Season Three Ends and We Post "Stats"

Season three has drawn to a close.  Abracadabra is clean as a boat can be, thanks in large part to the guys at Paradise Fishing Lodge.  Critter deterrent has been liberally applied from bow to stern. She is tightly bound to the dock waiting for the engine doctor to give us a diagnosis and suggest a treatment.

El Capitan Wondering What Else He Can Have Cleaned . . . 

We are currently sipping descafinatos at Starbucks in the Galerias Mall in San Salvador. It's important to experience not only the history of a country but its current culture - and San Salvador is the land of modern shopping malls. More about our tourist time here later when we manage to get more than a few pictures transferred to our laptop. [Remember the camera that went overboard? Well, apparently our old camera was also badly slammed during our bar-crossing incident (at least new batteries have failed to bring it back to life). So, we're now taking pictures with our I-Touch and haven't yet mastered it's photo storage features.]

No more tourist info or pictures here - just lots of (we think) interesting "statistics":   

Why Bother With Statistics?

Well, because our posts serve two purposes. Most importantly as our letters to friends and family. But they also act as our travel diary which, like any good travel diary helps us settle those travel-related arguments which anyone who has been married for any length of time knows are both inevitable ("Where was it we saw that awesome whale?") and important to resolve (in the gentlest possible way, of course). 

What Are These "Statistics"?

Please don't think we take ourselves so seriously as to collect information for the purpose of statistics. The information we decided to post following our first season was in response to questions we had about how we had spent our time traveling on Abracadabra. The information we posted that year was taken from calendar notes, log book entries, cruising guides and websites that purport to know things. Because we found that exercise interesting, we repeated it after season two and will repeat it here again. Rather than true "statistics", think: stuff we vaguely wanted to know and that we have in a vague way documented. 

If you catch us in a mistake feel free to let us know - but be ready to hear from us that you have waaaaay too much time on your hands if you're taking these things seriously . . .

# Days Living Aboard:

      2013/14:  November 5, 2013 - May 16, 2014 = 193 (interesting -- 10 days less each season??)

      2012/13:  November 9, 2012 – May 30, 2013 = 203

      2011/12: October 7, 2011 – May 7, 2012 = 213 (this actually includes a couple of “decommissioning” days at a bed and breakfast in La Paz – days not included in subsequent years)

# Nautical Miles Traveled:

      2013/14: 1253 (keep in mind we spent almost two months under embargo this season courtesy of the Mexican government!)

      2012/13:  1730

      2011/2012:  2639 (that trip down California and Pacific Baja was one loooong shot!)

Guest Crew:

      2013/14:  Jim Thompson (making his third appearance!) and Bob Romano (braving the dread Tehuantepec)

      2012/13:  Jim Thompson 

      2011/12:  Frank Chan and Irene DeBrujin-Chan; Rick Nelson and Corinne Hackbarth; Jodi Rafkin; Bob Romano; and Jim Thompson

# Nautical Miles Traveled With Crew:

      2013/14:  305 (948 w/out)

      2012/13:  225 (1505 w/out)

      2011/12:  1424 w/ crew (1215 w/out)

# Nights Underway:

      2013/14:  12 (3 with crew)

      2012/13:  12 (2 with crew)

      2011/12:  19 (10 with crew)

# Nights at Anchor or on a Mooring Ball:

      2013/14:  27  

      2012/13:  72

      2011/12:  39

Favorite Anchorage:

      2013/14:  Caleta de Campos though Acapulco was much better than we had expected

      2012/13:  Paraíso or Ensenada Carrizal

      2011/12:  Chacala

Least Favorite Anchorage/Mooring:

      2013/14:  Outside of the estuary at Bahia del Sol, El Salvador (no one wants to anchor there - its just a holding spot for boats waiting to cross the bar into the estuary)

      2012/13:  El Mezteño (which was fabulous until the winds shifted . . . )

      2011/12:  Pichilinque or Yalapa -- it's a tie (though we would love to return to Yalapa WITHOUT staying on a mooring ball!)

