Category: 2008 – 2009 Mazatlan – Revilligegedos Islands – Central Mexico – Central America – Costa Rica to Galapagos Islands Voyage – Blog

Dear F&F,
February 25, 2009

We were not too surprised to hear from Ziggy the mechanic that the ship yard would not be ready to haul us out on Tuesday. But when we got another \”manana\” story this morning we decided to go there & see what was the hold up. Carmina drove us the 10 minutes to the area where the haul out yard is. Scott had been there on Monday with Ziggy & saw the big shrimp boat that was in what is called \”the ways\”. Imagine a cement ramp with cement side wall. There are railroad tracks on each edge of the cement ramp. Divers have to go underwater to brace the boat with supports. The supports are either wood, metal and sometimes rubber tires depending on the type of boat. In our case, probably a combination of wood & tires. Then the whole contraption is winched up along the railroad tracks until the boat is out of the water. In this shipyard there can only be 1 boat out of the water at a time. So until the rust-bucket shrimp boat is finished & put back in the water, it is not possible for us to be hauled out. When Scott saw the boat Monday it looked like just the rudder needed to be bolted on. He heard one worker say that it would be 4-5 days. But when he & Ziggy asked Vladimir the yard manager they were told 1-2 days. Today was day 2, that is why we went there to make sure we aren\’t on indefinite \”manana time\”.

Vladimir was very polite & pulled up chairs for Carmina, Scott & I at a big desk. It is 10:30 a.m. Carmina translates all our questions into Spanish. We would like information about the crossing the sandbar to enter the lagoon. Vladimir at first indicates that if we come at high tide the waves are very gentle so it is no problem. A minute later he describes that the waves are big enough to surf and that the passage can be very dangerous. I raise an eyebrow & look at Scott. We don\’t know what to make of this conflicting information & Carmina is unable to get him to clarify.

We know due to the sandbar we can only cross at high tide. We have a print out of the tide table & show him that the high tides for the next several days are pretty late in the day. We want to find out how late the workers will stay to haul us out. He says, yes they will work late. As he studies the tide graph, he comments that he wishes that the high tide were a little higher than the predicted 5 feet. This is like wishing the sun would hang in the sky a few minutes longer. Again, Scott & I look at each other & do not know what is going on. Something is odd.

What we really want to know is, \”How much longer until the shrimp boat is finished & you can take us out?\” He tells us he is going to have a meeting with the manager of the job at 2:00 pm today to find out the status. He proposes that their crew can work 24 hours a day to accelerate the job. He says they can put lights on & work at night. This is nonsense & we know it. We don\’t know why he is telling us this b.s. He suggests we return at 2:00 pm with Ziggy the mechanic to have further discussion.

We drive by the lagoon entry & look at the waves. We ask a fisherman how much he would charge to take us out in his panga for a test run of crossing the sandbar at high tide. Today high tide is about 3:20 pm. We can check it out after the 2:00 pm meeting.

We drive back to \”Beach House\” & I make sandwiches. Scott & I both have bad gut feelings about the haul out yard. Something is fishy & we aren\’t being told the whole story. We decide perhaps we should consider Plan B, which is to leave here & limp down the coast on 1 engine. It is 120 miles to El Salvador, at 5 knots it will take us about 24 hours. There is also a sandbar to cross there. We have to call the marina as we approach & they will tell us when it is safe to cross (also high tide) & send a panga to guide us in. We are told the entry is 1000 feet wide. The Guatemala entry was very narrow, which is part of the danger.

Next to information about Bahia del Sol, El Salvador, in the margin of our cruising guide book, I had written a note from a meeting with a boating friend who was down here a few years ago \”Don\’t go. Many boats swamped.\” Oy veh. I know timing is everything. We have talked to many boats that have crossed this bar without too much excitement.

There are 2 places that have haul out capability in El Salvador. Scott calls Murray Barrett who he spoke with last week when we discovered our breakdown. He is still with his sick mother in Canada. He owns Island Marine which provides mechanical service in Bahia del Sol. He explains the \”careening\” process in more detail & upon further consideration, Scott thinks that this may be the way to go.

Barillas is the other option. It is 20 miles past Bahia del Sol and has a railroad haul out like here. The big question is when will they be able to take us out? Do they also have a boat stuck in the ways for 5 months? Carmina calls the haul out yard in Barillas. The manager is not in & no one else is there to answer questions. Scott composes an email & Carmina translates it into Spanish. We send both the English & Spanish email & have to wait & hope for a reply.

At 2:00 pm we drive back to the ship yard here to see if Vladimir can give us more information. He seems busy & says we should wait for Ziggy to arrive to have our meeting. Carmina, Scott & I walk out by the shrimp boat. We see an enormous hole in the back. This was not there when Scott & Ziggy saw it Monday. Obviously A LOT more work needs to be done on this boat. We had Carmina ask one yard worker how long the boat has been there. Answer: 5 months! (Scott had been told \”less than a week\” when he first met Vladimir). Another worker said he has been on the job 3 months. When we asked another worker how much longer he expected until the boat was finished he answered: \”Two more weeks if everything goes well\”. Oy veh. When Ziggy did not arrive by 2:20 pm for the meeting, Carmina called him on his cell. He said he misunderstood, he is at his own shop by our marina. We tell him not to bother coming, we cannot wait for this yard indefinitely.

We stop at Ziggy\’s shop on our return to the marina & ask him to please have his mechanic re-secure our engine for our trip down to El Salvador. It had to be unbolted & hoisted out of the way to diagnose the transmission problem. We also need them to bring the new transmission from their shop to our boat. We need to pay Ziggy something for his mechanics\’ time. Scott pays our marina bill. Carmina calls the agent we used to check in, Miguel Oscar, requesting that he come & pick up our passports & request our Zarpe (international exit document). We want to leave by noon tomorrow, Thursday. This exercise in futility must come to an end. Carmina & I drive to the gas station & fill four of our 5 gallon jugs with diesel so we have plenty of fuel for the trip.

