Turtles, turtles turtles, yeah yeah yeah, mmmmm I love turtles

We must be on the turtle super highway, they are everywhere. I have had fun trying to capture them on film. They kind of look like helmets when you first see them. We are slowly sailing at the moment so we can sneak up on them. Once they figure out there is danger, they dive. It is the most uncoordinated thing I have ever seen. Their flippers flap about in the air as they try to head down. Eventually they make it and swim away. 

Fisherman Extraordinaire

Barry caught a mahi-mahi the other day. It was just a small one but it was delicious. Today he caught a dorado, it only took about two minutes after he put the hook out. 

There were lots of birds around the boat, floating on the water and then you would see splashing and the birds would alight and go fishing. Barry took one look and decided he would try his luck. We had a very tasty fish stew for lunch. 

We are on a three day passage from Puerto Angel to Zihuatanejo. We sailed for about an hour just after we left when the engine overheated. As usual when something goes wrong with the engine I stay on deck and sail and Barry troubleshoots and try’s to figure out how to fix the engine. After checking all the normal culprits, the impeller, the raw water intake, the oil level, the coolant level, and not finding a problem, then the doomsday scenarios arise. “It has to be the water pump.” Me “Do we have a spare?” Barry “No and you have to take the engine apart to install a new water pump, it’s a huge job.”  I sit, staring, trying to figure out how we are going to order a new water pump, much less install one. Barry,” It can’t be a water pump they supposedly make a lot of noise when there is a problem.” Me, feeling relief that it might not be a water pump, in my ignorance asks, “Could it be a lift pump, we have a spare one of those don’t we?” (Apparently lift pumps lift fuel not water, and since we have an overheating problem fuel is not involved) Baffled, Barry starts the engine again but it is still overheated so we shut it off and raise the main, I have been sailing with the Genoa alone which I managed to unfurl by myself. We are not making much progress, the wind is directly on our nose and the current is against us so when we tack instead of our normal 100-110 degree tack, this one is about 160-170 degrees. We are slowly going back and forth making very little progress towards Zihuatanejo. 

Barry goes below and rechecks all the problem areas, after an hour of fiddling about he decides he should jump in the water to check the water intake valve to see if it is blocked. Before he dives in he decides that can’t be the problem because there is lots of water coming out of the engine when it is running, so it can’t be blocked. He decides to restart the engine again and lo and behold it has cooled off and seems to be running at peak operating temperature. He drives me to distraction for the next half hour demanding to be told the engine temp. every minute it seems. This results in me loosing it and screaming at the top of my lungs at him, it is all I can do to refrain from hitting him.

The problem seems to be resolved, we will not have to wait weeks for a part in some oddball little place and spend an arm and a leg having someone help us install it. The relief I feel at having the engine purring away again is tempered by the need to keep a very watchful eye on the temperature gauge, and not knowing what caused the problem in the first place. My only thought is some random piece of plastic got sucked in the intake valve and blocked the water, when we shut the engine off, the suction was lost and the piece of plastic floated away. That’s my theory and I am sticking too it. 

These two hitched a ride for most of one night. First there was one, then another joined. I put my foot down at three and flapped some clothing around until they departed. I was worried about spatter on my sails. Watching them land is a real lesson in aerodynamics. Barry said at one point one of them was hanging of the pulpit by his beak!

Random thoughts

I got bitten by something yesterday and have a whopping big itchy swelling around bite site. I took an antihistamine just at supper time and promptly fell asleep. It is now 0430 and I am wide awake!!

The other day I awoke at dawn and got up for my shift. I looked out and saw rough grey seas raging past the portal. I was warm and dry and still fuzzy from just waking up from a sound sleep. I actually marveled at the concept of a sailboat. We were in the middle of miles and miles of water, we were healed over, about 10 degrees, all around us the waves were pounding by, relentless, never stopping and we were safe and warm and dry, skimming along the top of the water, propelled by only the wind.  I can use the toilet, wash my hands, make myself something to eat, and then go out on deck and supervise the wind vane as it manages to steer the boat all by itself. 

The concept that man has made something that can harness nature is awesome. It is a thrill to be able to participate in that feeling and I suppose that is one of the reasons we have sailed todo el mundo. Thanks for listening.

Heading North

We are in Puerto Angel about 20 miles north of Huatulco, Mexico. We crossed the Gulf of Tuanapec when the wind was not blowing, sailing 80 nm in a 260 mile voyage. If you look at a map the narrowest point on Central America is here so if there is a nasty weather system in the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic side it blows a houlie across the peninsula and you have a Tuanapecker, a gale with nasty seas. The forecast was very benign so we motored straight across the Gulf, which is a no no, and made it with no problems. 

We are going to have a rest today and for the first time since we got here we felt like tourists. We went and had lunch, with a cerveasa and a margarita to accompany lunch we looked out at the boat and just relaxed.

This is Barry’a choice for lunch, sopa Moriscos, seafood soup!

I bought a new bathing suit, the first new one since 2011 as did Barry, after much nagging from me. A dress also caught my eye and for $12 it was a bargain. After a rest we went for an hour snorkel, we finally had a day like you all think we do. 

I am going for a dive tomorrow and then we may hop north to Zihuatanejo the next day. It is over 300 nautical miles north.