19-Dec-2015
Departed anchorage at La Cruz and motored to the boat yard.
1100: arrived at Opequimar and arranged moorage in the water. Facilities are not up to our standards - this is not Isla Navidad - but they are acceptable. The bathrooms and shower are good though the shower could use a bit of TLC. The lounge is quite nice and provides us with good Wifi access. They even had a Christmas tree decorated for the holiday.
We walked over to OXXO and wired the money to Beryl to pay for the shipping and duty on the radar. That was seamless.
David and I removed the anchor rodes (chain and rope) from the chain locker.
I took a layer of salt off of the boat and then gathered the laundry. Ribs for dinner on the malacon.
20-Dec-2015
Work was to begin on Monday so we started to organize things to make everything accessible for the workers. Dinghy off the boat and cleaned.
I walked to Walmart and found Christmas. I was the only one singing to the English Carols. Boatyard is strategically located so I am able to walk to any one of three large grocery stores - Walmart, Sorreanos, Commerciel - and then take an inexpensive taxi ride back to the boat. This is giving me a chance to pick up some of the stock provisions that we will need come March.
When I got back I helped David put the sail cover on and remove the stay sail for repair. And while I was away David disassembled the broken windless, unpacked the new windless, repaired the plug on the dinghy, cleaned some tools, took inventory of the lube tote and made arrangements for sail repairs with Mike at PV Sails.
21-Dec-2015
Laundry delivered to the lavandria - less than a 10 minute walk from the marina. I sure appreciate the folding cart that Stuart and Debbie got us a couple of years ago. It has required some minor repairs but is still doing its job!
David met with the yard to organize the work. First job on the list is the removal of the old windless. Came up with a design for a collar to fit around the bowsprit which in turn will attach to the stay sail stay.
Not a lot was happening at this point so David walked over to the Port Captain office and checked in.
The yard seems to be busy putting boats in and out of the water. The yard is also located just at the entrance into the marina so we are woken up early each morning as the parade of recreational boaters and fisherman head out for the day.
But at night the yard is quiet for sleeping and their is good security around.
22-Dec-2015
Removed the genoa from the forestay furler. The protective sunbrella on the sail was starting to fray so we will get the sail maker to repair it for us. I cleaned the upper bilge chamber while David did an oil change (3473 hours), replaced fuel filters, Automatic Transmission Fluid and coolant. He also put in some AutoZone for the coolant and rust inhibitor.
I went to the lounge to send emails and update the blog and was able to listen in on a dolphin presentation for one of the daily excursions.
Spicy chicken stir fry for dinner.
23-Dec-2015
Miguel, Saul and Rudy put in about 4 hours to remove the stainless steel cover for the anchor rode and fill and fair the hole.
Spent a lot of time waiting for guys to show up. Mike was supposed to pick up the sails today but that did not happen. He called late in the day to say he would be there tomorrow. Getting a bit frustrated at the slow progress of any work so far. I have to remind David that it is Christmas and this is Mexico!
24-Dec-2015
David replaced the stuffing box. For you non-sailor types - that is the area where the shaft enters the boat. The shaft does not make a complete seal through the hole so you have to fill it with flax soaked in wax. This has to be done periodically to keep salt water out of the bilge and coming up around the motor.
The crew was here to paint the foredeck. Looked like a pretty good job!
David met with Kinky again regarding the work schedule. Talked to Beryl and the radar should be shipped on Monday.
Then we got cleaned up and took the bus into downtown PV to walk along the malacon. We were lucky to find a very nice restaurant that was offering a three course turkey dinner - salad with poached pears, goat cheese and pine nuts, traditional turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, red cabbage and ribboned vegetables and a spiced cranberry chocolate cake with ice cream for desert. We were also treated to a beautiful sunset and a full moon. And of course there was Christmas music by the piano player. It was a lovely evening.
BA enjoying a refresh no drink on Christmas Eve
Turkey dinner with all the trimmings, music, tree and decorations.
25-Dec-2015
Feliz Navidad! Started the morning with fresh squeezed orange juice, french toast made from Panettoni and sausages.
Santa found us - new snorkel and fin for me and some sun protective clothing for David.
It was a lazy day, talking to family, emailing friends.
Paella for Christmas dinner. One of my better ones if I say so myself.
I wonder where we will be next Christmas?
26-Dec-2015
David drained the fresh water coolant and replaced it with 6 L of fresh. New toilet seat was installed. Pickled the water maker.
Then we took a cab to Home Depot to pick up some batteries for the Man Overboard light, a new garbage can and supplies for painting the deck.
27-Dec-2016
This was a rainy day so we spent it continuing with the inventory of the storage lockers and cupboards. Then I went up to the lounge and typed it into the computer.
It was a full day event.
28-Dec-2015
David cleaned and painted the inside of the ventilators while I sanded and taped the hand rails and eyebrow for varnishing. It was still threatening rain so I decided to leave the varnishing for the next day.