It is 7:00 pm now. The engine has been secured. The new transmission is lying on plastic under our cockpit table. Agent Miguel Oscar just left after delivering our exit documents & passports stamped with tomorrow\’s date. In the morning we will hose off as much of the sugar cane ash as we can. We plan to shove off before the prevailing wind comes up & pins us to the dock. We cannot make a right turn from a standstill or slow speed with the port engine/transmission offline. We are tied up on the left side of the boat & need to turn right to get out of here. We will either get a few guys to help push us off, or maybe even hire a panga to tow us off.

Puerto Quetzal turned out to be a major disappointment. We are really disgusted at the Iztapa Lagoon haul out manager. Just how long was he going to string us along? Time to stop sitting around waiting for nothing. Carmina was happy to have us stop with our boat in her country. That was the only good part of this detour. We thank her profusely for holding our hand through this ordeal. In the morning we will hug her goodbye & see her after our repair when she will come & meet us in El Salvador. We have flight reservations from Guatemala City to Los Angeles in mid March. Miles to go & lots to accomplish between now & then. Part of the adventure. Not the most fun part. But we are safe & Lord willing, the starboard transmission will get us to El Salvador. Onward!

Scott & Cindy
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Dear F&F,
February 22-23, 2009

After breakfast onboard, we climbed into Carmina\’s Toyota Yaris (similar to a Corolla) & enjoyed the air conditioned 1 hr drive to Antigua. Guatemala has 36 volcanoes, several active. We stopped to let Scott photograph the grey smoke puffing out of the one called Fuego (fire). At least 2 are currently active in this area. As the road climbed in elevation there was a steady change in climate. Hot & humid in the marina, it was almost cold in Antigua. It is a colonial town, quite sprawling & bustling with tourists. Carmina is a wonderful tour guide, showing us the highlights. Including a former convent turned into a beautiful hotel where Bill Clinton stayed when he was President. The gardens, fountains & grounds are lovely, the staff friendly; a very successful establishment. We used the ATM there to get our first local currency called Quetzals. The exchange rate is about 7.5 quetzals to 1 dollar. Or 10 quetzals = about $12 USD. All over town there are many restored historical buildings turned into shops & cafes. Various indigenous people were out dressed in colorful native costume, selling & exhibiting weaving. We enjoyed a cup of Guatemalan coffee and later a delicious lunch in a different hotel. It was the largest group of Americans we have been around since our tour of Copper Canyon. We kept pinching ourselves as our being there with Carmina & Alejandra seemed somewhat surreal. Twice Carmina & I dissolved into hugs & tears right on the street. It is not that we did not plan on seeing them & visiting here. We did. From El Salvador, in about 2 weeks. With the transmission failure we just altered our plans. So far so good, we are quite hopeful that it will all work out fine. But after 14 months in Mexico we are somewhat amazed that we are now actually somewhere altogether new & different.

We had a lazy evening on the boat. Scott delved into the English language book on the history of Guatemala. Alejandra, Carmina & I tried to attract fish with the lights we can turn on to shine under our boat. We tried feeding them cooked carrots, cold cereal & bits of turkey sandwich. They were most attracted to Alejandra\’s fingers!

February 23
Ziggy & Eldon the mechanics showed up about 8:30 am. They confirmed the diagnosis of broken transmission drive shaft. DHL came through again, our new unit is ready for pick up in Guatemala City. I decided to pass on the 4 hr round trip drive, so am catching up on my emails & other paperwork. Scott & Carmina will drop Alejandra off at home, pick up our delivery & head back.

Scott got a quick tour of Carmina\’s house and met \”Tia\”, Carmina\’s 80 something year old aunt.
The view from her home of two volcanoes and Guatemala City was spectacular. Carmina said when she bought the house she needed a dose of \”Edwin Place\” (Where Scott\’s parents lived in Los Angeles with a spectacular view of the San Fernando Valley).

The haul out yard may not be ready for us until Wednesday. But we will be ready for them whenever they call us. We must drive over a sandbar to enter the ship yard area at Iztapa Lagoon. It will be about a 1 hour trip door to door from here. We must time our entry with a high tide. A panga will guide us in to avoid shallow underwater obstructions.

The 3 of us will stay in a hotel while the boat is hauled out. Hopefully only 1-2 nights. It is such a help to have Carmina for translation, transportation & cheer leader. She helped me transfer my frozen food to the smaller freezer in her cabin. It can run on batteries/solar power & we shut down the main unit. My main fridge must also go offline when we haul out because the keel coolers do not work out of the water. We should be able to eat down most of the food & will give whatever is left to the mechanics.

There are no other cruisers here. The main tourism is sport fishing. They practice catch & release of various sail fish, taking photos & drinking beer. They stay at hotels not on the fishing boats, so it is not that busy here in the marina, especially since the US Coast Guard cutter left this morning. Besides the fact that it is pretty darn hot, one bummer is the ash from the farmers burning the old sugar cane crop. It rains down black soot on us. Thank goodness we have air conditioning and can use it all we want with the dock power. Even the inside of the boat is getting filthy with a fine layer of black dust. And the outside is very sad. We cannot get too fussed about it since the ship yard will add its own layer of dirt.

We are taking it one day at a time. So far so good�..

