Staying in One Place – It’s About the People (Puerto Escondido)

  

Hanging Out in Puerto Escondido - It’s been relatively quiet since our friends Lisa and Joe flew back home to the bay area.  Lisa took some terrific pictures and is sharing them on her Google Album HERE.

Mostly we’ve spent the past couple of weeks, sightseeing, snorkeling, stargazing, doing our One Chore Per Day and watching a plethora of boats sail into, and then out of Puerto Escondido.


Tom and I wonder why many of these boats stay only a night or two before sailing on to further adventures. They probably wonder why that big red boat is content to stay put when there are so many beautiful anchorages within just a few hours sail from here. Maybe we’re lazy? Maybe it’s a philosophical difference in cruising styles? But Tom and I really enjoy getting to know a place, to know the people who work and live there, to learn their names and say “Hi” to them on a daily basis. It took us about a week to get to know Pedro (aka Pedrito), the character (and I do mean character) who runs the store and upstairs Porto Bello restaurant...

Pedrito serenades the ladies.

 

...Ulysses who maintains the grounds, Lenin and Gabriel the servers in the restaurant...




Lenin doing his magic behind the bar. 

 
...Candelario (Candi) the waiter at the hotel up the road, Raquel who works in the marina office, Carlos who is in charge of boat cleaning, Salvador who works for the fishing boats, and all the other people who work here.

Puerto Escondido, like many other parts of Mexico, had planned to have a large community. An entire neighborhood of canals, bridges and plots was zoned out, construction was started, but ultimately abandoned. A boatyard and small marina remain. I wonder if they will ever finish the homes in this terrific location?


Abandoned neighborhood as seen from under canal bridge.

In addition to the locals who work in Puerto Escondido, there are the gringos who live here and belong to Hidden Port Yacht Club. They get on the radio every morning for their local “radio net” where they provide weather updates, advice for local assistance and where they just love to hear which boats are visiting their lovely area.


Connie helps run the local radio net. Her radio handle is "Sun Lover".

We would never get to meet and know these folks if we only stayed here one or two nights.
 

We’ve also enjoyed getting to know our pals on Iolanthe and Telitha a bit better. They are truly wonderful people that we met up in Bahia Concepcion. Through some bad luck for them (Iolanthe: broke a backstay, wrapped a jib sheet around her prop and broke some motor mounts; Telitha: some wire and hose came loose from engine, wrapped around prop shaft and destroyed their engine seal) both boats ended up in Puerto Escondido to effect their repairs.

Tom and Nick (Iolanthe) enjoy a beer.



 

Joe and Kitty from Telitha

Tom read about a hiking trail that goes from our anchorage over the hill to a beach at the next cove called El Chenque, near Juncalito.  It was a pleasant hike but we were distressed to see an excess of litter and trash at the beach. Hence, we christened it El Janky, or Janky Beach.

 

(Recycling seems to be a problem in Mexico, and we have not seen an adequate recycling program since we left Ensenada. We met a guy who is part of an organization, EarthComp, that is trying to start a recycling program in Loreto and the area. So far they are collecting plastic, although they’re not quite sure what to do with it yet. I sure hope they can make a go of it. We also met Salvador from one of the fishing boats who collects cans and takes them to a recycling center somewhere.)



Salvador enthusiastically collects cans. Go Sal!

While wading in the waters of Janky Beach we were absolutely amazed to find a rare, deep-water squid swimming along the shore. We’re not sure, but it appeared that this Vampire Squid was likely in its death throes, possibly by-catch from a fishing net? We’ll never be sure, but it was an absolutely beautiful animal. Unfortunately none of us had cameras, but here is a picture from National Geographic:

National Geographic pic of Vampire Squid. Yes! We really saw this!

 

Another afternoon we dinghied over to one of the coves in our anchorage to see if the snorkeling was any good, and we were surprised to find that even though the visibility wasn’t so great, we managed to see tons of schooling fish such as Mojarras and Mullets, not to mention several types of angel fish, butterfly fish, scallops and oysters, and many schools of tiny baby fish that use this protective cove as their nursery. Tom even dove down and found a couple of lobsters in their hidey holes. We’ve been snorkeling in our bay a couple of times and it’s encouraging to see so much sea life in our anchorage.



Baby fishies swim around our boat every morning.

Lovely Loreto - In addition to entertaining ourselves at beautiful Puerto Escondido we have also enjoyed a couple of day trips into Loreto, a town we fell in love with in March 2012 when we flew down with some friends as part of a Baja Bush Pilots whale watching excursion.

