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Did you see the picture of the tangled anchor chain in our last post? MORE anchor drama follows:

This story is a little circular so bear with me and read on. Everything that happens has consequences. We’ve had a string of electronic failures recently; the anchor light at the top of the mast is out, one of our chart plotter displays died suddenly (Raymarine you’re on my list!), then our Samsung Galaxy Tablet battery got so hot the battery expanded and popped the glass screen off. Expanding lithium batteries are dangerous and it’s easy to find stories of boat fires from lithium battery failures. So the tablet battery is in the trash and we are on the hunt for a new battery. We use the tablet as a back-up for the navigation displays and run a program called Navionics on it. Basically, it’s another chart plotter. A chart plotter is what we use instead of paper charts. There’s all kinds of information on the navigation chart and (this is important!) sometimes there’s information on the tablet that isn’t on my installed boat displays (chart plotters).

Without having the tablet to use for extra information, we set anchor in La Cruz in what looked like a perfect anchoring spot. We left the boat there for a couple weeks and tried to deal with the failed electronic systems. We have friends on S/V Felicita who were traveling back to the US so they have kindly (thanks Gretchen!) agreed to take the chart plotter back and ship it to Raymarine and bring back a new anchor light.

This is good progress – it looks like we have everything getting fixed at some level and sometime later we can have Amazon ship us a new tablet once we have a Mexican address to ship it to.

This morning we attempted to raise the anchor with the windless so we could leave La Cruz and the anchor would NOT pull up. (A windless is a mechanical device on the foredeck that grasps the anchor chain, pulls it out of the water, and deposits the chain in the anchor locker at the bow of the boat).

Grinding noises and sounds like we were going to break something big (and probably expensive) were coming from the connection to the anchor chain. Clearly it is stuck on something. Now you may imagine that our anchor is important to us. We’re attached to it (pun intended). It keeps us off the rocks. When there’s no marina, we are ‘on the hook’. We can’t stop in a bay without an anchor. An unrecoverable anchor will mean weeks of pain trying to get one shipped internationally or thousands of dollars, probably both.

I and another cruiser used snorkel gear to dive down the anchor chain to discover that our chain and anchor was firmly wedged in some rocks and wrapped around an old sunken boat 25 feet below us. We could not free it. We called on the VHF radio for assistance from the cruising community. We asked to borrow scuba tanks or if anyone knew of any divers in the area. (Note to self: add dive equipment to the list or build a hookah setup).

A fellow cruiser who heard our call referred some Mexican divers to us who had a hookah setup (a hookah is an air compressor connected to a scuba regulator with about 25′ of hose). They came out in an inflatable boat with an air compressor and using an extension cord out the side of Island Summers we fired it up and placed it in the bottom of their little boat. At one point on this journey we were all getting shocked by salt water soaked plugs on the extension cord and the air compressor sitting in the bottom of a wet inflatable boat. Eventually we managed to free the anchor and get on our way. Oh my gosh what a relief!

Once we were free and on our way I took a careful look at the Navionics software which is loaded on my phone too and realized we’d anchored directly over a marked hazard on the charts and succeeded in getting our anchor very tangled up. The entry about the wreck and tangling hazard had been updated only two weeks ago. Probably within a day of us dropping anchor in the same spot. See what I mean about everything has consequences. The broken tablet caused us to miss important information. Luckily we were near a strong cruiser community and received excellent help. I’m constantly amazed by the grace, kindness and resourcefulness of both the cruising community and the Mexican workers that support it. Now onward to Punta Mita.

The anchor chain started making loud banging noises last night. Not a good sign! We have been anchored here in the anchorage at La Cruz for over a week with afternoon winds and current swinging the boat in all directions so no wonder the chain got all balled up! This should look like a single line of chain going from the bow of the boat straight down into the water with a snubber line attached. You can’t even see the snubber line because its balled up in the chain. This is the first item on our “To Do” list today.

