The rest of the day was a work day. After trying to stop the leak in our fresh water filter holder with epoxy putty (The second one cracked in the same place as the first) and only succeeding in diverting the stream, I gave up and shut off the pump. We'll have to just leave in on while we're using water. After that I attacked our aft deck lockers. When I got all the junk pulled out of them I found that each had several inches of water in the bottom. That is where the water in the lazarette sump has been coming from...the seals around the hatch covers have been leaking. Since it looks like we have a few more days at least of the dry season, I stacked everything out on the dock and went to work on the hatch seals. Two problems there: first, dirt and corrosion had made the lip of the hatch ring very rough and subject to leaking, but also I found that salt water had evidently worked its way up under the bedding for the seal, corroding the aluminum and pushing the seal out of its slot. I spent several hours scraping, sanding, and cleaning the hatch, ring, and rubber seals. I don't have any of the black rubber bedding compound which they used for the seal and am not sure what the best thing to use would be. I've got lots of 5200, but is polyurathane compatible with rubber? I'll have to do some checking. In the meantime we'll hope it doesn't rain!
El Lunes, 21 Mayo 1990
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Pete and Diane were heading for town this morning and invited me to ride along so I figured I might as well take advantage of that and get the paperwork out of the way, so leaving Lois to clean house and with my briefcase under my arm off we went. Pete dropped Diane at the Commercial Mexicana then drove me to the Port Operations building next to the cruise ship dock. There, the first stop is the Port Captain's office...no problema. The girls there are friendly and, as I suspected, could care less where we had checked in on the way from Puerto Madero to here. Next is the Port Operations office where a kid typed up eleven copies of our bill for the port fee and then had to type up eleven more when his boss, a self important little man with a permanent scowl on his face, told him he'd figured the fee wrong. Then to the nice lady in the Hacienda office who typed up seven copies of the receipt, charged us the grand total of 16,000 pesos ($5.71), and gave me a copy to take back to the Port Captain. Step one complete. Next I walked out to the highway and caught a bus downtown to Migracion. There a little lady in uniform took a copy of our crew list, stamped another one to show we'd checked in, and charged us 3,000 pesos for the service. Now we're all legal.
I fooled around downtown for a while, went to the Bancomer and drew a million pesos on my Visa card, then caught another bus back toward Marina Vallarta...the taxi drivers wanted 11,000 pesos and I wasn't in a hurry. I ended up taking a taxi the last mile or so because I wasn't sure how to get to Opequimar, the marine supply outfit that I wanted to check out. They had just started business when we were here a year ago and I wanted to see what they had in stock by now. That turned out to be a stroke of luck. Not only did they have some Daly's Teak Oil to do our rail, but they had over-ordered a barrel of 3/8" BBB chain which they said they would give me at their cost. We'll get 400 feet for just under $800, not a lot more than it would cost in Seattle. I had been figuring that that was my biggest procurement problem, now it looks like it'll be solved next week when the shipment comes in.
Deciding that I might as well push it while my luck was holding, I next took a bus out to the airport. As I walked in a big planeload of passengers was coming through the Migracion and baggage areas so I walked over to the information desk (which was deserted), filled out a blank tourist card which Lois had brought down last year, and barged through the outcoming stream of passengers to the Migracion desk where the little man stamped it without even looking at it. I now have a tourist card which says that I arrived by plane on May 21st. All this was to avoid a problem when we are ready to leave for the summer. My other tourist card is stamped "Embarcadero" and with that Migracion wouldn't let me leave by plane unless I first paid mordida to the hoods at the Aduana. Pete says they are trying to clean up their act but for now it's easier to avoid the problem.
The taxi from the airport to Nuevo cost 20,000 even after I found a non-union driver. I think the problem is that I look very much like a gringo with no other options...which of course I am, other than walking. Oh well, it's only money! Back at the boat I gooped the seals on the aft hatches with 5200 and popped them into place. When it cures we'll test to see if the leaks have stopped.
El Martes, 22 Mayo 1990
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Another work day today. Started off by cleaning up all the stuff we'd stowed in the aft hatches, then recaulked the forward hatches which had been leaking a little. From the stories we hear about Vallarta summers we'd better do our best to find and fix all the leaks. Lois spent a long time cleaning all the stauncions and rails. I also disconnected the fuel line to the aft starboard tank, blew air through it to clear it, and then ran Gimmy at 600 RPM for four hours moving about 200 gallons of fuel forward with no more plugging difficulties. There must have been a wad of something in the line. Anyway, we can now put in fresh fuel and algae growth inhibitor and we've salvaged $200 worth of fuel. Also pickled the watermaker...we're gradually checking things off the list.
