Barra de Navidad to Puerto Vallarta

Bahia de Navidad to Puerto Vallarta

1020: 14-Dec-2015. Leaving Barra de Navidad. Winds are calm and what  little there is is on the nose which means it will probably be a motoring day!

1325: We were motoring in calm seas with 6-8 foot swells when the temperature alarm on the motor went off. 

Turned motor off and raised the sails. Looks like we would be tacking into Tenacatita! Lady Midnight quickly caught up to us so we let them know that there would be a change of plans. We were originally going to make it as far a Chemala but decided to stop and see about the motor. 

Lady midnight sailing into Tenacatita. Tim is taking pictures of Confidence under sail as we took pictures of Lady Midnight. Have to wait until he emails them to me.

David checked all the fuel levels, topped up the oil and transmission fluid. Everything looked good - no obvious problems. But we had been running the motor at 1700 rams, which is a little higher than we usually run. David figures that this was too high for the larger propellor causing it to torque and put too much of a load on the motor. This could have been the reason for the overheating.

0330: David woke me up as we had wanted to make an early start. I did a check in - what time is it? When he looked closer he realized that it was 0330 instead of the pre-arranged time of 0530. I will make him pay for that one!  So back to bed.

0530: Alarm goes off and as coffee was already prepared it was only necessary to turn it on! The dinghy was re-secured on deck and the other preparations completed for departure. We had a visit from 2 Dolphins which I took as an omen.

0708: Anchor up and we are underway. Passed by Lady Midnight to let them know that we were leaving but there was no movement on that boat. But they are bigger and faster so they will catch up.

0723: Out of the anchorage and the main is up. It was  relatively cool morning, actually had fleece and leggings on!

0725: sun has risen! The seas have a slight chop. Winds are 5-10 knots from the WNW. Course is 255. Speed is 5.6 knots. We are running the motor at 1400 rooms and will see if that makes a difference.

0807: Working jib and stay sail are out. We are motor sailing and managing a pleasant 5.9 to 7.2 knots.

1030: Brunch is served. Hashbrowns with bacon and onions, scrambled eggs and mango juice.

1048: abeam Careyes, the place with all of the colorful houses. 

Lady Midnight have decided to carry on. We have decided to anchor in Chemala to give the motor a rest and reassess the weather. 

We had a couple of nice ribeye steaks for dinner with Caesar salad and a wonderful bottle of Malbec. Very pleasant evening.

16-Dec-2015 strong winds were forecasted for late Thursday increasing Friday from the northwest and then turning to the southwest by Saturday.  So we thought that we could beat them if we left today. As you will soon find out, Mother Nature had a change of plans and moved her agenda up a few days which means we got caught in the middle of it!

0930 anchor was up and we were underway in light winds. 

1220: Motor was turned off and we managed a nice sail out of the bay at a speed of 3.2 knots. Salmon sandwiches for lunch with one extra for the night run.

1245: we tacked to a course of 010 with the wind coming around from the NW at 340. Respectable speed of 5.5 knots.

BA decided to lay down for an hour to try and fight off a head cold. The Captain lost his hat when a gust of wind came up behind him while he was looking through the binoculars. He even had the chin strap on but that did nothing to help. 2 and a half years - lost 3 hats! Not bad. 

I did not like that hat anyway - made him look somewhere between Gomar Pile and Gilligan!

1430: abeam Roca Negro. Winds were picking up so we rolled in the Genoa to about 1/3 and put a reef in the main. Winds are now blowing 15-20 knots!  We be sailing!

And now this is where this blog changes from a ships log to this first mate's story of adventure. And I apologize for the absence of any photos. The seas were just too rough, too much salt spray and I was having enough trouble just staying stationary in the boat without trying to hold an iPad!

As I said earlier this is about the time Mother Nature decided to move things up a bit and it looked like we were going to be caught in the middle of it. We had little option to turn around at this time so it looked like we were just going to have to deal with it. This meant steering a course 45 degrees off of our desired course, zigzagging up the coast. 

You must wonder why we didn't just motor all the way. The strength of the winds would not allow us to do that and the added stress on the motor, considering the previous issues with the motor meant that it was wiser to motor sail in order to to make any headway. We were only managing 1.5 to 2 knots with the motor alone. By raising the sails and tacking we were able to average 5.5 knots. The downfall is that we were not traveling in a straight line but rather that infamous zigzag beat!