We took a bus yesterday into Bucerias (the closest town with a grocery store) and stocked up on provisions. We are all set for food and supplies other than fuel. We will fuel up the boat and jerry cans tomorrow on our way out of La Cruz. It’s the only fuel dock until we get to Barra.

Kevin was able to locate a second piece of stainless steel to reinforce the railing where the jerry cans are attached. We don’t want them bouncing around on the foredeck in rough water. They should be very secure now.

Tomorrow we will sail to Punta Mita, a Mexican town located on the north end of Banderas Bay. Here we will spend the night and prepare for going out into the Pacific Ocean. The dinghy will be securely tied on the foredeck, all loose items stored securely, batten down the hatches, and install the jack lines . (Jack lines are webbed nylon lines attached to the fore and aft of your boat, allowing the crew to clip on via their safety tether and will prevent falling overboard). The next morning if the weather window is still favorable we will head South out of Banderas Bay into the Pacific Ocean.

We are going to miss the awesome music, great food, fun friends, and Sunday Market here in La Cruz but we will be back.

We left Yelapa and sailed across Banderas Bay to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle . We were here last year and loved it so we decided to return. It’s a fun seaside town with lots of seafood, nice sandy beaches, an abundant music scene and many restaurants that attract people from afar. Locals embrace all who visit.

This area has a morning net where mariners check in with their vessel name on the VHF radio. It covers an array of topics each morning such as: who has arrived, who is leaving, if anybody needs any services, if anyone has lost or found anything, or if you have something to sell or news to report. We aren’t allowed to offer things for sale over the radio for money but we can sell our “treasures of the bilge” for coconuts (pesos). We heard our friends Tim and Gretchen check-in. We hadn’t seen them since last year. It’s always fun when cruising to cross paths with cruisers you’ve spent time with. It was a fun night starting with happy hour on Paul and Karyn’s boat “Talisman” and Tim & Gretchen from “Felicita”.

I had to hoist Kevin up the mast again today. This time the anchor light when out. Ugh! Because its a sealed unit the whole piece has to be replaced. A friend is going to the U.S. tomorrow and will bring one back for us. Specialty parts are difficult to get in Mexico and if you can order them they are so expensive its cheaper to take a flight to the U.S. and pick the part up yourself.

One of our Raymarine chart plotters won’t turn on so that’s a problem Kevin has been troubleshooting. He’s been on numerous calls with Raymarine reps over the past several days. Again, our friend going to the U.S. offered to take it with her and drop it off at FedEx to be shipped for repair. Once its fixed and/or replaced, it will be sent to a yacht broker we know in San Diego where Kevin will take a quick flight to pick it up. Nothing is easy when you are cruising outside the U.S.

We are plotting our course and checking weather so we can begin the next leg of our journey. We leave beautiful Banderas Bay and continue South down the Mexican coast.

As we left the marina in Paradise Village we decided to go to Yelapa, a small beach town of 1500 residents that lies in the southernmost cove of Bahía de Banderas. We saw several pods of whales along the way and had to stop for one whale who crossed our bow. This is whale season. The whales come to give birth in the warm, protected waters of Banderas Bay.

There are no cars or roads in Yelapa so the only way to get here is by boat. It’s a rolly anchorage so we won’t be staying here long. Panga boats come and go all day long bringing tourists from Puerto Vallarta to spend the day at the beautiful beach.

We heard Yelapa has two waterfall hikes. The closest waterfall is a short hike to the village only 10 minutes from the beach. The other hike is a 5 mile roundtrip hike through the jungle and starts at the North end of the beach. We decided to do both. Directions to the jungle waterfall are only by word of mouth. We were at a beach cantina inquiring about directions when a friendly, older gentlemen who introduced himself as Johnny Banana, sat down at our table and willingly gave us directions for the jungle hike.