Marina Stays: 

      2013/14:  154 nights (yikes - 79%) -- this of course includes our time under embargo - which we think kept us in La Cruz about eight weeks longer than we would have otherwise been there . . .plus a week visiting family and several "beat the heat" trips inland 

      2012/13:  119 nights (or 59%) – including two weeks visiting family in El Norte and three weeks at our time-share -- we were clearly getting more comfortable with anchoring out

      2011/12: 155 nights (or 73%) – including two-ish weeks for repairs; two-plus-ish weeks to decommission; two weeks for a road trip and assorted days to recover from colds, etc.

Motor Hours / Miles Motored (calculated assuming 4.5 miles per engine hour to take into account time running the motor to dock, set the anchor, make water, etc.): 

      2013/14:  102 hours or 459 miles (37% of miles traveled; so either we're sailing fanatics or - more likely - we were babying our ailing engine)

      2012/13:  143 hours or 643.5 miles (37% of miles traveled)

      2011/12:  255.2 hours or 1148 miles (43.5% of miles travelled)

Road Trips:

      2013/14:  A trip to Oaxaca and a trip to San Cristobal De Las Casas - two of our favorite things about this season - plus a short visit to San Sebastian del Oeste; we're not reflecting our time in Guanajuato as that was before we moved aboard for the season 

      2012/13:  Tijuana to La Paz and return and a day trip from Ixtapa (our "summer vacation” in Guanajuato isn't included, as it began after we decommissioned for the summer)

      2011/12:  Guanajuato -- which inspired us to spend our second off-boat season there studying Spanish. 

Crew Injuries:

      2013/14:  one embarrassingly spectacular bruised cheek due to a slip and fall while taking down the clothes line at the stern (Molly); a variety of spectacular bruises on various arms and legs as result of our wild ride over the Bahia del Sol bar (Molly); and two bloody foot injuries due to inattention to various cleats (Bryce)   

      2012/13:  nothing we can remember (and we tend to dwell on these things, as many of you know) – so we’ll count this an injury-free season! 

      2011/12:  2 jammed/broken/and/or wrenched toes (1 Jodi, 1 Molly); 1 toe tip removal (Bryce - just the tiniest bit, but he's now finally installed a bungee cord to hold up the anchor locker hatch!); 1 broken foot (only the tiny little bones on top - but quite spectacular bruising - Molly); 1 set of blackened fingernails (Bryce - but he won't open that hatch the same way again); 1 wrenched shoulder (Bryce - but he's getting much better at controlling the dinghy). 

# Blog Posts (summer posts included in season depending on entry and exit visas):

      2013/14:  27 (to date - we still have some "flashback" posts in draft form)

      2012/13:  23

      2011/12:  26

Most Interesting Blog Page Views:   

      2013/14:  Canadian viewers jumped tremendously after our blog was introduced to the Canadian Sailcraft West group - we hope a lot of them join us!

      2012/13:  Russia, Germany, Poland and France and an annoying spam “comment-er”

      2011/12:  Latvia - who do we know in Latvia?    

Welcome to El Salvador, May 9, 2014

After two and a half years in Mexico we have finally moved on. We're writing from one of the palapas at the Paradise Fishing Lodge along the Bahia Jaltepeque estuary in El Salvador. The nearest "town" is La Herradura. The weather is cool compared to our Huatulco and Chiapas experiences, in part because it's also wetter here, even though we are told that the rainy season has only just begun. There's a lot to like about this area and we look forward to exploring it further. 

But it's not the perfect place to dry out a boat after a knockdown.  

What Happened

Crossing the  sand bar at the bocana (mouth) of the estuary at Bahia Jaltepeque is a right of passage for many Pacific coastal cruisers. It's often the first stop south of Mexico; the beginning of a new chapter in the Pacific coast cruising experience. It's a difficult crossing but under most circumstances not unreasonably dangerous. There is a pilot service that helps boats find the right time and place to cross the sand bar blocking the bocana. Most crews come away with an exciting sailing story and a notch in their sailing experience belt.

 

The crew of Abracadabra came away with more - and less.  Less one camera, one cockpit radio handset, and one flip-flop; more salt water, adrenaline surge and scary-looking photographs. 

More and less because Abracadabra crossed the bar under tow.

We were towed by a 38-foot sports fishing vessel "Fanta-Sea" operated out of the Paradise Fishing Lodge. Fanta-Sea was operated by her captain and had a crew of two. Also aboard was Bill  Yeargan who, with his wife Jean Strain, operates the Cruiser's Rally to El Salvador. Bill was the camera operator for our crossing. [Abracadabra was signed up for the rally but was too pokey to make any of the rally events - though Bill and Jean have been more than helpful to us in relation to our journey to El Salvador.]