I checked in with Jesus this morning and paid for mooring through the rest of May. They charge only 12 cents a foot here and it is certainly quieter than in the busy Marina Vallarta. We've got a while to make up our minds.
Didn't accomplish a whole lot more during the day. Called Nan to let her know that we are in PV; got doubled up on our mooring lines with pretty good chafing protection; cleaned up some more of the stuff on the deck; and did some just loafing. I printed up an edition of the log. Our printer hasn't hiccuped once since we got on dockside power, convincing me that our problem is a high resistance connection in the power supply. Problem is I haven't been able to find it. It's possible that the 135 volts here has temporarily fixed the problem by burning out the corrosion. I hate intermittant problems!
We put the Metz down for the first time since we've been here, and this afternoon took a little ride around the harbor. We were astounded to find that the waterways of Nuevo Vallarta extend far beyond the harbor which we are in. We started up one waterway which looked like a river, went past a huge building which looks like a hotel but which Pete told us belongs to a rich Mexican, and came to a bridge. On the other side of the bridge were a bunch of sailboats moored in front of beautiful homes...there's a major housing development just around the bend. We wandered though several similar waterways, all connected to the main harbor, ending up near a big hotel on the west beach. Talking to Pete later we learned that this is becoming a favorite place for the very rich Mexican to keep his boat in front of his house.
Pete brought a young man named Guerrno over and introduced him to us this evening. He speaks pretty good English and Pete says he knows boats. He might be a candidate for watching the boat while we're north.
When I got back from the airport we ran our water test. Standing on the deck with the hose, I drenched the hatches while Lois watched for leaks from below. The good news is that the two small hatches seem to be well sealed and, after some tightening of the holddown clamps, my aft hatches seem to also be keeping out the water. The bad news is that the big forward hatch seems to be leaking under the rim. Guess I'm in for another rebedding job.
In the evening we rode with Peter and Diane to Captain Morgan's at Marina Vallarta for their big Sunday night all-you-can-eat barbeque. It was pretty good, with excellent steak, ribs, and chicken barbequed on big charcoal grills in a outdoor dining area plus a nice salad bar. For $12.75 it was an outstanding feed. Doug and Debra from the boat YEAR OF THE DRAGON joined us at our table and Debra said our chain is in. Tomorrow after I finish bedding down my hatch we'll take the boat over and pick it up.
We were out of the harbor and heading directly into a ten knot west wind to keep from getting spray thrown on our new caulking when the RPM started decreasing...I'd forgotten to change tanks after moving fuel forward from the aft starboard tank the other day. I opened valves to both forward tanks but we still could run at only about 900 RPM the rest of the way home...the crud in that tank must have really plugged the Racor filter. When we got back to the dock I dipped the tanks and figured that we'd drawn about 267 gallons from the aft starboard. That's all it holds so there must not be a very large amount of contaminating material in it. When we fill I'll put a big dose of algae inhibitor in it.
The rest of the day was spent on cleaning up the chain locker. We pulled out the nylon anchor rode and our 600 foot line and laid them out on the deck, then I went below to clean up the mess. I must have taken ten pounds of rust chips out of the locker before I could start hosing and scrubbing it down. When I got through doing that we loaded the new chain into the locker, then Lois washed down all the lines and laid them out in the sun to dry. Everything in the pointy end is now clean and shiny with the exception of the deck itself...tomorrow I'll get out the phosphoric acid and clean the rust off of it.
Diane left today for a week in Reno and Peter joined us for one of Lois' good chicken dinners. He's an interesting guy...got out of the service in Germany, bought a boat in England, and sailed the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic, and spent a year in the Caribbean before going to work for Foss Tug in Seattle. He married Diane, a Seattle society belle who owned a toy store, and they ended up running a chain of stores in the northwest. Diane still acts like she runs the money.
When I get to gossiping about the neighbors it means that we're getting down to the really short strokes and I think it's about time to wrap up this "log" until we start cruising again. So, until then, have a good summer!
Riding back to the west past the bridge we'd come over we found another condo complex called Bahia del Sol, the one where Rick had intended for us to have lunch, plus a dozen major buildings scattered along the beach and canals behind the beach. This, according to Rick, is the hotel and condo zone, due for much construction during the next few years. After about a two mile ride we came to Jack Tar Village, a huge, everything included, hotel and vacation center where Pete had said they would sell us pesos for a reasonable rate. There we conned our way past the doorman, bought a $100 worth of pesos at 2700 (The bank rate this week is about 2820), then poked around the lobby and shops. Lois picked up a brochure advertizing "Everything-included Vacations" for $80.00 per day which probably explains why there seemed to be quite a few tourists in the place even though it's the first of June and good weather is coming up north. For a big hotel Jack Tar seems to be pretty well laid out. The lobby and shops surround a terrace leading down to a huge wandering pool and then to the beach palapas; there are several tennis courts and a big exercise room which no one was using; the restaurant menu looked good; and Lois found a beauty shop where she got her hair cut for $8.00.
