FIRMING UP ECUADOR; IN SEARCH OF CHARTS; LAZY SUNDAY; FOX’S CAFÉ; ANTI-FOULING: CHRISTMAS
Sunday, 18 December 2005

Firming up Ecuador

The more we think about it the more we like the idea of sailing offshore come spring to Ecuador. We have been talking to other cruisers and doing some research on the web.

Ecuador may lie smack on the Equator but its climate in the northern summer is much more temperate than that of coastal Central America or Mexico. I am not sure why that should be but apparently it is so. We talked to Gary aboard S/V Ischi who has cruised there. Letters and articles in Latitude 38, a San-Francisco sailing magazine with contributions from the sailors and cruisers themselves around the world reflect that Ecuador is also safe, very inexpensive, and the local people are very friendly. Bahia de Caráquez, about three hours by bus from Guayaquil, is reportedly a good base for leaving the boat and travelling inland into the high country of the Andes. The disadvantages are that Caráquez, Manta (the main tuna-fishing port), and Quayaquil (Ecuador’s largest port and biggest city) lack amenities and support services such haul-out facilities, spare parts, marine services (sailmakers, riggers, small engine mechanics, etc.) geared to a sail-boating public. Colour it “remote” on your charts.

As the idea of a cruise to South America begins to take a place in our minds, however, we find we like the idea more and more. The remoteness appeals to us as does the chance to visit a country before it becomes too far up the learning curve as a “destination” for cruisers and charter sailors. Curiously, back when we were still new in Long Beach, California, Kathleen was in some preliminary discussions with an association in Ecuador was looking for someone who could run workshops on German choral music for Ecuadorian choirs. In the end they did not get the funding. But maybe now we could re-establish the contact and make something out of that. Travelling around the countryside by bus and making music would be a great way to make friends and see the region. As interesting as tourist travel on our own might be, this approach would be so much more interesting and promising and would leave a circle of friends and acquaintances around Ecuador.

Taking a step closer to getting to Ecuador, therefore, we ask around on the Banderas Bay Cruisers Net to see if anyone has the appropriate charts that they are willing to part with or that we can copy. Our charts only go as far as Panama and some of the coast of Columbia. Original charts are, of course, of better paper quality, they are in colour and, if they are new, they are up-to-date. If we are lucky we might actually locate charts to copy that have been kept current with Notices to Mariners. Up-to-date is a “could have”; we voyaged all the way to Alaska and back with photocopied charts that were by no means current. You had to be more careful to keep photocopies from getting damp as the printing would smudge and the paper become soggy. We kept whichever chart we were using at any moment in a large plastic sleeve while it was in use and especially if it was going to be out on deck.

Back in Victoria, British Columbia, we had some good fortune to meet the Captain and Second Officer of Bold Endurance, a cable-laying ship berthed locally to serve the Pacific for the laying of new cables or for repairing existing ones). To keep their insurance valid such commercial ships are required to keep all charts current with Notices to Mariners and to have the latest editions of all charts and all Pilots (in this case British Admiralty Pilots for each sector of the world). The Second Officer was the navigator and spent ten minutes daily up-dating charts. I asked him what they did with the old charts and Pilots; he said that they just throw them away. The upshot was that we wound up with a free lunch on board and a huge stack of Pilots and charts. Of course, they weren’t always the charts and books we needed and certainly not a complete set. But I love the fact that we have original charts and blue hard-cover Admiralty books stashed all around the boat: South China Sea; Gulf of Aden; Approaches to Hong Kong Harbour; etc.

When we started asking around for Alaska and Northern B.C. charts in the spring of 2001, we learned that Larry Fay on M/V Pelican Point in Mystery Bay across from Port Townsend had just put together the complete set for an Alaska voyage. Surely he would lend them to us for copying. This was a lucky break for us since he had spent quite a while getting a complete set together. New charts cost somewhere upwards of US$ 20 a piece nowadays. If you buy commercially-copied charts from Bellingham Charts I think they charge about US$ 5 per chart but they are at least the latest edition and all up-to-date with the latest Notices to Mariners. At a commercial printer in Port Townsend with a large copying machine (most copy shops cannot handle anything beyond A3 or legal size so you need to find a shop that does copying for businesses) the price per sheet was US$ 3. Since we were duplicating 100 charts and were willing to give the shop lots of time to do the work, they dropped the price to US$ 2 per chart. At the end of our British-Columbia days in August 2003, we gave them all away to Shane Williams, the young man who helped us build our Chameleon dinghy up on Denman Island near Chemainus.

