While in Acapulco we checked out the very nice Acapulco Yacht Club, site of the 1968 Olympic sailing events. It is located right next to the marina that we were in. One of the nicest looking and biggest clubs we’ve come across but no reciprocal privileges at all so we couldn’t partake. We also took the yellow bus all the way to Walmart on the far side of the bay and again for a nice lunch over there another day. We rode these buses several times and every single one had an intact windshield! And AC as a bonus. I guess Mercedes has standards to uphold. Literally the first place we have been in MX where the windshield on every single bus and taxi is not broken.
Speaking of air conditioning, we found that our inverter was having trouble with the current draw and since we had talked for sometime about getting a bigger one, we started looking to see if we could get one in Acapulco. After all, it’s a really big city. We ultimately found exactly what we were looking for on Amazon Mexico. It also said that it would be delivered in two days. Not believing that, I called the company and they confirmed it. Awesome! So I placed the order and Amazon initially said it would be delivered on Tuesday, as promised. On Tuesday, I got an email from the company asking if I was still going to place the order??? I replied that I had two days ago! Guy said he had not received anything from Amazon about my order but sometimes Amazon changes it behind the scenes. Ok. Shortly after that I got an email that it was delayed one day and it will be there on Wednesday. I contacted the company again and he said voila, my order had just come in from Amazon! He said he would ship it the fastest way possible first thing Wednesday morning and would you believe we got it Thursday night! Ultimately took four days which is amazing by MX standards. We considered having a local marine electrician install it and thought we had finally located one but we quickly discovered otherwise so will have it installed when we can find a competent electrician.
During this time, we were down in the salon when T said she smelled smoke… Turns out the water heater electrical connection burned up yet again. Third time, but been over a year since the last episode so I have disconnected the electrical supply and now we only get hot water when the engine has been run. Not really a problem in this climate. And another project for down the road. It will be replaced entirely.
We had a good weather window to sail all the way to Chiapas, around 450 miles/four days. So we left two days ago but it looks like we’re going to have to stop in Huatulco tomorrow morning because a Tehuantepecker is now expected tomorrow night. The Gulf of Tehuantepec is the large indentation at the very bottom of Mexico on the Pacific side. When winds blow just right on the Caribbean side they funnel through the narrow gap in the mountains and come out into the gulf with extraordinary force and very little warning. It is the most dangerous stretch of water in our whole passage to Panama. Winds will generally be double what the forecast shows. So, we will stop for a day or two as it takes two days to cross the Gulf.
And tonight (our anniversary)our water maker acted up yet again! This time it was a hose that came off. It has hose barbs and two hose clamps but… Couple more flooded bilge compartments but no damage. Most annoying.
Wind has been light, as always, so the sea state is pretty good. Have seen dolphins, turtles and a number of marlin leaping out of the water. Not sure what that’s about but read it’s common behaviour.