So the next 48 hours put us in very rough seas (kind of like being in a washing machine - though I have never been in a washing machine - on super cycle)! Waves and surf maxed out at 12 feet and winds were blowing 35 knots, gusting to 50! The waves were breaking over the bow, over the stern and hitting us broadside continually showering us with ocean spray. The boat is coated with salt including my ass! It does not take too much imagination at this point to understand how quickly and uncomfortable sea rash can develop. I think I changed my clothes half a dozen times but that did not help much as everything you sit on is wet and soon you are too - or another wave breaks.

So not only am I trying no to content with no sleep and little food - now I have an itchy ass!

But trying to always look at the positive side, there are some good things that resulted from this adventure. At about 20 hours into it I was mentioning to David that this was actually kind of fun. I had raised my comfort level of dealing with rough seas from 20 knots to 35 knots. We had practiced putting in a reef in these conditions. And just the practice of moving around the boat - inside and out!

I did take one giant leap for mankind in the head which I should mention. A 10 foot wave hit us broadside just as I was standing up from the head. This managed to force me airborne and then slammed me back onto the toilet seat and my back against the bulkhead. So now my ass is itchy and bruised! But nothing a new toilet seat can't fix - maybe we will buy a padded one this time!

Chalk all of this to more experience as we prepare for the big crossing to French Polynesia. So up until now I was dealing with the situation.

Then we made the decision to come into the coast and find anchorage in a small bay before we crossed the cape. We had been bashing for 24 hours and decided that we needed the rest. But when we got into the bay we felt that it was just too exposed to the northerly winds with a less than ideal holding ground. And David did not feel good about that - especially if we would have to raise the anchor quickly ( by hand) if we started dragging onto the rocks or the beach. So we made the decision to carry on. So this 10 hour detour was for naught!

So we are back in those ugly seas but at least it is daylight now. And if the winds settle down in the evening like they are supposed to then it may be okay rounding the cape. So now we spend another 10 hours bashing out past Cape Corrientes. 

Now it has been over 36 hours without sleep and very little to eat. The winds are still blowing over 35 knots. We have lost a 5 gallon Gerry can of diesel over the side. We almost lost our dinghy again when one of the lines broke loose. It was a little hairy watching David go forward to re- secure it and also put in another reef . At this point he noticed a 36" tear in our main sail. Good thing is that it is on a seam and should be easy to repair without too much loss of integrity to the sail. But I think the "fun" of gaining experience and raising ones confidence level has passed. 

We were both exhausted and attempted to catch a few naps in the cockpit but just when you got comfortable another wave would shower us with salt water. The salmon sandwiches were long gone though neither of us was in the mood for food. An apple and a few more crackers was about it. We tried peanut butter and jam sandwiches but they did not sit well either. We did not actually get sick - just an unsettled stomach. 

Oh - and did I mention that I was still fighting a head cold? I thought breathing in that salt air was supposed to clear those sinuses! Do not believe everything you see in commercials!

So we finally make it around the point by nightfall and then more poop!  The autopilot had been working fabulously- would not want to manually steer in this shit! ( sorry Mom). And we have been motor sailing and the motor has been running fabulously. But just as David went down below to try and lay down he noticed a different noise in the transmission. Motor off. Sails up. And you guessed it - no wind!!!!

I was trying to maintain a course with 1 knot of wind in lumpy seas. Haven't we been in this movie before? 

David checked and topped up all the fluid levels and could not see anything obvious. Again - could it just be that our little Yanmar motor was also tired out? David was apprehensive about using the motor for the last 18 nm in order to save it for docking purposes. So the chances of us being at anchor or in a marina tonight did not look good.

We only had 10 nm to get to the anchorage at La Cruz but it looked like it was going to take all night. And of course this is where I decided to have a little meltdown. Not when it was gusting at 50 knots! But when the winds were almost non- existent. I was trying to keep the boat on some kind of course,  away from the shore and the rocks, while David laid down. I tried to tack but there was not enough wind to draw the Genoa across and our rule is that I do not go forward at night without David on deck.

So I was feeling very incompetent, feeling bad because I had to wake him up, feeling bad that I kind of panicked - thaught the rocks and shore were closer than they were. Definition of meltdown - shed a few tears. David assured me that it was not me but the conditions. He gave me a big hug - God I love that man - helped pull the sail through - and got us back on track.

We finally dropped the hook at La Cruz at 1430. We did run the motor for the last 5 miles at very low rpm in order to get there. Showers on deck. To bed. Tomorrow is another day!

We slept for 12 hours - dead to the world. It was very calm so we crossed our fingers and motored across the bay into the docks at the Opequimar marina.