Scott and Cindy
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Dear F&F,
February 21, 2009

We slept very well with the air conditioner on which kept out the noise of the US Coast Guard sailors partying at the nearby palapa restaurant/bar. We got up about 7:15 am. Miguel Oscar who is recommended in our cruising guide as an agent to help with the check-in process appeared on our dock at 7:30. His Spanish was muy rapido, so we asked him to return after 8:30 when we knew Carmina would be here to translate. It is a 2 hr drive from Guatemala City to Puerto Quetzal. At 8:00 am Ziggy showed up – the American mechanic that has been living & working here in Puerto Quetzal for 15 yrs. He & Scott discussed the transmission symptoms, diagnosis & plan for new unit installation. He is very nice & even though he has not worked on this kind of sail drive unit, seems to be a capable guy for the job.

We were so excited when our dear Carmina showed up with 19 year old niece Alejandra (that she has raised since 4 yrs old, so she\’s more like her daughter). Alejandra is shy speaking English even though she understands a little. This is good as we are trying to use more Spanish. Carmina explained to us the owner of this marina is a very rich & famous man in Guatemala. She told the marina office by phone yesterday that we were friends of his arriving from Mexico. This explained when the manager of the marina then showed up about 9:00 am asking if everything was ok, did we need anything & welcomed us to Guatemala. When Miguel Oscar the paperwork agent returned it was very helpful to have Carmina explain his services & fees. We agreed to use him in order to avoid running around to check in on our own. We made 5 copies of our passports, boat documentation & Zarpe (exit paper) from Mexico. He took all these & was gone 2 hrs to go to the Port Captain\’s office, Immigration & Customs. When he returned, 1 official from each office was with him & came aboard our boat. We did not know how much of an inspection of the boat they would want to do. As it turned out they were very polite & friendly. Carmina offered them water & iced tea & we served them each while they sat at our salon table doing the necessary paperwork. Scott filled out 1 form & signed another. I was so relieved they did not ask if we had fruits & vegetables from Mexico. I confess I had hidden a few apples & onions… In less than 15 minutes, they said we were finished & got up to leave after finishing their cold beverage. I asked if we could take their photo. They agreed, so we got a nice group shot of Miguel, Carmina, Alejandra & the 3 officials. That makes 8 people onboard. It was just after 12:00 noon when they left – a busy morning.

Scott walked up to the car to help Carmina & Alejandra carry their luggage down to the boat. A group of architecture students were strolling down the dock (on a field trip of some type) & admiring \”Beach House\”. Scott is not shy & loves to share our adventures, so gave out many cards with our website information & took their photos while they were taking photos of us & the boat. Meanwhile Carmina is wearing her \”Beach House\” t-shirt so looks like official crew & they are very impressed to see that we have a native Guatemalan with us. It was very sweet. They were very excited to hear about the manta rays we saw in the Islas Revillegigedos and wished us well on our travels.

Now that we were officially checked in to the country, we could take down the yellow Quarantine flag (a formality requested by customs officials worldwide, not that they really think we are importing some dread disease) & free to get off the boat. The 4 of us went to the palapa restaurant for lunch just up by the marina office. There are mostly sport fishing boats on the dock. We are the only sailboat/cruisers. At the restaurant we talked to some of the US Coast Guard guys. We also met a group called \”Help International\” who are Americans volunteering medical & construction services here. We are learning some subtle differences of Guatemalan Spanish to Mexican Spanish. For example tortilla chips are called \”totopas\” in Mexico. Here they are called \”nachos\”. They do not offer salsa. The guacamole was not good. But we reserve judgment on Guatemalan food since this is just one tourist restaurant. Carmina & I shared fish sticks. Scott & Alejandro each had a queso hamberguesa.

Scott was happy to receive the email from Scott Adam who is our LA hero that picked up & shipped out the new transmission. We have the DHL tracking number & it could arrive in Guatemala City as soon as Monday. We do not know if customs there will hold it up for duty payment. We will have to check on the status tomorrow. There is internet access from the palapa, but we have not tried it yet.

There was much more wind today which has caused this dock to become very surgy. We don\’t love it but are able to mostly ignore it. Fortunately Carmina & Alejandra do not seem to mind. We all took a nice siesta in the late afternoon. Alejandra has been mostly on her cell phone excitedly telling her friends about being on a yacht. She had seen Carmina\’s photos from her visit to us in La Paz, but being onboard herself is having high impact. She is a very sweet young lady & we are happy to share our floating home with them.

While I cooked dinner, Scott got inspired to install our new bathroom bug screen. The installing was not so difficult as the removal of the old one. One down & 1 to go. Just making the guest cabin back into a bedroom, instead of the overflow garage, was a trick. The port forward cabin (main garage) is a royal mess, but we will manage. We are really enjoying our guests. It is wonderful to spend time with Carmina & get to know Alejandra. We will meet her nephew (son) Eddie & Carmina\’s brothers, aunt & other extended family when we go with her to her home in Guatemala City. But for now these two will stay with us. Tomorrow being Sunday, we will take as a sightseeing day. Antigua is a historical colonial town about 45 minutes drive, we will visit tomorrow. Monday Ziggy the mechanic will return & begin to disassemble the engine from the transmission. As much as he can do while we are in the water to see if he can get to the source of the failure. The rest of our schedule will depend on when our new transmission clears customs in Guatemala City. Carmina will drive us to pick it up there. We have to move the boat to another area, called Iztapa Lagoon, for the haul out. It has a sandbar so we can only enter at high tide with a panga guiding us in where the bottom contour is deep enough for us to safely pass. This will be a bit nerve wracking with only 1 functional engine, but we will manage.

