We made it through the tsunami just fine though the Port Captain for Banderas Bay closed all the harbors and marinas and wouldn't let any boats in or out. Boy, I sure want to be trapped in a nice small cove when a big wall of water comes a knocking. Not a smart decision. After lots of talking and radio calls, he finally relented and allowed those of us in La Cruz to get out but we had to drop anchor just outside the marina entrance. You can guess how well that went down. Everyone took off. We headed out and just kept on going till we had well over 600 feet of water under our hull. I'd come down with the La Cruz Crud the previous night(Tracy had had it a few days before) so while I rested below, Tracy took us as far out as she could. The wave was due about 1400 and passed under our keel just fine. Several more passed just after the first. The wall of water slammed into La Cruz and lifted all the docks about 8 feet tearing off the first two fingers of the docks inside the harbor. From what we have learned, there were no boats damaged by it here. The surge just kept on coming for hours afterwards. Up and down like a never ending high then low tide over and over again. The waters swirled for several days at the marina entrance. Some times you have to ignore what the government tells you to save your own skin.

We motored over to a nice beach(Punta de Mita) about 8 miles west of La Cruz and dropped the anchor. It was just about 1550 in the afternoon. As the anchor went down, the engine just up and died. We went below and could find no problems. Plenty of fuel in the tanks. We bled the fuel lines as air in them will stop a diesel engine. Still no clue. So back up we went on deck and with a good wind from the west, we put up the spinnaker and took off for La Cruz. We rolled into the anchorage(marina still closed) and re dropped the anchor. With all the marinas closed, there were close to 100 boats in the anchorage. With no engine, we were at the far edge of the field of boats.

Got up Saturday and dingied into the marina to see the damage and returned to Zephyr to relax and recover a bit. Got up Sunday and started in on the engine. Re bled the system and the engine started right up. I don't understand what the problem was but I'm going to take off the primary fuel filter and check it again. I'd replace the all the filters while we were in Paradise Village several weeks ago so there should be no problems there but better safe than sorry.

Sorry we have been so lax on our posts but the internet down here(at the marina) is about as fast a a 56k dial up modem--if you can even get a signal. Even with our super wifi antenna, we may get a good signal but still not be able to get on line. We're at one of the local restaurants up the hill using their wifi signal. Heck, there are some days we don't even have water in the marina but the people sure are nice and there are lots of cruisers in the slips so everyone helps everyone else.

The photo I attached is what is left after the tsunami came through. They already had cleared out the smashed docks. Now there are just the pilings left.