We are here!

We will be in the boat yard for the next two weeks or so, over Christmas and NewYear.

So for all of you faithful followers, David and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and all the best in the coming year. I wonder what new adventures await us in 2016!

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Anos Nuevo!

Barra de Navidad to Tenacatita

Barra de Navidad  to Tenacatita

1215: 02-Dec2015 the first shake down cruise of the season. We will be buddy boating with Tim and Constance on Lady Midnight.

1210: salvage barge and tug anchored in Bahia Patricia. 

The crew from The Resolve have been in the area since hurricane Patricia arrived and left Los Llanistras, a 750 foot bulk carrier (Panamax) stranded on the rocks just around the point from the Grand Hotel and Marina.

We took a short detour to see it wedged in among the rocks with its back broken. It was a sad site. They have been able to remove over 90% of the crude from its holding tanks and have not made a decision yet as to what they will do with the ship. They may break it apart and try to float sections and then take them out and sink them in the deep blue sea. Negotiations are still taking place.

Look close to see the ship in between the two rocks.

1310: sails are up and motor is off. Course is 305*. Speed for the day ranged from 3.1 to 7.2 knots. It was a perfect sailing day!

1615: Anchor down at Tenacatita. Rum and cokes on Lady Midnight!

We stayed anchored at Tenacatita for two nights. The swimming was wonderful. We even found a little bit of Christmas on Lady Midnight. I brought the turkey shepherds  pie and T&C provided the salad, Christmas music and Egg Nog. 

It was nice to be back at an anchorage and be able to jump off the boat to swim. And Mother Nature did not disappoint providing a beautiful display of cumulus clouds painted with the colors of a setting sun and a few bolts of lightening for effect.

04-Dec-1215 We raised the anchor and headed over to La Manzanilla. This is the bay where the sunset picture was taken for the back of our boat card. The anchor was down in 16 feet of water.

The next 5 days were spent hanging out with Tim and Constance and Al and Sandy. If you remember A & S have a home in La Manzanilla. We all went over there for dinner and then out for an evening of Blues at Palapa Joes. The evening was capped off with a not too successful dinghy launch, in the dark, with a pretty good surf. And I have the bruises to prove it. I guess we are out of practice. So we got a little bit wet!

I got a lot of exercise swimming to and from the boat. David spent the time trying to perfect his beach landings. There was quite a heavy surge all week so it was challenging. I even managed to get dumped by a large wave as I was wading into shore. Lost my mask and snorkel. Guess I will ask Santa for a new one. There wasn't a time when he or I did not get wet though we did manage to keep the dinghy upright and the outboard out of the water. 

On the 9 th we motored over to the Aquarium - a place across the bay that has a reputation for good snorkeling. It wasn't spectacular but we did manage to see a few fish. Nothing like Belize or Fiji! But we had fun with friends of T&C from Victoria. Then we went back to Tenacatita for one final night on the hook.

0900: 10-Dec-2015 Got an email from Armon letting us know that our windless and paint and varnish has finally made it to Barra. Yeh! Preparations were made to get underway. Dinghy was put back on the forward deck. It was a bit of a slog to bring the anchor up by hand. David will be very happy once the windless has been installed as hauling a 45 pound anchor along with chain and rope is playing havoc on his back.

We have two anchors - one with 260 feet of chain and one with 10 feet of chain and the rest rope. We are using the lighter system right now until we get the windless installed. This involves attaching a Keller or weight (think of a weight that you put on your fishing line) to keep the light anchor rope partially on the ocean floor and keep any added strain off the point where the chain/rope is attached to the boat. Bad news is when we raised the anchor the Kellet had detached. Another thing for Santa's list!

1100: Anchor is up and we are underway. A very pleasant sail back to Barra averaging about 5.5 SOG - remember that means speed over ground which takes in the boat speed and any current.

1600: secured at the dock at our old berth. We went ashore and had dinner at Magleto's. This was one of the restaurants that completely lost its' palapa roof during the hurricane. In less than three weeks the roof had been replaced, the restaurant spruced up and open for business! Of course I had Prawn Molcajete - type of fish stew cooked in a lava bowl. One of my favorite things to eat in Mexico.

11-Dec-2015 The marina was kind enough to continue giving us the mid-season rate for the next couple of days. We picked up the windless from Armon. He is very excited about joining us on the crossing to the Marquessas. I guess it was one of those things on his bucket list that he had given up on. 

Arrangements were made with Beryl Lenero in California to have our new radar shipped to the boatyard in Puerto Vallarta. We received her name from another boater and have been impressed.

