Tropical Storm, Turtles and Travails

An "interesting" week.  What is now tropical storm Lidia had been forecast to come by Banderas Bay, so I did a bit of storm prep.  Turned out it was far enough offshore that all we got here was some rain.  Could be problems in Baja in the next day or two, though.  During one of the lulls in the rain I made it down to the beach again before dawn and saw more baby sea turtles making their way into the sea.  Always exciting to see. 
I continued my wrestling match with the water tank air vent issues and spent most of a day on a parts-hunting expedition with Tony and Denny.  I also had a new issue pop up:  pushing the kill button on the dash failed to shut down the diesel when I ran it to check for leaks after changing the fuel and oil filters.  Fortunately the fix turned out to be simple and I didn't have to worry about trying to get a new solenoid down here!  Always something.  That's why cruising has been defined as "Fixing your boat in exotic places."

This satellite image shows tropical storm Lidia in relation to where I am.

It remained far enough off shore to cause nothing more than a bit of rain here.

However La Paz is already feeling some stronger effects.

Lots of dock lines with chafing gear in anticipation of Lidia.

Happily, it proved unnecessary.

Newly-hatched sea turtles heading for the sea and survival

Their tracks show it's not always a straight path.

A race to the sea....

Tracks left by a mother coming up from the surf

Tracks from the mother leading to nest in the sand at the top.

The egg shells that remain

One of the many colorful characters seen around the docks here

First stop on our parts-hunting expedition:  Zaragoza Marine.

A huge store that never has what you need.

Next stop:  Opequimar Boat Yard.

This little shop in the yard was full of old marine junk,

but I did find just the right piece of wood trim I needed.

Tony and Denny were looking for oddball screws.  No luck.

After lunch we made a Costco run.  It's a huge store with the

best selection of food anywhere (if you're feeding an army).

I resealed the water tank and tried refilling it.  The original

air vent was not functioning.  A check showed it wasn't just

a clogged clam-shell, but rather something deep down and

completely inaccessible without sawing up floor and cabinets.

Without an air vent, nothing much gets in or out of the tank.

I had no choice.  I had to pull off the inspection plate yet again

so I could add a new air vent.  Pulling it off is always a challenge

because there is no room to insert a pry bar.  I ended up sharpening a

long screwdriver like a chisel and hammering it under the edge

from a neighboring locker.  A PITA, but it worked.

Mounting a new elbow presented it's own challenges.  After several

false starts I was able to do it by re-threading the NPT thread to

a standard 1/2 by 18 thread.

That allowed the resulting slightly smaller thread to just fit through largest

hole I was able to drill and it could be secured with a standard nut.  Sika 1a

sealed it all and will prevent loosening from vibration

Top view of the new vent fittings connected to

the new vent hose.

After cleaning and prepping the mating surfaces,

the inspection plate was reinstalled with Sika 1a.

I had to cut a notch in the floorboard cover to allow for the hose,

being careful not to get too close to the top surface..

(Lack of space prevented the hose being run any lower)

After a bit of futzing around, it all worked out.

The new vent hose that shows in the cabin is white to blend

with the white bulkhead.  It runs between the

air conditioner and the heater and terminates

just below the overhead.

Surprise!  Pressing the "STOP" button didn't stop the engine!

While there is a lever to manually shut down the engine,

I wasn't sure where it was at the time and didn't want to

poke around a running engine with moving belts nearby.

Instead, I shut off the fuel supply at the auxiliary filter.

It took several minutes, but eventually it sputtered to a halt.

I knew there were several possible causes of the problem:

bad connection, bad solenoid, bad wiring, or a bad switch.

Getting a replacement solenoid might be tough, so I hoped

it wasn't that.  Turned out I didn't even have to go through

a bunch of checks with the volt meter.  Cleaning the connections

at the switch did the trick!  Sometimes YOU get the BEAR!

