Friday 7th April
Always such a pleasure to see dolphins close to the boat!

Left Tenacatita Bay in pitch darkness and a flat calm at 6.30 this morning - had to use my headlamp while raising the anchor.

A lovely sunrise at 8am, by which time we were passing the many offlying rocky outcrops north of Tencatita - several were very large and all were clearly excellent seabird nesting sites.

The charts have been showing depths of well under 20m where the depth sounder was giving 65-90 m .... typical of charts in this part of Mexico. When I had Internet, I should have downloaded Google Earth photos of this coastline to see the true picture and give a better idea of depths.

The wind was a gentle southwesterly over most of the day and has now died away completely with the onset of darkness.

The beach was busy with people, some playing soccer, and fishermen's pangas often came in and out during the afternoon. The waves crash onto the beach - I saw no-one going for a swim.

I'm pleased to report my windlass is now behaving beautifully - I just wish I had more chain available to give more choice of where to anchor. I need to splice on the long length of multiplait rope that is presently tied to the end of the chain but is of no use like that since the knot and shackle being used won't pass around the windlass. I'm hoping to do that in La Cruz when I get there early next week. In the meantime, I can only anchor safely in shallow water... very restricting unless, using a snubber to take the strain first, I take the chain end off the windlass and re-join the rope to it beyond the windlass, placing the rope around the windlass afterwards to let out more rode - complicated ... and needing the reverse procedure when raising the anchor! Not something to be done in a hurry! (My main anchor and 100m of chain are stowed away in Victoria!)

I'll post today's photos separately after this.

Dealt with boat speed impellor this afternoon. Took quite a time but at least now the wind info will be correct - or nearly so! The Propspeed I painted on the impellor itself worked well but I should have painted inside and outside the holder as well to prevent the growth there that clogged it up. Also replaced some damaged screws supporting one of the 'gate' stanchions - another good job finally done!

Gone sunset now ... Time for R&R and food.

Leave early tomorrow for Chamela... Wind is forecast to be light or maybe from S. It would be nice not to have to bash into wind and waves, for a change.

Tuesday 4th April

Anchored off the beach in Tenacatita - surprisingly few boats here for such a popular Bay. One came in a short while ago to make a total of four of us.
10÷14 kt of wind on the nose getting here so a motoring few hours. Fortunately only 15ml from Barra de Navidad so not too long taken.
Peaceful now .... Only sounds are of waves breaking onshore and birds calling as they go to roost.

few rocks to avoid! Good nesting sites for seabirds.

Amazing architecture at the hotel behind the marina here in Barra de Navidad. 
It has been good to meet up again with Ben &Lucie - stuck here until they sort out Georgia's transmission problems - and also to meet Sally and Stan on 'Illusion', as they paused here for a few days  on their way south to Chiapas.
Useful two days were spent servicing my windlass - now working beautifully - rewarded myself with a lovely swim in the pool here once finished. 
Wasted a lot of time Sunday trying to get Internet access working in the hotel -gets very frustrating when so much time lost and little progress made.
Plan to move on to Tenacatita in a day or so.
More boat jobs and buying of fresh food today.

More reading.... Decided to get through two Ruth Rendell paperbacks - three detective novels in all...  Not bad ...but I'll be pleased to get the books off Nereida... Been on board and around the world more than twice since Guernsey, June 2009! 
Enjoyed my ceviche last night - don't know what fish it was but they're very common here.
Another very pleasant day except for a Mexican phone problem...  Can't make calls using Mexican SIM card. Being told 'outgoing calls barred'..... checked in Settings. .. They should NOT be... Grrr!!! Stymied. ..  No phone calls & no Internet - all paid for but presently  unavailable...  Frustrating! 

See morw in news update just posted here.

Saturday 25th March 2017

Another lovely, warm, mainly relaxed, day.

Being anchored off the beach with no dinghy means there's no way of getting ashore unless I blow up the inflatable double kayak friend Geoff lent me in San Diego - which I'm feeling too lazy to do - maybe tomorrow!!

There are four boats anchored close by but, surprisingly, not one has come by to say 'Hallo'. Very unusual - maybe they're new to cruising?

The sky has been mainly clear blue overhead, although some cumulus cloud built up for a short time over the backdrop of mountains.

Lovely white tropic birds, with bright red bill and long white tail streamers, have been diving for fish, as have graceful white terns, all day - one came very close this afternoon, diving on the large shoal of silver fish under and around 'Nereida'. Large black, fork-tailed frigate birds regularly harass the smaller birds in the hope that they will drop their catch and give the predators an easy meal.

