Back North...

On Thursday 3-17 I left La Cruz for the short run north to Chacala.  My plan was to get to San Blas on Monday after spending a few days in Chacala. This was the place that Ronelle, Alex and K.V had enjoyed so much over New Years golidays.

That afternoon after doing a weather check I realized a bit of weather was predicted for later that weekend. Nothing serious, but it meant I'd have to either move north before I had planned or remain in Chacala longer than I wanted to. I had been talking to another cruiser on a boat at anchor next to me and he was planning on moving north the San Blas the next day.

San Blas has a bar across the entrance with multiple shoals in the channel, and since he had been there before, I thought it would be a good idea to follow him thru the entrance. We planned to leave Chacala at noon on Friday so we could arrive at the entrance to San Blas during a high slack tide. Since he was a sailboat and a few knots slower than me, I gave him an hour head start.

When I left Chacala the weather was glorius. Sunshine, calm winds and a flat sea. After an hour or so the wind started to rise.  I was following my new friends on radar and they were about 4 miles ahead of me at the time. As I closed on him the wind continued to rise until we were about 15 miles south of the harbor entrance. It was now blowing 25 knots off the port bow. Still not a huge issue since it had just risen and the waves were mearly a short nasty wind chop. But it had slowed us both up and I was beginning to worry that we would get to the bar after high slack water.

"Verdia" enroute to San Blas

When we arrived at the harbor entrance we both stood off and watched the breakers at the entrance. By that time it was rough outside and the tide was falling. I was about a hundred yards behind Verida and in between wave sets she took off for the entrance. I had a bit of catching up to do, so I shoved the throttles to the stops and off we both went. As there was an outgoing flow it slowed the much less powerful sailboat more so than it did me and in a flash I was right on her tail. It was a real E ticket ride and we plowed our way into the channel. I was really glad to have followed someone inside becuase the channel markers are NOT correct and there was another sandbar inside the channel INSIDE of the green markers where there should havae been deep water.

Next stop, San Blas..............

TSUNAMI!!!!!

La Cruz is NOT a hurricane hole

Busted up marina slips

Anchorage at La Cruz..23 knots of wind during surge

I woke up early on 3-11 , slammed some sub-standard coffee and checked the news via the internet. UH OH!!. I read about the quake in Japan , turned on the VFH radio and it exploded with chatter about what was being predicted locally. Reports were still vague and I needed to check out with the Capatainia de Puerto as I had intended to head North to San Blas Saturday morning.

I put the dingy in the water and hauled ass back into the marina to the Captain's office. After convincing him I was anchored outside the marina , he signed me off .  This was because, by then the Port Captains and the Navy had closed all harbors, but boats were leaving the marina anyway. Lots of them.

I returned to the boat and re-stowed the dingy and begain listening to the radio(s) for info. Everyone was waiting to hear what had happened in Cabo San Lucas.  As I was anchored in 25 feet of water, I thought it best to get to deeper water. I headed out towards the middle of the bay to 250 feet and watched the bay fill up with boats with the same idea.

Interestingly I had left the marina the day before to anchor out. During the surges that rolled in while I was in deep water the dock where I HAD been tied broke free inside the marina drifting around carrying a few boats with it...... damn, I'm a lucky guy!

It's currently 6 P.M. here. I re-anchored in a bit deeper water outside La Cruz. The harbors are ALL closed and the surge continues, although not out where I am. During all this the wind kicked up to 20+ knots, which is not helpful!!!!

So far, the floating dock is the only damage I've heard about (except for one 70' sailboat going aground outside the harbor) and everybody has been in good sprits, with all helping each other in any way they can.

Here is a copy of a report I received from a boater in Paradise Village, 5 miles south of my location:

"Yesterday afternoon, starting about 1PM and continuing to after dark, the water level in Paradise Village started fluctuating about 2-2.5 feet from peak to trough every 15 minutes or so. Currents in the marina were stronger than normal but not strong enough to break anything. 

The narrow entrance channel was a different story. Late in the afternoon I saw a sailboat try to enter under power. It couldn't make it in, so the current was probably above 7 knots. And it reversed every 15 minutes. 

The reversal process was interesting. The water didn't slow, stop and restart in the opposite direction. The edge of the north side of the channel would start flowing in the opposite direction from the main flow, and the counter current would expand southward over a 2-3 minute period. At one point there would be two strong currents flowing in opposite directions. That set up eddies and whirlpools and standing waves.

The port captain declared the entrance closed but didn't do anything to block it. (Not sure what he could have done.)

Probably 15% of the boats in the marina went out to deep water before the tsunami effects arrived. A lot of them were planning to race in the Banderas Bay Regatta, and had taken their only anchor off the boat. I heard anchor-lending conversations on the radio so I hope all of them were able to anchor outside of LaCruz.

I hope someone will report from LaCruz. I heard a story of a dock breaking up there."


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I took the dingy into the marina the next morning to take a few pix of the damage. There is still a lot of surge in the harbor and whirlpools at the entrance. The channel markers have all moved!!!!!!!


I plan to go to San Blas tomorrow via Chacala........More later!!

Back home and then a Tsunami......

In late Feburary, feeling a bit homesick and needing to pick up some boat parts back in the states, I flew home on Feb. 22 for 2 weeks.

Wow, culture shock!!. It was cold and rainy when I got home. I hadn't realized how much I had gotten used to the warm weather.  But it sure was nice to spend some time with Ronelle, my Sister and family. My son Michael picked me up at LAX and we headed north to Ojai.

I had a long list of parts I needed so I jumped on that right away. Most were just misc. items I wanted, except the new voltage regulator for the genset. I ordered that from the east coast as soon as I could and it arrived a few days before I left to return to Puerto Vallarta.

My Dad was glad to see me and I visited with him three times while I was there. My sister and I took care of same family business and it was great to catch up on local news and gossip.

About this retirement thing: Seems like forever I have heard of people retiring and not knowing what to do with themselves. I used to chuckle to myself thinking how I'd never have that issue. I have been busy for the most part in Mexico, but I started to feel that way back in California after I had completed most of the tasks I had planned on doing. Guess I'm NOT terminally unique after all.

After 15 days in the frozen tundra of southern California, I spent the final night at Michael's house, eating pizza with the kids and watching a movie. Had a great time and was off the following morning.
When I got to the airport and tried to check in, the electronic boarding pass machine said it had no reservation for me. WTF!!!!

I got back in line and talked to a clerk, only to discover that my flight had left the day before. After some checking we discovered that I had written the date of departure incorrectly on a piece of paper while still in Mexico. $100.00 later, and feeling like a dork I was on my back back.

Now I know why I wasn't too harsh with Ronelle for having snaffuz with HER flight(S) a few months before. Old age is a bitch!!!

I arrived back in Puerto Vallarta on March 2 to find that almost nothing had been done to my boat since I had left. I had hired a guy to keep an eye on her while I was gone. He was supposed to keep the dock lines tight ( lots of surge in La Cruz)  and wash her right before my return. The lines were slack, the boat was filthy and I was NOT a happy camper.

As I'm writing this a Tsunami warning came over the radio......I think I better go, but I'll write about it in my next post!!

Stay tuned...........