Scott & I had showers tonight. I am filling the water tanks right now so our guests can shower in the morning. The dock water is potable, but requires extensive filtering due to sediment. This will likely clog up our filter system quickly. But the harbor water is too dirty to use the desalinator so it is the lesser of two evils. Overall, a good first day of our unscheduled stop in Puerto Quetzal. We are looking forward to getting in some fun while we are detained for the new transmission installation.

Scott and Cindy
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Dear F&F,
The following is an edited version of Scott Adam\’s email to us regarding the successful acquisition of our NEW transmission.

February 20, 2009

Email Report from Scott Adam, aka: \”Our Hero\”:

0630: Arise to the stock market falling.

0700: You call on Satellite Telephone (Scott Stolnitz)

0715: Go to Costa Mesa (Boatswains Locker to pick up \”Beach House\’s\” NEW transmission).

0830: Ignacio (parts department at Boatswains Locker) gets to be a new best friend (and I pick up the BIG box, weight 106 lbs.)

0915: I go to Technautics to pick up some parts (just around the corner from Boatswains\’ Locker) for our boat, s/v \”Quest\”.

1000: Go to Minnies Marine Store and pick up a few \”essentials\” for s/v \”Quest\”.

1115: Approaching Santa Monica, get a flat tire at the 10/405 freeway interchange.

1130: Changing tire at entrance to Santa Monica Blvd.

1200: Get to where the DHL used to be on Wilshire.

1215: Get to another place DHL used to be on Lincoln.

1220: Get to the Box Brothers store where the attendant says \”where is your international certificate of non-toxicity\”?

1240: Get a copy of what Boatswains Locker has….NOT GOOD ENOUGH says the %$*x!ng attendant.

1335: Get fax of what Mercury Marine has for non-toxicity certificate. It PASSES!!!!

1400: Finish filling out forms at DHL.

1415: Pay $1043.88 USD for expedited DHL shipping to Guatemala City and leave the Box Brothers store on Friday as planned. I thank the \”very helpful\” attendant.

1430: Get new tire and start the \”honey dos\” 🙂

1500: Go to Arbys and have breakfast.

All in all a very eventful day…
I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS RATRACE AND BACK TO MY BOAT & GO CRUISING!

Blessings

Scott Adam
————————————————-
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SailMail Association, a non-profit association of yacht
owners. For more information on this service or on the
SailMail Association, please see the web site at:

SailMail Association

Dear F&F,
The following is an edited version of Scott Adam\’s email to us regarding the successful acquisition of our NEW transmission.

February 20, 2009

Email Report from Scott Adam, aka: \”Our Hero\”:

0630: Arise to the stock market falling.

0700: You call on Satellite Telephone (Scott Stolnitz)

0715: Go to Costa Mesa (Boatswains Locker to pick up \”Beach House\’s\” NEW transmission).

0830: Ignacio (parts department at Boatswains Locker) gets to be a new best friend (and I pick up the BIG box, weight 106 lbs.)

0915: I go to Technautics to pick up some parts (just around the corner from Boatswains\’ Locker) for our boat, s/v \”Quest\”.

1000: Go to Minnies Marine Store and pick up a few \”essentials\” for s/v \”Quest\”.

1115: Approaching Santa Monica, get a flat tire at the 10/405 freeway interchange.

1130: Changing tire at entrance to Santa Monica Blvd.

1200: Get to where the DHL used to be on Wilshire.

1215: Get to another place DHL used to be on Lincoln.

1220: Get to the Box Brothers store where the attendant says \”where is your international certificate of non-toxicity\”?

1240: Get a copy of what Boatswains Locker has….NOT GOOD ENOUGH says the %$*x!ng attendant.

1335: Get fax of what Mercury Marine has for non-toxicity certificate. It PASSES!!!!

1400: Finish filling out forms at DHL.

1415: Pay $1043.88 USD for expedited DHL shipping to Guatemala City and leave the Box Brothers store on Friday as planned. I thank the \”very helpful\” attendant.

1430: Get new tire and start the \”honey dos\” 🙂

1500: Go to Arbys and have breakfast.

All in all a very eventful day…
I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS RATRACE AND BACK TO MY BOAT & GO CRUISING!

Blessings

Scott Adam
————————————————-
Do not push the \”reply\” button to respond to this
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SailMail Association, please see the web site at:

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Dear F&F,
February 19-20, 2009

February 19th
It is 5:00 a.m., one more hour to go of my shift. The feared Tehuantepec is almost completely astern; the crossing picked at a perfect \”weather window\”. Predictions are it will be blowing 30-40 knots from the north, a full blown \”TEHUANTE-PECKER\” in less than 24 hours.

At 3:00 am the crescent moon rose right in front of me. Bright orange while it was still low on the horizon. That was worth being up for. I\’ve enjoyed a lot of bioluminescent creatures also. Calm conditions, motoring along. We are still going quite slow at the RPMs we are at. Must be current (soon to find out OTHERWISE). Hope to clear it eventually.

