Manzanillo
Hi don't know where I left off. We met Kathy and Bob (mill mom) at Manzanillo. They came to the boat and had a swim with us and the little fishes. Thanks filing buddies for the nice shirt she brought to Dan. We went to the palapa for dinner.
Next day took a trip to town on the bus with them and met a Mexican lady who was only 30 years old had 10 kids. She brought us various dishes to try we had sevichi with tortilla shells and pork sevichi and fish soup with crab and shrimp in it. The crab were 2" maybe. We talked as best we could without knowing each others' language. We tipped her well and bought her some earrings.
Next day we motored and sailed on down to Z town, an over-nighter. Met up with Catofun Paul and Terry who are going to the South Pacific on a catamaran going out of Aculpoco. Also met with Paul and Audrey - Dan's ex boss. Took them out for an afternoon sail and came back to swim and have dinner later. Thanks Paul and Audrey for M&M, Kids Mail photos, newspaper, canned tomatoes, flavored cream and an update from the mill buddies. Had a nice visit.
Unfortunately another episode in the Elkins life. Upon coming back to the bay we went to the other side which was stern anchored. Something new again. Got the anchor set ok with the dinghy. But Dan was sorting the line and wanted it on the other side of the boat and started paying it out but the motor was also on and in reverse. You guessed it - rope wrapped around the prop. So Dan and Paul from Catofun proceeded to dive down and unwrap it. Worked out pretty well. Great to have helping hands. We all jumped in and swam for a while, Cooled the body core.
We left Ztown next day, headed back to Manzanillo overnighter plus. As the night approached we were being followed by a boat. As it got closer we could see it was a big ship, foreign, in fact we tried to hail it and no answer till later. It was bearing right down on us so we had to circle around to the stern of the ship to save ourselves. That is why you have a watch.
We had 20K winds on the nose and 7' rollers. A little bashing the last few miles seemed to take forever. We got a nice compliment from a motor cruiser who saw the ordeal. Nice maneuver she said. So next night cruising along incident #3- Auto Helm went crazy, twenty degrees to the starboard then twenty degrees to the port then 180 degrees the other way. Then no steering. Dan ran down to check under our bed where Auto is and found a mess. I had began to tell him there was a ship coming at us with no steering. I said bring me the tiller. He was screaming "shut up" so loud he lost his voice. Well, come to find out the tiller would not have helped. So we frantically tore the bed and all storage stuff out and he began to cut out the Auto helm. It had broke the mount and was jamming the steering. All was fixed soon and the ship was far enough away not to bother with.
The last part of that night was rough and long. We had rocks to go around and with the sail up couldn't sail a straight rubline. We came in about 1:30am we had been there before so was familiar with it but it is hard to see where the other boats are. Managed to get anchored ok and slept like a baby. Met up with a couple of boats and went to the pool and dinner. We are now in Bara Nivadad in the lagoon only took 5 hr to motor here. Sent out for some outboard fuel so are stranded here for a while, while I write you. Need to check in and go to the pool. Planning a card game with friends tonight. They all want to get Dan the man. Till Later Sandy & Dan
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