After hiking for 45 minutes we clearly were on the wrong path. After reaching several dead ends we turned around when a lady named Joyce appeared. She asked us in English where we were headed and we explained to her the directions we had received to hike to the jungle falls. She asked if we got our directions from Johnny Banana and we said “yes”. She laughed and didn’t say any more. Johnny obviously doesn’t know his left from his right so the directions were backwards (we should have been suspicious when he told us his name). It seems to have missed a turn and we were headed in the wrong direction. We took Joyce up on her offer to take us to the waterfall. She was a great guide. She took us through jungle brush, over boulders, we waded through the river in a few spots, climbed over stumps, through soft sand banks, and around stray donkeys who were standing in our path. She provided an informative narrative of all the flora and fauna along the way. We ended up hiking both directions with her and learning about her interesting life teaching yoga in Yelapa. Fun facts about Joyce: she stands on her head every morning for 10 minutes and walks 5 miles through the jungle to take a bath in the river every morning. Joyce is 70 years old. People come from all over to attend the yoga retreats here in Yelapa.

Nothing is nicer after hiking but to sit on the back of our boat and dangle our feet in the tropical water. There is a lot of surge and soft sand so its impossible to land our dingy on the beach. So we’ve had to use the water taxi’s. We give them a call on the VHF radio and they pick us up at our boat and run us to shore and back.

We will need to stay a second night tonight since we got back to the boat just before sunset and its about a 3 hour sail to La Cruz and we don’t want to arrive late and anchor in the dark.

We have been on the boat in Nuevo Vallarta, MX for over a week getting it ready to set sail. We had a list of things to do before we could depart but as we crossed off completed items more were added to the bottom of the list. Why does that always happen? The pull lines had gotten stuck at the top of the mast and were shredding from the intense sun. This meant I had to hoist Kevin to the top of the mast to retrieve them. We did it in the early morning when there wasn’t any wind and only a light breeze. It’s not his favorite thing to do 🙁 We had covered the windows with foil to protect them from the sun and secured it with painters tape. Some of the tape had baked on. Needless to say, that was a tedious job to remove (not sure I will use that method again). Once I got all the tape off, we hired a cleaning crew to wash the boat. It was also time for them to dive under the boat and clean the bottom. They do such great work and the boat looks so nice and shiny!

Several items were taken down or removed when we left the boat for hurricane season. Some of the items on our “To Do List” were install running rigging, re-install depth finder sensor, check running lights, flush tanks, recommission the water maker, check fluid levels, replace impellor, etc. When Kevin attempted to start the engine he quickly determined the starter battery needed replacing. That meant another Uber ride into Puerto Vallarta to Zaragoza Marine (which we’ve already been to twice). The water maker decided to give us trouble but Kevin was able to troubleshoot that problem right away and fix it but not until after he had torn the boat apart to access the different parts. Everything worked great when we left the boat in June. It’s amazing the problems extreme heat can cause over a six month period.

Since we hadn’t left any food on the boat it took a few trips to different stores to get enough provisions to stock the boat. It’s not easy shopping in Mexican markets to make American dishes. After 10 days we are finally ready to leave. The dredger for the marina entrance has not been working so sailboats have been hitting bottom in the channel during low tide. We will time our departure for high tide tomorrow afternoon so this doesn’t happen to us. First we have to take a water taxi to the Port Captain’s office to check out of the marina. They don’t allow us to check out via VHF radio. They need to stamp their paperwork (whatever that means).

Before we leave tomorrow, we will visit the Tuesday market to get fresh veggies. Hopefully, we will be ready to leave the marina when its high tide at 1pm. Our plan is to sail to La Cruz where we will fill the boat and jerry cans with diesel and gas up the dinghy. Even though its been a lot of work getting the boat ready to go out for another season, we are excited to be back cruising.

