- April 5, 2005: We finally give up on projects
- April 7, 2005: Abe and Amy go swimming
- April 11, 2005: Our visas should be ready
- April 12, 2005: Zihuatanejo Guitar Fest
- April 18, 2005: Are they done yet?
- April 24, 2005: Eleytheria gets boarded by the Mexican Navy
April 5, 2005: We finally give up on projects
No more projects for Eleytheria for a bit. Or at least no major projects. We're done for now. We've been going nonstop (except for trips into town to find materials for the projects) since Mom and Dad left on March 8th. 7 days a week, generally 6 or more hours a day. It's time to take a break. We did get loads done, though. I finished all three awning panels except for grommets on one panel. No more sewing for awhile. Abe just needs some stainless steel tubing that the marine store has been promising now for a week. That's the tail-end of our projects, thank goodness. We're feeling like it's time to play a little. Since we've been in the marina, we've felt isolated from the rest of the cruisers. Zihuat Bay is a 10 minute bus-ride from Ixtapa, but radio communications are difficult due to a big hill, and we just don't see any cruisers working all day and crashing at night.
We moved the boat over the the anchorage yesterday. The plan is to wait for our new visas (I'll explain more in a bit) and then head south to Huatulco. I've mentioned previously that it doesn't feel like we've been cruising in the complete sense of the word since La Paz simply because we've spent so much time at a dock. It's not a bad thing, but it certainly is nice to be back hangin' on the hook (anchored). We may take some inland trips, and therefore will leave the boat at a marina for a few days. Other than that, we don't plan to be back at a marina for awhile.
With coming to the anchorage again, we get all the noises again. Things that rattle when we roll at anchorage, even the slightest bit. It was a fitful night of sleep as we seemed to have many more noises than usual. Although it has been quite some time since we've really settled into an anchorage. It just takes getting used to the noises again. I almost feel like a cat that wakes at every noise until she learns which ones are normal and which ones aren't. Then she can sleep through the normal ones and wake for the odd noises. Abe here - For me the motion was the real problem. The rocking was severe enough that I had to wedge myself to something to keep from rolling around in bed. That made it difficult to fall asleep. Most nights I just got about 4 hours of sleep.
Now, onto visas. Abe and I got them in San Diego from the Mexican Consulate back at the beginning of October. We thought it was closer to the end of October when we left the States with the Baja Ha Ha. Good thing we checked the dates! We'd gotten them early so that we could walk over the border to get our Mexican radio licenses. Our 6 month visas expire on April 6th. The gentleman at Immigration told us he was not able to extend the visas (we've since heard other cruisers say theirs were) so that means we had to apply for an FM3. As long as we applied before the visa expiration, we were (and still are) legally in this country. This is a yearlong visa; certainly more than we need, but we have to have something. The other option was to drive or fly out of Mexico and back in to get another tourist visa. We were just so busy with projects, we kept forgetting to look and pay attention. Otherwise we would have sailed out of Zihuatanejo weeks ago in order to make it out of Mexico by the visa expiration. Oh well. Time and a little bit of money and lesson learned. As my Dad would say, "if that's the worst thing that happens to you on this trip, you'll be doing fine!" We expect to get the FM3 visas middle of this week, and hope to start the sail to Huatulco by Saturday or Sunday. Back to the top.
April 7, 2005: Abe and Amy go swimming
It's so nice to get out and play. We decided it was time to go visit Playa Ropa. This beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Zihuatanejo areas, and we had yet to visit. Just a quiet dinghy ride from the boat over to the beach. A walk on the beach, a nice bite to eat, a nice swim - ah, this is the life. When we drove the dinghy into the beach, we saw the breaking waves carrying us along. It was going to be a tricky ride getting back out over those waves. But who's worried about that now? We're here to play!
We had a lovely lunch and some yummy lemonade. I'm not sure I've stressed this enough - Mexico makes the absolute best lemonade ever! Then it was time for a swim in some chilly water. But it was refreshing enough under the hot sun. These waves are looking quite big, though, wouldn't you say, Abe? We'll be fine getting the dinghy over them, I'm sure. We'll just have to time it just right. But who cares about that now? It's time for a walk. There were loads of activities on the beach. Vacationers swimming, jet skiing, sailing on Hobie Cats, riding on big banana boats (inner tubes that looked like bananas pulled behind a panga). So many people enjoying themselves.
