03/08/2010, San Blas Estuary
Russ figured out the problem with the engine. You will never guess what caused the increase and drop of the rpms.
There I was staring at a steady vacuum gage on the fuel filter which means clean filter. The hand was put on all fuel fittings checking for leaks because there was diesel smell. No leaks were detected; however fuel was present in the bilge in small amounts. Up come the floor boards for fuel tracking. Low and behold fuel leak coming from stern bladder. I opened inspection plates to access fuel bladder and found the tank to be rock hard. Not a good sign. I opened the fuel fill cap and air escaped. Again this is not a good sign. However, engine now ran for five minutes before symptoms returned. I then reached in the access panel and massaged trapped air out of the bladder. Walla problem fixed. The cause of the problem is the outside air temperatures have been increasing and the diesel fuel had been expanding pressurizing the system. The VW pathfinder diesel will not run on pressurized fuel. Prevention is to not fill the bladder so full.
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03/07/2010, San Blas Mexico
We got up and started the engine to charge batteries and the engine kept changing rpms about 500-800 up and down. Hummmmmm????? Yes you got it a new project for him. I decided to go to town for a couple of groceries and recharge the internet card. I got to the dock and grabbed Peter, Jesse and Shana, Fran (her husband whom I do not remember his name) and went to town. Peter and I gave them a walking tour of San Blas. We stopped at the favorite taco stand on the plaza and then Jesse and Shana split and went their way and the rest of us continued on the tour and got an Ice Cream. A great time was had by all.
| San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico |
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03/06/2010, San Blas Estuary
We jumped into the dingy and went out the entrance to help guide Barnacle in with Bill, Janet and George on board. Janet and George was crew for Bill and their boat "Susie" is in La Paz. How funny. We have been in many anchorages with Susie and never met until now. It is always fun to meet new people and potential long term friends.
While I was making bread and thinking of what to blog about Russ went to the marina and got Peter and headed to the flea market and town. Russ also got with Armondo the yard manager for an estimate on grinding the sides of the boat down to aluminum. We should have the estimate tomorrow.
While I was below Estrella, Plume and Yancy anchored. Russ came back and started communicating to Tao giving him GPS waypoints from the new Sat map that he and Peter created. Tao and Carmella made it in to anchor. It was good to see Estralla, Tao and Plume all of which we met last season. An anchorage is always nicer when you have people you know to share it with.
We headed to the cruisers pot luck and what a feast.
| San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico |
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03/05/2010, Capital Of Nayarit, Mexico
March 5th we took Taco and Lucy over to visit with Uncle Peter ("The Delphis") for the day. On the walk to the bus station this morning we noticed that the Huichol Indians were at the plaza so we asked if they would be there tonight so we could purchase some Pomada de Payote, which is an ointment for sore muscles, arthritis and so on. We caught the 10:00 am bus to Tepic. The bus arrived at 11:45 am and we walked over to Burger King for a quick lunch. The bus terminal is centrally located. Burger King was kitty corner from it and the Office Depot, Soriana grocery/everything strip mall and walmart are all with in a five block area on the same street. You can't beat that with a stick. Tepic has been the easiest place to pick up supplies if you don't count the hour and half bus ride. We did find a 1tb disco duro (terabite hard drive) that requires external ac adapter so we purchased the 500 gb usb powered disco duro. The cost was $1699.00 pesos which is about $135.00 us. Not to bad since we had to have one now. I was even surprised to find a terabite drive in Mexico. We found it at Office Depot since there is no Best Buy here. Walmart only carried a 320gb. We also pick up some DVD's and DVD RW's. That is all for the computer side of things. We even found potty pads to use for the fur kids. So we arrive at the bus station at 3:50 in hopes to catch the 4:00pm bus only to find out that there is no 4:00pm bus. The bus leaves at 4:45pm which will in turn deposit us in San Blas at around 6:15pm. We were fifteen minutes late. Oh well. The bus station is located across the street from the plaza and we walked over to the Huichol Indians and purchased the ointment. Since our hands were full and the backpacks loaded we took a taxi back to the marina where we retrieve the fur kids from Peter who was very glad to see us. Back to the boat, unloaded the loot, raised the dinghy and of course watch a movie.
