When you have lemons--Make lemonade

At anchor in Bahia Tenacatita

When we last posted to our blog, we said we would next be writing about sun kissed, balmy, paradisiacal beach locations in coastal Mexico. And so it began. First it was 3 days at Chemala, a teeny village 100 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, with some of the best snorkeling we have seen in Mexico. Then it was on to one of our all-time favorites, Tenacatita, where we spent 7 days doing the jungle estuary tour, playing bocce ball, and living the beach life. The question was: what would happen first—run out of water (we have a two-week supply) or fill up the holding tank. It turned out that the holding tank filled up first.

That is when life changed. When we turned on the engine to motor out to dump, the engine let out a grinding, screeching noise and there was no movement ahead or astern. So, in

View from the restaurant

very light wind, we sailed out of the harbor, dumped the tank, and (to the amusement of the other cruisers present) sailed back to our anchor spot, hitting it within 5’ of where had been anchored before. The following day, we sailed (again, sans engine) 14 miles to the nearest marina at Barra de Navidad. Thankfully, Steve and Peggy were there to give us a tow through the narrow marina entrance and on into the docks.

Once securely tied up, we dove into the engine to see WHAT had happened. At first, we thought it might have been the drive plate, the connection between the transmission and the engine and a relatively east fix. But such was not the case. The spindle from the transmission was burred over. Upon further investigation, a local mechanic

Under Tow

determined that it probably was simply worn transmission gears. However, another development quickly came to light. Our transmission model is no longer supported by Volvo and we would need to replace the entire transmission. Further, since we have a sail drive, this means lifting the boat out of the water. The nearest boat yard is 150 miles north at Puerto Vallarta and it is to there that we will need to go (without the assistance of the engine; however, doable, since, after all, this IS a sailboat!).

Which gets us to lemons.

Andy, Lorraine and Clark have time off for Presidents Day. So, while we wait for a

The bunged up transmission spindle

transmission to be shipped from the US to Puerto Vallarta, they will be joining us here at the marina/resort on February 15-19. And then there are the butterflies. In the mountains of interior Mexico millions of monarch butterflies gather on their winter journey from the US and Canada, one of the most magnificent migrations in the entire animal kingdom. Using our down time here at the marina (after all, Schatzi is not going anywhere for a while), we are planning to drive up the mountains February 6-9 to see these butterflies in person. It was not our original plan, but here we go! We will have more to report in our next posting.

Boating pundits say that cruising is nothing but doing boat repairs in exotic locations and that certainly seems to be true for us, for now. These pundits also stress the need to be flexible when cruising, and we are certainly finding that to be true as well. Yes, cruising is

Marina Barra de Navidad
If you have to be stuck--this is good

a great life—or at least 90% great! We will let you know how all of this turns out in our next edition as we go down the boater’s highway. If you would like, please do send us an email to tell us of your lives and adventures, while we are off making lemonade,

Roger, Lynne, and Salty

You can reach us at 206-755-4193 or email rdwerner47@gmail.com