The tow was going (somewhat nervously) fine-ish --  



Under Tow



until the particularly unfortunate moment when the tow rope broke. 

Not Under Tow

The manager of the tow operation, Willy Garcia (manager of the fishing lodge), was whipped badly with the flying end of the one-inch double-braid nylon tow rope. Abracadabra and her trusty crew were on their own.

With minimal steerage and no power Abracadabra took a wave across her aft port quarter which the crew of Fanta-Sea described as being 3 meters high (approximately 10 feet). 

Look BEHIND YOU

Because Here It Comes

Abracadabra was pushed up . . .

Up

and onto her side . . .



And Over



Bryce continued to steer as best he could and Molly held on as her location in the aft starboard rolled into the water. She was submerged far enough and long enough for her inflatable safety vest to deploy and for her to wonder (in a sort of slow, disconnected way) whether Bryce had managed to stay aboard.

And because it's what sailboats are designed to do (more than one third of Abracadabra by weight is in her keel), Abracadabra righted herself.

  

The single-handed sailor on the boat waiting to cross the bar next (Sunrunner) said he almost decided to sail on to Nicaragua when he saw the top of Abracadabra's keel out of the water.  As you can see from the crazy camera angles the crew of Fanta-Sea had their hands full too. 

Bryce stayed at the helm trying to turn Abracadabra stern-to to the waves. Molly went forward encumbered by an inflated safety vest that made her look a bit like a bright yellow busty clown. She worked with Fanta-Sea's crew to reattach what was left of the tow rope to Abracadabra.

We were now over the bar in lighter one meter surf, so connection was eventually made and we were towed toward our new home. Sadly, one of the casualties of our adventure was Molly's new camera which she (foolishly) had put in her pocket. It got sucked from her pocked as she went under. So for the rest of this post you'll have to rely on word pictures.

As an ironic aside: Sunrunner did decide to cross the bar - but while still in the post-crossing surf lost oil pressure and had to be towed into the estuary.

How We Got There

For those that like to second guess other sailors, please note that we did not undertake the idea of being towed across this sand bar lightly. We had a functioning engine when we crossed the Golfo de Tehuantapec to Chiapas in April and when we left Puerto Chiapas on May 5.

Most of our journey from Mexico, down the coast of Guatemala and on to El Salvador was like previous passages: some of this, and some of that.

Day One:  After receiving our international zarpe (the document that permits the transit of a boat from one country to another) we left Puerto Chiapas at 14:40 and motored for about a half an hour until we were properly angled to the wind. We began to sail and by 16:00 we were double reefed and scooting along at a speed over ground of more than six knots. The wind kept up nicely until around 01:40 in the morning. When the wind dropped below sailing speed we turned on the engine. It worked fine and kept us moving throughout the night.  

Day Two:  We sailed for a couple of hours early in the morning, but had to turn the engine on at around 08:45 because the wind dropped again and we were experiencing a one knot counter current. We motored for the next two hours, using the extra battery power generated by the motor to run our water maker. Around noon we traded fishermen in a passing panga three beers for a nice dorrado, which we promptly sauteed and ate for lunch. After lunch we were able to sail again. we used the spinnaker until the wind became too strong, at which time we switched to the genoa.  

Day Three:  The wind dropped around 01:00 and we decided to start the engine. The engine decided not to start. Only an hour later not enough wind was no longer our problem. For two hours we had very high wind -- at times up to 35 knots - and rain. Double-reefed, Abracadabra traveled at speeds over seven knots. We watched the lightening in the distance, hoping that it would stay there - in the distance. It's always disconcerting to be the highest point on the ocean for miles when lightening threatens. And then, like it came, it went. At 04:00 the rain stopped and the winds began to slow. By 05:00 we were sailing in a reasonable 12 knots of wind. And then we were creeping along in five knots . . . 

Bryce tried replacing a glow plug - sadly an "in vain" attempt rather than a documented fix. The engine still refused to start. Because there had been so much cloud during the past twenty-four hours, we began to worry about whether the batteries could handle the draw of the auto pilot, refrigerator and chart plotters. We began to hand steer and turned off one chart plotter, relying on the one connected to our radio. 

