More stories from El Salvador…

The most prolific writer would have a difficult time making up these last two weeks in El Salvador – it’s like a really silly slapstick movie that’s been overdone; however, it this case the stories and characters are real…I’m not making this up…

My lightening fire is almost passé news now as Precious Metal sits at the dock in Bahia del Sol waiting for her new wiring to be imported. It should be here tomorrow, but I’ve learned that in developing countries ‘manana’ doesn’t mean ‘tomorrow;’ rather, ‘not today.’ Once the wiring is installed which should take an “El Salvador week’ I need to take Precious Metal to be hauled to check for lightening damage in the hull. As well, I will be returning to Canada later in June and purchasing the replacement electronics such as radar, GPS, Auto pilot etc…which will be installed when I return from North America and England late summer.

Story #1 – Two weeks ago…
Some time mid May my girlfriend Vicki on ‘Inspiration at Sea’, who is also a single-handed female and also comes from White Rock, BC(!!), departed Bahia del Sol in El Salvador heading for La Paz, Mexico where she plans to spend the hurricane season. I had one email from her in Huatulco saying that she was heading to Acapulco the following day, and at 1:30 am her EPIRB went off (Emergency assistance device). Long story short, I called the US/Mexican Coast Guard and they rescued her 2 days later. Her engine failed in a huge storm and eventually she was towed by the Mexican Navy 60 miles into Acapulco where she is currently recuperating from her most horrific experience at sea ever – Vicki and I have comparable experience and sea miles…

Story#2
Several days after Vicki’s experience, another female friend Rose (and friend Janie), and very competent sailor (was a test pilot for Boeing and Brigadeer General in US Army) decided to take her boat Lovely Lady to Barillas Marina 20 nm south of here where she is leaving her boat for the summer. Several hours after her departure from Bahia we heard her MAYDAY call on the VHF. The next day I received an email from Rose saying that the pilot misdirected her across the entrance bar into Barillas, and she grounded broadside on the bar. Lovely Lady pounded in the crashing waves at 45 degrees for over 30 minutes until another pilot was able to rescue her. She bounced on the bottom over 30 times and 10 were enough to violently shake Lovely Lady and her rigging – which mean’t an insurance claim and need to go to La Union 40 nm south for a haul out.

During this time, my friend Henry and I were considering taking his boat to La Union to explore that area as I have been approach to be an investor in a new marina project near La Union. So we packed up a few supplies and set out across the Bahia bar the following day. We were supposed to obtain a 40.00 Zarpe before leaving Bahia, and another upon entering La Union (40.00), so we decided to forego the administration and just ‘go fishing’ which is allowed in these waters without an internal Zarpe. My El Salvadorian friend Giovanni was planning to drive to La Union 2 days later to meet us, and introduce us to the local Navy people who operate the haul out lift – where I was planning to haul Precious Metal once her wiring is mended.

We found our way into Tamarindo Bay anchorage which is a lovely setting just outside of the estuary where the proposed new marina is planned, and met with the locals who all seemed genuinely friendly and hospitable. I must admit though that as Henry and I walked through the tiny village of Tamarindo my mind wandered to scenes in the Deliverence movie – and I wondered whether we were the first gringos to ever set foot on their soil?? We needed dog food for Riley, and after searching through the local tiendas I was certain Riley was going to be dining on ‘DOG’ and not his usual kibble. Our efforts to cross the entrance bar in Henry’s dinghy also went sour as a huge 4 foot wave approached from behind and we surfed at tremendous speed along the crest of the wave until abruptly stopping on the sand bar…30 minutes later we had the dinghy back afloat after walking it a good 50 feet with all the locals witnessing our debacle (how do you like us so far??)

Our meeting with Giovanni and the Navy went well, and I am now on first name basis with most top level El Salvadorian officials – mostly because they are anxious for tourism development and believe I’m a potential investor. We were introduced to the haul out facility, and as I inspected the mechanics it was very clear that it needed some maintenance and likely had not been used in some time. A huge 70 foot Navy vessel was in the lift and needed to come off before Rose’s boat could be hauled…from what I could see this would not be happening any time soon – despite the fact that Rose had made an appointment for the following day and was on her way to La Union. I wrote her an email regarding my concerns, but she arrived regardless in anticipation of an imminent haul out.