Metal guy came to do a fitting for the collar and realized that he did not make it quite right so back to the shop. Kinky had explained what was required quite well but failed to draw it out. Oops. No problem - they will fix it.
Electrician was on board to discuss the installation of the windless.
David kept busy painting the new boards for inside the chain locker and finishing the job on the ventilators.
29-Dec-2015
I put the Cetol (varnish) on the eyebrow and hand rails. It was a perfect varnishing day. No morning dew, cloudy and temperature around 80C.
30-Dec-2015
Andy fitted the collar on the bowsprit. One job done and we have to admit it looks pretty good. So David and I were able to re-attach the staysail stay and furlor.
Best news - the radar has arrived. There were a few delays because customs was not open for regular hours during Christmas. But all in all the process was quite seamless and we would not hesitate to recommend or use Beryl”s services again.
31-Dec-2015
Adrian, the electrician, was supposed to arrive to begin the installation of the windless but he did not show up. Then the boat yard informed us that they wanted us to pay for services up til now so that they could close the books for the year. When they told David how much they were going to charge us for moorage I thought he was going to flip. So he went and had a heart to heart with them. First of all they had increased the rate from what was originally quoted to us - good thing we had that quote in writing. We also complained that we were having to stay at the dock longer due to the unorganization of the boat yard, which is not our doing. So he managed to get them to knock off some of the costs. He also shook them up a bit and said if we do not see more action in the next couple of days we will take the boat and go over to La Cruz and get the work done there. As it was David was doing a lot of the prep work himself. I think they got the message. We shall see.
New Year’s Eve and now it is time to party.
Happy New Year!
As for us we made it past midnight and then some. Tim had arrived from Victoria in the afternoon and his brother had flown in the day before and was staying with some people who have a house in the old part of Puerto Vallarta. We got invited to dinner at their place. It was pretty cool. The 100+ steps up to the house was supposed to be a joke but in reality it was not. But the view was spectacular - we could see all of Banderas Bay. There were several boats anchored in the bay and when midnight struck there were fireworks all over the place. Banderas is the second largest Bay in the world with Puerto Vallarta sitting in the middle of it. There are several towns around the bay and you could see fireworks going off from all of them. It was quite spectacular. But the best were just below us on the shoreline. They went on for almost an hour!
The people who own the place - at least Grant is - is from Victoria. His wife is Mexican and she made us a wonderful three course dinner. Started with something typical of the pickled shrimp but she adds jalapena peppers, cucumber and serves it on tostadas - like a hard tortilla shell but only flat. Then we had a vegetable dish with black beans and stuff! And then pasta with prawns. It was all very very good and very authentic.
The fun was finding the house as the taxi only brought us to the bottom of the hill. Thank goodness Tim,s brother came down to meet us. 100+ steps later and we arrived. Talk about working up an appetite. But the real fun was walking back down after having consumed some alcoholic beverages. Then it was trying to find a cab as we were right downtown PV. We were ready to go find a coffee place and wait it out but then Tim saw a cab letting off someone and grabbed it. So now were are at least sitting but traffic is not going anywhere.Thank goodness we had a good driver as he was able to find back lanes and in no time we were on the main road back to the marina.
Back on the boat by 230!
So needless to say we are moving a bit slow today. Went to meet up with David,s cousin for lunch but communication got scrambled and we never ran into them. So we had a “dirty” hamburger and fries - sure solution for a hangover. Supper tonight will be cheese and crackers and veggies and dip. No prime rib for us! It is too hot anyway - 30C clear and sunny! Sure could use a swim but no pool around here.
So all in all a pretty good start to the new year.
Wishing everyone a positive happy 2016
As for us we made it past midnight and then some. Tim had arrived from Victoria in the afternoon and his brother had flown in the day before and was staying with some people who have a house in the old part of Puerto Vallarta. We got invited to dinner at their place. It was pretty cool. The 100+ steps up to the house was supposed to be a joke but in reality it was not. But the view was spectacular - we could see all of Banderas Bay. There were several boats anchored in the bay and when midnight struck there were fireworks all over the place. Banderas is the second largest Bay in the world with Puerto Vallarta sitting in the middle of it. There are several towns around the bay and you could see fireworks going off from all of them. It was quite spectacular. But the best were just below us on the shoreline. They went on for almost an hour!
The people who own the place - at least Grant is - is from Victoria. His wife is Mexican and she made us a wonderful three course dinner. Started with something typical of the pickled shrimp but she adds jalapena peppers, cucumber and serves it on tostadas - like a hard tortilla shell but only flat. Then we had a vegetable dish with black beans and stuff! And then pasta with prawns. It was all very very good and very authentic.