Contact information for anyone needing to get things shipped to Mexico from the US.

  beryl2910@hotmail.com

482 W. San Ysidro Blvd

Suite 511

Ysidro, California 92173

Radar is being sent to her, she will drive it across the border, pay any duty and then use a Mexican shipping company to get it to PV. Payment is done by way on a money transfer through OXXO - like our 7-Eleven.

One last walk around Barra as it gets ready for the Christmas season. Tree is decorated in the square - made from palm fronds.

And the nativity scene has a manger made from an old wooden panga.

And now we are all ready for departure on the 14 th.

Confidence and the Fall of 2015

By the end of September David was just getting frustrated so he decided to come back down to Barra. So we have been getting new cushions,

 doing some repairs and getting the sails back on and such. We still have the use of Armon's house while we are here so it has been nice to work on the boat in the day and back to the house in the evening. Armon's house was a little cooler for sleeping.

 

We do require a couple of larger ticket items - new windless, paint, repair on auto pilot. It is so expensive and frustrating dealing with custom when trying to get boat parts in - decided to fly back to Victoria for a few weeks at the end of the month. Example - we sent the auto pilot for repair over three weeks ago. It cost us $200 for shipping and export duty. It is still sitting in Guadalajara at customs. A one way ticket to Victoria is $139. Can't even imagine what the windless would cost as it was 6 times the weight.And that only weighed 10 pounds. David called FedEx and following a bit more bureaucratic frustration was able to get the auto pilot sent back with reimbursement for the shipping and tax.

 

So we decided to go to Victoria and bring it back ourselves. It is also David's mom's 90 th birthday on the 5 th of November and there will be a small party for her. I will also get to see my sister Susan again. And it will be time to renew our visitor visas as they would have expired before we were ready to leave Mexico.

And I the meantime a little hurricane called Patricia decided to pay us a visit. But I have already covered this part of our adventure in the three previous blogs so I will not repeat.

Though the time in Victoria was short we were able to see most of our friends and family. We spent as much time as possible with Sadie - Halloween, the museum,the oceanographic center and the beach! 

Visiting always involves a lot of eating!  The party for David's Mom was lovely.

Sadie was there in her glory to help GG open her presents.

And of course there is always a cake!

Susan came down from Campbell River for a couple of days of eating and talking. And shopping. And talking. An unexpected time that I was able to share with my sister as I am not sure when we will be doing it again. 

We picked up the new windless in Bellingham and passed it on to Armon. He will be driving down to Barra and will bring it down, along with the paint and varnish - things we are not able to carry on the plane.

We flew into Puerto Vallarta again and took the bus to Barra. It was amazing the change in the landscape in just two weeks. The hills were looking green again and some were even in flower. I looked at it as a reflection of the Mexican people themselves. Lots of places in Barra already had their new palapas rebuilt  and were open for business. Some of the other towns took a bigger hit but Barra is back and the hurricane is a distant memory!

New palapa at taxi Aquatico

Other boaters are starting to return to the marina and everyone is getting ready to leave the dock. Our cheap moorage is up at the end of the month so we have decided to sail up the coast a bit, buddy boating with Tim and Constance, on Lady Midnight. I am looking forward to being at anchor and swimming off the boat. It will be a good test for Confidence after being stationary for 7 months. 

 

 

Summer of 2015

Confidence and the Summer of 2015

In April I left this Blog at the point where we arrived in Barra de Navidad. I cannot believe that it is already the end of November. Where did the spring and summer go? Sometimes I wonder how I held down a full time job, looked after a house and a boat as just having the boat seems to be enough for me.

At the end of April David decided to head up to Victoria to see family, make arrangements for assisted living for his mother and get the condo ready for sale. Well making arrangements for assisted living is not as fluid as one would like so it looked like he was going to be there for a while.

I had decided to stay with the boat. David left me with a list of daily and weekly activities from running the engine every week, re-pickling the water maker, washing the decks and watching out for hurricanes! My daily routine on the boat was minimal. And there was only one hurricane(Carlos) that threatened us in June. I had to prepare the boat for the worst but I was lucky that it really did not materialize. The rest of the time I spent at the gym or in my pool.

Some nights I stayed on the boat and some times I stayed at our friend Armon's house in Barra. We met Armon in Chiapas and he was one of the people that we went on the road trip with to Pelanque. When he found out that we were returning to Barra for the summer he graciously offered us his home as an alternate place to stay. This was wonderful as it gave us a dry place to store the sails, a big table for sewing and some of the luxuries of house living! Like a toilet that flushes!