The morning of Rose’s pending haul out she was anchored just off the lift and heard a huge crash outside…the lift platform had completely collapsed with the Navy boat still there, and it was a mess. Knowing that she wasn’t going to be hauled any time soon, Rose decided to return to Barillas 40 nm north and make a new haul out plan. When Rose arrived at the Barillas bar late that afternoon, she didn’t like the look of the swells for entering the bar, and decided to return to La Union 40 nm south again and perhaps meet up with us in Tamarindo nearby…This required another night passage and at 4am in the dark and stormy night she hit a fishing panga – cutting it in half! Several nearby pangas came to their rescue, and one man was taken to hospital in San Miguel for 5 hours of surgery on his fractured leg!

We caught up with Rose at a chicken restaurant in La Union the following day and was she ever pleased to see us! She had just met with the El Salvadorian family of the wounded fisherman and panga owner and was advised of a 13000.00 bill for the panga and medical expenses. During the night of the crash she had given the fisherman 100.00, and gave another 400.00 at the morning meeting to appease them. At the time of writing she has not heard from them since and hope they’re satisfied with her 500.00 contribution. That said, she had to file an additional insurance claim – that’s TWO in one week(!!), and she has the same insurer as me, so they must be quite impressed with us!

By this time several other boats had joined us in the Golfo Fonseca area, so we enjoyed their company – met lots of locals, anchored off a wonderful hotel in Isla Meanguera, long swims daily and lots of fun. Our 3 day fishing adventure was extending to more than a week, and by this time we were told not to return to Bahia for several days as the swell was too high to cross the entrance bar. No problemo…we were having fun and enjoying the new region of El Salvador although lots of evening storms and lightening shows.

Thirteen days later we were told that the swells had subsided and we could return to Bahia – which took 2 days as Henry’s port motor failed (his boat is a catamaran) so we had to tack our way north at 3 knots. Lovely Lady sailed with us for most of the way and safely went into Barillas. High tide was 5pm at the Bahia bar, and on one engine we crossed uneventfully.

As we made our way into the anchorage, we passed the marina where Precious Metal is moored and I noticed a ton of officials in uniform at the end of the pier…’HOLY!!” I said to Henry. “Something’s happening on the dock – there’s tons of Policia and officals on the dock.” Then, I noticed some of our friends were also there – with everyone’s eyes on us! “ OH NO Henry(!!) – they’re waiting for us!!” The police called us to come into the dock but we couldn’t because the current was too strong and we only had one engine. So we did what one never does in El Salvador – disobey the POLICIA! With visions of El Salvador jail time, we anchored Henry’s boat and were just climbing into the dinghy when a huge panga full of officials in uniform and with guns and batons arrived at our boat. The scene was grave, and they looked very serious. We had 5 Policia, 2 Immigration, and 1 Port Captain aboard with the remaining officials back on the dock. Apparently the Governor was also on alert.

After reviewing our Passports and checking every cabinet in Henry’s boat, they finally simmered down and became reasonable. In rapid Spanish they began giving us a lecture about leaving without a Zarpe, staying away for 13 days, not coming into the dock, and Henry’s VISA had lapsed…My limited Spanish managed to innocently convince them that we were just ‘fishing’ and then the engine broke and we couldn’t return. Eventually we were charged 40.00 for not getting a Zarpe and they departed amicably…no jail time. Needless to say, we caused a lot of drama amongst our fellow cruisers who were all witnessing the scene.

Upon are arrival we also learned that another fellow cruising boat Le Bateau was also struck by lightening 2 days after departing Bahia and all of their electronics is fried…

Another adventure, another story…all is well that ends well.

Lightening Strikes Precious Metal…

Lightening has always been my biggest fear – mostly because the force is so strong, and all of the expert’s theories on lightening lead to the same conclusion – no one really knows. We can prepare for hurricanes, tsunamis, and most challenges at sea, but when lightening chose Precious Metal as its next victim last week, there was nothing anyone could do.

My friend Michael joined |Precious Metal for the 450nm passage from Golfito, Costa Rica to Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. Fortunately, Michael is a competent sailor and has been aboard Precious Metal previously so he knows the boat well. Ironically, for the first time since I began this journey 3 years ago Precious Metal has been on her best behaviour this season, allowing me time to enjoy writing and the cruising life rather than constantly fixing things.

