First things first. Today is my mom's 76th birthday. I literally can't say enough good things about the kind of mom and the kind of person she is. Anyone that knows her knows that she is a saint. My dad is an amazing person as well but since his accident over 30 years ago my mom has taken care of him and stuck by his side, even when things were not easy...which was most of the time. To Karla and I she is the best mom we could ever ask for. Caring, loving, kind, nurturing and ALWAYS supportive of us no matter where we were, what we doing or who we were with. She didn't care about our poor choices, bad habits or whatever, she just loved us and still does. She is truly a saint and I am so grateful to have her be my mom. If there is anything good about me, it is directly attributed to her. You can attribute the bad stuff to my dad. haha. Just kidding dad. I love you too. Best parents ever and I'm eternally grateful. Happy birthday mom and happy mother's day tomorrow too.
Now to life aboard. Today I had to drop Gregg off in Loreto so he could could catch his short, 30 hour bus ride home. Yikes, glad it is him and not me. lol. It was so awesome having Gregg aboard, truly one of the best friends in my life and someone I can always laugh with and tell anything to, no matter how long ago the last visit was. Last night we stayed up until 2am just talking, telling old stories and laughing. Good times. However, dropping him off did not go exactly as planned. The plan was to make the short 6 mile sail from Isla Coronados to Loreto, anchor off the beach, go ashore, have lunch, hang out some and then get him on the bus going the right direction...north. After dropping him off I was going to sail back out to Coronados to anchor and wait for good winds to get me up to San Juanico and the Bay of Conception, my stepping off point to cross back over the to the mainland and put the boat away at the end of this month. However, by the time we got to Loreto at around 10am the wind was blowing 20+ knots out of the north and there was 3-4' chop with whitecaps everywhere. Not exactly ideal conditions to anchor and leave the boat let alone try to launch the dinghy and put on the 135lb motor. Loreto is a "roadstead", just open beach off of town with zero protection except from the west where the beach is.
If I dropped the anchor it would be very difficult for me to even get off the anchor to leave being a single hander. It's not an easy task by yourself in heavy winds. So we revised the plan. I saw a fisherman in his panga (an open fiberglass boat about 15' long) near the breakwater entry so I grabbed my airhorn, gave it a blow and then waved him out to the boat. Gregg quickly packed the rest of his stuff while the fisherman waited in the windy, choppy conditions. Getting the panga close enough to the Liahona to make the drop was a trick and, quite frankly, the fisherman sucked at driving his own boat. The first time he approached he came in way too hot and rammed the side of the boat then with the swells bouncing hit the bottom of the dinghy hanging in my davits. I thought he might break the davits off. On that approach I took the opportunity to toss Gregg's backpack into the panga before it left it's marks on the side of the boat and drifted away. A couple more tries and he finally got close enough for Gregg to jump off the side rail into the panga. Whoa, that was sketchy. A wave goodbye and Gregg was off to fend for himself in town and hopefully get on the right bus heading north. I am sure he will be fine but I felt bad just kicking him over the side into the panga.
After the Gregg disembarking situation I then needed to get out of there to someplace that had a measure of wind and wave protection. Coronados would be good protection from the north winds and waves but it was due north, exactly where the wind and waves were coming from which meant beating into it for about 2 hours taking a pounding. Not very enticing. So I pointed the Liahona downwind toward Escondido about 15 miles to the south. The winds were blowing between 18-25 knots and the seas were building so running south, even though it is the wrong direction, seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. I only put out a double reefed genny, no mainsail and was doing over 6 knots, rolling and surfing to the safety of Escondido Bay. I got here around 2pm and the flat calm water in the protection of the bay was much appreciated and I am currently tied back up to buoy number 112. Gotta love that!
After a trip to the marina office to check in, instant message Marne and family, I am back aboard and enjoying the rest. I will wait here in Escondido until more favorable winds prevail to carry me farther north where I need to be in about 3 weeks. Ciao for now.
