Puerto Vallarta to Puerto Chiapas

It took 10.5 days to sail from Puerto Vallarta to Puerto Chiapas.   We had hoped to make this passage in less time, but the wind wasn't cooperating.  We left Puerto Vallarta late in the evening on the 4th of December after spending the day with Sean, Kerry, and Kathleen at their resort.

We stopped in Ixtapa on the 8th, but only for a few hours in the afternoon.   We anchored in a sheltered bay on the inside of the island.  We took the kayak to shore and had a lovely dinner on the beach.

Ixtapa

Dinner off the boat

Leaving Ixtapa

Unfortunately, while on our way into Ixtapa, we found a rock that wasn't indicated on the chart.   Once anchored, Justin dove under the boat and inspected the keel.  He also inspected the keel bolts.  Fortunately, the damage was only superficial as the rock had only scraped the keel, leaving a gash.

The majority of the trip was slow going and Justin and I were tasked with finding ways to amuse ourselves. We watched a few movies. I read some Outlander and Games of Thrones.  Justin even found time to read.  I tried to make brownies, but ended up with some lava cake.  I think that counts as a win.  We played some board games and cards. And I got to try out my new Game of Thrones colouring book.

Playing some board games

Game of Thrones colouring book

We had no issue crossing the infamous Tuanapec.  This part of the Mexican coastline is notorious for bad storms and for doing damage to sailboats.  It's recommended to stick close to the shores to reduce the risk; however, this adds quite a bit of time to the passage. We decided to cut straight across as we arrived at Tuanapec just after a large storm had gone through.   We knew that it would take some time for nature to build up for another storm.  We actually struggled for wind throughout most of Tuanapec.

Finally getting a bit of wind

Making some new friends

A pod of 50 or more dolphins played in front of our bow for several hours

Close to Puerto Chiapas, we decided to motor as we were falling behind schedule and there was no sign of wind.  At one point, we were actually going backwards as the current was against us.  We turned on the motor, but we didn't start to go forward.   The propeller wasn't moving.   Apparently, the propeller shaft had disconnected from the motor and was sliding out of the boat.   It was extremely fortunate that we discovered this early as loosing the propeller shaft would have presented two problems.   Firstly, docking becomes pretty much impossible without a propeller.   Secondly and more concerningly, the exodus of the shaft would have left a two inch hole in the boat below the water line.  Thankfully,  Justin was able to push the shaft back in and reconnect the motor to the propeller shaft.   We lost half a day fixing the issue.

Detached propeller shaft

We made port in Puerto Chiapas on the 15th.