Finally around 19:00 came the worst - a brown boobie hitched a ride on the starboard spreader and began to shit. It shat on the dodger. It shat on the deck. It shat into the cockpit. It shat on Molly. We began to rethink our dislike of frigate birds (which are always stealing fish from boobies) and decided that in the future we would root for the frigate birds! Fortunately we weren't sailing anywhere (there's a silver lining to every black cloud) and the big genoa began to flap and flap and became so annoying that even the boobie decamped. 

Back in the black cloud: At some point during the night Abracadabra began to drift and the wind began to shift and in the pitch dark without a chart plotter to rely on Molly realized that Abracadabra had drifted through a complete 360-degree turn. She did what all crew members dread - she got the Captain out of bed to help her figure out where the #@*^ she was. And he did, though he still couldn't get the wind to move us in the direction we needed to go.

Day Four:  The slow-motion torture continued into the morning, and we spent the dawn hours scrubbing boobie guano off the boat (and Molly) with salt water. Once we no longer stank life began to look up. And things got a lot better when at 09:00 the wind picked up and we were able to sail a blistering three knots more on course than not. By 11:00 we were sailing over six knots and on course. And then - because it works that way, apparently, by 14:00 we had sustained winds of over 27 knots with gusts to 32 and were double reefed. 

By the time we anchored (under sail - !) in the rolley, open roadsted anchorage to the west of the bocana of Bahia Jaltepeque at 17:30 we knew we would  be able to sleep despite the rolley conditions. Before flopping into slumber we contacted Bill and Jean and explained our engine-less condition. Bill promised to bring someone out to see what could be done with the engine the next morning. We turned off the refrigeration to preserve battery power and went to sleep, dreaming that Bill would find someone that would come up with a way to start our engine.

Day Five:  Early the next morning Bryce and Bill discussed the engine at length. Bill agreed that Bryce had taken all the steps to address our engine problem that were possible underway (our recollection is that Bill used the phrase "it sounds like it's toast". . .) and offered to arrange for a tow.

As we waited for the tow vessel we continued our ongoing discussion about whether to attempt crossing this bar under tow: One of the main reasons we had decided to press on to Bahia Jaltepeque was to access the services of  John Carey, the well respected diesel mechanic that has a workshop there (we had suspected for several months that the engine was in need of professional attention). Traveling further would put us into the world of the unknown as far as engine repairs are concerned. Our batteries were very low and it didn't look like the sun was going to provide much power in the next few days; further travels would likely be without refrigeration, auto-pilot or cockpit chart plotter. We had little propane left because we hadn't wanted to leave full tanks behind when we put Abracadabra to bed for the season, and had travelled with only enough to arrive in the Bahia and cook there for a few additional days. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Finally, we decided to trust in the tow.

See above.

What Now

And thus, here we are. 

Lessons Learned: 

• It's harder to be towed than we thought.
• Even if you don't think you're going to be knocked down (really, who does?) put in all the hatch boards (really - our one really stupid move . . .).
• Put your camera below if you're going into something rough.
• Being really scared takes some time to get through. Molly is still having trouble getting to sleep - but we trust that her natural talent for sleeping through almost anything will soon reassert itself.

Still Thinking: 

• We're still trying to decide if we should have tethered. We will continue to tether on a night passage, but we're not sure about the value of tethering to a ship that is in the surf.
• We're also wondering if inflatable life vests are the way to go.
• Maybe we'll buy and find space for a tow rope, rather than rely on someone else to have one.

Next Steps: We're putting Abracadabra in the hands of John Carey, who by all reports is a capable, experienced and respected diesel mechanic. We'll let you know whether, after getting his advice we decide on an overhaul or a new engine. We leave for the States in a couple of weeks. Abracadabra should be dried out by then . . . 

Oaxaca Sojourn -- April 6 - 9, 2014

This is a "flashback post" of an inland visit we took while Abracadabra was in Marina Chahue, Bahias de Huatulco:



The crew of Abracadabra (including guest star crew member Bob Romano) grew bleary eyed from looking at weather forecasts for the Golfo de Tuhuantepec. It became clear that we were not going to be able to cross for at least a week. We had exhausted the local tourist opportunities. It was really hot in Marina Chahue, and we couldn't all fit into the tiny air-conditioned office at the marina without persuading the marina staff to leave. The one air-conditioned restaurant in La Crucecita was good - but expensive. What were three sweaty gringos to do?

