And So This is Cruising...well, sort of

We've been enjoying LaPaz for a week. Slowly settling into the cruising lifestyle in this delightful, Mexican town. We've walked the Malecon, watched the Carnival parade and festivities for the Children's Celebration.
GunRock, our dinghy is ready to picked up after a repair (a tiny trickle of a leak where the tubes attach to the transom); the raw water pump was repaired at a local machine shop and is now a spare again; and a few other jobs were done.

And we began to slowly prepare ourselves for the 400 nautical mile trip to Puerto Vallarta. This morning, I headed out to provision (walk a mile and then carry bags and pull a full cart back) while Alan checked over the engines. Oh yeah. And so this is the cruising part of the blog. Besides the other fluids, he happened to check the oil level in the transmissions, finding seawater in the oil in the starboard side tranny. Now, those 2 are never to meet! So this is something we'd like to ignore but only at our own peril.

So we have made all sorts of new friends today: mechanics, boat yard managers, and the local yacht dealer as our "go to" guy for help.

We plan on hauling out on Wednesday and the mechanic will drop the saildrives and do an inspection. We may actually have the spare parts but then again, we may we ordering from Portland, shipping to San Diego, getting someone to walk it across to Tijuana, and putting them on a bus, to arrive in La Paz some 30 hours later.

Maybe we are going soon to PV, or maybe we are going later. But go we will. It is just part of cruising. But we aren't laughing about our new discovery yet.

Learning to Sail

You'd think we know how to sail already, but last year had us motoring much more than sailing, and the main sail only went up the "stick" a few times. Also, sailing a cat is much different from what we learned on, mono hulls. In this first week of being away from Guaymas, we have had more time (and distance covered) with the engines off and various sails up! Today it was the main only, running down wind. Could have used the spinnaker but we put the main up first and it seem like too much breeze for the light wind sail. Also hardly used the auto pilot today, preferring to hand steer. Overtook a slower boat that was using double head sails. Fun...
It's SO much nicer without the noise of the motors. Sure we need them to enter bays and anchor, but that's at almost an idle. This year one of our goals is to take the time to sail, even when going slowly, and so far we've done that.
On Monday we enter the Baja city of La Paz and the craziness of Carnival. So now we'll enjoy the last few nights of peace and quiet before then.

Lazy Days ... sort of

So what do lazy cruisers do? Well, not so much and not too fast.
We spent most of Saturday buzzed from the crossing; a bit tired but nothing a nap would not cure. Sunday became a day for a few boat projects. I moved some things around and put up some of our new canvas. Then I started a crossword puzzle. Alan however, felt the need to work on our engines. They are in the break in period so need a bit of extra attention and tender loving care.

I must say the gift of 2 engines on a catamaran becomes a bit of a hassle when all engine projects are done twice. Well, once for practice and once for real. Like most boat projects, this engine job became a bit bigger through the afternoon. Pretty soon every tool on the boat made its way to the cockpit; Alan got his "worksuit" very dirty; but by sunset the work was done! 2 oil changes, 2 valve adjustments and a new fresh water pump was installed. Yeah, there was a tiny drip that needed correcting. Alan is loving those memories of automotive shop class in high school.

Today we woke up to a very heavy dew on the decks. So we decided to take advantage and wipe down the boat -- rid it of the Sonoran dust & dirt and all the salt spray from our crossing. By 10:30am we were done and ready for shorts. We made it to shore and in our first dinghy landing we stayed dry (OK there is no surf here to test our mettle). We scrambled up the step hill sides looking at the diversity of plant life and rocks and an old mining effort. Folks on another boat in the anchorage came by for a visit. Alan went trolling for fish and caught a rock. Really a rock. Lucky for us I am in charge of provisioning.

Tomorrow we are heading south to Aqua Verde one of our favorite anchorages; about 35 nautical miles from here. We are hoping for an afternoon breeze so we can act like a sail boat and fly those white sails. Or even better: hoist the spinnaker. You just never know.