My neighbor Tony had his own issues.  I convinced him he

should replace his raw water pump impeller when he changed

his engine oil even though it wasn't very old.  This is what

he found:  lots of fins broken off!  He had to remove his oil

cooler to recover the lost bits to avoid cooling problems later.

But he did it without additional problems, hence the smile.

I had never seen flowers like these before.

I learned they are Crinum Lilies.

They blossom at the end of a stalk about 3 feet long!

Back to Sayulita, Back Home, and Back to Work

A diverse week.  I took Carol to Sayulita on her last day here, then it was packing up and on to the airport the next day.  As soon as she was unable to protect me, my friends kidnapped me, whisked me off to the El Tigre Golf Club Sunday brunch, and forced me to eat and drink mass quantities while being subjected to violins.  By the time I had mostly recovered, we got our biggest rain yet.  Once the rain passed, I went to the beach at dawn to try to see some nesting sea turtles.  While I didn't see any adult turtles, I did see their obvious tracks and a new nest, as well as some newly-hatched babies making their way back to the sea.  A real treat! 
But the vacation was over and it was back to the boat work....  After laying a coat of Cetol on the cap rails, I got the newly-welded and polished stanchions remounted and the lifelines reconnected.  They still aren't properly tensioned because the previous owner never installed turnbuckles.  I'll be working on getting that rectified next week.  l finally closed off the open pipe in the water tank that was the source of the long-unsolved mystery of water overflowing onto the top of the tank and below the floor.  With that done and the loose baffle welded back in place, I was finally able to reseal the water tank.  I also flushed out the outboard and burned the fuel out of the carb.  Still waiting for Chava the welder to come back and finish the stern rails.  Paradise ain't for sissies!

I had promised Carol I would take her to Sayulita, so on her last full day in

Nuevo Vallarta off we went on the local bus.

This is one of the first things you see walking into town from the

bus terminal.  It's not some exotic restaurant; it's a real estate office.

One reason for Sayulita's popularity is it's promotion as a "Magic Town."

But it's also a big draw for surfers.

It's beach is always busy, even in the off season.

This mural was made by school children from colored plastic

bottle caps.  The theme:  "We're all in this together."

Lots of colorful displays of souvenirs for all the tourists.

No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't convince Carol that she absolutely

HAD to have one of these skulls.

No cathedral in Sayulita, just a small church.

Chairs

Next day it was off to the airport for Carol's flight home.

The following morning I went with friends to the legendary

brunch at nearby El Tigre Golf Club.

Tony, Dan, Donna and Kenny all conspired to force me to consume

mass quantities of champagne, mimosas and food.

All the while we were serenaded.

Then the rains came, but so did a rainbow.

The rain might have driven these baby iguanas from their usual hiding places.

This little baby was perfectly content to sleep in the papoose on mom's back

while she set up her souvenir stand in Sayulita.

I hit the beach at dawn to try to see some nesting sea turtles.

These are the tracks left by the mother as she crawls up the beach.

She digs a hole in the sand, lays the eggs, covers them with sand,

and returns to the ocean.

When the eggs hatch, the newly hatched babies instinctively find their way

back to the sea.

A willet poking around for breakfast.

Sand dollars and a starfish

Vacation over:  sanded and recoated the cap rails with Cetol Gloss

before replacing the stanchions.

I got lucky and the coating had plenty of time to set before the rains came.

Got the stanchions and lifelines back up on the forward 2/3 of the boat.

That let me get the awning back up properly.

Still need to add turnbuckles to the lifelines so they can be tensioned,

and I'm still waiting for Chava to finish welding up the aft railings.

I think I have finally solved the overflow problem when filling the water tank.

Since I couldn't access the upper end of the pipe the P.O. cut off and left

unplugged, I plugged the lower end in the tank with a bolt and Sika 1A (which is

approved for contact with drinking water) while the tank was opened up

and drained to re-weld the loose baffle.

The water tank resealed and hopefully problem-free now.