Hey Mike, Bill and Dave,

I wanted to let Mike know the watts are doing great. We are getting spoiled and gravitating to be power gluttons.

The solar panels seem to be putting out in this blazing sun.

Dave, we miss your chef creations extraordinaire.

Bill, we could use your mechanical instincts.

We have had a series of problems with the engine. First there was a leak in the heat exchanger caused by vibration from the compressor bracket. Then we probably put too much tension on the alternator belt and it broke the next time we ran the engine to get the frige charged up. The overheating alarm went off. Luckily, we were in coves at anchor to make the repairs. The blog has Cathy's account of our repairs at anchor. Bob's excellent tools made these repairs possible.

I thought I had spare belts for both the alternator and the compressor but apparently NAPA auto parts in O'Side gave me two of the compressor belts and I did not check the package. Incredibly, we found a Canadian winter resident, Louis, here in this very small town by random chance. He speaks Spanish, seems to know everybody and somehow has clout with them. He interrupted a Sunday celebration in the town plaza to get a mechanic to go to his shop, where the right size belt was had, for about a third the price NAPA charged me!

I guess on a project like we are doing, one must expect setbacks. I am starting to believe that you need to create a game out of the problems. It can actually be fun finding a solution to the problems if you can get your head into that frame (not something I am prone to do as you all know). Because of problems, I got to meet the wonderful Dr. Luis Landeres in Cabo, got to meet the couple Teri and Terry anchored next to us in Chamela, got to speak with local folks who despite our language barrier, tried to help us find the la banda, got to explore this lovely little village Perula, which is a study of the free enterprise system at work.....shops were open on Sunday! And this is just a small sample of what I am trying to covey

If you thought the last leg of the Ha Ha was great sailing, you should have been here the last two days. To make the point we topped off fuel in La Cruz. The gage, 150 miles south is still pegged on "F". It was 30kn for a time getting around Cabo Corrientes. (we obediently followed the advice of the guides to do this before noon but not the day we tried it- we were there at 9 a.m.)

Speaking of cruising guides, Charlie did not like Yelapa because of tough anchoring, which is true, but now a good mooring from Ricardo for a reasonable price was our experience and the place was very interesting, worth returning for another look. Charlie's charts also did not seem to like Ipala but we found it to be a great overnight stop on our way to Chamela. We find the Rains guide to be more up to date. I guess my point is that you need to explore and discover for yourself what places are really about.

However, the guides are indispensable since, as Andrew in La Cruz told us, the charts are worthless. Evidence of this that we are anchored on land, according to our GPS. Night passages mean either staying way off shore or knowing how to interpret targets on your radar display. Rains gives waypoints that are helpful finding destinations for which you are unfamiliar. When you get close, then Charlie's drawings and description help arrest one's uncertainty finding a new (to you) anchorage.

Anchoring is so much nicer than being in a marina. The breeze flows through the boat at such velocity these last few days that we are not even using the sun cover yet. To my surprise, the water is cooler the further south we go. It might be as Bill said, that the NE wind we had the last couple of days blows the warmer water offshore and creates the upwelling of bottom water. It is still 84 so not too cool.

Coming to Chamela yesterday, we sailed through numerous bait balls where there were birds furiously after a meal. As you know, this means bigger fish are chasing schools of small fish causing them to jump out of the water to escape being eaten by the bigger guys. We thought we should try fishing and see if the theory of bait balls and birds is factual. We had the spinnaker up so we were gong pretty good with about 15 kn true out of the NE. It took about three minutes to get a hit. Bob had to pull the maybe 8 pounder while we are trying to slow the boat down to 6 knots from 7-8. What can I say? Sirocco is a thoroughbred. We are not sure what fish it was but as we got him up to the boat he got himself off the hook. We decided, it was as much fun sailing as it might have been fishing. This is not a fish story. If we devoted the day to fishing, we would have caught 36 fish based on the frequency of bait balls. That is .6 of a fish for every bait ball. For those who are math inclined, you know how many bail balls we saw.

There are two other boats in this anchorage. They are buddy boating south. One of the boats has trans, water maker, and generator problems, all systems are leaking fluids. (I thought we had problems) Maybe we will buddy with them if they decide to go south.

Not sure what our next stop is. We are only 40 miles from Barra Navidad. And Manzanillo is not far from BN. There are three coves between here and BN.

Lee