Cruising in the fast lane

The seas were the smoothest we’ve experienced in Mexico, like skating on a sheet of ice, as we motor-sailed north to Puerto Vallarta. We left Barra at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday.  The light westerly winds that changed to southerly in the early evening joined with southerly seas and pushed us northward at a steady 6-7 knots, a mighty speed for us, which at the end of our trip left me feeling like I had travelled in the fast lane all day. 

Cabo Corrientes means “Cape of Currents”.  It is notorious for feisty, nasty winds and ugly, confused seas as north meets south at this point of land that juts out into the ocean.  Well, the point was smooth as silk as we glided around at 1:00 a.m. and we thanked our lucky stars for such fabulous conditions. You see, we left Barra in a huff, frustrated that we had waited ten days for injectors sent from our mechanic’s supplier that turned out to be the wrong ones.  Now, staying at this luxurious resort wasn’t a problem, but we did think that the new injectors would be the icing on the cake and would make the marina bill all worthwhile.  The ending was not exactly what we envisioned and we released our dock lines thinking that we would be better off making repairs in PV where we could also have our ripped sails repaired.  Leaving Barra in our wake, we knew that we would be cruising on two bad injectors but no problemo.  One has to adapt to challenges and so we headed out into the coastal ocean.  When additional engine issues reared their ugly heads early in the cruise, Ken began to baby the engine, checking it every hour, pouring in a little oil now and then, cutting off a piece of the fuel line to rid it of pinholes that were spewing fuel here there and everywhere (after the mechanic worked on it), and tightening loose bolts.  We crossed our fingers that the engine would get us the 188 miles to Puerto Vallarta.   

We dropped anchor in La Cruz in Wednesday’s early morning darkness.  Shutting off the engine was pure bliss.  We had traveled with the engine compartment open to vent the over-heated space and after listening to every nuance and ping for 18 hours, the silence was deafening. 

Now we spend quality time pouring over parts catalogues and researching Yanmar engine repair on the web as we create a plan to fix this puppy. Whew.