Now I did have some of my family a little concerned with the thought of me staying by myself in Mexico. But I assured them that I was safer here than in Victoria. We have started to make friends with some of the locals. They knew that I was on my own so they were always looking out for me. Armon's house is a 10 minute walk to the water taxi. It usually took me an hour or so as I had to stop and talk to people along the way. With my little bit of Spanish, though getting better, and their little bit of English conversations were slow! But we managed to communicate. It is a good thing that there is some French in my blood as the arm movements also proved to be helpful.

Next is a little walk through Barra just so you can see for yourself. I start out calling for the Taxi Aquatico to come and pick me up at the marina. In the picture below I am actually waiting for the taxi to take me back to the marina with the water taxi ( panga) in the background.

Fortina or Maguel or Emilio or Ramone will come and pick me up at the boat. I just call them on the VHF radio 24/7. Round trip is $30 peso, about $2.50. 

Once off the boat I turn right and head up the street. My first stop is the Pescadoria or fish market. 

It is best to get there in the early morning as most fishermen go out at night so you are ensured of fresh fish. Red snapper, Marlin, tuna and shrimp are plentiful. One block further, I turn left and stop at the panderia where I pick up fresh cinnamon buns or chocolate croissants. 

I limit myself to once a week when David is around but right now I am abstaining! One of my best finds, growing around the big tree in front of the bakery, is a large bush of basil. So it is a must to go this way whenever Thai or Italian food is on the menu. Best of all - it's free!

  Then it's down the second of two main streets to Blanca's tienda where I get my fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and just about anything else I require. 

Delivery day is Wednesday and Saturdays so I try to time it so I can be assured of fresh produce. I can also get fresh fruit and vegetables from the farmers selling their goods from the back of their trucks. It is hard to turn down 3 kilos of perfect Roma tomatoes for $1.75. The same for a kilo of avocados or oranges, delivered to your door. Once in a while David and I take the bus and head into Manzanillo and go to the large grocery stores. But during the summer months business is slow so I try to support the local businesses as much as I can. 

A few blocks further and it is another right turn to the butcher. 

Yuri does not speak any English so it is always fun trying to place my order. I can order just about everything in Spanish with the aid of pictures and sign language. His meat is all free ranged and he will cut my pork chops and steaks and bacon to whatever thickness I require. All his meat is frozen except for for the bacon and the hamburger (ground fresh) which is a good thing as it makes our freezer system work more efficiently.

 One block over and I reach Margarita's. 

She will cut and color my hair, pedicure and manicure for about $35.00 and does an excellent job - as good if not better than I used to get in Victoria.  One more block and I get to the place where I get my laundry done - less than going to a laundromat in Victoria. And they supply the soap! 

One more block and I am at Armon's house.

View from the canal side.

There are a few other places that I spend time at including Ramon's. I can get an inexpensive meal, fresh fish and watch tennis or baseball and free wifi. Ramon has kind of adopted me while David has been away. Then there is the little Hawaii store where Louis will bring in anything I ask him for, including Tillimook cheese from Washington state!

But after a coule of months on my own it ended up that I missed David too much - amazing after spending the better part of two years n a 37 foot boat, 24/7. But I did. So I found a cheap flight to Victoria and went up there for 3 weeks. Met up with friends and family. Spent a week at my friends resort in Comox. That was fun as we tricked my sister into coming for a visit - she thought David was going to be there by himself. I had not told her that I was going to be in Victoria. She was a little surprised when she saw my face in the other side of the glass door into her suite! The time was not nearly long enough but we did make the best of it! We earned our keep by putting a refresher coat of paint on the chairs. Roz and her David have been busy with the new renovating. Placed looked fabulous!

We also went down to Bellingham for the day to pick up some boat parts and meet up with Armon, Eulalie and Eric. Armon's name had come up as a possible crew member for the crossing to the Marquessas. We just wanted to confirm that he was still interested. Happy to say that he was and is very excited about it. Eulalie and Eric, who own the boat Elizabeth Jean, we one of the couples that we met crossing the Tehuantepec. They were also on the road trip in the state of Chiapas. It was nice to get together and get caught up on every one's adventures. They are now in the Caribean after passing through the Panama Canal last spring. You might recognize them from previous pictures with regards t that road trip in Chiapas.