Our sail/motor from Golfito was wonderfully pleasant with calm seas, afternoon breezes, and hundreds of porpoises escorting us for most of the voyage. On that fateful night, we were 36nm from the Nicaraguan shore, and approximately 200 nm from our destination. Seas were calm, minimal wind, and Michael went to bed as I began my 3 hour night watch at 8pm. Prior to every watch, I check the engine room, and at 8pm that evening Precious Metal was totally shipshape and happily motoring.

Lightening began to appear on the horizon, and as it became more intense, I tried to calculate the distance away. There was no thunder – just a massive lightening show in the sky. My radar showed a weather cell approximately 10 miles away so I didn’t think we were in any danger. Curiously, tiny seabirds (Petrels) were swarming around the boat, and cawing anxiously all around me. I never realized until later that they can sense electromagnetic activity and Precious Metal was their refuge from the lightening.

At approximately 10 minute intervals I always check the dash gauges, and do a full check around the boat for traffic. Forty-five minutes into my watch I was checking the gauges and suddenly smelled smoke. Electrical! I dashed inside to the forward cabin, and then the aft cabin, and knew immediately that the smoke smell was coming from the engine room. Seconds later Michael awoke from the smoke smell.

Knowing that one should never add oxygen to a burning flame (I have a Halon extinguisher in the engine room that is self-activating and/or activated from the salon), we chose to slowly open the engine access door in the floor of the main cabin. Smoke poured out of the tiny peephole, and I instantly knew the situation was grave. Gradually, we raised the trap door completely, and there was no flame – just an incredible flow of electrically smelling smoke pouring out of the engine room. We eventually opened the engine room door and began to air the entire area, with clouds of white smoke engulfing the entire boat.

While all of this was going on, the petrels began flying into the boat! Three birds were frantically flying through the aft cabin, and I definitely didn’t want them in the engine room. (Bird flies into alternator belts!! Yuck!) I managed to capture the birds with a towel and threw them into Riley’s doggie cage - which is where they spent the rest of their night amongst all of the drama. When Michael and I surfaced on deck to get some air, the entire boat was smothered with at least 50 of these frightened creatures. Where was my guard dog Riley to chase them away?? Sleeping peacefully…

When enough smoke had escaped from the engine room, and I could finally see inside, I covered my face and ventured below to begin assessing the cause of the smoke. (By now, we had one sail up and were drifting with the current. We also tried to call on the VHF to advise anyone of the fire but we had lost our radio.) We knew it was electrical, but wasn’t sure of the source. Initially, it appeared that several bundles of wiring leading to my dash instruments had fallen onto the hot engine transmission, they were marginally charred so we strapped them back up; however, it they didn’t seem to be frazzled enough to cause this much smoke. I went to check the instrument panel on the dash and noticed the power valve (which opens and closes the engine intake) light was on…”Strange, I didn’t touch the power valve switch.” I suggested to Michael to check the power valve, and it was then when we discovered the source of the fire…Suddenly, a very sickening feeling came over me as we began to uncover the extent of the damage. “Oh my…”

Precious Metal’s wiring is bundled 5-6 wires/bundle that circles the entire upper wall/ corner of the engine room, and the bundles are strapped in with plastic casing that is attached to the wall at one foot intervals. These bundles of wires lead from whatever electrical device they are dedicated to and a ground, as well as the battery source – so there are lots of wires throughout the boat. These bundles attach to more bundles of wires throughout the boat – for instance, the water pump feeds into wires that power 5 different sinks throughout the boat.

The silence was deafening as we looked around the engine room in awe
and began to digest the extent of the damage. The wiring bundles had been fried and the casings were completely melted. Fallen and fried wires everywhere. Charred areas appeared behind the wiring, and in several places appeared to have caught on fire. We disconnected the wires that were obviously fried and tried to discover what we had left to get Precious Metal to land. The engine was working; the power valve had locked open. Otherwise, our instruments were dead, no bilge pump. We had water, steering, the forward head, lights, and one chart plotter for navigation (several hand held GPSs and hand held VHFs).

After 2 hours of assessing each wiring bundle, and disconnecting what seemed to be fried we were finally able to begin motoring. At this point I felt sick. My hair was engulfed in a plastic film, my stomach was upset, I felt dizzy, and emotionally fraught. I was able to refresh myself with a bath, and before long we were up and running…but what happened? Was it lightening? I never felt a bolt.