Finally Cruising!

Sure I know that part of cruising is working on your boat in foreign ports. And we have done our share of that! But honestly I don't really get too excited about various resins, caulks, bits, stainless bolts, gaskets, pumps, and you name it. Boat bits come with the territory.

But finally we were ready to leave!! Our "hot" port engine that we experienced on our overnight to Catalina was dealt with: a broken (but new) impeller, a small leak on the injector pump, and a small crack in the exhaust pipe (that easily cracked in two!) But our man Omar worked hard to get things squared away. He arrived at 5pm Tuesday and worked a couple of hours; then it was back again on Wednesday to reinstall and test everything. By Wednesday night we felt "good to go" and move on to the sailing part of cruising. And as luck would have it: there was a weather window to sail south, across the Sea of Cortez, to Loreto on the Baja peninsula. For us a weather window meant: some wind but nothing forecast over 20; not in a building pattern; lasting at least 36 hours; and wind from the north north west. The window was Friday - Friday night and part of Saturday before a day or so of southerlies and then a return of strong northerlies. Time to get going!!

So a quick trip to the mercado for fresh provisions (we will be a week or so before seeing a market again) and then we took the car up to the storage yard in San Carlos. Settle up with the marina and get our "dispatch" papers that no one ever asks for but seem to be required. Stow some gear. And pull up that anchor. And that anchor was mired in the most sticky yucky thick black mud; sort of reminded me of San Francisco Bay. Bring in a few feet and hose it off; bring in some more. With a hundred feet out it took some time! But finally Guaymas was off our stern. We anchored again at Bahia Catalina and had a lazy Friday morning.

Pulled up anchor (nice sandy bottom) and put up the main sail (with one reef in as that sail is too big for our taste). Time to act like a sail boat!! We motored for awhile to get away from the headlands and within an hour or so the breeze began filling in. YEAH. And then we began to sail. Flat and fast; a few waves snapping at the hulls cause "booms" inside. But the miles of our passage clicked past. By mid afternoon we put the second reef in; rolled up a bit of the jib. Flat and fast -- on we went. Blue skies and blue water. Such a fun time!

Late in the evening (maybe 9:30pm) the nearly full moon rose. Quite lovely to see. The wind began to fade and by midnight the engines were back on and we continued south. By sunrise, the peaks of the Baja peninsula were clearly in view. And dolphins were everywhere. The fish did not bite on this trip to the disappointment of the skipper --but maybe next time.

We had the hook down in Bahia Ballandra on Isla Carmen by 11am. We are due east of Loreto--there are 4 boats here for the evening. The crew of Magic will be sleeping soundly tonight.

We plan to spend a day or so here and then head further south. We want to be in La Paz for Carnival again this year.

Bahia Catalina

We did it!  We actually left the yard; left the fuel dock; left Guaymas Harbor and made it all the way to Bahia Catalina!  This small, 3 lobe anchorage is about an hour from the harbor tucked near Cabo Haro.  The wind funnels a bit off the hill sides but the bottom is sand so great holding.

We motored slowly to put the engines to a test.

The scenery was typical Baja:  blue sky; blue water; sea birds; small islands; cactus and small shrubs; shrimpers; pangeros day fishing.

After dropping the hook, we both collapsed in the salon and took naps.  Several weeks of hard work and suddenly there was (by agreement) not boat work to be done.  We relaxed and enjoyed the quiet.

We motored back slowly on Sunday and anchored off the marina.   A great maiden voyage -- and we found the port engine still needs some work.  That is happening now and we are watching for a weather window to head south maybe this weekend.

As the Yard Turns

I never knew that boat yards could be such hot beds of drama.  The Singular/Fonator marina here in Guaymas is an amazing place of intrigue and gossip -- given the few number of boats here and the slow pace that anything happens.