Then I returned to Barra, checked on the boat and then flew to Sauot Ste. Marie for my mother's 90 th birthday party. It was quite a party with representation from all of my Mom and Dad's family. All of her brothers and sisters and my Dad have passed on so it was very special to have at least one member from each family present. My sisters and brother and brother-in-law were the caters - tea at the church for about 60 people, come and go for another 75 with appetizers that would make Martha Sturart proud and a sit down prime dinner for 54!

Needless to say we spent a lot of time in the kitchen along with gardening, painting, renovating and decorating. And of course none of this would have happened if not for the amazing organizational and planning skills of our sister Debbie. 

This was one of many lists for us to follow.

Special mention to Susan for all of her ideas - some assembly required!

Excellent job by Paul on the prime rib as Master Chef!

Stuart who did anything he was told, including making the decorations. As you can see he really was having fun.

And then there were Heather's mice!

But the best was the smile on Mom's face through out the week. 

And then it was back to Barra and rest. I am just not used to working or playing so hard!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Patricia 2015 Part Three

Hurricane Patricia Part Three: the aftermath

The hotel and grounds suffered a lot of damage from fallen trees

and flying roof tiles. Some windows were broken. The tennis courts took a particularly bad hit with several night lights laying broken on the ground.

 But the structure of the hotel is fine and by the time we finished breakfast a lot of it was already cleaned up. The big beautiful fig tree by the pool fell into the pool. That was sad to see. So no pool for a week or so.

The marina itself also fared quite well. Power had been turned off but some of the electrical meters were ripped out. Several of the caps on the pilings blew off, to where, one can only guess as there were none to be found. A few cleats were ripped out. A lot of trees and coconuts lying around but again pretty minimal stuff. No water on the dock and no power. That may take a couple of days. Water was pretty muddy due to the runoff from the mountains. Looked like chocolate milk.

Some minor damage to the docks.

A freighter broke loose from its anchorage and was wedged between the rocks on the other side of Punta Gordon, right behind us. The salvage crew is here from Florida.

We lossed the cover on our radar. David has tried the radar and it does not seem to be working. Good news today - after talking to our insurance company - we can get it replaced for $250 deductable. Phew! He will go up the mast on Tuesday to check it out but we may have lost the radar also. Otherwise the boat was dry and in order. Within a couple of hours we had the tarps and awnings back on and everything in its place. It was as if it did not happen.

By Sunday the hotel was back to normal despite no power. The road was closed for a day due to flooding so they could not get any more fuel for the generator. And the regular power comes from Barra which will be down til Monday or Tuesday. In order to conserve the fuel that they had, they only ran the generator a couple of hours a day. Most of the debris has been cleaned up, floors mopped up and cleaned. The tree has been cut up and removed from the pool - we are talking a big tree! 

I was talking to the manager and he was apologizing that it was taking them a bit longer as some of their staff could not get to work as they needed to deal with things at their homes. He only felt sorry that the hotel could not help them out more. During the last hurricane the hotel did not suffer any damage but put together teams to go to their staff's homes and help them. But this time there was too much to deal with at the hotel. 

They are amazing people. Some of the staff have lost their homes and one day later they are back at work! They are happy that their families are safe and that is all that is important. The rest is just stuff and can be replaced and rebuilt. By Saturday the rebuilding had already started. But you could see the sadness in their eyes when they greeted you. You just know that some of them lost a lot.

I went over to Barra on Sunday to check on Armon's house. A little water got in and so some of the small mats are wet but that was it. The beautiful flower bed of Bird of Paradise on the street side was lying flat out. And the huge tree across the street looked like it was the dead of winter. Two days ago it was green and loaded with beautiful flowers. On Sunday not a leaf to be found!

We usually cannot see the lady across the street when she is on the roof balcony for trees and things. Her roof was completely bare. But she had already cleaned up and had a pile of branches and debris 8 feet across and 5 feet high on the road. And she did that all herself. Oh - and did I mention that she is probably 75 years old! I asked if she needed help and she said no thank you. She was done and just waiting for the shredding truck to show up - which it did one hour later. She was low on water so I did give her one of our 20 liter water jugs.So you would think she would be ready to sit down and take a rest. No, she was across the street helping her neighbors. Incredible.

The army was also in town already giving out bags of food and water to anyone who needed it. The look on people's faces - they were excited as if it was Christmas!

