lacruztochamela

  We spent a month in La Cruz while the kids did double time on school work in order to get a couple of exams done. We
accumulated massive barnacle growth on our hull due to the "nutrient rich" waters (nutrient rich because of the sewer pipe
that leads into the bay nearby). Maureen and Duke took a great road trip for a week and explored mountainous areas inland
and coastal areas south. We never saw whales again, but did see huge rays on a couple of occasions out in the bay while
making water. Small rays cruised by the boat constantly in the anchorage. Maureen refers to the huge rays as 747's when
they leap out of the water, their wing span is about 10 feet! All in all, hanging in La Cruz made for an enjoyable time -
whether it was pizza at Philo's, Sunday afternoons at Ana Banana's listening to live music on the beach, or an all out splurge
at La Cascada where you could actually get blue cheese dressing on a salad!
The downside was the increase in work focusing on the new marina being constructed nearby (dredging, new breakwaters
etc...) that left us with a dust covered boat.
  Sunday, March 5, found us weighing anchor at 5 am bound for Ipala.   Twenty minutes out our good friend "Otto" bailed on
us and we had to steer by hand...   We rounded Cabo Corrientes by 10:30 am, winds built and eventually we were moving right
along with 21 knots behind us. Around noon Katherine caught up with Heidi from KOHO on the VHF radio as they were on
their way north towards Corrientes. Initial conversations suggested they were bypassing Ipala and going on to PV.
Eventually they opted to stop in at Ipala and spend a night there with us. It was a small unprotected anchorage, but
beautiful in its own way. It was great to see old friends again, and we ended up spending two nights there while the kids
hung out together doing what kids do best (homework believe it or not, listening to music, trading music, swimming etc...).
Duke met a young Labrador on the beach who showed him how to chase crabs in the sand. Duke wasn't very good at it, so he
was fortunate enough to not get pinched on the nose as his new friend did. There was a nice little palapa overlooking the
pangas that served great seafood. While David and Justin went on a lengthy walk Maureen relaxed in the palapa with a
margarita and listened to small children race around on their little bikes with sirens running full blast. At one point the little
boy crashed his bike over right behind Maureen's chair. He hopped right up and appeared to be OK, but then she heard
"hey", and a couple of seconds later another "hey". Another moment and then came the tap on the shoulder and "hey, are you
gonna help me or what?" She responded by helping him back onto his bike (he couldn't get his leg over the seat).
  At 6 am the 7th of March KOHO pulled out heading north, and we headed south another 55 miles to Bahia de Chamela.
  We were still steering by hand, and while David had cleaned the bottom of the boat as much as he could outfitted with
snorkel and fins, our propeller was still covered in barnacles, limiting our motoring speed somewhat. A little while later we
tried running the genset to make water, and it died shortly thereafter, suggesting that we were once again having fuel filter
problems. Eventually the engine began to complain also, so we switched fuel tanks and began transferring fuel from the
port to the starboard tank by use of the fuel return system. The morning was calm with wind building gradually through the
day. By the time we were heading into Chamela between the reef and the island we still had the asymmetrical spinnaker up
with winds hitting around 20 knots. Luckily the bay was large enough for us to fall off, drop the spinnaker and head up to the
anchorage.
Bahia de Chamela is a huge bay with a small gathering of palapas in the northeastern corner along the beach. The breakers in
this bay pretty much make beach departures a wet affair unless you time it very carefully (and then you really only have half
a chance if you're launching from the very corner of the bay behind the rocks). Poor Duke got doused almost every time.
The one evening departure we made resulted in an about face when we saw the crest of the wave mounting in front of us,
David spun us around muy pronto and we zoomed back onto the beach on top of the wave avoiding a major dousing.
The second day in Chamela we ran out of water, but we had cycled enough fuel from one tank to the other that we were
able to sail out to the islands in the bay, get the genset running and fire up the water maker. Maureen stayed on deck
listening to the genset and watermaker, while David went under the boat to clean barnacles off the propeller.