I will warn you right up front that this is going to be a long one. You won\’t believe what has transpired in the past 24 hrs. I hardly believe it myself… For those of you who have to rush off to work & can\’t read this right now, just know we are safe & fine & on our way to Guatemala instead of El Salvador. Yes, with the boat. Here\’s why:

I am writing on my first night shift of our 2nd night. When I got off my 2-6:00 am shift, I was looking forward to a good sleep. At 7:30 am I am abruptly awakened by Scott slamming the boat into reverse. Another string of fishing lines he almost ran over. There is no significant boat traffic in this area, so the fisherman just string out their long lines (up to 2000 feet!) wherever they feel they can catch fish. We are more than 10 miles offshore. Thankfully no damage was done & the guys in the panga seemed somewhat apologetic. But the fact is the fishermen are not expecting us anymore than we are expecting them. Thus the 24 hour watch. To make sure we did not have any bit of line caught under the boat we backed down. In the process of motoring backwards I noticed we were turning in a circle, not going straight back. Despite the rudder being centered. Despite both engines in reverse at the same RPM. Only one answer: the port transmission was not engaged. Scott climbs back to check & sure enough the motor on port is running smoothly, but completely ineffective because the transmission, though apparently engaging, is not working. We test it: it will not move us forward. It will not move us in reverse. So our assumption that we were going so slow last night due to a current being against us was wrong. We were going so slow because we were effectively only being propelled with the starboard engine. This is not a happy discovery. It is not just the matter of going slow on 1 engine, it makes it very difficult to maneuver. In many ways we are like a twin screw powerboat. We rely heavily on both engines when docking & maneuvering. The entry to the marina in El Salvador requires us to cross a \”bar\”. I will explain that elsewhere it has nothing to do with drinking�..:). We would definitely want to be fully maneuverable when crossing the \”bar\”.

These transmissions have given us heck since the beginning. We have had warranty replacements from Yanmar twice. The reason we hauled out in Mazatlan in November was for warranty fix of the transmissions. They are our weakest essential piece of equipment. And there are no alternatives to Yanmar due to the installation space, fitting, machining etc. Scott did extensive research on this & failure of the transmissions has been one of his big fears – now realized. We start to discuss our options. He gets on the morning net & puts out \”a cry for information\”. Two boats we know switched with him to another channel to discuss our plight. One being Chuck of \”Jacaranda\” who was with us in San Benedicto & Socorro. He told Scott to take a deep breath, which I really appreciated. Something I did not dare suggest myself. Scott is an emotional creature who needs to moan & gnash his teeth & stomp & swear before moving on to solve the problem. I wait out this phase & focus on deep breathing for myself. Chuck offered to post our situation on the \”Southbound Yahoo Net\” which is a Yahoo users group & may bring insight & information from other boaters.

The information we needed first was: How to diagnose the problem? The sea was calm enough that I was able to essentially stop the boat. Scott jumped in with his mask & snorkel to see if anything was not normal below. Besides getting stung by a jelly fish, he discovered that the propeller turned way too easily by hand. Next, satellite phone call: our friendly Mazatlan mechanic Bob, who did the last work on our transmissions. He said unfortunately it did NOT sound like the cone clutches slipped. The cone clutches are known to fail after an unreasonably low number of hours & we have been prepared for this part of the transmissions to fail. It would have been a relatively easy fix & we have the parts needed onboard. But no, it is sounding more like the drive train is broken somewhere along the line. That would require the boat to be hauled out. Where can we get hauled out? What parts are needed? What mechanic can do the job?

Next, Scott calls Yanmar technical support in Georgia. The guy there confirms that it does NOT sound like a cone clutch problem. Perhaps the \”splined coupling\”. (Don\’t worry there will not be a quiz at the end.)

Will we need to haul the boat out to get this fixed? Yes, because if it broke, there will be metal debris inside the transmission. How do we go about finding out where to haul out?

We have a cruising guide with emails & phone numbers of the various Central American ports & marinas. Scott starts calling. Thank God he just bought an additional 500 minutes for our satellite phone. The guy that runs part of the cruisers mooring system at Bahia del Sol in El Salvador where we were heading is a Canadian. We get his cell phone to discover he is visiting his sick mother in Canada for a month. We get this information from his Latino assistant. We call Murray\’s cell phone number. He answers. He describes to Scott the option of \”careening\” the boat at low tide & quickly doing the job. Hmmmm. The very sound of \”careening\” does not appeal much to us. We look at other options.

We had intended to skip Puerto Quetzal, the only Pacific port in Guatemala because we heard it was commercial, dirty, and had no appeal for cruisers. But as a commercial port, it may be just the place that can haul us out if they are used to dealing with bigger cruising boats. We call our friend Carmina in Guatemala City & she starts making calls on our behalf. Very soon an American mechanic named \”Ziggy\” calls her. When we call her back she gives us his number. Ziggy describes the haul out option there. It is pretty much how we were launched in France. You get pulled up on railroad tracks & then blocked up for the job. No careening. No rushing to finish the job due to the tide. You are out of the water until ready to go back in. Also when you go back in you can quickly check for leaks & haul her back out if needed. The whole working with the tide situation in El Salvador is probably fine for bottom paint or some minor work, but not this. One little detail!….We have to go over a \”bar\” entrance at high tide with a local guide. This is not a bar that much discussion has been heard as no one really ever has to take their cruising boat across it. The local sport fishers however have been doing it for years as have the local large fishing boats. This will be our first \”bar\” crossing; we will check it out by land before attempting via sea.

What is the job going to be? Scott makes the command decision to order an entire new transmission. We can have the old failed one rebuilt somewhere down the line & keep it onboard as a spare. Each transmission weighs about 100 lbs & is about 3 feet long by 1 foot in diameter. Where can we get one – fast? He calls 2 resources: one Yanmar dealer in Florida & one in So. Cal. They will check their inventory & ask Scott to call back in an hour. We cannot easily receive incoming calls on the satellite phone.

On follow up calls to the Yanmar reps they both have what we need in stock. Florida refuses to ship DHL. This is a deal breaker. DHL is the only shipping company that works in this region of the world. We have had great luck with them so far & are not willing to risk Fed Ex, which we had a disastrous one time experience. The So. Cal dealer will not ship at all. Someone has to pick it up & ship it for us.

We consider flying to LA & bringing it back as baggage. Without being able to talk to the airlines we don\’t know if this is possible or not. Someone tells us that they do not think you can check baggage over 100 lbs. Plus the time to go there & back when we already have a flight booked for March 12th seems like a pain.

