MORE PICTURES FROM CHAMELA & TENACATITA

Here are several pictures taken by Dwight and Donna from "In the Mood"

This is the afternoon "Chicken Foot" dominoes group under the palapa at Tenacatia.

From the left that is Joe, his son Joseph, Kathy, her husband Paul, me, and Dwight.

This is the marina in Barra de Navidad which is about 8 miles SE of Tenacatita. 

It is a great marina but very expensive.  I think the rate for Mirador was $45 per night, which by Mexican standards is pretty steep.

This is Barra de Navidad.  I was never in Barra so I can't tell you to much more about what we are looking at.

Barra is a very popular winter time hangout for cruisers.  There is a fair sized lagoon where about 50 boats can anchor with excellent protection from any swell and most winds.

Barra has all the important services that cruisers need:

cheap restaurants

cheap bars

lots of interesting shopping

good provisioning

diesel fuel in the marina

This is a very sad picture.  When Donna took the picture she did not really appreciate what she was looking at.

As Dwight and Donna brought "In the Mood" into Chamela their Perkins 4-107 diesel quit very suddenly.  Dwight dove under the boat and found this palm frond mat wrapped around the prop and prop shaft.  He was able to easily untangle the mat and clear the debris.

They restarted the engine and anchored near everyone else. 

In the Mood left Chamela for Banderas Bay the same day I did.  When the wind died around dark they started their engine just like the other 10 boats headed north.  The Perkins, which has only about 1000 hours on it since it was rebuilt, ran fine for several hours.

Suddenly, with a loud screech, the Perkins quit.  After checking everything out; Dwight tried to start the engine but as he said "All that happened was the lights went dim."

It took them 10 hours to sail around Cabo Corrientes to within 10 miles of the Paradise Village marina and then another 10 hours to sail the last 10 miles to the breakwater where a panga met them and towed them into the marina.

Several days later the Puerto Vallarta Perkins expert, "Teapot Tony", attached a large wrench to the bolt holding the pulley on the front of the engine and Dwight, after disconnecting the prop shaft from the transmission, kept an eye on the flywheel.  Tony was able to turn the front pulley 45° clockwise and counterclockwise but Dwight was dismayed to see that the flywheel never moved.

They concluded that the crankshaft was broken and the engine is very, very dead.

During the same time three other boats that left Chamela experienced serious engine problems.  One had to replace a thermostat while under way and one managed to break a prop shaft.   I can't remember what happened to the third boat.  But, four of the ten boats that left Chamela with me lost their motoring capabilities before rounding Cabo Corrientes.