s/v Dragonfly (Liberty 458) in Puerto Vallarta
I am finally able to find time to post the details of the delivery of the S/V Dragonfly, from Puerto Vallarta to San Diego. My crew, Brian Brown, Tim Sauer, and I arrived in PV to find Dragonfly, a Liberty 458 cutter, sitting in Paradise Village Marina in Nuevo Vallarta, a place I have spent a fair amount of time.
After a couple of days of readying the boat for an uphill battle, including fuel, provisioning, a few maintenance projects and quite a bit of paperwork, we departed Paradise Village 4/19 in 15 knots of breeze, which was pretty much on the nose once we rounded Punta de Mita, the northern point of Banderas Bay. Good weather, but still on the bow, allowed us to make better time than expected, arriving in Cabo San Lucas at daybreak on the 21st, a 50 hour crossing. Much to our disappointment, no fish were caught.
We immediately took on 525 liters of diesel and then anchored out (a slip was to be $148 plus tax for one night!) We rested for a few hours in the morning and then flagged down a water taxi to run a few errands and find a fuel filter o ring, which had been damaged when changing out the Racor fuel filter. We eventually found one for 7 pesos, or about $.60, but the taxi ride ended up running $25.
We spent the evening anchored off of Lover's beach, watching the sunset charter boats go by, and also the local fisherman working the shore for bait fish to sell to the fishing charters in the morning.
After weaving through the fishing fleet that was headed out for day charters with some of the customers looking uncomfortable while still in the harbor, we dropped Tim at the fuel dock so he could fly back to Montana.
Departing Cabo
Brian and I began the bash to windward at 07:00 in flat water at 7.5 knots speed over ground (SOG). By 09:00, we were in 24 knots of wind on the bow, with 6-8 foot seas, and the SOG down to 6 knots. The log shows that on 4/24 the wind had piped up to high 30's, gusting in the low 40's from around 11:00 a.m. until night fall. During that time, the waves were breaking over the dodger, and the boat was quite wet inside, with the hatches and deck prisms leaking more than we would have liked.
Always going to weather!
It was a surprisingly uncomfortable ride for a 30,000 lb boat of over 45 feet in length. Through it all, we stood three hour watches, and Chef Brian continued to serve up culinary delights of tortillas, salsa, roasted peppers and the meat of the day, be it chicken or beef. I took my turn in the galley, serving up huevos rancheros, the only edible thing I can cook.
We arrived at Bahia Tortugas at dawn on the 25th. Before we even had the anchor down, Jonathan, a local entrepreneur, stopped by in his panga and offered diesel at $2.50 per gallon (diesel was near $5 per gallon at home), delivered to the boat. We took on 140 gallons.
Jonathan to the rescue
We decided to depart at midnight in hopes that the rounding of Punta Norte would be reasonably calm. In the afternoon we took a stroll through the village is search of a cold cervesa. None was found. We spent the rest of the day drying out the boat and resting.
Getting cleaned up for town
We fired up the big Perkins at midnight to the sound of a terrible squeal and spent the next half hour tightening up the alternator belts Working by headlamp, we tried every tool we had on board to find just the right fit to get enough leverage to lift the alternator the half inch needed to make the squeal go away.
Once everything was back in order, we navigated through the fleet of anchored yachts and fishing boats (we were the furthest in and first to depart... never fails) using hand signals and a bit of luck. We passed Cedros on the outside, making 7 knots over the ground, and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise in flat water just east of Islas San Benito. Breeze built throughout the day, and then tapered off at nightfall.
By the morning of the 27th we were once again making 7 knots over the ground in exceptionally calm seas. The wind came up in the afternoon and we motor sailed into 22 knots until sundown. We spent the majority of the day cleaning up the boat and making ready for port and customs.
We pulled up to the customs dock in San Diego harbor at midnight with little formality. The racing boats were returning from Newport to Ensenada race and the last thing these guys seemed to want to do was to process yet another boat arriving from Mexico. Even though it was 1 am by the time we had moored, we celebrated with margaritas (thanks Tim!) and called it a night (morning?).
The broker who met us at the dock in the morning commented that the boat was very clean considering it had just come in from delivery. That's all we needed to hear. Another successful delivery.