Bret (now back to singlehander status)
SV Liahona
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
May 8, Isla Coronados
The sands of Isla Coronados
When I was walking up the steep, rocky trail with Gregg I thought of two people, Marne and John. Marne because I know that she will want to run/hike up to the top when we are back down here this fall and John because it would be an epic trail run that he would love. A classic Bret trail run, steep, rocky and gnarly; maybe without the cross country, off trail part of the normal Bret trail run. lol. You wander off trail here and something prickly is most assuredly going to get your attention. As I thought about running the trail with John I quickly remembered that I wouldn't make it 1/4 mile up that steep hillside before I would be sounding like I was having an asthma attack. lol. I am definitely not in shape for that but I am looking forward to some trail runs when I get home.
Current negatives here in the cruising life...the water temperature is a crazy low 67 degrees. It isn't Rogue River cold but it is not as inviting as it was a few weeks ago. It is a weird year here in the Sea of Cortez. By now the sea is supposed to be warming not cooling. The other negative, which is somewhat tied to the cold water, is the fishing. Nothing! I am hoping that changes as I move north.
Toilet report - After rebuilding that whole system a couple of days ago I still had a slow backflow problem with sea water leaking back into the bowl. The fix is a new "joker valve" which I had put in with the fix. How could it not work being brand new? I don't have the answer to that but this morning I put another new joker valve in and viola...the head is now functioning as intended again. Whew! Head problems are no fun.
That is another day aboard.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Thursday, May 7, 2015
May 7, Isla Corodados
This morning we took a short cruise into Loreto about 10 miles away. In Loreto we went to the bus station to check on schedules for Gregg then off to the plaza for a pretty tasty pizza and all you can eat tacos. A quick trip to Ley (the grocery store) then the walk back to the docks. Loreto is not really a place to anchor overnight as there is no protection. Cruisers call that a "roadstead anchorage". After putting the dinghy away we pulled anchor, tossed out a reefed main and genoa and we were off to Isla Coronados which lies a short 8 miles to the north of town. On the sail we spotted a catamaran that was running full sail and to my surprise we easily caught him, pulled aside mid-sail, said hello then sailed off in front of him. I have no idea what kind of catamaran it was but it definitely was not very fast as I was sailing faster with a reefed main and genny and he was under full sail. That was my probably my highlight of the day. lol.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
The cathedral in Loreto
We sailed all the way into the anchorage here at Isla Coronados just enjoying the day quiet and peaceful. There are about 12 other boats anchored here and we have already met a few of them. Gotta love that cruising community. Everybody is here under the same basic pretense...take life easy and enjoy the beauty along the way. Most likely we will hang out here tomorrow and do some exploring. Coronados is an old volcano and the shores are either white sand or black or red cinder. The bay where we are anchored is very well protected in all directions except from the west and nearing the beach it looks like a postcard. Shallow, clear waters covering soft white sand. It's not a bad place to be. Not at all. 
Talking with friends Diane and Bill from SV True Love
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
May 6, Bahia Marquer, Isla Carmen
Yes, we are still here. Issues kept us in the anchorage today. More on that in a bit. This morning I was happy to awake and feel normal again. Dang, that was a bummer of a day and a half there. I was especially happy about feeling better because today was my day to be the net controller for the Sonrisa Net on the ham radio. Things went well with the net and then I decided to dig into what I had hoped to be a quick fix project that turned into a whole day ordeal. I started on it at 8:30 this morning and just finished with it about 15 minutes ago. It is currently 5:45pm.