We contemplated heading into Nicaragua 36nm away; however, I knew that whatever port we entered would be my home for a long time doing repairs, and El Salvador would be a better choice. So we pressed on to Bahia del Sol and hand steered for a very long 36 hours, always in fear of another short causing another fire. The morning after the fire I smelt smoke once again coming from the dash - a short had run up from the engine room to the electrical panel frying more wires, which meant the boat was still vulnerable to shorts and wiring issues. Knowing the potential of another fire made for a very long 36 hour passage to Bahia del Sol…but we made it.

Our timing was perfect insofar as our arrival marked the very last day of the El Salvador Rally, and we were welcomed by many friends and fellow sailors. Naturally, many of these experienced sailors are a wealth of information and extensive discussion took place regarding Precious Metal’s incident. The conclusion amongst these savvy sailors is that Precious Metal was definitely hit by lightening; however, not from the sky. It’s very likely that the lightening traveled ferociously across the water, and attacked Precious Metal through the engine intake valve. It then fried some of the wiring of the wiring in its path, which in turn, fried adjacent wires before dissipating into the sea below. I have now learned that this lightening strike is a very unique hit called ‘bolt out of the blue’ which is much hotter, and stronger than normal lightening strikes, and can travel across the water for more than 25 nm – under clear blue skies.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that apparently Precious Metal’s steel construction saved us (lightening was one of the factors for building Precious Metal in steel – although I never thought I’d actually be relying on it!). ‘They’ said that the force of the lightening that hit us would have blown out the through hulls in a fibre glass or wood boat, and/or caused a full-fledged fire in an aluminium hull. As I begin the arduous task of filing insurance claims and repairing Precious Metal it’s difficult not to take pity on myself and my precious beast; rather, I have to consider myself very fortunate. After all, wiring and electrical was my weakness as a captain – after the work I have ahead of me I will undoubtedly have mastered new talent!

I could not have found a better place to be ‘stuck’ and call home for however long it takes to bring Precious Metal seaworthy again. El Salvador is a wonderful country – very safe, welcoming, and with a lot of history to explore. I spent the last 5 days exploring the Mayan triangle of Copan (Hondures)/Antigua and Tikal (Guatemala), and El Salvador with 9 fellow cruisers and only touched the surface of places to visit in Central America. I intend to master Spanish while I’m here. My friend John Derrick aboard the boat Sea Quest is able and willing to help me with the boat repair project, and he’s extremely qualified in this capacity. The insurance company (Mariners Insurance – San Diego) has been terrific to date which is a huge relief.

Precious Metal has been known for some extreme Grande Finales in past seasons but this incident is the medal winner. After close to 100,000 sea miles, and many challenging experiences, there’s no question that this has been the most traumatizing. In fact, it has taken 10 days to write this story. I suppose we can chalk it up to another character building experience, another chapter for my book. Mostly, I’m just thankful that we’re safe and alive to tell the story – and of course pursue more sailing adventures in the future…

What fun! While this entire cruising season in Mexico has been absolutely delightful, I would have to say that this past month has been the highlight. Precious Metal is behaving beautifully, the weather is terrific - albeit a little strange this year, and the region of Mexico between Barra de Navidad (where my last blog finished) and Huatulco is fantastico. Si!

Since my departure from Port Hardy August 2009, Precious Metal has travelled approximately 4000 nautical miles - which doesn't sound remarkable until you consider that her average speed is 6 knots! Huatulco is southernmost Mexican town on my itinerary with one marina, a fabulous golf course, lots of spectacular beaches and a rather upscale town centre relative to other Mexican communities.

My Vancouver friend Joanne joined me in Barra, and as usual our 10 days together to Zihuatenajo were terrific - visiting tiny coastal villages, fun sailing, and lots of socializing with friends/boats on route to Zihuatenajo and my special fund raising project - Sail Fest (Feb 2-7).

As you know, I'm very passionate about Sail Fest insofar as this fund raiser is the largest of its kind in Mexico, and in the past 8 year history has been responsible for building 4 schools and educating over 1100 impoverished Mexican children who would otherwise never go to school.We had an opportunity to visit the schools and (my goodness!!) witnessing the children's passion for education as well as their appreciation of our efforts was truly gratifying and heart warming.

I offered to coordinate the "cruisers" events for Sail Fest which include a sail parade, and a pursuit race/calcutta. Both events raise funds through donations of passengers that come aboard our boats. We had 18 cruising boats/friends registered for Sail Fest, and I was overwhelmed by the volunteer commitment of every member in the fleet. In addition to our activities, a host of other fun events take place during Sail Fest week, raising a total of 45,000.00US dollars! Hence, another school will be built and the lives of over 100 wonderful children and their families will change forever. It was a tremendous success and tons of fun.