The whole chain of about 8 marinas was built originally by the central government in Mexico City:  high end hotels, marinas, event spaces, and shops.  The marinas and associated boat yards are all "cookie cutter" with the same layout and features.  The chain was to be built and then sold to private investors with the profits going back to the government.  Great idea.....but then someone had to actually build and manage the properties.

Initially the rates were very high; no one used the marinas so the rates were dropped.  Imagine what happened -- the yards were full and there were waiting lists for staying "on the hard" over the summer.   But then things began to change again -- about 6 months ago it seems.  The government has been unable to find a buyer for the complexes.  Many features of the complexes were never built so the money doesn't match projections.  So to make the marinas look more profitable -- they raised the rates, by 60%.  Everyone who can has left.  So it looks grim.  The staff has been forced to take a pay cut.

The morale is in the pits.  The office doesn't talk to the yard manager.  The security guards act as spies.  And on top of the rate increase there is a renewed emphasis on enforcing all the rules.  Like, not having your car in the yard; not using any space other than directly under your boat (projects tend to spread out); not sitting at the fuel dock for free.  Some of it is quite reasonable but other rules are foolish.  Made by bean counters.

My favorite catch 22 of the moment:  the marina does not have money to pay for gas for dryers in the laundry room.  But there is a rule about not hanging your laundry out to dry.  Ummmm.  I just take it to the local lavendaria and get it done.

But folks are fuming -- blaming the staff here for changes to their lifestyle.  The staff are blaming Mexico City and worried that no boats will show up for the summer storage season.

In the meantime, Magic is ready for a real maiden voyage.  We are going out to a nearby anchorage for the weekend.  It gets pretty noisy downtown and we want a quiet time to relax and regroup.  We will be back to Guaymas on Sunday.

To The Fuel Dock and Beyond.....

So, in the water we went yesterday morning.  Magic is a big old beamy catamaran: our beam is 21 feet while the ditch for the lift is 22 feet.  The math is pretty simple and there is no room for error.  But Horatio drove the lift in evenly and slowly we set down.  Oh my.

Omar said to start up the engines; first port and then starboard.  They have both been rebuilt and while they were tested with fresh water, this would begin the real test.  It didn't take too long for a knocking sound to emerge from the starboard engine room.  Omar listened a bit, the knocking continued, and he gave the sign to kill that engine.  Not exactly what we had planned, but oh well.

So our maiden voyage was with our starboard engine in neutral and a whole lot of line handlers.  We got pulled all the way to the fuel dock and tied up.  But by golly, we are a boat in the water.  Omar pulled out the starboard injectors to have them re-checked (under warranty) and installed our new spares.  He is a perfectionist and didn't like the new washers from Volvo so off he went to get some new copper washers.  They were installed and the starboard engine is purring.  So both engines are lovely to behold.

Alan and Omar had installed the forward and reverse shifters backwards so those got changed (this means the ceiling tile in the port aft stateroom comes down.)

The electrician came to finish up some of the alarm wiring.  It took a bit of time but then the alarms were completed to everyone's satisfaction.

But the gist of the day was, we were at the fuel dock and not going anywhere for a day or too.  The policy at this marina, is that boats that are not "sea ready" can remain at the fuel dock until they are "ready" to go.  And with a few engine issues, we could make the case we were not sea ready.  And while this is a bit of a drag, it works to our advantage as the fuel dock is free and a slip here is about $35 USD per day. We had planned to get a slip for a few days -- but sitting at the fuel dock is totally fine by us.

Magic is in the water and it is lovely to be floating and bobbing; listening to the shrimp through the hulls; and being a step closer to cruising.

Our projects today were simple:  get the jib up (about 30 minutes) and the main + associated lines in place (about 5 hours).  That main is a big old beast with a mind of its own.  But eventually we managed to get everything securely in place.  We still have some bits to sort out but Magic looks like a sailboat now:  in the water and sails installed.

Another day or so at the fuel dock (our injectors are due back tomorrow) and then on Friday we are out to the anchorage.  One step at a time.....