But the fun must end at some point, and it was time to head home. We rolled the dinghy (we have big, honkin' dinghy wheels on the back end that help us roll it in and out of the water) to the water, and got all set up. The waves were breaking but it looked like if we hurried, we'd be okay on timing. I put the kill switch around my wrist, we loaded the dinghy, got the bow pointed out. Abe was pulling/pushing us farther out to the water and we were timing the waves. It seemed like we'd have about 15 seconds in which to start the engine, gun it and get over the breaking wave. Yikes. "Go, go, go, go!" was reminiscent of an exit from the aircraft for skydiving and we were off. We jumped in the dingy (we'd been in the water keeping it nose into the waves), and I was gunning the engine. We're going to make it. Yes. No, maybe not. Crap, crap, crap. We're not going to make it. That wave coming at us looks like it's going to break. Oh no, crap, oh my gosh, we're going to go over. SPLASH!!
I tumbled over the dinghy wheel out the back end of the dinghy. This is the very reason to wear a kill switch. As soon as I depart from the dinghy, my wrist pulls the kill switch off the motor and the motor dies. Therefore Amy doesn't become prop meat. Abe went over his side. We both came up sputtering and laughing. The dinghy was completely swamped and almost sunk because it was so full of water. There were two kids in the water laughing and saying, "That was SO COOL!" And all those vacationers on the beach, all those enjoying the afternoon had quite a show. Now I know why Abe wanted me to drive. Then all those people could blame it on women drivers!
We went back to the beach to remove all the water and what sand we could from the dinghy. It took about 5 minutes to drain all the water, and we were off again. In this case, the second time is the charm and we got off quite nicely. It also helped that the waves weren't breaking every 15 seconds. I wonder if we've been the subject of retold vacation stories, "Hey, you remember those crazies in that dinghy that got flipped end over end when they were hit by a wave?! Did they ever look stupid!"
At least now we can say we've had a proper dunking from our dink! Back to the top.
April 11, 2005: Our visas should be ready
Today is the day. Our visas should be ready to go. The guy we've been dealing with said to return today to pick up our visas. So we dress up (in nice shorts and shirts that aren't stained with oil or grease) and head to Immigration. When we arrive, we are told that the head guy that needs to sign the visas is out of town until Thursday. He's not sure that he can do anything about it, but while we're at the bank he'll see what he can do. It's a strange thing in Mexico to pay for most things major. We've found this to be true for all of Immigration, getting our radio licenses, Port Captains, etc. In order to pay fees, you go to Immigration in this case. They give you a piece of paper telling you and the bank how much you owe. You take the paper to the bank, give them money, and they in return give you a stamped receipt. Many of these offices are big on ink pad stamps, and you can hear the pounding of hitting the ink pad and then the paper on most documents. Once you have the receipt, you return to Immigration and get the papers you needed.
After our dance with immigration and the bank we return to immigration to find that Juan can't in fact help us and we are to return on Monday a week from now. We've heard many times over before getting into Mexico that to appear in a hurry is a sure way to make things move slower. So Abe and I simply smile and say we'll be back on Monday. Once out the door, though, we ask each other one question, "if the head guy is to return on Thursday, and ALL we need is his signature, then why must we wait until Monday?" We plotted to just happen to be in the area on Friday to see if, in fact, are signed. Back to the top.
April 12, 2005: Zihuatanejo Guitar Fest
One of the good things about having to stay in Zihuatanejo waiting for our visas is that we didn't miss the Guitar Fest. This was the second annual festival and we're so glad we go to see it. There were guitar players from all over the world playing all different styles of music. We went to a concert on the last night they were in town and had the opportunity to see many musicians. Abe plays the guitar himself and was so enraptured to watch the different styles of picking and strumming. He took loads of video while it was still light enough outside so that he could watch later in slow motion the different picking styles.
These were the best of the bunch. Flamenco-style playing, great music.
Back to the top.
April 18, 2005: Are they done yet?
Friday rolls around and we dress up again. We think we're being so sneaky. Like they don't know we made a special trip. It will save us three days, though! We drop in the office and now see a lady. She'd seen us before when Juan asked her a question about the documents that we needed for our application. She told us today that the visas weren't done. They hadn't even been typed up yet. They would be ready on Monday. Sigh.
Monday the 18th, and Abe and I are taking bets as to whether they'll really be ready. Neither one of us wanted to take the bet that they would! We were pleasantly surprised that they were, in fact, ready today. Just like they said. Now we can go. The problem is that Abe started an electrical project on Friday after we found they weren't ready and the job isn't finished yet. But at least we're on our own terms of departure now. Wednesday we'll be ready to go. Oh, maybe not. Thursday for sure. Are you seeing a pattern with us and departure dates being pushed back?
