Birds, Beach Walks, Boats and Buddies

The week has been a typical blend of photography, boat tasks, and socializing with friends.  I was able to get some good bird images this week in the mangroves and elsewhere.  I got to know some other cruisers here as I anticipate some of my good friends leaving for the bulk of the season.  Things are hopping at the Vallarta Yacht Club because they are hosting the upcoming Optimist North American Championship.  Lots of sprucing up and the parking lots are filled with 150 brand new Optimist Prams that will be used in the regatta.   Not to be outdone, the cruisers in La Cruz had a highly competitive 'umbrella' race, which allowed anything that floated, but no rudder or propulsion of any kind other than umbrellas or other makeshift sail.  The event was won by my friend Maureen...with a little help from her husband Bob, of course.
To keep the universe in balance, there have been the usual minor boat tasks to do as well as following up on previous disasters.  I had a local shop take apart the windlass motor to reveal it was cooked even worse than I anticipated. So I have decided to buy a knew one rather than put approximately half as much into a motor that can never be quite 100%.

Nature

Racoon tracks on the beach near the edge of an 

undeveloped weeded lot.

Sea turtle tracks leading up to and back from

a nest in the sand right in the midst of a

hotel's palapas.

Shells as found

Sunrise

Sunset

Bird on a wire:  yellow crowned night heron at sunrise

Black (or green) crowned night heron in the mangroves

Black crowned night heron on my dock line

Green heron chick

Social flycatcher with a catch for the babies

Social flycatcher

Some of the flycatchers frequently roost around the

boats in the marina.  They are less skittish than the

nesters in the mangroves, but it still takes some

stalking to get close.  They will groom only when

they are not nervous about potential danger

from nearby humans.

Yellow crowned night heron in flight

Yellow crowned night heron with a twig for the nest

Yellow crowned night heron chick in the nest

Black bellied whistling duck

Pelican in flight

Wings flared coming in for a landing

This immature brown pelican has been hanging around

near my boat lately.

Friends, Food and Fun

A group of us went to the big Sunday brunch at El Tigre

Golf Club this week.  (Clockwise from the left: Mike, Lisa

Jean Phillipe, Dragun (?), Rudy, Me)

It's a nice spot, but we preferred the air conditioning.

Life is uncertain; eat dessert first!

Everything is all-you-can-eat, including

made-to-order sushi and sashimi.

Bottomless mimosas (or champagne or other

 bebidas) too.   Not bad for $25 including tip.

  
Local Events

Some of the 150 Optimist Prams for the North American

Championships being held at the Vallarta Yacht Club

Five new officiating boats

The start of The Great La Cruz Umbrella Race

My friend Maureen took an early lead and continued

to pull away from the pack to a glorious victory.

The Great La Cruz Umbrella Race

Disaster Recovery 

After I came close to losing my phone 

last week, I found a secure holder at

a kiosk in the Lago Real mall for $5.

Heavy Velcro closure and belt loop mean

I won't lose my phone again (if I use the case).

The burned out guts of my windlass motor.

It was worse than I expected given the motor

would still turn some after it cooled down.

While it could be rewound and salvaged, it would cost over

$400 and would never be quite the same, so I decided to

junk it and get a new one for $900.  Sigh.

This is the sleeve on which the motor is mounted.  Once

I was finally able to remove the motor, the sleeve had

a few scars and rough patches.

In order to make it easier to remount the new motor,

I oil sanded the sleeve three times with progressively

finer grit paper.

Much better!  Hopefully the new motor will slip on 

without any problems!

Disasters Averted

This week was mostly about coping:  threats from a couple of hurricanes, a phone left in a taxi, a windlass motor that couldn't be freed from the shaft and a microwave that died.  Fortunately, in the end everything worked out fine.  The potential disaster of losing my phone was avoided thanks in a large part to the kindness and generosity of the Mexican people.  When I went to the yacht club to see if they would keep an eye out for the taxi if he returned with my phone, they ended up making several phone calls on my behalf, called my phone repeatedly and even offered to drive me back to where I had gotten the taxi.  When I did go back, the young man who calls the taxis remembered me, told me the taxi I had taken was there and led me over.  The taxi driver saw us coming, opened the back door, laughed, and pointed into the cab.  There was my phone, wedged between the door and the seat.  The driver took me back to the yacht club, and we had a nice, if simple, conversation in Spanish on the way.  He ended up inviting me to his home to meet his family and gave me his phone number.  Amazing!