Following Sail Fest, I remained at anchor in Z-town for another three weeks of winding down and play. By this time, the Sail Fest cruising fleet had become as family, and as each boat raised their anchor to head north for hurricane season the reality of my southbound adventure to Galapagos and Peru set in...they're going the wrong way!! Saying good-bye is clearly my greatest weakness of this cruising life, particularly knowing that I will likely never see many of these very special people again.

My good friend Barry from White Rock kindly joined me in Zihua (his boat is in La Cruz) and we sailed the 335nm to Huatulco without incident. We DID manage to watch Canada win the Olympic gold metal in hockey(!!) in Puerto Escondido, and also managed to avoid the tsunami by departing Acapulco and heading to sea. (After hearing the warning at 8am - my lines were untied at 8:05, and we were in 600 feet of water when the wave passed.) Acapulco will also be remembered for the marina cost of 3.50/foot plus 14 percent tax - yup...2386 pesos or approximately 238.00/night!! That's ok though as apparently I got a deal - it used to be 4.50/ft!!

I have to admit that my approximate March 15 departure for Galapagos (1000nm) and then Peru (1100nm) is with some apprehension. After 2 seasons in Mexico, I absolutely adore the culture, people and so many cruising friends that make this their home. It's very easy to get stuck here. While I recognize that new adventures and friends are on the horizon everywhere I go, a very special part of my heart will remain in Mexico.

Over the next two weeks I will be finalizing my paperwork for the countries ahead - they're both expensive and extensive. Provisioning and boat preparations will occupy my days because luxurious grocery stores and boat supply stores will be minimal going forward. I have two wonderful crew members for this passage: Dr. Jim - who crewed from Vancouver to San Diego and promises to do every ocean crossing with me, and new to the crew list is Doug who is a mechanic (yeh!) and lives in Chile during our winters and aboard his sailboat in BC during our summers. I will be in good hands and know we'll have tons of fun. ( Side comment: We'll have lots of Bimbo Mexican bread - it amazes me as it never, ever goes bad - we say that the only way to get rid of it is to step on it!!)

I.V. arrived yesterday for a week of relaxation, exploring and catch-up. Both Riley and I are looking forward to our visit having not seen him since January 5. HIs project in Port Hardy is coming together slowly but surely...

We all send ou best wishes and hugs...
Pamela I.V., and Riley

Single-handing Brings (More) Gray Hairs!!
Thank heavens for hair colour...I'm afraid to look, but I suspect that I've acquired a few new gray hairs since my last blog posting!! My last blog was from La Cruz where Precious Metal was moored in the lovely Marina Riviera La Cruz. I.V. was with me until January 5, when he sadly had return to the cold and rain in Port Hardy.

A huge highlight of my stay was New Years Eve day when my son Sam, and wonderful daughter-in-law Lizz called from London, England to announce my first grandchild will be arriving July 16! Yeah, I'm finally going to be a grandma!

I hated leaving La Cruz after 5 glorious weeks of wonderful people and cruising friends, great restaurants, sunrise kayaking, salsa dancing lessons, poker nights, dock parties, and lots of repairs and maintenance. La Cruz is likely my last dock for a long, long time so I took advantage of the trades people and dock power to finish many projects on Precious Metal; most importantly eliminating rust, and more rust - rust never sleeps on a steel boat, and happily this three month project is finally completed.

On one of my last nights in La Cruz, I awoke at 5-ish am to pouring rain and the sound of a huge storm outside. I closed my hatches and was just returning to bed when I heard, "Precious Metal this is Eagle - are you awake?" on the VHF radio ("I am now!"). Why would my single-handing friend Barry be calling me at this time? Answering his call - his anchor was dragging outside in the anchorage and he needed help. Instantly, I jumped in my dinghy and zoomed out to assist - in howelling winds, huge seas, complete darkness, and pouring rain.

I just got outside of the marina when my engine suddenly seized. Now I was also in trouble! Quickly floating towards a crashing lee shore I called for help but the winds and seas were too loud for anyone to hear. Stupidly, in the panic to rescue Barry, I didn't take my hand-held radio; nor did I grab my life vest (note to self...always collect yourself before heading on a rescue mission). Now TWO of us were in trouble. I scrambled to re-start my engine and discovered a fishing net was caught in the propeller. With my life at stake and quickly heading for the rocky shoreline I managed to release the net just in time and thankfully get the engine in gear...phew! By the time I arrived at Eagle she was pitching in the swells like a bucking bronco, but we managed to eventually bring up her anchor and go into the marina safely.