Being Saturday, the beach has been busy and the boats anchored out here have been regularly used as 'marks' for the fast-driven skiboats to round to and from the beach. The long sandy beach is lined with small houses and 'palapas' (outdoor restaurants shaded by a roof of palm fronds on a flimsy, open-sided framework). The land behind rises to high rugged mountains and is mainly jungle-covered or barren.

The view out to sea is of the wide entrance with rocky hillsides and occasional large vessels heading in or out of the major port of Manzanillo well off in the distance.

It's a well-protected bay so very little swell has reached here. Happily, with the sun getting very hot by midday, a refreshing land-breeze comes up and stays up until just before sunset.

I decided to finish the job I'd started yesterday - so I'm feeling very satisfied with the end-result - a lovely clean inside to the white hard top with no rust or dirt marks anywhere! Tomorrow, I'll get to the generator, to remove the seawater pump so I can check that *!!**#^ impellor..yet again...!

With good sun and wind power, and solar lighting used when it's dark, only the fridge and HF radio are using much battery power, so the lack of generator is not of major importance just now.

Just had an omelette - many of the eggs are still good, despite over a fortnight in December when they weren't turned daily - amazing!

The sun is sinking over the distant hill - nearly 7pm. (Photo being posted separately)

Everything calms down by evening - all to be heard then is the sound of the waves breaking gently on the sandy shore not far away.. and overhead, so many bright stars in a clear sky. Think I'll stay here a few more days!

Crossed the main Bay around noon to reach Ensenada Carrizal -a lovely protected small bay with rocky sides and small beach at its far end.  Excellent snorkelling and sea caves to explore. Unfortunately too deep for my ground tackle, so on to Bahia de Santiago, with its long sandy beach, to anchor in 6m.  Several large dolphins came close, with distinctive blotched backs and light undersides.
While underway here, I was pleased to have managed some overdue cleaning of rusting screw heads under the hard top - looks so much better when it's all clean again.
Went to get out my swimsuit from the basin I'd  left it in after hull cleaning off Isla Grande. ... Yuck...!  Full of tiny creatures....
Peaceful sunset and evening, after lots of noisy Mexican beach fun reaching out to the boat.

Cargo vessel 'Atlantic Rainbow' overtook us well off the coast heading NW towards the sunset, just as we are. 

A few hours with the genoa giving a boost to our speed but otherwise solid motoring since leaving the anchorage at Isla Grande at oh-so-dark 5 a.m..  A tiny crescent moon as we  left but plenty of stars to enjoy.  Clear sky all day.

I was pleased to get some useful boatwork done this afternoon since the trip would have been totally boring otherwise.

Expecting to make Manzanillo early afternoon  tomorrow - hoping the present good-sized swell will not make the anchorage in Santiago Bay too rolly.

Time for food -  buen provecho!

Isla Grande Tues/Wed 21/22 March 2017

What a lovely time I've had here!

After a short passage around from Zihuatanejo yesterday, it was still busy with day-trippers enjoying the sandy protected beach but, well before sunset, they all disappeared in the many 'taxi' pangas (sturdy open boats) that had brought them across from Ixtapa. Some were no doubt celebrating the National Holiday in honour of national hero Juarez's birthday.

I anchored in 5m/16ft, fairly close in, which gave protection from swell. Nearby was 'Arcane' and Ken on 'Gitane' was not much further off. Ken had kindly given me a lift over to the town 'muelle' earlier, so I could check out with the friendly Capitania, but his outboard engine failed on our return so we used a local panga to get us both back on board our boats, ready to leave.

A fresh fish meal, with cerveza, on an almost deserted beach as the sun got low, was very welcome and the view over the small bay to mountains beyond the distant coastline was fabulous.

Late this morning, Ken came over to help try to sort out the genset cooling seawater problem, but after spending quite a time making sure the inlet was clear of sea creatures and growth the problem was still there on powering up the generator. Even poking a long flexible wire up into the opening made no difference. The filter housing was full of water so all should have worked fine - but it still overheated with very little, if any, water coming out. Maybe I need to check the impellor again...?

Avoiding that hassle, I decided to snorkel and clean the hull instead - the several fishes under the boat increased in number rapidly as they enjoyed the food I released for them. A Margarita onshore was a welcome reward for my lengthy efforts, with Jean and Jacinthe coming by to provide my transport to shore.

Today, more friends arrived - Tim and Donna and company on board 'NorthWest Passage'. The only downside for them was that they had planned to stay the night while their four friends took a panga back to Ixtapa - but the swell there was so bad that the pangas weren't operating - it was too dangerous at the landing jetty - so they all had to leave together, later in the day, to go back to Zihuatanejo the way they had come.

