Safe Arrival at Bahia De Zihuatanejo

We have arrived at Bahia De Zihuatanejo after a pleasant overnight sail down the coast from Manzanillo.

It is good to get that part of the coast which is renowned for drug smugglers under our belts. We were all certainly alert during our standard watches of 2 hours on and 4 hours off in very pleasant balmy temperatures.

We continue to be thrilled with the performance of the boat. She lopes along and we are eating up the miles.

We are about to go ashore to explore after our showers in the air conditioning. It looks gorgeous from Salacia.

Definitely the life of the cruiser!

Jungle River Trip & Manzanillo

We anchored at Tanacatita overnight. We all slept well after the overnight passage from Puerto Vallarta. We also christened the cockpit table last night for dinner.

This morning we went on dinghy trip through the mangroves to the Tanacatita village. It is referred to as the Jungle river trip. The bird life was fantastic, fish abundant and the baby “mangrove crabs” fascinating.

At the end of the trip, we had brunch and a couple of ”Pacifico’s” in a Mexican Palapa overlooking the beach.

We returned to Salacia at lunch time and set sail for Manzanillo (35 Nm away). The wind freshened from the WNW to 20-25knts so we sailed under main alone. On arrival we dropped anchor at Bahia De Santiago (near Manzanillo) at 1630. Our top speed for the passage was 12.2 knots, which is not bad for main only.

I have just finished my second beer whilst Cyndy is cooking dinner.

The climate is just fantastic along this coast and it will be a shame that we are not able to spend a month here rather than 4-5days.

Forgot to mention how pleasing it was to see the RQYS burgee along side all of the other YC burgees at the Puerto Vallarta Yacht Club.

Sail to Bahia Tenacatita

We left PV at 1820 and were greeted by a school of dolphins as we exited the Marina. We had a rollicking sail in balmy conditions last night and anchored for brunch at Bahia Chamela. Heavy surf was breaking on shore and the anchorage had a pronounced westerly surge so we decided to cancel the proposed shore trip after brunch and explore further down the coast.

Careyes Cove was very popular and absolutely gorgeous but there was a lack of space in the anchorage, so we continued south with a poled out head sail to Bahia Tenacatita. It was a great sail and a gorgeous anchorage and a very pretty place to spend the night.

Tomorrow morning we will do the Jungle River, self guided dinghy trip. The excursion will take about 3 hours.

The bird and sea life is incredible in this part of the world.

Great Friends

The sign writer couldn't spell "Australia" so Ross donned his harness and hung from the stern to rectify the problem.

It is incredible how much time and effort Ross, Dian and Ron have put into "Salacia". They arrived for the maiden voyage a week before the start and worked from dawn until late every night in San Diego. It was their first trip to the US and they missed San Diego accept for Shelter Island where the yacht was berthed. When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta they again put in many selfless days getting the boat ready for the puddle jump with only 2 days to enjoy this wonderful part of Mexico.

It was fantastic having Dian with us for the maiden voyage and it was her 1^st yacht race. We were absolutely delighted to have her with us for this very special voyage. She was the chef for the race and each shift change, and her smiling face greeted the next watch with a hot drink. Moral was high due to Di's great culinary abilities. She is also now a wiz at packing spinnakers.

When the mainsail arrived all of our new friends in PV were clapping and cheering for us. Unfortunately, the mainsail arrived without the pins for the cars on the mast so we were delayed for another few days but we collected them this afternoon and as soon as there is enough tide we are out of here.

Ross is back with us for the next legs. We are all very excited to be finally leaving in 2 hours. Ross has just told me that he has scrubbed the fenders and we are ready to leave. Anyone who has had the pleasure of sailing with Ross will know that there is never a job left undone and Salacia is shining like a new pin.

The effort that these special friends have all put in to help us realize our dream is extraordinary.

Nearly Ready to Depart!

The rudder bearing arrived last night and we have installed it.

The main has been finally released and it is on a truck so we are crossing our fingers that it will arrive this afternoon. High tide is at 9.15pm so we are shooting for departure before then.

We are certainly mentally ready to go and “Salacia” is ship shape. The job list is finished and I just heard a whisper from on deck that we even have the “boom preventer”.

Baja Earthquake - No Impact for Salacia

Last night we had an email from Ricko saying that he had just heard about the quake and he asking if we were okay. It seems that there was a 7.2 scale earth quake in California Baja which is just north of us at 3.40pm their time. LA and San Francisco felt it however, we were just working on the boat. Ignorance is bliss.

We went to the beach bar to watch the sunset and have a wonderful seafood dinner. The meal finished with flambé strawberries cooked at our table and the chef was a real master of the flame technique. It was an exquisite way to finish a great day.

Still no rudder bearing or mainsail today. Close of business is approaching quickly and Mexican Customs are not answering their phones.

We hired a car and picked up the last minute things today hoping for an early departure tomorrow.

We had news last night from “Avanti” another J160 owned by Sue and Bill Grun of Telluride. They left PV 10 days ago and had just arrived at the outer islands of the Galapagos. When we arrived in Telluride in February there was a message at our accommodation from them and we met them for the 1^st time. We had a lovely time getting to know them and also caught up with them in PV before we returned to Australia.

The odds of two sets of J160 owners meeting in Telluride, Puerto Vallarta and with the same itinerary across the Pacific are incredible. I think that there have only been 33 J160’s built !!!!

Still in Puerto Vallarta

We are still waiting for the Mexican customs to release our mainsail! FEDEX also has our rudder bearing and we are waiting not so patiently for it to be delivered. We have certainly learnt that no amount of jumping up and down will work with the Mexicans.

We are all fuelled up and provisioned with nowhere to go. Very frustrating. Think good things for us re them releasing the beast on Monday.

On the positive side we are getting lots of jobs done while we enjoy PV. It is crazy here with everyone in holiday mode.

Everyone that goes past the boat says “Are you still here”. It has become a source of much merriment for all at the Marina.

Jobs like replacing the tread on the steps has always been on the “like to do list” and it is good to have these jobs done.

We have been reflecting on the race (maiden voyage) and the mad rush to have the boat ready in time.

Erik Rogers with his knowledge, enthusiasm and work ethic was critical to us making the race starting line. He was still working with us way past sun down each night and on the race was worth his weight in gold. When we got to PV all of the great crew pitched in to help put the boat back into cruising mode and Erik was again always the last to “down tools”.

I know that all aboard “Salacia” wish that we could clone him to always have an “Erik” on board. No body knows a J Boat like Erik.