I only just settled back to bed at sunrise when I heard another call on the VHF radio, "several water spouts (tornado-like) are forming in the Bay - prepare your boats for hurricane conditions!" Holy ^*#@!! You can't imagine how I scrambled to secure my lines, securely tie down my kayak, air conditioner, stuff everywhere on deck and in the dinghy...Once secure, Riley and I walked to the breakwater and witnessed the most amazing natural sight - a perfectly formed waterspout from the horizon to the sky 5 miles away, and quickly approaching. It fizzled before reaching the marina, but what an incredible sight.

Knowing that other boat/friends are close by and following a similar route south as me, I sadly departed La Cruz solo last Sunday for Yalapa (a palapa in Yalapa is finer than a condo in Rodondo) on the south side of Bandaras Bay...The challenge was to round Cabo Corientes the following day which is notorious for huge winds and confused seas. In fact, I had a great 60 mile sail the following day to Chamela (Pamela in Chamela), and Cabo Corientes was very kind to me. After a good sleep, I took advantage of benign weather conditions, and hopped another 20 miles south to a cruiser's paradise - Tenacitita - just north of Barra de Navidad, and my next exciting adventure...

The "plan" was to depart at sunrise the next day with another boat/friends (Mike and Renee) on Ahea Kali. Winds are generally calm early morning and pick up by midday. As I began to bring up my anchor, the screw that secures the arm that directs the chain into the anchor well sheared off. Suddenly, my windlass wasn't working, and after attempting to pull up the chain and anchor by hand, I realized this was nuts - I needed help. This failure couldn't have happened in a better place, as Phil on Maradon is a shipwright and has all the tools and talent to properly repair the problem - but it took several hours, and by then the wind was rising.

No problem I thought as it's such a short hop to my next anchorage. I sailed out of Tenacitita Bay at midday and had a terrific sail. Once out of the Bay I was instantly in a storm that had never been forcasted for that day. I reefed (shortened) the sails once, then twice, and as I was frantically working to keep the sails under control, I could hear things in the cabin crashing around - doors flying open, bang(!), crash(!)...normally I would secure everything better but this weather wasn't expected.Green water was crashing over Precious Metal and I was soaked...And when I see Riley's eyes bulge I know I need to re-group. I decided to turn around and go back to Tenacitita.

By the time I returned, the winds had also picked up in the anchorage (20-plus knots). I was tidying up the lines on deck and noticed a catamaran (also single-hander) was dragging anchor. Instantly, it was travelling a great speed towards a rock bluff across the bay.

The owner and everyone else in the bay was on shore playing botchie ball. I grabbed my VHF "this is an emergency, (the catamaran) is drifting across the bay quickly I need assistance immediately," and quickly prepared my dinghy for her second rescue in one week. I and two others managed to bring the boat to safety, but my adrenalin had been spent for that day.

It's amazing how different this year is over last due to El Nino. Last year the weather along this coast was non-existent; this year the storms are frequent and severe. Typical of sailors; we complain of either too much wind or never enough...

Now safely anchored in Barra de Navidad, my girlfriend Joanne has arrived and sailing aboard to Zihuatenajo where our big fund raiser Sail Fest takes place early February. I'm organizing the cruiser activities and hope to raise a lot of money for schools again this year so I will be busy, but having fun.

The moral of this story is that single-handing is quite different from having an extra set of hands aboard. It's incredibly satisfying when everything is running smoothly, but when things go wrong it can be dangerous and scary.

I'm also aware of personal safety as a single female. Each night I install custom-made steel security bars in my door and upper hatches. Beside my bed is an arsonal of bear spray, knife, horn, VHF radio. And just inside my door is a hidden 200.00US to throw at any unwanted theif who boards at night - petty theft is often their motive. One cruiser was killed recently in Thailand when a local panga driver who needed gas for his engine boarded at night - and the altercation resulted in death!

Despite the extra excitement of late, I'm having a terrific time, and loving every minute of this voyage...Love to all.
Pamela and Riley

Merry, Merry Christmas!!