Who flies to meet a hurricaine? That’s exactly what I tried to do on October 10. I would have flown into Puerto Vallart just before Lidia made landfall and I was standing at the boarding gate in Everett when they told me they’d cancelled my flight. Honestly, I was kind of excited to see what the hurricaine would be like, but I had to reschedule my trip for Oct 15. Happily Lidia staged a near miss south of Puerto Vallarta and the mountains around Banderas Bay protected the Puerto Vallarta area from wind damage. There was some flooding that came out of the mountains over the next couple days however. When I arrived almost a week later there was no visible damage that I could see other than some palm tree clean-up and very muddy rivers. Puerto Vallarta lived up to it’s reputation as a good hurricaine-hole! My trip down was to deliver some supplies to the boat: things that are harder to get in Mexico like a new spinnaker halyard and random things for our coming winter in Mexico. I also needed to service the water-maker with new storage chemicals and correct some minor electrical issues with the solar charge system. Even with a list of mostly non-essential ‘stuff’, I had to weigh my suitcase to make sure it was only 49 pounds. Over the 4 days I was there I reconnected with boating friends there and checked off all the issues on my things-to-do list. As I left Puerto Vallarta everyone was watching Hurricaine Norma work it’s way North on it’s way to Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. We are keeping those areas in our thoughts today as they experience some high winds and are already seeing significant damage to boats in the anchorage near La Paz.

We will be spending the holidays in Europe this year with our son, Ryan, who lives in Dresden, Germany. We will return to Puerto Vallarta the first part of January to continue sailing. Watch for new blogs as we depart Paradise Village. Will we sail North or South? It’s yet to be determined.

We’ve spent days and days doing a summer layup to Island Summers. Coating outside parts with aluminum foil and sunshades. We’ve taken the genoa down and stowed it. We have dehumidifiers in the boat and fans running. Hatch covers, binnacle covers and cockpit table covers are made and installed. All linens and clothes left inside are in airtight space bags and all food has been removed. All told a huge amount of un-fun work. The amount of work we’ve done is dramatically different compared to the work we did for winter lay-ups in Anacortes, install heaters to keep things from freezing. The summer in Nuevo Vallarta is hot and humid. The sun is intense and it will bake the fiberglass if not protected. We’ve hired a boat-watcher to check on Island Summers during hurricane season. Modern technology also allows us to monitor the electrical system too and make sure the batteries are properly cared for.

This season has been a season of learning for us. We’ve learned about the tropics and life there. We’ve learned the things we like about living on a boat and traveling and some things that we like less but it’s all been an adventure. We’ve put some open ocean miles in and we’d be confident supplying our sailing resume to anyone to demonstrate our competence on the water. At home it will be nice to live in a somewhat larger space and give ourselves some time to assimilate all our experiences on the water.

We moved off the boat a couple of days ago and we are staying in a villa in Puerto Vallarta so we can prepare the boat without all our gear in the way. We will be heading back to Washington to spend the summer on the lake and we will return to Mexico in October. Enjoy your summer!

Oh where to start! First, we’re sorry if you’ve been waiting to see some updates. We’ve been busy but in the same spot in Paradise Village, Neuvo Vallarta. It feels like we haven’t been sailing much lately but we have been exploring the area around us in our dinghy and did some traveling outside of Mexico.

We explored the marina and estuary here and discovered a 7-8 foot Crocodile lives about 135 yards from our slip. We took this picture quickly from our dinghy and quickly left the area. Being in an inflatable dinghy did not feel very safe next to this guy. Needless to say, we won’t be swimming off the boat in this area!

It’s really getting to be hot so we ventured out in Banderas Bay for the breeze and visited an old fishing village, Yelapa. It was a little underwhelming when we were there but we’d like to go back sometime and explore the waterfalls. We made our way to Las Animas and anchored the boat and we hiked on the beach and up on the hillside above the bay. We passed someone’s small glass office on a cliff. What a beautiful view!

The most fun recent activity was a trip to Trinidad and Tobago for our nephew, Matt’s wedding. It was a vacation within the adventure we’ve been having on the boat. We went snorkeling and took a tour of Tobago and enjoyed the beautiful beaches. We experienced a tropical rainstorm that filled the streets and instantly showed why the gutters are so deep. Even the plane trips were an adventure. We missed a flight in Dallas and that caused a cascading series of re-routes that eventually had us flying to New York to finally get to Trinidad a day late.