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03/04/2010, San Blas Estuary
Well we have been here in San Blas for over two months. We have heard that the bugs is what keeps San Blas Beautiful and keeps the boaters away.
As the full moon approaches the tides get higher and run faster. This is the time when the no-seeums are the worst. We have had a lot higher tides lately and the no-seeums have been almost unbearable.
This is how it works. You get up in the morning. About 9:00 am you open the screens and let out all the no-seeums. The breeze comes up about 10:00 or so and you have a pleasant day out side until about 4:30 pm when you have to put up the screens.
If the no-seeums are not bad you can open the screens again about 6:30 and not get eaten.
With the tides real high the no-seeums are out in force. You have to leave the screens in almost all day. They are out even in the wind looking for a free meal. Every time you go in or out of the boat no-seeums make their way in. No-seeum screens are such a tight mesh that you barley get a breeze if any. With no breeze to draw the heat out and blow the no-seeums away it gets really hot inside. Now that you have no-seeums inside and a really hot boat sleeping is difficult even with fans.
But as I started this blog about keeping San Blas beautiful. I can see how the No-seeums do that. A lot of boats do not want to come to San Blas because of the bugs (no-seeums). I am here to tell you, put on what ever repellent that works for you whether it be "Skin So Soft Gel" or "Cutters" or
"Atun"(this is what the mexicans use) and come to San Blas and experience a little part of real Mexico. Don't for get to bring long pants with elastic in the ankles and a long sleeved shirt.
San Blas it worth it.
Now with a hot boat you don't sleep well.
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02/28/2010, San Blas Estuary
Feb 27th 2010. I woke up fixed a cup of tea and head to the cockpit with book in hand. This morning I am going to enjoy a cup of tea and a book for a while. Russ lowered the dinghy to let the anchored out boats know about the potluck tonight. When he got back, he told me news of an 8.8 earthquake in Chile close to the coast and that there was a Tsunami warning for the entire Pacific. He was told the warning went from Chile all the way to San Francisco.
This news warrants getting the computer out and checking the information for ourselves. The warning was actually all the way to Alaska. We started prepping the boat making sure everything was in its place. There is nothing like a Tsunami warning to get you motivated in putting everything away that you have left out. With the boat pretty much ready, Russ headed out to the cockpit with movie camera in hand. The prediction for San Blas was three foot rise. We waited and watched and then it happened.
The tide was ebbing (going out) at about 3.5 knots. Russ noticed that the two other boats had started to change direction as if the tide had changed and was coming in and then the noise on the hull from the ebbing tide stopped. Then a few minutes later the tide was ebbing again. We asked could that be it. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that was it. The depth sounder is on and when the tide started to come in it rose about four feet in a half hour.
We called Peter on The Delphis who was at the marina. In our conversation the sand bar near the marina came up. The sand bar is between us and the Marina. We looked out and could actually see the sand bar. This is actually the only time we have seen the sand bar. Then within a minute or less it was covered with water. This happened about four times.
We are very grateful that is was not disastrous.
Peter has decided to have a t-shirt made that says
"I Survived The San Blas Tsunami "
(and I didn't spill my beer)
We headed into the marina for the cruisers weekly potluck. It was a truly unique dinning experience. We had carnitas, chili, curry beef, starfruit & papaya salad, bean & corn salad with cilantro/lime, Strawberries, and I made a Lemon/Lime Pound Cake. The boats in attendance were: "The Delphis", "Matarua", Chat De Mer", "Tanque De Tibberon", "Gabmol" and of course "Smoke-N-Blues". We shall see who will attend next week.
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