Once you start asking around you get the most interesting surprises. We learn from the morning cruisers net on Thursday that there is a free local chart-lending service. Soon we are in touch with Rick and Penny of S/V Mai Tardis II. Rick and Penny also have a flat in Pitillal, once a separate town but now essentially a suburb of PV. We arrange to call on them on Thursday afternoon.

The bus trip into town in a modern and comfortable vehicle goes past Bucerias, Nuevo Vallarta, and the aerodrome. It is direct and takes about 45 minutes. In town there is a major transfer point along the waterfront where the cruiseships tie up and where just opposite there is a Wal-Mart and a Sam’s Club. Rick has given us detailed directions via VHF but we have brought our handheld radio so we can page him when we get there.

Like many municipal busses in Mexico, the one we transfer to in town is a converted school bus, with plastic and metal seats. The springs are very stiff so that, even over the cobbled or paved streets (i.e. interlocking paving stones), it seems like we have gone off the road. When we get to parts of the route that are not even paved - one mountainous section for example running straight up a hill through a residential neighbourhood– you feel like you may have actually left the planet. Aside from the rattling and the noise, of course, there is plenty of dust blowing in through the windows once we go off the pavement. Actually, even when we are on pavement or actual cobblestones there are frequently billows of the fine grey stuff coming in at you. The other thing I notice is of course the large number of little children. But this is common everywhere in Mexico. The nice part is to see how affectionate the fathers are with their little ones.

We are soon chatting and exchanging personal details with Rick and Penny in their third-floor flat in a modern white apartment building. Both of them are boaters; in fact at present they have two boats in the marina though, from what I can glean, they do not sail that much any more. Rick is seriously interested in astronomy and spends a lot of time photographing celestial bodies, completing math to predict or plot them, writing up his findings and corresponding with other amateur astronomers. He shows us some interesting photographs and we actually go up on the flat roof to look at the sunset and to see Venus in the late-afternoon sky.

In between, while this is going on we are also selecting charts from the library that we will take for copying. Since we already have charts down to Panama and parts of the Columbia coast, we pick the charts that will get us to Ecuador, to the Galapagos, and on across the South Pacific to New Zealand. The library is well-stocked and we could have had charts to go around the world including SE Asia, Africa, Europe, etc., if we had wanted them. We decide, however, to limit our copying efforts for cost reasons to getting us as far as New Zealand. We even waive copying charts, for example, of Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon islands guessing that we shall be able to get these in New Zealand or somewhere else along the way.

Getting them actually copied is only difficult because of the to-ing and fro-ing required on the busses. Rick has recommended a shop near the Marina Vallarta and has even called to negotiate a good price for us. But the day has waned before we can select all the charts and the printers are closed. Coming back the next morning, we go first to Rick and Penny’s house, then on to the copy shop. When we arrive around 1300 at Kroma Digital Impressiones (Plaza Iguana local 20, Marina Vallarta. Msn messenger: kromadigital@hotmail.com) they tell us that the charts will be ready by 1800 that day. Great! One less day-long trip into PV.

When we get back from the marine hardware store, however, they are unfortunately not ready. Apparently the high humidity both in the atmosphere and in the paper charts themselves has made it difficult to make top-quality copies; the manager points out some blank spots on the paper to us. She goes on to say that they will have to run them all through the machine again to dry them. Disappointed that they are not going to be ready but pleased that they are taking such good care of them, we start making connections on the local busses to get back to the transfer point at in front of Wal-Mart where we can catch the Punta de Mita bus that will let us down at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. It is dark by the time we get there and we launch the dinghy in the surf and row back out to Vilisar at anchor. We are worn out from the noise, the vibrations, the dust, and the general pollution in Puerto Vallarta. And that town is better than most!