We need someone in So. Cal to drive to the Yanmar dealer, pick up the transmission, take it to a DHL shipper & send it to Guatemala City. Who can we ask to do this enormous favor? Scott Adam comes to mind. He is our cruiser friend that saved our bacon last year. Buying a new power cord end (that was fried at the Barra de Navidad dock) at West Marine & meeting my sister Alberta at LAX just before she checked in to board her plane to visit us. He was a godsend then & we decide he might be willing to be our Angel once more. He & Jean\’s sailboat s/v \”Quest\” is in Australia, but they are currently in LA until the 1st week of March, living onboard the power boat they keep at Del Rey Yacht Club. First call to his cell phone reaches his answering machine. Scott leaves a message. Jeff & Gayle are also cruisers back in LA on a visit, we call him next. He answers his cell. He\’d love to help us, but is tied up until Tuesday. But he gives us another phone number for Scott\’s wife Jean. Scott the Angel answers, hears our plea & rises to the occasion once again. He will do it tomorrow.

Scott calls the So. Cal Yanmar parts department back, pays by credit card & notifies them that Scott Adam will pick up the transmission for us tomorrow – Friday. We email Scott aka: \”Our Hero\” the address for Yanmar (Boatswains Locker) Costa Mesa. We call Carmina to have her get the address of the main DHL office in Guatemala City. The Puerto Quetzal mechanic, Ziggy said do not have it shipped to the marina because it could take days longer. Since we have the benefit of Carmina\’s assistance & car, we can ship it \”Para Recoger\” (hold for pick up). The DHL office will hold it. We did this once before in Cabo del San Jose & it worked out great. We have had DHL shipments arrive in Mexico as quickly as 2 business days. If it gets out of LA Friday, it could be in Guatemala City on Monday. Then it is just a matter of how long will it get delayed in customs. We expect to pay some import duty. But when will they actually release it to us?

So the plan is forming & we are feeling that this makes the most sense. Even if our current trouble is some doinky repair that needs some inexpensive part, it is still a problematic unit. I have some concerns that even new out of the box these sail drive transmissions seem unreliable, but we don\’t know what else to do. We are not willing to risk getting further afield without having a functional transmission for each engine. An entire new unit is expensive, but can be installed in a few hours. We did this in Ventura, twice, so we know.

All of the above takes until about 3:00 pm. Meanwhile I have had one hour sleep x 2 in the past 24 hours. I had to be on watch while Scott did all the calls & emails because 3 more times we came upon fishing lines strung out. If our 2nd remaining engine/transmission gets fouled we would be sitting ducks out here for a very long time. There has been very little wind – Lake Pacific. Makes for a comfortable ride, but requires the starboard engine to run many hours. We were able to fly the spinnaker for a couple of hours just before sunset tonight so it got a brief rest.

Because we are on one engine we are going only 5 1/2 to 6 knots instead of the normal 7.2 to 8. So instead of getting all the way down to El Salvador in 3 days & 3 nights. We will spend nearly that time just getting to Guatemala.

Ziggy drove to the haul out yard (where they take out the shrimp boats) & confirmed that they would be able & willing to handle us on their railroad system. Ziggy and Carmina each called Marina Pez Vela to tell them we are on our way, expecting a Saturday morning arrival & request a dock while we wait for the transmission to arrive.

Meanwhile we will make the most of our unplanned stop in Guatemala. It is a 2 hr drive from Guatemala City for Carmina to come meet us at the marina. She is determined to be standing on the dock when we pull in & she will be a welcome sight. Hopefully we can do some sightseeing with her while waiting for the transmission to arrive. She will be a big help with translation everywhere. We have a recommendation of a local agent to help with the check in & out process. But having a native daughter onboard can only help smooth the process. Carmina is also checking out a hotel for us to stay while the boat is hauled out. Hopefully it will not be more than 1-2 nights, but my refrigerator & freezer will have to be taken offline, and we won\’t have power. It is never fun to stay onboard when hauled out. We used to do it in Ventura, but not in these foreign yards. They are so dirty & often smelly too.

Scott emailed Bahia del Sol in El Salvador informing them of our delay. We hope they understand why we chose to do the job here instead of there. We still hope to get there eventually. Since we were so quickly in & out of Huatulco, we are ok on time if things move along as hoped. Que sera sera… We are safe. It is warm & a lovely evening. I got an hour & half rest & after an iced coffee feel pretty darn good. Only 1 hour left of my 1st night shift, although I may let Scott stay down longer because I don\’t think he is really sleeping.

So my friends, that is the current news from \”Beach House\”. Never a dull moment!

Additional Report – February 20th
After reviewing the charts & speaking to the harbor master we decided we could make a night entry & not have to stay out until dawn. We just kept motoring along. The main excitement was 1 whale seen briefly and dodging fishing boats. There were numerous \”purse sieners\” which drag nets and pangas managing string lines. During the daylight it wasn\’t so difficult to avoid them. Once the sun set it got a bit more nerve wracking because the pangas do not always light each end of their lines. The Mexican & now Guatemalan \”net boats\” are often improperly lit. But we managed to crawl our way in without snagging any nets or lines & entered the breakwater at 8:54 pm in this easy to enter deep water port.

We hailed the port captain on VHF channel 16 to announce our arrival as is protocol. He spoke to us in perfect English & welcomed us to Guatemala. Without the use of the port engine we cannot turn right at low speed. After driving us into a pickle, I abandoned the helm to Scott & he managed to avoid the outlying poles & get us to the dock. There was a harbor security guy, as promised, waiting to catch our lines. The floating dock is a bit rickety but has power & is fine. There is a US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC Chase) docked just opposite us & the sailors are partying hard at the beach palapa. We are a bit too tired to go join in. Scott called Carmina to let her know we safely arrived & she will come meet us in the morning.