We are now back on the Boat with a white-board list of things to do before we can button up our home-away-from-home for about 5 months and return to the Seattle area. Storm season is upon us and unlike the Pacific Northwest, where it is starting to get warm, here it’s really humid and it’s starting to become cloudy in the afternoons. This will eventually turn rainy, and thunderstorms will become common. In July the hurricane season starts in the tropics, too. We have about 4 days now to get a long list of hot weather and/or storm preparations taken care of to leave the boat. This morning we took the head-sail down and then put it in a cart and took it to a grassy area to re-fold it before putting it away in the sail-locker at the front of the boat. While we’ve been storing things inside, we’ve hired a crew to polish and wax the boat. There has been a crew of 3 working on the boat for 5 days. Maybe it was dirtier then we thought…. We would NEVER have had the time or desire to do all that polishing.

When we do leave here we’ll suspend the blog and we should be able to pick back up when we return in October. Stay tuned or mark your calendar and hopefully we’ll see you in person before then!

We left La Cruz to move our boat to its summer home to keep it safe during hurricane season which runs from July thru October. Because this marina is located on an estuary at the end of Banderas Bay and surrounded by mountains it a safe hurricane hole for boats. In a later posting we will describe how we prepare the boat before we leave it here.

We are in a temporary slip for now until a more permanent one opens up. In the sailing community everyone’s plans are fluid. There are people waiting for a favorable weather window to head either North or South. We’re waiting for one of these sailors to execute their plans so we can move into their slip.

We’re at Paradise Village which is a huge resort between La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta. It couldn’t be more different than La Cruz or any place we’ve been in Mexico. We’ve gone from dirt roads and rustic palapa restaurants to living in a world-class resort. We stepped off the dock into Starbucks. It feels very American here.

With pools and food and outdoor dining, come birds. So Paradise Village has a falconer. He releases his falcon, and points a green laser pointer at a bird on a table in the outdoor dining area. When I saw him, the falcon was ignoring him and his laser pointer but the intent and the training seem pretty clear. I also saw the falconer wandering around with an antenna homing in on where his falcon had gone with a ‘beep beep’. The falcon is a really low key way to keep birds from being a chronic nuisance in the outdoor dining areas. There’s also other animals and birds here. There’s a wildlife preserve on the property including a Bengal tiger named Daisy, an alligator, deer, pet raccoons, flamingos and exotically colored Man of War parrots.

Lots of little things have been happening this week. After being at anchor in various places since we left La Paz (two month’s or so ago), we needed to do some grime removal. We had a diver clean the bottom of the boat, and we’re trying to decide on who to hire to care for the boat while we’re away. (There are a pile of business cards on the table.)

The local sailing community had a small melt-down when Elon Musk and Starlink sent out email informing us (and every other sailor) that we’ve been violating our Starlink terms of service. No one quite knows what this means. Probably a return to a world where it’s just a bit too expensive to have high-speed internet in the middle of the ocean (just like it was in 2021). There’s more questions than answers at the moment but it seems that it will still work when we’re at anchor near shore.

We’ve re-learned that marinas are hot. The breeze is different, and the boat doesn’t swing into the wind, so the vents can’t direct a breeze through the boat as they do at anchor. We decided the smart thing was to order a small portable air conditioner that should be here in about 10 days. Our fingers are crossed that it will make life in the cabin a bit more comfortable.

Since we’re guests of the Marina at the resort we can use many of the resort facilities, like pools, gyms and spas (some for a fee). We’re hanging out adjacent to people on vacation and when a conversation starts about how long we’re staying here we get some funny looks when we say we’re here for weeks and weeks. There’s a gulf between ‘vacationing’ and ‘traveling’. A couple days ago we were in the pool when we heard a splash – an iguana had fallen out of a tree and was swimming across the pool – pretty funny.

We found out that drinks are two for one from 5:15 to 7:15 so we can order one drink and they bring us two. Excellent!

The bikes are out of the storage locker for some exploration in the near future and we’ll soon take a dingy trip up the Crocodile populated estuary that the marina is built on. We’re also planning on doing some sailing out in Banderas Bay to some of the anchorage we haven’t yet explored so we have until the middle of June before we have to safely secure her for hurricane season.