But at one point I was coming over on the water taxi and I thought - should have brought my iPad so I could take some pictures. Then I looked up and the water taxi dock and palapa were no longer there. A couple of restaurants were more than half destroyed. These were people that we know. And I thought - I can't take pictures of this! These are people's homes and livelihood. This is not entertainment. I had a really hard time keeping the tears in check. And the only reason why I did not cry is that I did not see any one else crying, or upset, or angry. They were just quietly cleaning up and helping each other out and grateful that their families were okay. But I tell you - Sunday mass was standing room only! Even the pea hens showed up - trying to peck at the women's nail polish and shoes!

I have an incredible amount of respect for the people in this little town of 7000. The main part of tourist season starts next week and their main drive is to get these businesses opened and ready. The sad part was most of them had just finished painting and tidying up their businesses in preparation for the season. 

So we survived Hurricane Patricia. It was humbling if nothing else. But nothing compared to the people in some of the surrounding towns that lost much more.

Tomorrow we are hoping the road is opened to Puerto Vallarta. It has been closed due to mudslides.

But the bus company tells us they should be back in business. We will be returning to Victoria for a couple of weeks to pick up some much needed parts for our boat. Most importantly we want to see family and friends.

I understand that Hurricane Patricia, or the remnants of her, have now reached Toronto and southern Ontario, bringing lots of rain and winds gusting at 75!kpm.

Her path has crossed three countries!

In conclusion, I know that we were extremely lucky. We had some things working to our advantage. The fact that Patricia was moving so fast, the storm surge was less than it could have been, her path was quite narrow and the rain was a lot less as she did not have enough time to pick up as much water as she could have. But do not assume that this was anything less than a horrendous hurricane. People have lost their homes, and plantation after plantation has been destroyed. Businesses have been destroyed which means people's livelihood.

But the people are incredible and I can't help but continue to emphasize this. Today is a beautiful day in paradise. People are laughing and working hard. The sun is shining and all is good.

For all of you that contacted us - we thank you for thinking of us.

Hurricane Patricia 2015 Part Two

Part Two: Our Experience with Hurricane Patricia

So now that your meteorological lesson is over you might be wondering what it was like for us experiencing it.

We were able to predict with some accuracy, I might add, just what to expect from Hurricane Patricia due to excellent forecasting (EEB Mike and WindyTY.com), information from the marina office and hotel and information from the weather channel. What we did not know and never knew was where Patricia would actually come ashore. At times it looked like we were going to be a direct hit!

We had three days to prepare. All hands were on deck. This included the owners of boats that were in the marina, the marina staff and the guys whose job it is to look after specific boats. All tarps and awnings were removed and stowed. Solar panels were lowered and tied down. Anything that could blow away was removed from the deck and stowed below. The water tanks were filled. The batteries were fully charged. Extra provisioning was done. We took some extra wraps on the Genoa and staysail to prevent them from possibly unfurling and laid out extra dock lines. The dinghy was secured on deck. We were as ready as we could be.

We also decided to remove the dodger after this picture was taken. You can see the spring lines that helped to keep the boat from be pushed to tightly onto the dock.

Friday morning came and we, along with most of the boat owners, took up the offer of a reduced rate and booked a room in the hotel. We were allowed to check in early so at 10 o'clock we brought our stuff up to the room. This included important boat documents, passports and extra cash. We had a fridge in the room so we also brought up some of our food - crackers, cheese, sandwich fixings, fruit. All of our rooms overlooked the marina so we were able to keep an eye on our boats ( no pun intended).

We had a beautiful delux room with a king size bed and a bath tub! You must remember we live on a 37 foot boat so such luxuries are just that -luxuries. 

At this time the rain had just started and the winds were blowing about 20 mph. 

That is our boat on the third dock in the middle. The one on the right hand side of the finger with the blue sail cover.

David returned to the boat to make one final check of our lines and such. Everything was good so he returned to our room but he did not come empty handed. In one hand he had my stuffed moose from Finland ( our mascot) and in the other was some Grand Marnier. What a guy!

Nothing to do at this time except wait and pray. Not wanting to let an opportunity go by, I decided to have a bubble bath and some of that GM. 

David decided to have a siesta as it could very well be a long day and night! 

No one would have guessed that we were preparing for a Category 5 hurricane in the next 7 hours!

By early afternoon the winds had started to pick up along with the rain.  At one point I was sitting on the bed emailing family when all of a sudden I was splattered with glass. A small piece of the tile from the roof had broken the small side window. It took me a few seconds for it to register just what had happened. But I was not cut or anything and because it was a side window very little water came in. David was able to patch it up with a few towels.

The wind was coming from the East and as a result was hitting our patio door on a bit of an angle. But you could hardly make out the boats in the marina!