Since my last posting I had (in one week) - a wedding (in Mazatlan), a funeral (in Toronto), and 200 nm ocean crossing (La Paz to Mazatlan), and re-uniting with I.V...does this qualify for a movie??

We're on the eve of Christmas and while we're amongst many special friends here; it's times such as this when we miss our Canadian family, friends and northern Christmas.

Since our arrival in La Paz and passage down to La Cruz (just outside of Puerto Vallarta), we've re-united with so many fellow cruisers from last year who will be continuing down the coast with Precious Metal. This cruising "family" is what makes this lifestyle so enjoyable...among many obvious other highlights.

Our Christmas dinner will be at Philo's Bar - which (Philo) is notorious for philanthropic work in the community, and tomorrow night Santa will be giving gifts to over 400 local children who would otherwise receive nothing.

Sadly, I.V. is only able to stay for a short while as he has to return to his development project shortly after New Year; hence, I will be taking Precious Metal south mid-January to Zihuatenajo - where I'm again organizing a special fund raiser for education (Sail Fest), and anxiously able to visit the new school that we built from Sail Fest last season. I have books aboard for the new school( from the BC Department of Education), and I believe we'll have an even larger contingent of boats this year.

Precious Metal's plans for 2010 are unfolding nicely - with a minor change insofar as we'll be heading to the Galapagos from Mexico on March 15(1000nm), and after exploring these Islands we'll head directly to Peru rather then Ecuador(1100nm). Peru appears to be more cruiser friendly these days and VISA permits to stay there are far more easily attainable. Peru is also more accesible to the areas in South America that are appealing. I have 2 or maybe 3 great crew aboard for this voyage - including Jim Grace who sailed aboard from Vancouver to San Diego. Jim promises to do every ocean passage with me around the world.

On behalf of I.V. and Riley, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, and best wishes for 2010...please, please stay in touch.

Feliz Navidad mi amigos!!
Pamela

Greetings from the most magnificent Sea of Cortez!! What a spectacular playground of beauty, wonderful snorkeling Mother Nature at her very best...

Our planned two weeks in Mazatlan turned into just over a month for a number of reasons: more substantial boat repairs and upgrades (new batteries and battery boxes, major rust removal and treatment, new engine exhaust pipe installation, major sanding and repainting of bottom, etc.), Hurricane Rick - who arrived mid month and meant that I couldn't put the boat together until he passed, and well, everything on boats takes longer than one expects. My wonderful new Mazatlan friends actually had bets that I wouldn't depart as scheduled on October 31 (they obviously don't know me well enough), and gave us a grand farewell early morning as I untied the lines and set off for the Sea of Cortez. Mazatlan is otherwise known as "Hotel California" because people can get stuck there forever...and many cruisers do!
A week prior to my departure the engine was almost completely apart, and I was working flat out 12 hour days, but I'm so happy to say that our "precious" baby is running well and happy to be cruising again.
I was fortunate to have a wonderful couple - Mic and Tracy from Britain - cross with me to Baja so the 200 mile passage was both delightful and easy. They remained on board after arriving in La Paz, where I spent four nights - after all the Marina Palmira charges $95.00 for one night and $172.00 for an entire week!?!
While I've only managed to venture 120 miles north into the Sea, it's because every place is too wonderful to leave. One of the greatest highlights was Isla Islotes which is a marine reserve and sea lion rookery, and people can actually swim with the sea lions!! It was so amazing to be snorkeling along and have these magnificent giant and baby sea lions swim right beside me while they played in the water. I've also done a lot of hiking onto the many ridges surrounding each anchorage, and even managed to find great winds for sailing - such a special treat to tun the engine off!! I've been cruising with several great boats and friends - most notably Pantera from Victoria the entire way making single-handing an easy and pleasurable experience. I.V. is now promising to arrive at the end of November, and is working tirelessly on his development property which appears to be coming along well - slowly but surely.
My only true sadness has been the passing of a wonderful friend and business hero Brian Steck who was the CEO of Nesbitt Burns and whose stewardship of the company has allowed me the opportunity to fulfill this dream of mine. I will likely be flying to Toronto at the end of November for his memorial service.
One major breakdown is my Blackberry - which is no long working so please write to "mybentley@yahoo.ca" until further notice.
I'm heading south tomorrow to La Paz and likely arriving Monday or Tuesday. Please, please send me updates on your lives at home to the mybentley address as I will be in Internet contact again.
My very best wishes to all,
Pamela and Riley