Leave for cooler climes.

One obvious choice for a cooler-weather trip was the colonial city of Oaxaca. If you've spent much time talking to Bryce or Molly about Mexico, you've probably heard how much we liked our last trip (in 2006) and it won't come as a surprise to you that we assured Bob that he would enjoy a trip there.

And, based on the number of pictures he took, we're pretty sure he did. 

Bob In Camera Mode

We know we enjoyed the trip - it's always a good sign when, upon departure, we talk about how we wish we'd had more time . . . 

Oaxaca Al Aire Libre (Outdoors)

There's no need to expend a lot of effort seeking out entertainment in Oaxaca -- it generally just happens as one walks around town.  On any given day one can:

• just wander around town;

Street-Scape, Oaxaca

• watch dancers performing in a plaza;

• worry about the stilt walking boys performing in the zocalo (we never understood the significance of their performance - if someone knows, please share),

Cross Dressing Stilt Walkers

These Guys Are Strapped On To Their Stilts - 
It's Stilt Walking Without An Exit Strategy

• or sit at a table at a cafe on the zocalo and just observe: 

Tables Waiting For You

Balloon Sellers in the Zocalo

Oaxaca A Dentro (Inside):

For those that prefer being indoors, there's the central market.

Chiles Upon Chiles

The Poultry Table

And a variety of stores selling the seven types of mole found in Oaxaca cuisine.

Grinding Coco For One Type of Mole

There are more churches and museums than we could begin to fit into our short stay. We took on the biggest museum in town - the Centro Cultural de Santo Domingo located in the former monastery (for some reason called an ex-convento) next to the beautiful Santo Domingo church. 

Santo Domingo

This church is prettier than Oaxaca's cathedral - lots of gold leafed carvings of saints and a ceiling depicting the entire gold-leafed family tree of Saint Dominic. Sadly, we had planned on relying on Bob to explain Mexican churches to us because he was raised Catholic. However, it appears that the Catholic churches in California just aren't up to speed artistically. Bob failed miserably at playing Spot That Saint for us . . . so we are left with pictures and captions like:  

The Gold Leaf Carving Saint 

The museum is an all day event and has stone floors; wear comfortable shoes and plan on taking a lunch break. There are several good restaurants and coffee houses nearby; we ate at the Italian Coffee Company - a chain of coffee and sandwich shops we've found in several Mexican cities. We were able to return to the museum using the tickets we had purchased that morning.    

Santo Domingo As Seen From The Italian Coffee Company

The museum offers a recorded audio tour that helps make sense of the very large and wide-ranging exhibits.  Even a shorter (less than full day) visit would be worthwhile. The building is beautiful and its history alone (monastery, army barracks, university, museum) is interesting.

View From The Museum

Among the exhibits are several from Monte Alban, the ancient capital of the Zapotecs. There are exhibits at the museum at the Monte Alban site, but some of the most beautiful and delicate are in this museum.

Zapotec Pottery

For Burning Copal (A Resinous Incense)

We can't begin to show the breadth of the exhibits in the entire museum, as they range from the pre-Hispanic to the present. Nor were we able to schedule a trip to the botanical gardens that we enjoyed during our last visit. More can be found on the internet, if you are interested in exploring the idea of visiting this area. For us it was part of our exploration - bit-by-bit - of Mexican history. 

Oaxaca Politics

Our last visit to Oaxaca followed a six-month strike by school teachers that caused the federal government to blockade the majority of the center of the town. As a result many tourist-dependent businesses (shops, restaurants, hotels) were closed and some were never reopened.  

Today union politics and indigenous politics are both still alive and well in Oaxaca.

Religion Is The Opiate Of The Masses

One entire side of the zocalo is closed, and occupied by indigenous people from towns throughout the state seeking redress for a wide variety of political and economic issues. People seem to take turns sleeping at the site on bedding of cardboard and eating out of sidewalk soup kitchens set up by supporters. 

