We left Mazatlán three days ago. The wind has been pretty light and not at all during parts of the night and for most today. By lunch time today, we still only had a slight breeze, so we decided to all hop in and swim with the boat! No Sharks were seen, yay. A refreshing way to break up the day. This was the first time we’ve jumped in underway. Taj even got in with a mask.
We recently discovered a leak of unknown origin. Our first time discovering it was during our sail up from Chamela to Punta de Mita, of course, during the middle of the night. Our bilge was almost filled to the floor boards. Our bilge pump apparently was broken and we had no clue, because our bilge is normally dry. We hand pumped/bailed all the water out and looked for the source. We assumed it was coming in from the opening where our chain enters from the new windlass we installed in Barra. We forgot to place our plastic bag stuffing around it, we’d grown accustomed to pleasant down wind sails. The sail from Chamela to Punta Mita was upwind with a lot of water coming over the bow.
Arriving to the PV area, we thought we figure out and fixed the source. After a few days at anchor in Banderas Bay, we checked the bilge again. More water! Well, maybe its just water settling still? We bought a new bilge pump, installed it and checked again in a few days. And again more water, but less than before. The search for more leaks began. At the time we only found small possible sources and fixed them. Then we sailed upwind again toward Mazatlán. We discovered that when we are heeled over toward our Port side, our aft head draws in salt water. Urgh! So, we closed off that intake and added “fix the aft plumbing” to the list of possible leak sources. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the source either. By the time we arrived in Mazatlán, we were pumping out ~20 gal of salt water from our bilge a day!
Christian went through every system, tearing apart the boat looking for all possible leak sources. After two full days, he finally found a leak from our engine intake thru-hull. The strainer was broken and leaking. As he was trying the fix that, the whole part broke and our leak became worse! Thankfully, our friendly neighbors were around with extra sea-cocks and ideas to stop the leak until we can get it fixed. And thankfully we happened to be in a marina right next to the haul out yard. Unfortunately, it was the weekend and help and haul out wasn’t available until Tuesday. Our three day Mazatlán plan turned into a much longer stay than we we hoped for.
As we waited for three days to get hauled out, we kept the leak plugged with a plunger on the outside of our hull and a bung (wooden tapered plug) from the inside. And of course made the best of our time in Mazatlán (post about that to follow).
Tuesday, we hauled out for a few hours and fixed the engine intake through whole. I wish I could say “Yay!” Yes, we are happy, no more leak, but man was it more costly than we expected. We normally anchor out, so marina time is costly to begin with. Marina Mazatlán itself was even more expensive ($240 for 8 days)! The haul out itself was 6,000 pesos (roughly $345 USD), just for a few hours, in and out. Then we had to hire help, due to Fonatur haul out yard policy. Rick at Marine Services Mazatlán is a nice guy, but ouch, expensive and his workers are not very skilled. He charge $200 for his time, which included the wait time for unexpected haul out delays. I’m not one for writing bad reviews, but we were so disappointed in his work. Christian basically had to watch over the workers and relay the message to Rick that the work was not being done properly. They had to redo work and we were still charged for that time. And to top it off, after splashing the boat, the fitting were leaking! So Christian resealed it himself after returning to Marina Mazatlán. Christian notify Rick, and although apology was made, we still paid full labor fees.
Unfortunately resources here are limited, so if you are here and you need work done, then go for it, the work will get done and Rick will be happy to be of service. But if you are on a tight cruising budget and can wait to go somewhere else, we would recommend doing so.
Alas, our leak is fixed and we should be departing Mazatlán after 48 hours of waiting for the sealant to set. Stay tuned for a post of our fun Mazatlán activities. And sorry for any terminology errors, I wanted to get this post out before I procrastinated any longer. 🙂
Jejenes (hay hay nays), also known as no-see-ums, keep most cruisers from staying in San Blas/Matanchén for long periods of time. We stayed in Matanchén for three nights, two full days, before we had had enough Jejenes and Mosquitos.
We thought we were fully prepared with the no-see-um netting that I made and organic bug spray, store bought and homemade from essential oils. We even broke down and downloaded the “Mosquito App” to try send them away using radio frequency and the real deal DEET bug repellent. Nothing would stops these buggers.
During the mid day hours, the bugs were more tolerable, but they still found their way into your skin. We made sure to reapply spray frequently and we shut ourselves in the boat well before sunset and stayed in until well after sunsrise. The no-see-um netting kept the mosquitos and the Jejenes out, but we have a few hatches that only have mosquito netting over them. Well, those Jejenes found their way right through the wholes! Unbelievable!
We endured the little pests for the two full days in order to experience the many cool things San Blas has to offer. San Blas is almost 500 years old! The history is rich and beautiful, and the town well kept. From Bahia Matanchén, we brought our dinghy to Playa Las Islitas then we walked,hitch-hiked,taxi, and/or bused it to the town of San Blas. We experienced the infamous Pan de Platano (Banana bread), the old fort of La Contaduria and Templo de la Virgen de Rosario on Basilio’s hill, and did the panga tour up Rio Tovara to Camalota Springs. We ended taking the tour from the little establishment just east of the bridge over the Estero de Poso. It was slightly more expensive, ~150 pesos per adult, but well worth it. We spotted a few very large American Crocodiles, boat- billed herons, other marshland birds, iguanas, and turtles. A must do for visitors.
Excited to leave bug city, we set sail for Mazatlan. On the way, we stopped at Isla Isabella hoping for a good snorkel/free dive experience. Unfortunately a south swell picked up and a NW wind blew through the South Anchorage. The water was a little stirred up the evening we arrived. The next morning I jumped in for a pleasant dive. I lasted all about 3 minutes before swimming quickly back to the boat. I had been stung by tons of “string of pearl” jellies! That was our deciding factor to set sail for Mazatlán.
We enjoyed a nice overnight sail with winds 12-17 kts out of the WNW the first day, becalmed from 0100-0700, we bobbed around, then the wind shifted from the WSW. Blowing 10-15 kts WSW, we made a quick remaining 60 miles to Isla Venados, just off of Mazatlán. Just prior to anchoring we spotted our first leaping Manta Rays! We are looking forward to many more up in the Sea Of Cortez over the next few months.
Makeup time underway:
A Family Afloat 