New Motor, Shiny Boat and More Birds

The big event this week was the arrival of my new outboard.  It took a month, so it was a big moment!  It's a very simple little 2 horsepower, 2-cycle.  Doesn't even have a transmission, so when you start it, the boat goes.  Makes things a little tricky, but I've adjusted already.  It's a bit noisier than the old 3 hp, but it seems to move the dinghy just as well.  And it's significantly lighter, which is good.  I had a few difficulties flushing it with fresh water until I finally gave in and did what the manual said to do:  remove the propeller first.  Sigh.

In my first trips with the new motor, I explored further up the estuary.  In fact I went all the way to the end where it became a large culvert.  That's where a guard told me I couldn't be there, couldn't fish and couldn't even take pictures.  So I left.  No matter.  I got plenty of good photos (below) and didn't see anything there I hadn't seen elsewhere.  I worked on photographing birds in flight and have settled on an effective technique.  I came back with more good shots than I expected.  

I also took care of a couple of boat maintenance items this week:  checking the connections on the transmission linkage and getting the hull buffed and waxed.  Everything is now in pretty good shape for once!  (Unless of course, I'm unaware of something!)

The new outboard motor arrived!

Mounted on the dinghy

The great dock crash of 2016 was caused by a couple

of loose screws securing the transmission cables, so

I wanted to check them even though I had secured

them with silicon glue after the crash.

These were the culprits.  Secure now.

I hired Raul Senior and Junior to buff and wax the hull.

They and another helper spent 4 hours getting

her dazzling.  All for about $100!  

Needless to say, I was very happy!

Heading up the estuary using the new outboard.

A sandbar appears at low tide.  Good spot to find

herons, willets, and oyster-catchers.

This mudflat is exposed only at low tide.  At higher tides

I've rowed into it, but I ran aground this time at the spot

where the photo was taken.  Can you see the willet on 

right?

The birds are often well camouflaged and seem to know

exactly where to position themselves to make it most

effective.  Can you see the tricolor heron?

How about now?

This blue heron is almost invisible on the rocks.

See it dead center?

To make the camouflage work, they will remain very

still until you get too close, then they flee, usually

squawking bloody murder.

If their freedom of movement is restricted because

they are in the mangroves, they take off sooner,

like this tricolored heron is doing.

Black-crowned heron taking off.

Tricolored heron

Yellow-crowned heron flies by a tricolored heron.

Willet poking around for dinner.

Osprey looking very majestic

American oyster-catcher scratches an itch while the

tricolored heron eyes me with suspicion.  There's

also a willet in between in the background.

Two oyster-catchers and a heron.

The tricolored heron is starting to get 

nervous, but hasn't taken flight.

Tricolored heron strikes a pose in the

light of the sunset.

Black-crowned heron

Black-crowned heron fledgling

Two herons and three egrets on a semi-sunken old barge

at the end of the estuary, where I got busted.

A closer look (without the tricolored heron)

Two old coots acting like love birds

One place I don't like to see a lot of birds.

Tree iguana

Rock iguana

Unusual cloud formation just before

the wind kicked up and rain threatened,

but didn't materialize.

The resulting nice sunset behind Circadian

The big view of the same sunset

Flowers growing out the rip-rap rocks at the marina.

Interesting approach to getting men to aim better.

October 5, 2018

This week was an uphill boat maintenance week, punctuated by one disaster of my own making.  Fortunately, it was relatively painlessly rectified in a few days for only $600.  The payoff for all my blood, sweat and tears this week is that I can now start to ready the boat for sea again as cruising season approaches.  I get to go from one task list to another, yippee!! On the other hand, as summer draws to an end, some of my cruising friends are beginning to return, always a happy time! 
A notable influence this week was hurricane Sergio which is now about 500 miles off the coast. It brought thunderstorms, rain, breaking waves at the harbor entrance and more than the usual surge at the dock.  It also brought dramatic clouds and some nice sunrises.

I went with a small group of cruising friends and locals

to try a restaurant in the Romantic Zone that specialized

in moles.  It was good, but not outstanding.

We ate on the sidewalk with dinner accompanied by a

pretty good singer.  Also had a little light rain for a bit.

The highlight of the evening came when these little kids

decided to join the singer.  Very cute!!!

Hurricane Sergio was far enough away not to be a concern,

but it did bring big surf, thunderstorms, a bit of rain and 

some nice clouds!

Hurricane Sergio brought big surf and dangerous

breaking waves at the harbor entrance.  Not every

boat that tried leaving the harbor made it safely.

(RIB photo:  Eric Walker)

One of the nicer consequences of a nearby hurricane:

spectacular clouds.

Sunrise from the Vallarta Yacht Club

Even though I see it every day, I never tire of watching

the fishermen cast their nets.  The "boat" is just a

salvaged and re-purposed jet ski hull.

One of the biggest iguanas I've seen visiting someone

else's boat.

The younger ones are smaller and bright green.

I changed the engine oil and filters last week.  This week

was the engine zinc, transmission fluid and topping up

the coolant.

A not-so-good idea leads to disaster:  I tried taping a stick

to the transmission dipstick so I could read the level.

When I pulled it out, it caught on the lip, got pulled off

and dropped into the transmission.

I didn't want to risk damage to the 

transmission, so I paid a local mechanic

to pull it, bring it to his shop, open it up 

and remove the tape and stick.

A Canadian ex-pat, Jack Tinsley turned out to be 

competent, honest and fair-priced mechanic.

Even showed up right on time, practically 

unheard of in Mexico,  and he didn't give

me any grief over my stupidity.

Two days later, the tranny was back, less stick and tape.

Jack said it looked like a new transmission inside, and

all the bearings were good.

Re-installed and good to go.

While Jack worked on the tranny, I tackled my leaking

Skipper head.  There was a small seep coming out the

pump handle shaft.  First step was removing the 

handle and the old packing.

Putting in the new packing was easy, but stopping the

leak was not.  The paper towel underneath was merciless

in showing the smallest leak.  It took many repeated 

cycles of adjusting the packing and tightening the 

nut to finally get it. The nut had to be tightened all the 

way to the end of the threads, so I'll be keeping my 

fingers crossed.

No drips and the paint touched up, ready to re-install

the handle.

Even with the key and key way marked, getting

them lined up was difficult because there was

no room to see what was happening.

I finally got it after a good deal of trial and error.

Back together and dry.

Looking good with the new paint!

My reward:  progressing from the maintenance list

to the prep-for-cruising list.  At least it's a little shorter.