March 2012 with Mary and Lou, flying to Loreto.

In 2012 Loreto was (and still is) recovering from severe hurricane flooding and was repairing and constructing its shore side Malecon. We were delighted to discover that now, 2013, the Malecon is nearly completed and is a beautiful sidewalk along the ocean.

 



The Malecon in 2013, looking great.



Downtown Loreto - This look hasn't made it to the states yet.



Lucha Nick will fight for a deal.

 




Tom rents a bike in Loreto

 

But even though we have truly enjoyed Puerto Escondido it’s feeling like our season is winding down and we have to start thinking about getting down to La Paz and putting Cinnabar away for the summer.

A few days ago we had a going away party for Telitha since they would be leaving the next morning for their return trip to San Carlos on the mainland.

We celebrate with our last bottle of Tres Mujeres wine.

 

Telitha gets ready to leave for her journey back to San Carlos.

 

Then Iolanthe went back into the water...

In the water at last!!

 

...Arthur returned from La Paz with Iolanthe’s new backstay...

King Arthur and Prince Nick

 ...we got the backstay installed and now Nick and Arthur are getting ready for Iolanthe’s sail back down to La Paz and eventually to San Diego.

I'm not Sonja, my name is Sylvia - A funny side story. Nick's dad Arthur was absolutely enamored to hear that my sister Sonja works at Ridge Winery. Apparently Arthur is completely obsessed (OK, maybe not COMPLETELY...) with the famous "The Judgment of Paris" wine competition of 1976, where one of the French judges rated Ridge Winery's red as #1, even above all the French wines (gasp!!). After learning that, every time Arthur sees me, does he say "Hello Sylvia"? Nope, he tenderly takes my hand and murmers, "You're Sonja's sister." Every friggin' time! OK Sis, you have fair warning, I KNOW that Arthur is going to visit you at Ridge winery and you'd better take good care of him!
 

Wrapping it up - Here on Cinnabar we are enjoying our last days in Puerto Escondido, doing some repairs and fixes on the boat, paying bills and catching up on emails, and reconnecting with other cruising pals we have met along the way. We will probably start heading south in a couple of days (but not before the SJ Shark's game Tuesday!), stopping at various anchorages and letting our livers recover as we say our farewells to beautiful Baja.

More photos of Puerto Escondido and Loreto can be found HERE.



We sacrifice precious rum to Mighty Neptune...no more breakdowns, please!



It Ain't All Margaritas! Refrigeration System Breakage...

In a hot climate, refrigeration and cold drinks are a top cruising comfort.

WARNING: This post is not about having fun, but about a specific boat repair. It's got a lot of detail for my (Sylvia) benefit only, so that I'll remember how we did the repair. If you are not interested in this kind of stuff, by all means skip it. But if you are interested in the realities of cruising and the inevitable repairs, in this case our refrigeration system, then please read on...

Back in California, when we packed up Cinnabar for her trip south, I was appalled at the plethora of HEAVY tools and spare parts that Tom insisted on stuffing into the boat. Did we really NEED all these items?

A mess! Cinnabar the night before we leave California. Where are going to fit all this stuff?

Over the past few months I have definitely seen the sense in being as self-reliant as possible when it comes to repairing and replacing broken bits. Replacement parts are difficult/expensive to obtain down here in Mexico, although they can fix almost anything (may not be pretty). Kind of like how the U.S. used to be before we became a disposable society where it is now cheaper to replace than to repair. But I digress…

Yesterday we were relaxing over our morning tea, listening to the local cruisers radio net and catching up on email, when our Glacier Bay Mark II refrigeration system turned on as normal. But it sounded ABNORMAL. We always listen for anything out of the ordinary on a boat because it is usually the first sign that something is amiss. “What’s that noise?” I demanded, “Something doesn’t sound right.” Tom ran to the back of the boat, noted that there was no cooling seawater output like there is supposed to be, and he immediately turned off the refer system. Shite! We had a full refrigerator and a freezer packed with fresh fish and other meats. Were we going to have to eat all of the food before it spoiled or would we be able to make a repair? Would we have to suffer no ice and warm beer, old school style, for the remainder of our trip? This was a serious condition that needed immediate attention.

After some discussion about “what could it be”, our first stab at troubleshooting revealed it was likely the 10 year old Johnson marine pump (Johnson CM30P7-1, 12V, 2 Amps, 6 gal/min), which is a little circulation pump, mounted below the water level, that pumps raw seawater through the system to remove heat from the coveted cold boxes.  