Things Seen Around Here

 Coffee on board at sunrise

Sushi and a mango smoothie for lunch

Happy hour at the yacht club

Resident parrots at Paradise Village

Pretty, but noisy

Iguana does de Niro:  "Are YOU talkin' to ME?!"

Sunset on the beach

Work Projects

A lot of time, effort and thought went into

the continuing struggle to remove the

windlass motor from the shaft.

Starting with the maker's suggestions, I tried a variety

of treatments to try to free it up.

Luckily I had the perfect lab squirt bottle to get the liquids

into the right place in some very tight quarters.

The recommended technique was to use a strap

wrench like this to twist the motor on the shaft.

The normal use for these wrenches is to twist off filters.

Even using a half inch socket wrench handle, I couldn't

put enough torque on the motor to budge it.

I came up with a clever way to apply much greater torque

using some Dyneema line and a big pry bar/screw driver.

(Photo taken after the motor was finally removed.)

Even the added torque wasn't enough to move the motor.

The last resort suggested by the maker (and used by

The Commuter Cruiser, an experienced and published

 cruising author with the identical problem) is to separate

the top cap from the rest of the motor and then saw it

apart to get it off the shaft.

I wanted to avoid having to cut, so I gave it some thought 

for a couple of days .  I finally came up with the idea of 

trying  to use nuts and bolts as miniature jacks to push 

the motor down and off the shaft.  The deck was 

very thick and strong at the windlass, so I knew it 

could take the pressure.

Using small needle-nose vice grips to hold the bolt head

on the bottom, I rotated the lower of the two nuts on top, 

pushing up on the top nut and forcing the motor down, 

since the deck was essentially immovable.

 

It was awkward working in the cramped space, but little by

little after repeatedly turning the nuts, moving the set-ups

and swapping out the bolts for slightly longer ones as

needed, the motor began to move down.

Here you get a better view of the set-up.  Large nuts fit

loosely over the bolts and can move further than 

smaller nuts before needing a longer bolt.  At this point 

the motor has been forced down more than 1/4 inch 

(the shiny section of the shaft).

After more than a day of going through the process 

repeatedly, the motor finally dropped off the shaft.

Hurray!  Off in one piece and in the hands

of a local motor repair guru.

Out with the old.  After a few years of service in the 

marine environment, my microwave gave up the ghost. 

I suspect it might have been pushed to an early death by 

current irregularities in Barra de Navidad, which is where

 it started showing signs of imminent failure.

In with the new.  At the local Walmart, I found a Whirlpool 

microwave that was the right size and looked okay.

Interestingly, the control labels are all in Spanish.

Some more wood in the aft cabin sanded and masked

in preparation for spraying.  (It had a few blemishes

from getting splashed when the nearby port had been

left open.)

Sprayed.

Like new again.

Weather

Hurricane Aletta offshore while another tropical

depression forms further south.

One computer model showed that the second storm,

now named Bud, could be coming quite close.

At one point there was close to a 40% chance that what 

had become hurricane Bud would bring storm force

 (39 mph) winds to the area.

Bud grew to a category 4 hurricane, and advisories were

issued.

Fortunately, Bud remained far enough off shore that

everything remained calm, albeit a bit wet, where I am.

Bud has now moved north and weakened to a

tropical storm headed for Cabo San Lucas.

But there is yet another tropical depression to the

south that seems likely to develop into another

storm or hurricane.

My preparations for possibly strong winds included

removing the awnings and other canvas, adding dock lines, 

clearing the decks, and securing the sails.

Mainsail secured with heavy line.

With a very high tide and perhaps some surge 

from the storms, the dock was only about

a foot below the sea wall.  The pilings that

anchor the docks had about 4 feet left above water.

A Little Surprise

Still lots of flowers around!