The ride back was HOT! There'd been a little cloud cover during the ride down, but now the sun was out bright and fierce. We'd ride a ways then stop under the shade of a tree and let the breeze cool us off. Picked up our papayas at Rick's place (There were now only two...a bird had gotten one before Rick covered them with a towel), then puffed our way the last mile home. This was the first time we've ridden the bikes in over a year... we'll both have sore muscles tomorrow.
We must have made an odd sight, two old gringos in shorts riding bikes with tiny wheels and tall seat posts down a dirt road, dodging cow pies as we went. No wonder the farmers we met smiled. The road wasn't exactly smooth but the worst was yet to come. Once we reached the village the Puerto Vallarta street department must have taken over for the road builders because all the streets are laid with cobblestones, just like downtown! (Pete had told us that many of the people who formerly lived along the beach were relocated to the village by the federal government..part of the deal must have been to pave the streets.) Cobblestones are hard enough on a car but on a bike they make riding almost impossible. By riding along the edge where a little dirt had built up, using the sidewalk whenever it wasn't broken, and at times walking, we worked our way slowly through the village. I never noted its name but this village is not your little one street, two block long town...it covers several square miles with many streets, all paved with cobblestones. After what seemed like hours we finally reached what appeared to be the center of town. Lois had been there with Pete in his car on a trip to the bakery but she didn't recognize the way to get back to the main road so we had to ask directions a couple of times before we found an asphalt paved road leading to the highway. By now the sun was getting up in the sky and we were hungry so we stopped at a roadside place where a lady named Lucy squeezed us huge glasses of orange juice while asking us our names, where we were from, and how we liked it here. Never has orange juice tasted so good. The road to the highway was easy but the quarter mile back to the Nuevo Vallarta entrance was spooky...no shoulders and lots of fast moving traffic threatening to wipe us out at any moment. We breathed a sigh of relief as we made the entrance and could again ride down the wide, divided and deserted road back to the marina. We went to the hotel for a late breakfast, a nice little restaurant next to their pool overlooking the beach.
In the afternoon the water here in the marina looked fairly clear so I decided to change the prop zinc. I drilled and tapped the new zinc, got out the dive gear and my wrenches, and, with Lois standing by, went into the water. What had looked reasonably clear from above was pretty murky from below...I had only about two feet of visibility...but I managed to find the prop. The barnacles are really starting to grow here, something we had noted as we came south, but I got them knocked off the zinc and the locknuts removed then I ran out of air...Eggert at Puntarenas hadn't filled the tank as he had said he would. OK, out of the water, hook up the other tank, and back in. When I tried to remove the zinc itself, though, it was another story. Even after having Lois go get a piece of pipe to lengthen the lever arm on my chain wrench I couldn't get it to move. I finally gave up, deciding that the old zinc, which is only about half gone after almost a year, will do the job for another four or five months. I put the locknuts back on, hosed down myself and all the gear, and called it a day.
The other job for today was servicing the Evenrude and getting it stowed in the forward stateroom. I pulled the plugs and put a little oil in the cylinders, then greased and oiled everything in sight. I often wonder if it would run if we needed it but as long as the Johnson keeps on humming there doesn't seem to be much reason to put it in the salt water.
Pete came over for dinner again tonight. He was feeling sort of low because he'd managed to loose Diane's little parrot. It flew out of the window and across the pond in the direction of the village in spite of the fact that one of its wings was clipped. Diane is going to be unhappy when she hears that.
I tried again to find Jesus but only found his little assistant, Hector, who promised to get our check and letters of agreement to him. We did manage to flag down Guermo and he has agreed to watch the boat for us, checking the lines, washing the outside, opening it up and airing it out once or twice a week. From what we've heard mildew is the big problem down here during the summer rainy season.