We are loath to start into town on Saturday but reason that the shop might be closed on Sunday. Stopping by the smithy in La Cruz where I had taken the bronze turnbuckle a few days ago to be freed up from corrosion, we hop a bus full of tourists and locals on the way to town. The charts are all ready and they are just calculating the bill when we arrive at Kroma Digital. I experience a small frisson when it comes to just under Pesos 900 (approx. US$ 90) altogether. This is even cheaper than I expected and the lady has thrown in a 10-percent discount as well. Not only have they been they painstaking in their work, they are cheap too. Off we go to deliver the originals back to Rick and Penny and then home feeling very chuffed indeed. In fact we make it back before dark so are able to see the beautiful coastline coming back from PV for the first time in daylight.

Today (Sunday) is to be a “boat day”, i.e. we’re staying aboard. We have some cleaning up to do, I want to catch up on my blog, and we intend to move Vilisar over closer to the harbour so we don’t have to row so far, and so we have a better chance of picking up an unsecured wi-fi site from the boat. And then of course at some point we shall have to file away the new charts. It appears that a bit of water has got into the large chart drawer in the navigation table - either during cooking operations at the galley stove right next to it or because water has dripped in from the deck above. Perhaps I shall buy some white plastic water pipe with cap ends and store the not-yet-needed charts in a tube in the forecastle.

LAZY SUNDAY
Tuesday, 20 December 2005

Our “boat day” turns out to be a “project day”. Now, that’s not too bad in principle. But it is not quite how I had planned my Lazy Sunday. Or Monday, either for that matter!

I actually do get quite a few little projects done. I re-rig everything for fastening the staysail boom to the bow by experimenting with various shackles and padeyes and other fasteners. At least I don’t have to return the stuff I bought and I think I have a pretty good system now. At least it won’t stress the forestay turnbuckle’s screw-in head to the point that it breaks off again flush with the turnbuckle, thus ruining even the body of the turnbuckle for further use. Later, I repair a 12-volt plug and fixed up a torn-out wire on a solar panel.

The major job of the day, however, turns out to be putting hardwood slides under the drawer runners of the navigation table. The table is located to starboard next to the galley stove just as you come down the companionway ladder. I assume Joe May built this nav table when he rebuilt the cabin interior some fifteen years ago. And a magnificent piece of carpentry it is too. The top and front are, I believe, teakwood like most of the cabin trim. There is a full-width drawer for charts and there are three pairs of pullout drawers underneath. Consider that, besides a few little knife drawers in the galley, these six drawers of varying horizontal depth (they slide back as far as the boat’s stringers; the top drawer is therefore the longest and the bottom the shortest) are the only drawers aboard Vilisar and you will not be surprised to hear that they are crammed full of every imaginable item from tools to office supplies to playing cards to cruising guides to CD’s and electronics. As a matter of fact the drawers have over the years become so heavy that:

It is at least one reason why Vilisar habitually leans somewhat to starboard when at rest; and,
Why the weight of the drawers on the runners has worn deep gouges into the wooden slides supporting them.

As the drawers have sunk over time deeper and deeper into the wood, the drawers have begun to jam and stick. This problem is by no means new; in fact, it has been around for a few years. In 2003 I actually used an electric circular saw to slit up thin pieces of purpleheart and yellow cedar that I intended “at some point” to slide in under the individual runners. The time has apparently arrived though it was not on my plan for today.

Kathleen calls to me to come below; one of the drawers, the heaviest one of the lot, has jammed and she cannot get it either to open or to close. I lie down on the cabin sole to inspect them. I see that I should long ago have carried out my repairs. Oh well, today’s a Lazy Sunday. I’ll just glue up one side each of two lengths of the pre-cut thin purpleheart strips that I have been carrying around ( and moving around) in the lazarette for years and slip them in on either side of the drawer and Bob’s your uncle.

