! First was a failed plastic tee (actually had a hole), then a hose blew from the water heater on two occasions while the engine was running thus we were unable to hear the fresh water pump merrily cranking water out the end of a disconnected hose.... My initial efforts at the repair were accompanied by a mind-numbing rationalization (an action that always ends with a regrettable consequence in my experience) that the pump was getting old and the automatic shut-off/pressure control valve needed a slight adjustment (this was before I realized all of the water was gone, the pump was continuously running). Turns out that clockwise and counter-clockwise are easily confused when laying upside-down in a cabinet under the galley sink (one increases pressure while the other decrease) - seems I substantially increased the pressure this old but very hardy pump would reach before shutting down. I determined this might be the case on the third purging of our fresh water supply (hey - we have the cleanest bilge in Mexico having been flushed with close to 500 gallons of fresh water...). Connections made, clamps tightened, pump PROPERLY adjusted and all seems good. We are anchored in Abreojos for the day and, in keeping with our travel at night strategy, will head to Asuncion Bay around midnight.