So all is well in our first Central American port. It is very commercial, looks like possibly oil refinement goes on here as well as commercial shipping and receiving. We will sleep like babies I am sure. We were both awake most of the day. Since we have shore power we can use the air conditioner – yippee! It is 80 degrees outside with 85% humidity at 10:20 pm. So we anticipate it will be hot, hot, hot tomorrow.

We got confirmation from the Costa Mesa Yanmar dealer that boater friend Scott Adam indeed picked up our new transmission this morning. But we have not yet gotten confirmation from Scott that it has been shipped DHL. Will have to wait until the morning. I\’m sure it will work out be fine. Sure hope that fixes the problem. We are happy to be here & will be even happier when we know the new transmission is on its way. Oh there will be so much more to this story�..stand by!

Scott & Cindy
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Dear F&F,
February 18, 2009
Zarpe from Mexico – Day #1 Gulf of Tehuantepec

Last night we both took sleep meds to make sure we got a full night\’s rest. The dock was very surgy & would have kept waking us up. Most people would not be able to stand up in the cockpit the way the boat was surging around! We woke up refreshed. While I made breakfast, Scott downloaded weather files. Still looks good to go so we were eager to get our exit documents & head out.

Enrique told us to meet him at his office at 9:00 am. We were there at 8:45 & he came shortly after. He looked at the weather info & confirmed that we have a 36 hour starting from right then. This window looks perfect, so we want to get going ASAP. He drove us the short ride to the Port Captain\’s office. We had to show them our last check out papers. Many places have been a bit sloppy about giving us the right paperwork. Enrique suggested we just show them the one from Mazatlan. Dockmaster Elvira did it properly. \”Don\’t confuse them\” by telling them everywhere we have been, was his message.

All was going well. There is a fee of about $20. Our credit cards won\’t work. We have been so frustrated with the overly vigilant fraud departments of Visa & Mastercard. We have no trouble with American Express, but many places will not take it. The office will not accept cash directly. We have to pay at the bank. We give Enrique enough pesos & he runs to the bank to do the fee payment for us. This is a common practice that you must pay with cash at the bank. It helps keep cash out of the office & thus diminishes employees pocketing the money.

Enrique was very fast returning with the receipt that the fee was paid to the bank. Then the signing & stamping began; four copies. Then we walk a short distance to the Immigration office. Everyone knows Enrique & he emphasizes to them that we are trying to leave to cross the Tehuantepec right away.

The Gulf of Tehuantepec is Mexico\’s version of Cape Horn. Everyone that knows of it has a healthy respect & concern for this challenging stretch of the ocean. Enrique had convinced the Port Captain to sign us off which is not the normal protocol. We were supposed to have returned to the Port Captain AFTER checking out with Immigration. The immigration officer raised his eyebrow at the Port Captain making an exception to protocol & decided we must be a special case, so he hurried his paperwork & rubberstamping process too. Even the officials here are very sensitive to boats crossing the Gulf as according to Enrique, \”two boats are lost every year out there\”.

Enrique called on his cell to Customs to please come NOW, that we were trying to leave NOW. We drove back to his office & the Customs Officer literally came running in shortly after we arrived. He whipped out his rubber stamp so fast & started signing all 4 copies furiously. We have never seen such a sense of urgency in Mexico. It was astonishing.

The Customs agent is now racing down the dock with Scott to go in our dinghy to where \”Beach House\” is docked for exit inspection. Enrique chases after them & says in Spanish (translating for us afterwards): You better let me drive you in my truck. If you all go in the dinghy it will flip over & you might have to swim! This is ridiculous of course, but he knows that many Mexicans cannot swim. He further tells the agent, with his assistant, that we are docked very far away & it was not very convenient. The Customs officer then says \”Have a good trip, adios!\” We are done. The onboard inspection was waived! We are truly amazed as it is only 10:20 am. All this took place in just over 1 hour. Normally a 3-5 hour process, minimum. Blessings to all who helped us, especially Enrique who has 500 boats pass through his marina every year. We were nothing special to him. Yet he knows the potential dangers of the crossing if you do not have the right weather. He knew we were wasting precious time with these formalities. He again sobered us with the fact that every year, 2 boats do not survive this crossing.

Zarpe in hand (international exit papers), we slip away from the dock in a serious mood. We are not just \”on watch\”. We are on \”high alert\”. I am happy to report that so far we are having a calm & comfortable trip. The wind is from the south (the good direction, it\’s the northers that can cause trouble), we have the main up & are motoring at about 7 knots. We decide at dark it is prudent to take in \”a reef\” (shorten sail). We had been going over 7 knots from 11 am to 5 pm. Then we just slowed down after we took in the reef. We backed down 3 separate times to see if something might have got caught on us below, slowing us down with drag. But we saw nothing float off & our speed did not improve. Then Scott noticed that our Speed was actually still 7 knots, but that our Speed Over the Ground (SOG) was only 5.8 to 6 knots. This is an indication of current against us. At least there is an explanation. We have plenty of fuel & can only go as fast as we can go given the conditions. It is so calm that we shake out the reef (put the full main sail back up).