The fun was finding the house as the taxi only brought us to the bottom of the hill. Thank goodness Tim,s brother came down to meet us. 100+ steps later and we arrived. Talk about working up an appetite. But the real fun was walking back down after having consumed some alcoholic beverages. Then it was trying to find a cab as we were right downtown PV. We were ready to go find a coffee place and wait it out but then Tim saw a cab letting off someone and grabbed it. So now were are at least sitting but traffic is not going anywhere.Thank goodness we had a good driver as he was able to find back lanes and in no time we were on the main road back to the marina.
Back on the boat by 230!
So needless to say we are moving a bit slow today. Went to meet up with David,s cousin for lunch but communication got scrambled and we never ran into them. So we had a “dirty” hamburger and fries - sure solution for a hangover. Supper tonight will be cheese and crackers and veggies and dip. No prime rib for us! It is too hot anyway - 30C clear and sunny! Sure could use a swim but no pool around here.
So all in all a pretty good start to the new year.
Wishing everyone a positive happy 2016
02-Jan-2016 til 07-Jan-2016
With the holiday season behind us we were expecting to see things happen. This was not to be the case.
Two guys showed up to take down the old radar. After two hours they managed to remove the lid and that was about it. David decided that we would install the radar ourselves. These guys did not really seem to know what they were doing. Good news was the fact that the bolt holes on the aluminum mounting platform matched up with bolts on the new radar. So we sent it in for a fresh coat of paint. David climbed the mast on Wednesday and I sent the radar and mount up on the halyard. At this point David had already attached the radar to the mount and had secured the connecting radar cable to the cable. The challenge was going to be attachment of the other end of this cable to the old cable so it could act as a messenger line through the cable. David sewed some heavy duty cord to attach the two cables and then wrapped the lines in tape. I went down below and started to pull the old cable down through the mast. Fingers crossed as I pulled the cables through. No breakage! No hang- ups. I let out a squeal of delight as the new cable came through.
Finally something went right! David continued tightening all the screws on the radar and the platform.
He will go back up the mast tomorrow to check all screws again and filling the hole with silicone so we do not get water running down the compression post in heavy weather. David is lowered down to the deck and a Cervesa is opened in celebration!
Work on the windless has been very slow. Adrian, the electrician, had a bit of a setback as he got really sick over Christmas and ended up in the hospital for two days. But he made it back on Tuesday. He and David worked really well together and got the wiring completed. He will come back later in the week for the final test once the windless is in place. But that is taking too much time as the holes for the mount and blocks had to be drilled more than once. As it was David had to fine tune the holes with a file and do all the re-measuring. Still waiting for the final hole, threaded rod to be cut and painting of the mount.
I have been plugging away at the stainless and now have 2/3'ds of the boat done. Just waiting for the work to be done on the foredeck. I started our registration for the Pacific Puddle Jump. This is a service provided by Latitude 38 - a boating magazine - that connects you with an agent to help grease the wheels for entrance into French Polynesia. More on this later. Just waiting for some information from Armon to complete the registration.
We did take a break on Tuesday night and met up with Dave and his friends from Oceanside for dinner.
Sail repair guy finally showed up. The work looks okay but not too impressed. $5 US per foot which resulted in a $ 9600 peso bill. Plus one of the sails came back with black grease all over the folded edge. But not much we can do as we needed the sails repaired. Sent away the main - hopefully done by Monday.
Two rips in the main as a result of the bashing we did getting to PV
That is a job in itself just getting the main off the mast and boom! It is a big sucker!!! We had not payed the bill in total yet and will ask for a discount because of the grease. Guess who gets to clean that up! Another job on my todo list.
07-Jan-2016
This is the day that the kids get presents from Santa Claus!
08-Jan-21016
Main sail came back and the cost was not too painful. Mike from PV Sails also gave us some tips on fine tuning the rigging to reduce luff get of the sail.
V- birth is cleaned, mattresses returned and bed made! We have been sleeping on separate settees for 2 weeks now!
09-Jan2106
Kinky showed up at 1700 hrs to help David complete the installation of the windless. They were working under the deck lights! But finally it is done and working beautifully. I continued with the stainless.
10-Jan-2016
David and I reattached the anchor rode and brought the anchors back on board. Finished cleaning the inside of the boat. David cleaned the toe rail with two part teak cleaner. Quick trip to Costco with Tim and Constance to add to the ship stores.
11-Jan-2016
Guys showed up to clean the decks! David up the mast to do a final check on all the fittings. Final clean up and polishing of the stainless. Last trip for laundry and a few more groceries to cover us for the next 10 days. Moorage and boatyard paid. Port Captain to sign out.
Plan to leave tomorrow morning and Buddy boat with Tim and Constance on Lady Midnight back to Barra. Will stop at all our favorite anchorages and have some fun after three weeks of doing boat maintenance in exotic places!
Tomorrow I get to go swimming!!
Final picture of the $3500 boat jewelery - no diamonds for this girl!
