Our journey on the sailboat Good as Gold

We took Good as Gold across the bay to the Marina Seca Guaymas, or the Dirt Yard as it is fondly called. We spent two days up on the hard having two thru-hulls fibreglassed over and two new thru-hulls made, above the waterline. Fortunately, the staff at Marina Seca were waiting for us to motor across from Fonatur. They were on the radio directing us to their travel lift – more to starboard…ok, stay straight…a little to port… Their channel markers get stolen regularly! Ready! Up she goes The work went well, although we had to take apart some cabinetry to get at the inside of the hull. These two newly located through hulls are used for emptying the water from the shower drains any water that gets into the bilge. Before After It was very hot and dusty at the Dirt Yard and after we had thoroughly washed the boat, we were swarmed by mosquitos. We assume that water touching the dirt after a millennia caused a great release of dried insect larvae. We were also

We left Punta Pulpito about noon to make the crossing to Guaymas. We motor-sailed (main and solent sails as the genoa was ripped) for about 10 hours, but then sailed the next 8 hours. The wind was great and the seas were flat so we went faster than expected and were on track to arrive at Guaymas several hours before sunrise.   We don’t trust the nautical charts, so during Malcolm’s watch (from midnight to 3 AM) he was adjusting the sails to dump wind and slow us down. Dina did the same during her watch from 3 AM until 6 AM. We still arrived a bit early so Dina hove-to outside the entrance to Guaymas Bay until the sun came up, then we motored into the shallow bay and docked at the government marina, Fonatur Guaymas. Sea Boa, with Allan and Ali, and Golden Heart, with Lee and Cynthia, both from Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island, greeted us at the dock. Patsy Thompson and Tony Latimer, with their boat, Forbes & Cameron, also from Vancouver Island, were also at Fonatur, but up o

The galley sink drains into the ocean through a hole in the hull (a thru-hull).  There is a valve (sea cock) attached to the thru-hull which can be closed to prevent sea water from coming up through the thru-hull. When it's closed, it also prevents the sink from draining (which makes for a good quick test). When the boat is flat (motoring, docked, anchored), the galley sink is higher than the outside water, so there is no problem with sea water coming in.  When we sail on port tack, the galley sink is below the water line and the sea cock must be closed or the sink fills up with sea water and overflows.  Our sea cock was not 100% water tight so water came in when we were sailing on port tack. We were waiting for better weather before leaving Puerto Escondido, so Malcolm went into the water and put a wooden plug into the thru-hull to prevent water from coming into the boat, then came back onboard and took apart the sea cock. There was nothing obviously wrong with the mechanism.

Puerto Escondido is a funny place; its main claim to fame is that from here it is easy to go somewhere else. The town of Loreto is 28 kilometres from Puerto Escondido. There are many boats here, but the majority do not seem to move from their moorings. Needless to say, repair facilities were very meagre and a sail repair person was out of the question.  There are no docks in Puerto Escondido. There is an outside anchoring area, called "The Waiting Room", that is deep and has private mooring balls, and there is "The Ellipse" anchoring area (which is actually a circle), that is a  bit closer in, better depth, is full of boats on private mooring balls, and can be quite choppy. Both places cost $1.00 per day to anchor (if you can find a spot in amongst the mooring balls). Then there is the “inner harbour”, which is protected, good depth, and has room to anchor, but it costs $20.00 per day to anchor.  There is no hot water, no docks, no electricity, and no Internet a

The sunrise on January 10 created a red sky. Isn’t there a saying, red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky at morning, sailors…..? We had a wonderful sail with the full main and genoa (the primary head sail) in 12 knots of breeze for about an hour.    Then we saw water overflowing from the galley sink. Unfortunately, the starboard sea cock (water intake valve that goes through the hull of the boat) was closed, but still about a cup of water per minute was coming up into the sink. We tacked over to get the galley sink above the water line, bailed the water, and tried tightening the sea cock.  This was all fine for about an hour , until we had to tack back to avoid land and test the quick repair on the sea cock. After about a minute, water again started coming up the sink.....and that is when the genoa ripped. Now we have two torn sails, which is just as well because we cannot have the boat heeled over or the sink overflows. We furled the sail, bailed the water ou

We anchored in the gorgeous circular bay of Isla San Francisco with only one other boat. The other boat, Luckness, with Craig McPheeters from Seattle had been there for a week and had marked the trailhead of a spectacular ridgeline trail that had views of both sides of the island which we explored. The next afternoon, after our hike, we were toying with the idea of staying another night. Then four other boats arrived, so we hoisted anchor at about 2 PM and motored about 7 nautical miles north to Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose. It's the site of former salt ponds. The remains of buildings, a truck, and a bulldozer are set before the acres and acres of abandoned salts ponds. The next day we continued north. There was no wind so we motored past Mangle Soto to have a look at the tall Cardon cactus forest. Our guide book stated the forest contained cactus 70’ tall. If there had been, we would have anchored and gone ashore, but we did not see any that wer

After Christmas we went up to La Paz where Dina and Zophia explored the town, finding all the little shops, the best restaurants, the French bakery, and the bagel shop before Zophia boarded a bus to the San Jose del Cabo airport to return to freezing weather in Ontario, Canada, and her university studies. Good as Gold stayed in La Paz, at the Palmira Marina, for one week. It was enough time to meet lots of others cruisers, eat out quite a bit, explore the farmers’ market, provision at the large grocery store, and find new furling line for the head sail. Our friend, Manny, had noticed the furling line was frayed almost completely. It is still a mystery how this relatively new line could have worn through. We have yet to find anything that could have frayed or cut it. We had a recommendation for a sail repair person in La Paz, but he was "back home" visiting family for Christmas.  Although the gennaker is torn, it is used for downwind sailing and since we have been planni