In our little protected bay, we only saw a very slight increase in the swell - nothing much at all - but we had been wondering why there were no day-trippers being brought over. The bonus was having the place completely to ourselves all day long.

An amazing and unexpected sight was seeing a small, young armadillo wandering around on the beach. Clearly thirsty, it headed for the sea and began to drink the seawater - but a local restaurant owner (one of the few there today) gave it some fresh water. Wow, but it was thirsty! Its tiny pink tongue worked overtime... A curlew was another visitor - we (and they) were clearly benefitting from so few people around.

Tomorrow, I'm up very early to make for Manzanillo, as is 'Arcane'. It's a one-and-a-half-day passage so we need to leave early to make landfall in daylight. There's a 'weather window' of sorts - in this case, meaning a slight wind from abaft the beam for just two days, rather than the usual prevailing 10kt headwind - so it will probably be a motoring passage, with a small chance of using the sails to help our speed occasionally.

Hasta luego!!

Great evening of music last night at El Canto de la Sirena with Jose Luis Cobo & guest musicians.
Underway north now - left Zihua for Isla Grande in company with 'Gitane' - need to clean the genset inlet and check the prop,  shaft & hull while in clean water.

Zihuatanejo Bay, Mexico Monday 13th March 2017

Genset overheated the other night so I'm needing to check the seawater pump impellor - but pump has to be removed to access the cover plate and see inside Big struggle, working in awkward position. Drive belt came off fairly easily to give movement of the unit so now final step is to remove pump from inlet and outlet water pipes - one off, one more to go. But, I have to say, the thought of relaxing with music over a glass of wine in company is far more attractive!

Once impellor is dealt with (replacing is a strong possibility) and all is back together again, next step will be to check whether seawater strainer needs priming to ensure no air lock in the system preventing water flow - tomorrow’s jobs. But for now, sunset beckons - with a Dark n Stormy and some suitable music…

Cheers!

Lovely to spend time with 'Fantasia' friends Karen & Stuart at the Guitar Fest on Wed... Dinghy to shore.. Children's afternoon Concert - great to meet up with Juanito & family there . Relaxed over lovely Margaritas with nachos and guacamole before walking up steep hill to evening 'gala' concert followed later by beach concert. On to 'La Sirena' to enjoy Jose Luis's playing. (Very late to bed!) Has been ten years since last chatted with Jose Luis and Juanito here!

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Rest of photos....

Views at anchor... Relaxing with Stuart & Karen at the 'Galeano' after the Children's Concert ...evening 'gala' concert and meal... beach concert... Jose Luis at 'La Sirena. Lots of varied, good music!</>

Safe arrival at l:20 a.m. in Zihuatanejo, to anchor by moonlight, in calm conditions:

17* 38' N 101* 33' W

A lot of motoring, with some sailing on Sunday, in strong conditions overnight, and some motor-sailing for a short spell this afternoon. Very little seen, either of shipping or the coast, being well offshore most of the time to avoid small fishing boats and extensive shallows in places.

Looking forward to re-visiting this small town and to the Guitar Fest - this will be my third time.

Now for a good sleep...!

Monday 6th March 2017

Nearing sunset, 25ml SSE of Manzanillo. Cooked a meal while still light- some eggs are still OK - amazing!

Swell has died down a bit - not quite so mixed in direction nor so close together nor as big as earlier so being thrown around less ... but still noticeable - from SE now, not NW.

Making 125T at 5.0 kt; wind very light ~ 3 kt from SE. Has been quite cloudy most of the day - 90% now.

Barometer: 1009 and steady for last 6 hrs Air: 31.0C Sea: 27.0C

Overmight - still motoring but sea surface very smooth now, with so little wind - 3-5 kt only.

Got VHF call from 'Miguel Hidalgo' - tanker headed to Topolobampo at S end of Sea of Cortez - "Port-to-port" he said - so that was how we agreed to pass each other safely - just half a mile apart in the moonless darkness but perfectly safe - his lights were very clear and reflected in the sea surface.

Spent a short time on HF radio around 5am, making contact with stations mainly on or near East coast but also Prince Edward Island, Phoenix, Missouri, a well as Indonesia and another in Australia - both of whom I've spoken to several times before.

100 miles from Zihuataneho -ETA overnight Tues/Wed ~2-3am if this speed is kept up - awkard timing...

Amazingly, some eggs are still perfectly fine. ... after 4 1/2 months with simply turning frequently. ..! Had onion and potato omelette tonight.
Passed Manzanillo this afternoon. Seas are down a lot but so is the wind so having to motor. Conditions are much pleasanter - nothing like as rough as it was this morning.