Yesterday after either the captain or crew (we won't mention which and in reality it doesn't really matter) did their morning duties in the aft head it appeared that there might be some blockage. The pump handle was extremely hard to push in one direction and impossible in the other. Ok I thought, a little blockage. One of the easiest remedies for a crappy little blockage (pun intended) is to let it set in the head overnight and usually it will break down enough to push it through the next day. That brings us to this morning. After the net I was anxious to pump that blockage out of the boat and go about my day. Nothing doing. No change from yesterday. Not moving. Chit! (yes, pun intended again). Ok, so the easy way out was to grab a piece of wire and push it through the through hull in the side of the boat, past the valve and hopefully loosen the blockage. Pump again and we are good to go. This does require a swim as the through hull comes out below the water line of the boat. No big deal. However, it nets us nothing. Ok, onto a little more aggressive route to the same approach, a drain snake. Back in the water, insert the snake, Gregg winds the snake from up on the deck, try pump out the blockage and hopefully move on to the rest of our day. However, again, no go.
Time to move to the head and attack the problem from inside the boat. After tracing the plumbing from the toilet to the through hull where it leaves the boat there were a few possibilities. A) The pump assembly itself, B) the connection from the pump assembly to the hose, C) the 3-way valve to send it overboard or into the holding tank, D)the hose from there to the through hull, or E) the through hull valve itself. In my head I thought it was most likely 3-way valve between the head, the through hull and the holding tank. Karma would dictate that it was the 3-way valve because it is the most difficult to get to buried in the bottom of the cabinet below the floorboards below the sink AND being in the lowest spot it would naturally drain any and all effluent once we disconnected any of the 3 hoses. Ding, ding, ding! Karma is the winner! As I disconnect each hose it drains it's rosie fresh effluent water straight from the toilet onto the floor, which is where I happen to be sitting. So fun! As I was on the floor of the head imitating a contortionist and grunting, cussing under my breath etc, Gregg was next to the navigation table handing me tools, clean paper towels and spraying Febreeze to mitigate the gag reflex for both of us.
We are now about 4 hours into the project and the 3-way valve is removed along with the accompanying hoses, hose clamps, etc. The orifices through valve and the hoses is supposed to be 1 1/2". What we are looking at is about 3/4" in most of the hoses and a hole about the size of a fat pencil in most of the valves or elbows. Hmmm...definitely a problem. The toilets are flushed with salt water which over time begin a calcification process that given enough time can completely close off the flow. We were almost there. Most of the calcification was about 1/4 thick or better and it is a very hard substance made up of salt and, well you know, chit water. Let's just call it some nasty, very hard, crusty stuff. Gregg and I spent about 2 hours chiseling the "crusty stuff" out of the valves, elbows, hoses and wherever else it resided. All the while being careful not to break anything because that means no toilet.
Reassembly took about an hour and a half and then the test...turn on the valves, flush and check. Check, check and check. Mission accomplished! Putting everything away and cleaning up takes another half hour and we sit down for a rest. It is about 4:30pm. I go back into the head and notice there is a small leak. Grrr. So I take off the bottom valve to the head again, more really fresh smelling water again. Remove, clean, replace. Try again. Nope. Still leaking. Think some more, try again. After readjusting some hose clamps, mopping up again and a thorough bleaching to clean everything, the Liahona has a working head again. All day of back tweaking work mixed in with what seems like a frolick in your backyard septic tank and viola...the deed is done. Not exactly another day in paradise as Gregg might have pictured but there is a silver lining...at least we were in paradise. Although wading in chit probably is not any better here than it is there.
That, however, is another day aboard the SV Liahona. Ciao for now.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Yesterday after either the captain or crew (we won't mention which and in reality it doesn't really matter) did their morning duties in the aft head it appeared that there might be some blockage. The pump handle was extremely hard to push in one direction and impossible in the other. Ok I thought, a little blockage. One of the easiest remedies for a crappy little blockage (pun intended) is to let it set in the head overnight and usually it will break down enough to push it through the next day. That brings us to this morning. After the net I was anxious to pump that blockage out of the boat and go about my day. Nothing doing. No change from yesterday. Not moving. Chit! (yes, pun intended again). Ok, so the easy way out was to grab a piece of wire and push it through the through hull in the side of the boat, past the valve and hopefully loosen the blockage. Pump again and we are good to go. This does require a swim as the through hull comes out below the water line of the boat. No big deal. However, it nets us nothing. Ok, onto a little more aggressive route to the same approach, a drain snake. Back in the water, insert the snake, Gregg winds the snake from up on the deck, try pump out the blockage and hopefully move on to the rest of our day. However, again, no go.