Johnson Pump - the offending part (center). Note seawater level marked with blue pen on Sea Chest to the upper right.

As Tom started removing the old pump I began thinking of Plans B and C should this repair not fix the reefer. Let’s see, ice could keep stuff cold and semi-frozen for a few days until we fixed it here or got to La Paz…I could contact my old pal and reefer expert Jim A. from Glacier Bay and fly him down here to do the repair (plus it would be fun to see him again!)…but first things first, so we (i.e. TOM) attacked the repair.

Tom unscrews the pump bracket so he can access the pump.

After closing the valve on the seawater input hose we had to remove the input hose (bottom) and the output hose (right).
  

Loosening the hose clamps on the hoses. Note towel underneath to catch drips.

After removing the input and output water hoses (easier said than done, but isn't everything on a boat?) we put a flashlight to the inside of the pump and confirmed the little vanes were not spinning, so it appeared the problem was the pump, which was a good thing because we had a spare identical pump! Yay for Tom and Rich for having the spare and cataloguing it! 

Replacement pump on left, broken pump on right. Looks like it will be a perfect fit!

Removing the water hoses caused one end to split; this would result in a leak if not addressed. This hose was barely long enough and looked to be in rather poor/deteriorated condition...

Yuck! Looks old and hard.

...but we decided that cutting 1” from the hose end should be OK.

We cut 1" off the hose to remove the section with the split/leak.

After checking the new pump with Tom's homemade 12V test jig to make sure it would actually work...

Handy homemade 12V tester
(High quality fused cig lighter plug w/LED power light, 2-line cord, alligator clips)

...Tom cut the electrical lines on the old pump.

We Bullfrogged (anti-corrosion cream, brushed on) the new pump because, in Tom’s words, “I just hate seeing rust on anything.”  We took the bracket off the old pump, Bullfrogged it too, and attached it to new pump.

Bullfrogging the pump. No rust or corrosion allowed!

 

We attached the electrical lines to the new pump and turned it on momentarily to ensure the connections were good.

Stripping the wires with Gucci stripper tool.

 Then Tom crimped and heat shrank the connectors.

Using the perfect crimping tool to crimp the connectors.

Heat shrinking the "butt" connectors (really - their technical name) with butane torch.

We put silicone gel on the pump inlet and outlet barbs to make re-attaching the hoses easier. We started to reattach the outlet hose (the one with the split) and the hose started to split again! Was it too small? This hose looked to be in terrible condition, but replacing it looked nearly impossible, i.e. there was no working room to attach a new hose to the reefer hose. Also, there was the real potential of damaging other nearby elements.  What a dillema!

The small work space, I could barely get my fingers into it. The reefer hose is the dark hose leading from the bottom valve back into the boat (in the very lower right rear of the picture).

After some discussion about which way to go, we decided that it's never a good thing to have an inferior hose serve such an important purpose, so we decided it would have to be replaced. Yep. That took about another 2 hours to get the old hose off and the new hose on (all of 14" in long). But we finally managed to get the job done, hoses re-attached (with a quick shot of heat from the blow dryer onto the hoses), bracket put on, and pump screwed back into place.

New pump is installed. But will the reefer work?

We turned the reefer on, the pump sounded like it was working fine, but it was still not pumping seawater! Drat, even though the pump was below the water level, it had lost its prime. I checked the Glacier Bay Manual and in the FAQs I found,  Question: "Does installing the pump below sea level insure it will get primed?" Answer: "Not necessarily." And no hints on how to prime the pump. Uh, thanks for that.

Tom and all his tools. It's put back together but will the darn thing work?

Then Tom had a great idea. He took the hand plunger, normally used for our sinks to break the air lock, to the outlet at the back of the boat. The plunger was used to suck air/water through the system and prime the cooling pump. I turned the reefer on he reverse-plunged away until water started shooting out the back. 

Brilliant idea to prime the pump by reverse-plunging from the back.

Success!!!! The reefer was once again running like a champ and our cold food and drinks were safe!

Total time to replace water pump and janky hose = 4.5 hours.

In comparison to what could go wrong on a refer system, this was an easy fix! Just because it took all day means nothing. 1 pump, 3 screws, 2 hose clamps, and 2 wires. That's it. However, we used 16 distinct tools and 7 specific supplies (e.g. 3/4 in hose) to effect the repair. Without those at the ready, the repair would have been delayed for who knows how long.