I dig out my small tool bag, the 3M 5200 Quick Cure Sealant/Adhesive and get ready. Unfortunately, this top drawer will not come out so the repairs have to be done in situ. I pull out the next drawer and look at the bottom and the supports. They too are very worn. I check all the drawers and realise that this Lazy Sunday will be the day that the three-year-old project will be completed, that the cabin will be in turmoil by the time I am well into the project, that given the cramped nature of the work (boats!) I shall be thankful for the weight I have lost since returning to the boat last autumn, and that I shall nevertheless be rather stiff tonight.

Soon I have Kathleen coating slats of wood with adhesive and I am inserting them under the drawers. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I am continually re-doing the job until my frustration boils up and I begin to swear and make loud plans to jump ship. After several hours of work at an angle reminiscent of a 16-degree Yogi, the job is at last done and I can start cleaning up. Unfortunately, there is white adhesive stuck to various people and things. Fortunately, paint thinner cleans it up easily.

Collapsed on the settee with a can of beer as the sun sets on my Lazy Sunday, I contemplate the smoothly-sliding drawers. There was a time even a couple of years ago when such a project might have completely overwhelmed me. Now upkeep problems like this just annoy me and spoil my lazy Sunday. At least nowadays I can usually devise a solution and execute it. Of course, it also makes me realise that, physically, I am getting a little less limber nowadays. I laugh when I recall that Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “When I was young all my muscles were supple - except one. Now that I am older all my muscles are stiff - except one.” We practise sliding the drawers in and out for the sheer pleasure of it.


Fox´s Cafe
Tuesday, 20 December 2005

We head into town early to visit Fox’s Café where we can get a cup of coffee and buy a good cinnamon roll while using his wifi connection. The owner originates from Lake-of-the-Woods, Ontario, but lived for a long time in Steinbach, near Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was surprised to hear that I had been stationed as a young artillery officer in the royal Canadian Horse Artillery in Winnipeg’s Fort Osborne Barracks back in the 1960’s. Steinbach is a prairie town whose inhabitants are largely Mennonites. The town has also made itself into a centre for used car sales for the metropolitan area.

Fox’s café is a thatched palapa in front of his house. He has only been open three weeks; he started when cruisers needed a place to plug in their computers and get a cup of coffee. Now he is in business. A major 600-slip marina is in construction at present. When it is completed it is likely to radically change the sleepy charm of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle though it ought to be good for jobs. I hope it will be good for Fox too.

Our main job on the net today is to see if we can buy a new battery for the laptop. I check out the “Buy Now” prices on EBay (US$ 50) but wonder how I can get the item delivered to Mexico. The alternative is to buy one on EBay in Germany (price € 50) and have Kathy bring it back with her from there in February. Finally, Fox gives me an email address in PV for a guy who might be able to help us locate on here in town.

We trot around the village to the various Ferrerias (iron mongers/hardware stores) in search of a few good-quality stainless steel washers. No deal. Have to go back to Zaragosa’s in PV. I do buy a length of 4-inch plastic water pipe as well as two caps to fit over the end. We intend to store un-needed charts in this and hang it inside the forepeak cabin.

Anti-fouling
Wednesday, 21 December 2005

I have been worrying about how badly fouled our bottom has become after only five months. We have a heavy coating of barnacles that will have to come off. I talked to Jack of S/V Mandan, a gorgeous Lyle Hess design made of Port Orford cedar; it’s the same family though perhaps larger than S/V’s Serrafyn and Taresin owned by Lyn and Larry Pardey. Jack careened Mandan on the beach at Bahia Don Juan in the northern half of the Sea of Cortés last summer and had pictures to show us. A few weeks before him when we were there we had contemplated doing that too but declined because it was too hot, I felt too old to brave heavy work in the heat, and we were basically chicken. We wound up spending four or five hundred dollars for a haulout in San Carlos. Jack used exactly the same sloughing paint (Hempel) that we used though he did add tin. His bottom looks perfect while ours is ready for another haulout!