We did get some more projects done while waiting though. Abe installed our starting battery. We'd been using our house bank to start the engine and needed to hook up the single battery dedicated to only starting the engine. The house bank serves all the DC power we use on the boat - radios, refrigerator, laptop, etc. This job included installing a battery combiner so that the batteries would charge together but be separated when discharging so that we don't accidentally discharge the starting battery. The combiner gives us the option, though, of combining both banks if needed to start the engine (we shouldn't ever need to do this, but it's there in an emergency). He also hooked up the second alternator that we'd had since San Francisco. It was mounted on the engine, just not wired and no belt. Two nice projects to have finished. At some point, I'd finished the third panel of the awning. I'm having a heck of a time with mildew on it, though. So absolutely frustrating!! I knew that the cotton needed to be treated, but I didn't think the panels would start to mildew within a week of being hung. I tried some waterproofing for wooden decks (suggestions from a couple of cruisers), but that didn't help on 2 panels and made it grow like wildfire on another. I'm hoping that just spraying vinegar and water on them until I can get to the States and buy some proper sealant will be okay. I knew that cotton wasn't as good as Sunbrella, but it was so much cheaper. Since I didn't know how they'd turn out with my limited experience with making a pattern, it was the smartest way to go.
Once at anchorage, Abe found a corroded connection on one of our solar panels. It had stopped charging. He had to rig a "field-fix." It isn't pretty, but it works. We e-mailed the company the information as the panels are less than 9 months old. They suggested that we return them the next time we're in the States. Ha! So not sure what we're going to do about that, but at least it's working for now. Back to the top.
April 24, 2005: Eleytheria gets boarded by the Mexican Navy
We finally pulled out of the marina on April 21, just three weeks after we wanted to. That's okay. We're on our way now. It was a three night trip, and we're finding that we're getting very comfortable with the passages. Many of the cruisers that we talk with don't like to do overnight passages at all much less anything longer than 24 hours. We think that it is good practice for us for the longer passages that are coming up. We're currently sitting at 15° 44' 58" N, 96° 07'45" W.
About an hour after we dropped the anchor, we see a panga-load go by with about 8 guys from the Mexican Navy go by. We didn't want to give them the no-look look and arouse suspicion. Abe's sister is a sheriff's detective and has explained that she knows something is up when the people in the car don't look at you. You can feel them seeing you, but not looking. It's call the no-look look. As the navy passes by, Abe and I both quickly glance and wave hoping that this will encourage them to go on by. They did!
But after we'd jumped in the water, t-shirt, shorts and all to cool off, they come back by. Both of us were dripping copious amounts of water on the deck, putting the gas tank into the dinghy, when they pulled up. Drat! Only 3 boarded us and a dog. We gave them some cold water, they checked our papers, the dog had a sniff downstairs for drugs and off they went. It was a very pleasant affair, with them commenting that Abe's Spanish was superb. It was quite unnerving to have them on board. Not sure why, but it made me nervous just like when I get pulled over for driving too fast. So that was our big excitement. It was interesting that they were taking a video of us as they pulled up in their panga. It made us not feel so bad asking to take their picture.
It would seem that if you live in a hot part of the world, you wouldn't
subject the people who work for you to wear black uniforms with long sleeves
and pants. Just a thought.
From here we plan on taking a trip to Mexico City to see Abe's relatives and to stop in the city of Oaxaca. Abe was born in Mexico City, and immigrated with his father to the States when he was 6. His father was the only one to immigrate to the US, and extended family still lives in Mexico City. We'll be able to see some ruins and visit a place that is known for chocolate and coffee - our kind of place! After we return to Huatulco, we'll wait for a good weather window to cross the Gulf of Tehuantepec. Because of the narrow land and the comparatively low land with surrounding mountains, the wind can really whip through here. The Gulf has 140 days of gale force winds that blow through. We just need to time the passage across the Gulf for calmer winds. It's very predictable so it's only a matter of reading the weather and waiting it out.
The next passage will be direct to El Salvador. No, we don't want to miss Guatemala, but there is no anchorage along the way. They do have a marina, but it's very expensive. The countries are very close together through Central America and we'll head directly for El Salvador. From there we'll park the boat and head back to the States. Abe is retired from the military and has the privilege of flying on military "hops." These are very cheap flights and give us many options for getting back to the States. We'll take a bus from El Salvador to Honduras and fly to South Carolina. We think we'll stay in the States for 4 -6 weeks. Our next trip to the States will be most likely in January 2006 before we cross the Pacific. Back to the top.