Dinner was broccoli & pasta with meat sauce. I\’ve boiled eggs for tomorrow\’s lunch. There is no moon, but plenty of stars. No other ships of concern seen by eye or AIS gizmo. Which seems to be working just fine now, thank goodness. If you wonder how I can write when I am on watch, this is how: I have my wrist watch set on a 10 minute recurring timer. When it beeps I go outside scan the horizon for lights – see any other ships? Check our heading – still on course? Check the wind strength & direction – any changes? If so, I may need to trim the mainsail. Check our SOG – are we slowing down or speeding up? Check AIS gizmo to see if IT sees any ships that I cannot yet see with my eyes.

I am trying to keep myself in the present & not let the stories & subsequent fear creep in. We have been so lucky with good conditions everywhere so far. Knock wood. And for all the boats that make this passage every year, the vast majority have a fine experience. We are entering the crux of it tonight. By sun up tomorrow I believe the potentially treacherous part will be behind us. We need to get east (yes, we are heading due EAST) of the 94th meridian of longitude. Tomorrow\’s report I hope to write that we got through it easy & not too breezy. We will still have 2 full days & nights to go to our destination of Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. But as the gulf bends south we expect to have more guaranteed good wind direction & may actually get to sail.

Scott & Cindy
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Dear F&F,
February 17, 2009

Our passage went fine. We enjoyed turtles, dolphins & schooling bait fish all the way down the coast. When Scott was on watch he had to slam the boat in reverse to avoid driving over a fishing lines strung out along several (hard to see from a distance) bleach bottles used as floats. Fortunately the panga managing the fishing gear frantically waved his arms & got Scott\’s attention that danger was ahead. Oy veh. Disaster averted. This happened 3 more times, but at least he was on his toes looking out for them.

Marina Chahue is a bit of a disappointment. We did not expect Ixtapa or Barra de Navidad. But we did expect perhaps a small Mazatlan. Enrique the dock master had been very responsive by email & we thought we had a reservation. Well…a reservation is not always a reservation! Especially when the place only has 5 spots where we could fit that have power & water. Enrique had no openings available at those 5. These are the main reasons to stay at a dock: in order to get good sleep, have power & water and accessibility to shopping and other services. It is a small place without many bigger boat slips. So we are way out by the entrance which has no power, no water & is VERY surgy. We made our own water on the way here, although Scott always likes to hose the salt off the boat when he has hose access. Oh well. We ran the generator to make our own power to run the air conditioner as it was over 90 inside & out & quite humid. We are still having an intermittent funky cut out with the AC when it is run by the generator IN OUR CABIN. On shore power no problem. Scott will research this more… So limited air conditioning tonight & it is staying hotter at night as we keep heading south.

This dock is right up there with Dock A at Paradise Village & El Cid Marina in Mazatlan for the surgy factor. We tied our lines every which way to get her to hold still but \”Beach House\” is dancing with the incoming swell. Oh well.

The GOOD NEWS is there is a weather window to leave tomorrow for El Salvador! So we will go to the office at 9:00 am. The dock master will drive us to the port captain to complete paperwork. Then immigration, more paperwork. Then customs will come out to our boat to make sure we are not stealing any national treasures. That we are indeed who we say we are. And then they will give us a \”Zarpe\” which is a document needed to leave a country. A much bigger deal than the normal check out procedure. Hopefully it will not take longer than noon.

The other good news is that we already tanked up on diesel. This was the procedure: we tied up to the \”fuel dock\” (think cement wall). The harbor master takes your credit card & whatever fuel jugs you have & drives to the gas station in town. He returned about 30 mins later with our jugs full plus 60 gallons in a barrel in the back of his truck. Their siphon hose reaches the tank opening of our boat nearest the cement wall. But not the other side. So we have to transfer fuel from the barrel into the jugs, from the jugs into our starboard tank. And repeat. Hot messy job, but we had 3 guys helping & got it done.

The other good news is that the DHL package I shipped here from LA was waiting for us & in good condition, so we can install our new bug screens in the 2 forward cabins when we get a chance. I also now have my new 6.5 mm custom wetsuit (which I threw in the box as padding).

We talked to a couple of other boaters here. People often leave their boats & take a bus to visit Oaxaca which is supposed to be lovely. We are not interested in land touring right now. It is hot & humid. Although Oaxaca is at 4000 feet so they said much cooler. If we were going to have taken the time to do another land tour it would have been to Morelia to see the Monarch butterfly migration. And that would have been best done from Ixtapa. But that was a 5 day venture & we are feeling the need to keep moving.

So we will head out as soon as they let us leave with our Zarpe document in hand tomorrow Feb 18. If all goes as planned 3 days & 3 nights later we should be in Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. We will not stop with the boat in Guatemala. We will visit that by land with Carmina. We hope she will arrive about March 4. That will give us a week or 10 days to do a few projects, clean up, get the boat \”guest ready\” & also getting the boat prepared to be left alone. We have been told we absolutely will have power & water at the dock in El Salvador. You never really know until you get there. So right after one day/night/half day run. We get just 1 night sleep together, then head out on this 3 day/night passage that is well known amongst sailors. The Gulf of Tehuantepec. We are hoping for calm conditions & don\’t mind if we even have to motor the whole time. It can have wicked wind & waves, but the forecast is good for the next couple of days so we are going to go for it. Right after this \”weather window\” it is supposed to blow 30-35 knots out of the north with a wicked short chop.
Enrique told us that on average, two boats a year are lost in the Gulf of Tehuantepec. None so far this year�.and we don\’t plan on being the first!

My Captain is very tired & having some pre-passage anxiety, so went to bed at 8:30 pm. I will follow soon as it is 9:30 pm & need all the rest I can get. It feels a bit like the night before running a marathon or something. I did my carbo loading already. We just don\’t get to know exactly what the course will be like until we get out there.

So very soon it is ADIOS MEXICO! We are glad we stayed our first year but now are (really) ready to move on.

Scott & Cindy
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