The large pillars between the suites was preventing a direct onslaught of rain. But the water still managed to seep through so we had to put towels along the bottom. There really was quite a lot of water on that part of the floor. We moved all of our stuff into the bathroom and sat on the bed located well back from the patio. And the noise from the wind was deafening.

It is amazing that through all of this we were able to send emails and stay in contact with family and friends!

I was looking out the window at about 5 o'clock and saw the boat beside us swing across the slip on an angle. One of the lines had obviously given way. Within 30 seconds I saw three of the marina workers run over to that dock and start re-securing Total Devotion. David could not stay in the room and just watch this happen. There was also a lull in the winds so he put on his rain slicker and went down to the docks. We realized later that this was the start of the wall of the eye passing over. 

I looked out from the window anxiously watching the activity on the docks. The cleat on our finger that was keeping Total Devotion's port stern on the dock had pulled right out of the dock. The boat did suffer a minimum amount of damage to the topside on the starboard side when it rubbed up against the dock. But really only a scratch.

Once this was taken care of the guys noticed that Karpesa's lines were also letting go. Now there were eight guys on the dock helping to re-secure her lines. They decided to move her over to the other side of the slip so that the wind would be pushing the boat onto the dock. This takes some of the strain off of the dock cleats. This was how our boat was tied up. And then the spring lines to the other side keep the boat from being pushed too hard onto the dock.

The lines on Leibling also looked like there was some potential to let go so those lines were tied around the pilings. Poncho told me after that him and Alejandro checked each dock and all of the lines every hour. At one point during the height of the winds they were actually holding hands to support each other! I tell you - these guys went way beyond the call of duty to protect our boats. I cannot say enough to about them!

With much relief I see David's yellow slicker returning to the hotel. At this time the phone rings and it is the front desk informing me that they have arranged a buffet dinner for us in the Grand Ballroom. So David met me there. We sat with the director of the hotel and it was then that we were informed that the eye was passing closely over us. It ended up passing 29.5 miles north of us which put us right on the wall! 

When it hit land it slowed down the forward movement of the hurricane and so we had a couple of hours of relative calm. They put on an amazing feast for us and the staff in that short time, including chicken, ribs, fish, salads, vegetables, rice and fruit and cake for desert. The director,  Edwardo, even had one of the guys go to the tequila Bar and bring back a bottle of Herradura - we are talking a very good bottle of tequila. One of the top 18 in the country! So we had a toast on the house! To celebrate our survival!

The room that they chose to have the buffet is actually a part of the hotel that is built into the Rock - almost like a bomb shelter. They had also put up cots and blankets and pillows for anybody who needed a place to sleep. The hotel had a good reservoir of water as they have their own water treatment plant and they have a large generator. At this time we still had power though.

We were so protected in the ballroom that we did not realize that the hurricane had started moving again, the wind had changed direction from the SSE and was building up strength. But this put us right in the lee of the hill. So when we got back to our room we actually had to look outside to see if it was still blowing and raining as no rain was being blown directly on our balcony this time. The estimate is that the winds topped out somewhere between 75 and 100 mph.

But the same was not to be said for Perula and Cuixmala and Chemala. Patricia came to shore at 165 mph. Apparently the towns are no more but the good news is the fact that all the people had been evacuated and so far there are no reported deaths. This area is also sparsely populated. It would have been a much different story if Patricia had come to shore at Manzanillo or Puerto Vallarta.

Another blessing was the fact that Patricia did not bring as much rain as originally forecasted. So even though there were floods and mudslides, the damage was a lot less than it could have been. A lot of damage was due to falling trees. Many plantations of bananas and papaya trees were demolished. It looked like someone had gone through with a machete.

It continued to rain and blow through the night. As Patricia moved further and further inland those winds eased off and by 0700 am it was over. 

We went back to the ballroom for a wonderful buffet breakfast and then back to the room to pack up. Time to get back to the boat and assess the aftermath.

We had just experienced an incredible 12 hours. By morning I felt like I was part of a movie. After waking up to a sunny day one had to wonder if we hadn't dreamt the entire thing.

But I have to say that during it all we were never scared. The hotel staff and marina staff were incredible. There was never any sign of panic or mayhem. Some large windows had broken in the lobby and lounge and there seemed to be water everywhere but people just quietly dealt with it and kept everyone safe. The director and managers were always around to give comfort and support and ensure that we were okay. They would personally call us in our room to let us know that the food was ready! And they looked after their staff as well as themselves. Amazing!

So now that Patricia has passed it is time to assess. And so I move on to Part Three.