Three Strikes

Just after a lovely lunch at La Vena in Tenacatita as we were changing our tattered Canadian courtesy flag, a 90 foot power yacht dropped it's anchor a little too close given that there were only three boats in the anchorage. It's like surfing or skiing, everyone follows the crowd. The woman on the bow of the yacht was yelling and waiving to her husband at the helm that she couldn't stop the anchor chain. Apparently she was having trouble with the windlass. As is common, panic ensued. Why, I don't know. Who cares if you lose your anchor chain in 20 feet of water, dive down, attach a halyard and winch it up. So now husband and wife are yelling at eachother on the bow (which is also, common) about the anchoring situation. Unfortunately, the boat was still in gear at about 5 knots and heading straight for Lost Elvis mid-ship. A local ponga full of tourists stopped to watch. I started yelling to him that he was still in gear. Randy ordered all of us to prepare to abandon ship so we scrambled under the life lines, stood on the rub rail and prepared dive in and swim as fast as we could. Just as we were about to dive in, the captain of the yacht looked up in shock, ran to his helm, which was quite a distance, slammed the vessel into reverse and stopped about 20 feet away from us. We were shaking. I'm sure the panga would have plucked us out of the water but the woman would have been launched through our running rigging, Elvis would have been demasted and likely sunk. All for a few hundred feet of chain.



To take our minds of things we resumed working on the Canadian flag. As Randy was hoisting it, the radar deflector fell on my head. It shattered my plastic hair clip and gave me whiplash but other than that I was OK. If not for the hair do, I would be in the hospital, or worse.



Randy paid a visit to our new neighbours to have a de-briefing on what just happened and how we could all learn from it. After much blame, it was agreed that the Captain is ultimately responsible for the vessel and crew. The yachties invited us for cocktails and snacks so we could all come to terms and get over the unnecessary adrenline hit we all felt.



That's when they tried to kill us a second time, with Captain Morgan rum. Randy and Paul were rather ill the next morning. After we pulled up the anchor, they both went back to their bunks and I took old Elvis back to Barra. She, as well as the rest of us are very happy to be here.

If any provisions are needed while in Tenacatita, La Manzanilla has fresh fruit and vegetables on Thursdays. There is a little deli and fish market operated by some gringos. Most items are frozen but that works well for us since we don't have to run our freezer for ever to freeze it ourselves. Gasoline for outboards can be found in a little mechanic shop on the way to the highway. Take a taxi to the garage where instead of a hoist, the owner has a pit, and instead of a gasoline pump, he stores gas in plastic soda bottles.

Lost Elvis Sailing, Yes Sailing to Careyes

We left Chamela for Careyes on December 15 and since it's only an hour by motor we decided to sail. There wasn't much wind but our friends on Maluhia egged us on. After an hour we had to start the engine to keep up with Maluhia, a catamaran weighing less than a 1/4 of us. At idle with sails we were holding 6 knots. After about 3 hours, we made it to Careyes, a tiny little anchorage, lined with luxurious hotels and houses. The anchorage is much smaller than Charlie's Charts indicates. It can hold about 5 boats if they are all stern anchored. It's about 25 feet deep and the bottom is sand. The snorkelling is fantastic at the islands near the old Club Med and the water is about 10 degrees warmer than at Las Tres Marietas. We had an expensive lunch at the Careyes Hotel and sat by the pool freezing to death in 15 knot winds. The pool is not heated so not very inviting at this time of year. There is an expensive seafood restaurant in the large pink palapa in the middle cove. The entrees range from 180 pesos to 500 pesos (lobster). Tomorrow we head to Barra. Unfortunately, the tides are not in our favour so we will have to spend a night in the marina which is prohibitively expensive. During the summer in the off-season they were charging $2.40 per foot and no one was there! Hopefully they will give us a break as it appears things are still quite slow post-US recession.

San Pancho Wedding, Mariettas and the Cat Comes Back

On November 13, 2010, Chris Pilutik (my brother) and Jackie Fowler were married in San Pancho, Nayarit, Mexico. It was an amazingly beautiful and fun event with a Banda Group, Mariachis, much dancing, local food and perfect weather.

Rather than sail Lost Elvis up to Sayulita and leave her there anchored during the festivities, Randy and I decided to rent a room at Costa Azul in San Pancho. Costa Azul is one of the area's first "adventure resorts" and was two doors down the beach from Villa de Roja, where the wedding was held. We got a taxi from Paradise Village for 300 pesos. San Pancho is small so there is no need to have a car there unless you are going to drive up to San Blas or up to the crocodile tour. If you do rent a car, use "Gecko" out of Bucerias. He's Canadian and offers a decent rate.



San Pancho's bridge is out due to the heavy rains in September but they have built a temporary by-pass for cars and pedestrians. If you need anything, go to the Indio it has everything.

San Pancho Surf Shop is also a great resource. If Fabiano is working there, he can arrange surf trips, fishing charters, hikes to the waterfalls, horse back riding... etc. He's a native San Pancho-ite and a long time family friend. You can surf right in San Pancho at the end of the main street. In the winter, it's a fast break. During the week there is hardly anyone surfing. The locals surf before and after work
After the wedding SV Lost Elvis boarded 13 of the wedding guests at La Cruz and set sail for a day trip to the Mariettas. We saw dolphins and whales. The guests snorkeled, swam and kayaked. Randy attempted an "Amphibious Assault" dinghy beach landing, ended up sideways in the waves and then upside down in the coral. Other than a few scratches Randy was fine. Fortunately, he let all the passengers out to swim ashore. Any dinghy landing that starts with the words "Watch This!", "I learned this in the State Department" or now, "Amphibious Assault", means someone is going to get wet.


Big thanks to MV HannaMarie, a Mikelson Yacht Fisher (aka Calamari), Brad and Adam for helping us entertain our guests. Back in port in La Cruz, we found an excellent boat washer, stainless guy called Jose. He is very reasonable and thorough.

After a few tears and much discussion, I have decided to take Roan, my Devon Rex, to Mexico to live with us on the boat. My ex's schedule would leave Roan alone most of the time and Roan is very bonded to me.

He's sleeping in my dirty clothes hamper beside me if that's any indication.

Mexico is the same as most countries for importing a cat. You need a veterinarian's certificate of good health and confirmation of distemper and rabies shots within 10 days of travel. As well as smuggling in a good supply of his normal food, my vet also suggested bringing in bottled water in case he doesn't like the local stuff. What she doesn't know is that the water in Paradise Village Marina is filtered and treated before it gets to the docks and that our boat also has three filters before it pours out of the tap. I drink it all the time without incident. I'm sure Roanie Baloney will be fine.

Roan and I leave on December 9 on a Westjet direct flight from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta. This is the only direct flight from Vancouver and is about 5 hours in total. During the busy season, Westjet allows only two pets in the cabin. They have specific requirements about the size and type of cat carrier however, the cat carrier does not count as carry-on. They charge $50 for the cat.

I am worried about him escaping, drowning and freaking out when the engine starts. We'll have to close the boat up while we are out so he does not escape. Thank God we have air conditioning so we can cool things down when we return to the boat. I'm sure it will all be fine but I am so worried. At the same time, I can't send him out for adoption or leave him with my ex; those options would be worse for the cat.