By international agreement bottom paints no longer contain tributyltin self-polishing co-polymer (TBC SPC) because it does not break down in the water over short periods, tends to leach into the water and becomes a killer in plant and pelagic life. Now no bottom paint contains TBC SPC any longer but they do carry much higher doses of copper, which is supposed to be much safer because it breaks down much faster. Paint manufacturers also add biocides to the paint but with an eco-friendly spin.

This does not mean that the newer paints are not under attack as well. TBC SPC or copper, if commercial shipping or navies cannot find effective anti-fouling treatment they will have much higher petroleum consumption, also an ecological consideration, as well as more frequent haul-outs and paintings. We cruisers play no role in all this, of course. We are too insignificant in the great scheme of things. But we have the same problems: how to keep the bottom smooth; how to avoid more frequent haulout and painting costs; and, how to avoid unnecessary and increasingly-expensive fuel consumption. For reference, the cost of a hauling 35-foot Vilisar at San Carlos’ Marina Seca last July including four days in the work yard where we did the scraping ourselves and where we applied three gallons of Hempel ablative paint (US$ 135 per gallon in La Paz) cost us close to US$ 1,000.

Now, I could buy a new face mask and a set of weights, don my flippers and go over the side myself. I would probably need a wetsuit, however, as the water temperatures are getting rather chilly for sustained work submerged. In San Carlos and Long Beach there were plenty of divers; they charge about the same in both places: a dollar per foot of waterline. So much for “cheap” in Mexico. (We found San Carlos more expensive than Long Beach in almost everything. We hope that the new marinas not only in San Carlos and Guaymas as well as up and down the Mexican coast will put some downward pressure on prices.)

I have seen lots of panga fishermen around La Cruz but I have yet to see a panga with a compressor and divers aboard. Had I done so, I might just have hailed one of them going by and asked them to do the job. So now I am scouting. My enquiry on the morning cruisers’ net brought now replies so I called Rick of S/V Mai Tardis II, from whom we got the charts. He says there are divers around the marinas and he spoke highly of Pancho, the man who does his boats. He will talk to him today and see if he gets out to La Cruz at all.

Getting the bottom cleaned, however, is only part of the problem. How long can I go with cleanings before we have to repaint? What does a haulout cost around here? The tidal differences even now at the winter-solstice (today) extremes are still not very big. Aside from Jack on Mandan, I don’t suppose there are many boaters around here who have attempted a careening. We have heard that tidal differences are much bigger in Costa Rica. I wonder what Ecuador is like.

My quest for replacement Compaq Presario 900 (laptop) batteries has not gotten very far. The best bet so far seems to be Office Depot in Puerto Vallarta. We’re going in tomorrow to run some errands. We’ll give it a try.

Christmas

The weather is wrong for Christmas. There’s nobody to remind us that there are only so-and-so shopping days left till Christmas. Without TV and radio, without newspaper advertising we are blissfully almost unaware that Christmas is coming. More seriously, there is no Christmas music, no intense rehearsing for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany Lessons & Carols, no major work to be got up for Christmas Eve services. We are expecting no visitors this year (Andrew, Antonia and William will be spending Christmas with their mother in Mississippi) and we are not planning to be with relatives and family ourselves.

But do not for a moment think that we are totally unaware of the season however. There are in fact a number of ways we can celebrate Christmas here. With no kids aboard, we thought about doing absolutely nothing by way of celebration. Alternatively, several cruiser-oriented restaurants are getting up a dinner. Yesterday, therefore, Kathleen put our names down on a list for a very loosely-organised Christmas lunch over at Fox’s Café (see above). Fox himself is putting up a turkey and a ham and the participants, maybe four dozen cruisers, will bring side dishes.

This I think will be a lot cheaper and “funner” than signing up for an expensive turkey dinner, which is what is happening at the marinas in PV. Over there, as in most marinas down here, there are ongoing charitable activities to raise money for Mexican orphanages, scholarships and other activities such as music. The initiators, bless them, are constantly organising “events” including flea markets, lunches, dinners, regattas and the like to raise money. More power to ‘em. But the prices are too dear for us. We love Fox’s and I think this will be fun.