But, was merely REPLACING the busted pump good enough for Tom? Nooooo way. He had to find out WHY the pump broke. So he took the broken pump apart and discovered the problem was really quite simple. All that had happened was that the stainless steel spindle/axle in the pump head had corroded a little and become frozen enough so that the little vanes that pump the seawater through weren't able to spin and do their job.

Repairing the original pump - Polishing the spindle with the Dremel tool.

So he took the pump head apart, cleaned and Dremeled the spindle and all the other parts, and put the pump back together. He hooked it up to his 12V tester and the pump seemed to work fine. So now we have a repaired spare pump as a backup.



Disassembled pump. Tom says it has a brilliantly simple, solid construction.
(Magnetic drive, centrifugal action; head fully separated from the motor)

Total Time to repair the old pump = 2 hours.

So I guess the moral of this long-winded story is that it IS OK to have the right tools and spare parts aboard the boat, because when you need a part and you actually have it, your life will be a lot easier and more comfortable!

It's nice to have ice! And freshly frozen Wahoo and Yellowtail are a bonus.

McGuire's Midnight Moonlight Malacostracan Madness - Bahia Concepcion Week #2

Week #2 in Bahia Concepcion - Thank you Mike and Stephanie!!
NOTE: I think we've run out of internet time here, so this post doesn't have quite as many pictures as I would like. Every time I get greedy and try to upload another picture my internet crashes. I don't even think I can link to my google album.

UPDATE: Thanks to an internet café in Mulege I can now post a link to my google album of Bahia Concepcion Week #2 (well, week #2.5 really) right HERE.

Santa Rosalia - The day after we said goodbye to Clint and Mackenzie, and hello to Bryce, the newest addition to Casa de Los Sueños, some of us decided to take a day trip up to the historic copper mining town of Santa Rosalia. Mike and Stephanie had some business in town, and Tom, Jake and I insisted on tagging along. The French Company El Boleo founded the town in 1884 and actively mined there until they closed down in 1954. I found a very thorough history of the Santa Rosalia mining operations HERE. Allegedly, the S. Koreans have now obtained a 30 year lease to resume mining operations. 

There is a terrific museum perched on a hilltop that looks out over the town and harbor.

The building once housed the offices of the Boleo company, and many of treasury, payroll and accounting artifacts can be found there along with the actual mining artifacts.

Entry level miners (local peasants of course), started out barefoot and with a loincloth.

Promotions, for those who lived long enough, included an upgrade in uniform, namely a miner's hat, shorts instead of a loincloth, and boots instead of barefoot.

An unusual church built of steel plates is located in the center of town. I was surprised when I read the church plaque, the church was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

We heard there was an authentic French bakery, there since the mining days, that made real baguettes! Instead we found regular Mexican sandwich rolls, a meager selection of uninspired pan dulce, and an exceedingly cranky patroness.

Whale Sharks!! - The next morning Mike, Jake and Bryce dinghied over to Coyote Cove for a bit of spearfishing. They did get some fish but, more importantly, they spotted Whale Sharks! That night, as we enjoyed their freshly grilled catch, the guys made plans to go fishing while I made plans to dinghy over to Coyote Cove at the first opportunity.

Mike kept us busy with sightseeing and activities for the next couple of days but all the while I was itching to get over to those Whale Sharks. I finally got my chance when the guys went on another fishing trip. At last!! After my morning cup of tea I jumped into the dinghy and zoomed over to Coyote Cove. Mike said to look for the telltale fins but all I could see was flat, mirror-like water. I waited while one or two pangas zoomed in, also looking for the elusive Whale Shark, and zoomed out to continue their search around the point. I continued waiting. Finally, about 15 minutes later, a black fin broke the smooth water and slowly moved toward me. Then I saw another fin closer to shore. And then another! I watched three Whale Sharks that morning, one big, one medium and one small. I watched them for a good 45 minutes, keeping my distance so as not to disturb them.



You always see the fin first.

Then the shark!



The murky water is a sign of zooplankton-rich food for the whaleshark

However there was one shark that kept trying to swim close to me. In fact once, when I had turned my outboard off, it turned toward me and totally freaked me out as it swam underneath me, bumping under the dinghy as it passed underneath. Not surprisingly, this shark had a mangled fin. Soon, other boats and kayaks realized I was getting the show all to myself, the cove became a bit crowded, and I left.