From port operations I took a bus to the airport to check on our arrival time in Seattle and to find out if we could ship our dive tanks home as baggage. Then, with a little help from a nice, English speaking Mexican business man, I used a new type of MexiCall phone to call Nan via USA Direct (Push "* * 0 1" when the message says to insert money). I gave Nan our flight schedule and asked her to reserve a room for us near the airport, but then she told me that Kris had called and said that Brian was graduating on the 15th. I told her I'd check with Lois about flying back to San Francisco but when I checked with the Alaska agent I found we could lay over in San Francisco for only $75 extra. So, I called Nan again, told her to forget about the hotel, and that we'd let her know when we'd be in Seattle. That settled, I took a bus to Comercial Mexicana, bought a new electric fan and a few groceries, then took a taxi back to the boat.
We spent the rest of the day sorting out what we are going to take north with us. Sure wish we had a couple of the monster bags like Don and Eleanor used, but to store them on the boat would be a pain. I think we can probably get everything we need into our softsided luggage plus the big cooler on the aft deck. We're due for a new cooler anyway so well use it to pack our dive tanks and lots of unused clothing.
It had rained a good portion of the night and this morning was cloudy, but by noon the sun was out and hot. It drove me away from my second pass over the Metz bottom and into the house to do some more packing. Lois was busy sewing and getting clothes ready to go. I did a trial run on the cooler and the dive tanks plus most of our "foreign purchases" will fit nicely. The only real problem is our "rainmakers" which we'll have to take as oversize carry-on. I got them all strapped together and the ends cusioned but it still makes a bulky package.
After I got it cleaned up I found that oil, gasoline, or something has begun to eat away at the surface of the fabric near the motor. Deciding that the only thing I could do was to paint the bad spots with Hypalon, I got out the Zodiac stuff Lois had brought back a year ago and found that both cans of it had turned to solid rubber. Then I went searching and found a partly used can of the stuff I got in San Diego two years ago. Guess what.. still good! It's the best Hypalon I've used, easier to apply than either the Gacoflex or Zodiac, and with an obviously better shelf life. It's FLEXIPAINT, made by an English company called Polymarine Ltd. in Chorley, Landcaster, England. Telex 667416. Hopefully I can find some while we're north.
Also got squared away with Guillermo today. Yes, I finally learned how to spell his name, and even got those of his whole family:
GUILLERMO ESTRADA ROLO'Y
CALLE MANUEL AVILA CAMACHO
NO. 320 COLONIA FRANCISCO VILLA
PUERTO VALLARTA, JALISCO, MEXICO
ESPOSA - IGNACIA RAUVIRES
HIJOS -
GERARDO - 12 A\OS
GABRIELE - 10 A\OS
GUILLERMO - 8 A\OS
GOUZAL - 6 A\OS
HERMANA - IGNACIA ESTRADA R.
TELE - 91-322-7-12-57
JARRETADERA, NAYARIT
We went through the entire list of things I want him to check and I feel like he understands it all. He wouldn't take any money now (We'd given him the small speargun and some clothes the other day)...said to wait until we came back. I don't feel quite as comfortable as I did with Al watching the boat, but I doubt if we could have found a better Mexican than Guillermo. Alaska will be having a $150 special in August...I may just run down here to check on things.
I let the air out of the dive tank and finished packing the big ice chest with goodies. We taped it shut with strapping and duct tape. I also did a fit check on all my other stuff to go north ...got all the camera gear, shoes, boots, and some clothes into a red zipper bag to be checked and will carry on a backpack and my flight bag. Don't know yet what they'll make us do with the "rainmakers".
We had dinner on the EAGLE'S SONG with Peter and Diane and Doug and Debra from YEAR OF THE DRAGON. Diane did a superb job on a shrimp and scollop noodle dish. She also set a spectacular table. They have a "dining room" which would do any house proud. Their whole upper deck is enclosed with a bar across the front, big stuffed lounges on the sides, and a huge, polished, hardwood table in the middle. She had the table set with Mexican dinner and glassware on colorful woven mats from Guatemala. It was a nice evening even if the conversation tended to parrots and slot machines.
It's been miserably hot the last few days, peaking with an OAT of about 93 but with a very high humidity. I can't work out in the sun for more than a few minutes without being exhausted. We keep the fans running day and night. It cools off a little bit when it rains but not much. We're ready for a little cool weather!
Anyway, we got the freezer all cleaned out and swabbed down with soda, then spent the rest of the day cleaning, stowing, and stuffing the final things away. The forward stateroom has so much junk in it you can't even turn around but the decks are clear. Lois put together a big care package for Guillermo who was supposed to have come by today, but he never made it. If he doesn't show in the morning we'll have to leave the stuff with EAGLE'S SONG. Pete has offered to take us to the airport which will save a bit of hassle in rounding up a taxi. He has sure been friendly and helpful to us, sometimes it seems over Diane's objections. More?