While we were there we observed the use of the city buses to block traffic. A newspaper photographer explained to Bryce that this was an action by one of the communist-leaning parties. As mere observers we didn't really understand the action -- particularly since in most Mexican cities the bus companies are privately owned and operated. We saw young men with bandannas covering their faces, buses blocking intersections, and local drivers that seemed completely nonplussed by the whole thing. At our hotel (Las Golondrinas - very pleasant, particularly for $73 a night) a member of the family that owns and operates the hotel simply said that these transit-related actions were an ongoing bother and bad for business. Like in Paris and Italy, the strikes of Oaxaca go on. We hope they have some value to someone . . . 

On our last day in town there was a massive march by people from various indigenous towns within the state of Oaxaca.  Some marchers came in traditional dress.  

Where There's a March, There Are Customers --
Ice Cream Vendor To The Masses 

Other marchers were less festively attired. And around them milled people going to pick up groceries. It became difficult to tell the marchers from people going about their daily business.

Marcher? Shopper? Commuter?

Monte Alban

The big "must see" archaeological site near the city of Oaxaca is Monte Alban, a pre-Hispanic site of the Zapotec culture. The portion of the site made available to the public is the ceremonial center of the area occupied by the Zapotecs.  Most of the structures that have been uncovered and reconstructed dated from between 100 BCE to 500 CE, even though the area was occupied much earlier - and was not abandoned until about 1000 CE. It's a very extensive site, and not as overrun by tours as many other sites in Mexico.

We took one of the local buses to the site (they were running that day) and hired a charming guide that had a smooth -- if occasionally outdated -- tour of the site memorized.  

We say "occasionally outdated" because, according to information at the museum in Oaxaca, a series of famous sculptures and carvings found at the site which are called "Los Danzantes" (the Dancers) are now believed by most archaeologists to represent mutilated, conquered warriors. Our guide held fast to a prior interpretation -- that the Los Danzantes sculptures represented medical procedures and used at a medical school operated at the site.  

Birth, Or Castration - ??

Our guide also held fast to the view that the Zapotecs were very peaceful people. We like that vision but it doesn't seem to be supported by current thinking.

And we say he "memorized" his tour because it was often difficult to take him off topic. There were things he wanted to show and tell - and we were going to see and hear them. Questions were often answered by repeating what he had previously told us.

Note to self: Next trip to Monte Alban, hire a guide from one of the more reputable tour companies. 

That's not to say the tour wasn't interesting or that we learned nothing. Or even that we didn't enjoy our guide. He told us that he had been showing people around Monte Alban for 49 years  - he was an artifact now!

Our Artifact

There is a small, but very nice museum at the site as well. Sadly, the signs were all in Spanish. But many of the artifacts spoke eloquently in any language about the talent of the artisans at Monte Alban.

Getting There And Back

Huatulco to Oaxaca can be a short trip by air, a long trip by first class bus, or an uncertain trip by "Suburban" (a van that departs according to a schedule). We traveled to Oaxaca by OCC first-class bus. The trip was similar to our trip to San Cristobal de las Casas, except that on this route the bus stopped for food at a very pleasant restaurant.

Our return trip by "suburban" was more of an adventure. First, our departure was delayed for about half an hour by the large march of indigenous citizens described above. Never one to waste an opportunity, Bryce picked up a couple of tacos from a street vendor outside of the waiting area. 

Play Spot That Gringo

The van -- when it finally arrived -- was new and clean and air-conditioned.  Our fellow ticketed passengers included a woman travelling for her family's coffee business and a university student going home for a visit.  

Over the length of the trip we had the added adventure of stopping to pick up seemingly random road-side passengers, one of which proceeded to load gigantic baskets of bread and bags of coconuts on top of the van.

Loading Bread and Coconuts

This gave  us time to stretch our legs and, upon receiving permission, to visit the road-side bakery.  Bob took notes - he's going to build a pizza oven as part of an outdoor kitchen project!

Bob, Studying Oven Construction

The downside to the Suburban experience was that, apparently, the driver gets to chose where to stop for the midday meal. Apparently there are still some extremely icky, dirty and poorly equipped (can't say enough bad things about it) toilet facilities in rural Mexico and food purveyors that can't cook. Really - a bad taco in Mexico? A sacrilege. But the Suburban got us back to La Crucecita. From there it was only a short cab ride to the  marina.


And then we crossed the Gulfo de Tehuantepec!