Later that morning Stephanie and the kids kayaked over to Cinnabar so we took another spin out to Coyote Cove so the kids could swim with the sharks. We saw the whale sharks several times over the next week. Once one of the sharks even came into our anchorage and swam around Cinnabar! A few of us jumped into kayaks and spent time following this magnificent creature out to an island.

More Fishing - As I mentioned before, Mike took the guys out on another fishing trip. This time with a local guide named Chuy. Apparently this Chuy really knows his stuff and so they had another successful day. The guys caught 5 (one each) Yellowtail using rods and reels...

Pole fishing (live mackerel bait)  in the calm morning fog, pod of fin whales exhaling in the distance - Isla San Idelfonso

Fish On!! Yellowtail (TY) are powerful fighters. A week earlier, our guide said, an 11 yr old boy was pulled off the boat while fighting his YT.

Tom's first catch of the day! Bryce is fighting YT #2.

...then jumped into the flat calm water and Mike and Tom shot another two each using spearguns.

Tom lands another beauty - It is a special thrill to hunt and an honor to be nourished by these sleek, noble, bluewater fish of the sea.

That night we had our favorite sashimi platter of sliced yellowtail served with nori, avocados and rice. That, served with Stephanie's famous blended smoothies, made for a perfect meal on this hot evening.

Kayaking Mulege River - One day Mike wanted to explore the Mulege River to see if there was a place we could put in on kayaks and paddle either up or down river. We went to the Mulege Mission, high on a hill that overlooks the river, and we saw that there was a dam right underneath the mission, then we discovered the river went underground a short way up from the mission, so going inland was out of the question. We were able put in about 2.5 km from the river mouth, and we rowed against the wind all the way to where the river meets the sea. It wasn't very far, but it was a good workout since we were paddling upwind. Not to mention we paddled very fast at first, since we seemed to be in some questionably brown, kind of smelly water.

One of the seemingly few year-round rivers in the whole Baja landscape.

If you read this we'll have to kill you -
1) Stealth Reef Project: The moon was their only witness...

...It was a success, and that's all I can say about the subject.

2) McGuire's Midnight Moonlight Malacostracan Madness at Punta Chivato: Local dive shop owner Robert and his lovely wife Laura guided us to Punta Chivato for a beach party, bonfire, and some nighttime free-diving...

The guys gear up to dive at sunset. Turned out to be a bit of a washing machine out there on this windswept point.

Mike prepares the night's catch. Small but tasty! Sorry, can't tell you what it is, you'll have to surmise it.

We Say Goodbye: The moonlight beach party and bonfire would be our last hurrah as a group. Bryce and Jake would be leaving the next afternoon so the morning of their departure would be Mike's last chance to use their muscle power. They moved the kayaks and outboard into storage, flipped the skiff upside down and stored it high up on the beach, cleaned up the beach, and did all manner of heavy-lifting. Then Mike loaded up a cooler for each of them filled to the brim with frozen fish. Stephanie and I took them to the airport in Loreto, then consoled ourselves with a lunch of ice cream from La Michoacana ice cream store in Loreto.

It was a slightly glum afternoon, knowing that the McGuires would be heading back to Colorado the next day, so Mike and Tom gave Stephanie and me the night off from cooking. The McGuire's treated us to a pleasant dinner at JC's Restaurant, across the highway from Burro Cove.  

As we were driving home the huge, perfectly full moon rose from behind the mountains to our East. It was so startlingly bright that we had to pull over to get out of the car and enjoy the moment. It took at least 15 minutes for Mike and Tom to get the perfect "Moon over the Cactus" photograph. In fact they got many perfect photos!

Mike's got the whole moon in his hands.

The next morning, Friday April 26, was full of a flurry of chores, cleaning and packing. The McGuires loaded up their car with all their goods and coolers bursting with frozen fish, and drove away from Casa de Los Sueños, leaving Tom and me alone. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, reading and moping, boo hoo!

Yesterday, still exhausted from the McGuires' breakneck pace of 24/7 activities, we hung out at the boat, exercised some of the systems that hadn't been used in a week (genset, watermaker), and talked about our plans. But then we got the happy news that our friends Joe and Lisa are flying down next Saturday to visit us for a week! We enjoyed happy hour in the cockpit with some cold beers, a couple of turtles that kept popping their heads up next to the boat, and plans for what to do when our friends arrive.

As I mentioned above, we visited El Candil internet café in Mulege yesterday and I was able to link to my google album of Bahia Concepcion Week #2 (well, week #2.5 really) right HERE.