Time to move to the head and attack the problem from inside the boat. After tracing the plumbing from the toilet to the through hull where it leaves the boat there were a few possibilities. A) The pump assembly itself, B) the connection from the pump assembly to the hose, C) the 3-way valve to send it overboard or into the holding tank, D)the hose from there to the through hull, or E) the through hull valve itself. In my head I thought it was most likely 3-way valve between the head, the through hull and the holding tank. Karma would dictate that it was the 3-way valve because it is the most difficult to get to buried in the bottom of the cabinet below the floorboards below the sink AND being in the lowest spot it would naturally drain any and all effluent once we disconnected any of the 3 hoses. Ding, ding, ding! Karma is the winner! As I disconnect each hose it drains it's rosie fresh effluent water straight from the toilet onto the floor, which is where I happen to be sitting. So fun! As I was on the floor of the head imitating a contortionist and grunting, cussing under my breath etc, Gregg was next to the navigation table handing me tools, clean paper towels and spraying Febreeze to mitigate the gag reflex for both of us.
We are now about 4 hours into the project and the 3-way valve is removed along with the accompanying hoses, hose clamps, etc. The orifices through valve and the hoses is supposed to be 1 1/2". What we are looking at is about 3/4" in most of the hoses and a hole about the size of a fat pencil in most of the valves or elbows. Hmmm...definitely a problem. The toilets are flushed with salt water which over time begin a calcification process that given enough time can completely close off the flow. We were almost there. Most of the calcification was about 1/4 thick or better and it is a very hard substance made up of salt and, well you know, chit water. Let's just call it some nasty, very hard, crusty stuff. Gregg and I spent about 2 hours chiseling the "crusty stuff" out of the valves, elbows, hoses and wherever else it resided. All the while being careful not to break anything because that means no toilet.
Reassembly took about an hour and a half and then the test...turn on the valves, flush and check. Check, check and check. Mission accomplished! Putting everything away and cleaning up takes another half hour and we sit down for a rest. It is about 4:30pm. I go back into the head and notice there is a small leak. Grrr. So I take off the bottom valve to the head again, more really fresh smelling water again. Remove, clean, replace. Try again. Nope. Still leaking. Think some more, try again. After readjusting some hose clamps, mopping up again and a thorough bleaching to clean everything, the Liahona has a working head again. All day of back tweaking work mixed in with what seems like a frolick in your backyard septic tank and viola...the deed is done. Not exactly another day in paradise as Gregg might have pictured but there is a silver lining...at least we were in paradise. Although wading in chit probably is not any better here than it is there.
On task fixing the aft head
Through hulls for the head plumming.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
May 5, Bahia Marquer, Isla Carmen
Ok, it's May 5th, my 53rd birthday. Ya, not a good day. Last night I must have eaten something bad because half way through dinner I suddenly felt bad and had Gregg take me back to the boat. I maybe slept an hour all night. Today I have been in my bunk all day only leaving a couple times to go to the bathroom and now to write this post. I feel a little better but still not good. I just want to feel like myself again. That is all I can write for now as my head is aching and I find myself staring at the computer screen not knowing what to say and realizing that I am just staring at the screen. Gotta go. Hope to feel better tomorrow.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday.
Tanner, Tarren and Tallen - I love you guys so much. Miss you tons.
Bret and Gregg
SV Liahona
Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday.
Tanner, Tarren and Tallen - I love you guys so much. Miss you tons.
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