Ship’s Log
Monday, September 08, 2008
September 2, 2008
Scott did a brilliant job of navigating us through the breakwater in the
dark. I know that because I didn’t hear any crashing noises as I had my eyes
closed. The navigation lights are hard to distinguish from the lights on the
land. So the visual is very confusing. We had our prior track on the chart,
which we knew was a safe path, so he just followed that back in. Still scary
for me.
The dock master, Elvira had left instructions for security that we would be
a late arrival so they were expecting us. It was great to see our Tres
Amigos (security guards) there to catch our dock lines. There had been quite
a lightening show all evening, not close enough to be scary, but quite
impressive. We were so exhausted after 2 full days & 1 ½ nights at sea we
couldn’t crawl into bed fast enough. I made the big big mistake of leaving
hatches open. At 4:30 am I awoke to a deluge of rain pouring inside the
boat. Scott was absolutely passed out & of no help. Yikes! It took me an
hour to scurry from cabin to cabin closing everything, mop up some & finally
get back to bed. Needless to say I was pretty tired all day & took it pretty
easy.
September 3-8
We met 2 other folks on boats. There are only 12 boats with anyone aboard
out of over 300 boats in the marina. It is called “off season” for a reason.
It is unbearably hot & humid day & night. We are so glad we spent the big
bucks to install air conditioning because we would not be able to tolerate
this climate otherwise. . Most other boaters do not have air conditioning
which is why there are so few people here at this time of year.
We get slow WiFi on the boat which is adequate to send & receive email. But
we can walk 10 minutes up to the marina office to hard wire the laptops to
use Skype. The office is blessedly air conditioned.
It seems a slew of business was waiting for us & we are busy busy busy. For
me the main concern is my Dad. He fell again, without injury, but it is hard
to know what is best for him now & I feel so far away. Our flight to LA is
September 13. I wish it was sooner.
Our other immediate project is to obtain a permit to dive in the Islas
Revillagegedos (San Benedicto & Socorro Islands).
Scott & Cindy, Mazatlan, Mexico
Saturday, August 30, 2008
August 29 & 30, 2008
Turns out these were our last 2 days of diving in the Sea of Cortez. We took
Monty, of catamaran “The Heavenly Star”, diving. He is certified, but hadn’t
been on scuba in a very long time. Scott & I kept a close eye on him & he
did great. He was thrilled & very appreciative to have had the opportunity.
Very few boaters, even those certified to dive, carry the full array of gear
needed to be a self-sufficient dive boat. Terry has been providing & filling
tanks for JJ, Mick & Joyce. We have gotten good use out of our scuba
compressor this summer and will be installing some upgrades soon to help it
last even longer.
Our very last dive we got to see something spectacular. It is rare to see
zebra moray eels, and we saw two that appeared to be fighting (or mating?).
They are black with white stripes about 3 1/2 feet long. They were
completely wrapped around each other like tangled lines. Wrestling &
struggling for over 10 minutes. Finally 1 extracted itself & swam away to
another hole in the rock (with another species of moray eel!). We guessed it
was a territorial battle, but such fierceness right in front of us was
really unusual to see. They paid us no attention at all.
It seemed that every species we had seen all summer swam by to bid us
farewell. We enjoyed every minute of diving in the Sea of Cortez, but it was
time to move on.
August 31, 2008
The Weather Guru Don Anderson is convinced something will develop off
Acapulco mid week, but NOAA is not reporting it yet. We also heard the news
about Hurricane Gustav that may hit Louisiana. Not a danger to us, but we
hope that it does not cause a lot of damage there.
We decided prudence was the better part of valor & took off across early
this morning. We like 6 hour watch shifts, more opportunity to get sleep
when you are off. It was calm & hot all day. I am barely wearing clothes. It
is 88 degrees with 76 percent humidity. The ocean breeze makes it
comfortable. It will get better as the sun goes above the bimini & there is
more shade in the cockpit.
Just what you want when underway: an uneventful passage.
Sept 1, 2008
I love waking up to a new day at sea. After a long dark night it is
wonderful to have the sunshine & be able to see as I move around inside &
out. I stayed alert for about half my 9 pm to 3 am watch. Scott had
convinced me that we were unlikely to see any other boat traffic so I did
not have to stand watch like Hiawatha. So when I got drowsy I went to the 20
minute timer watch. I was a bit nervous at first that I would not hear my
wristwatch beep, it is not that loud. But did not want to use the kitchen
digital timers since they are really loud & might disturb Scott’s sleep. At
first I lay down in the cockpit on a cushion, staring up at the stars. But I
could feel the boat’s movement a lot & it was emphasized by watching the
navigation light at the top of our mast wig wag around. A bit queasy
inducing. So I moved some of the blue cushions in the salon, so I could lie
on my side for napping. That worked out great. The next 3 hrs flew by. I
usually woke up just a few seconds before my watch timer was about to beep.
I couldn’t believe 20 minutes had passed, so I knew I had been asleep. I was
alert enough to go outside, confirm the auto pilot was maintaining the
correct course. Note our speed, check the barometer, wind speed & direction
& scan the horizon for lights that could be another boat. Since we did not
stay along the coast of Baja to La Paz, but cut across directly from Agua
Verde there was not much likelihood of traffic. There is a La Paz - Mazatlan
ferry & cargo ships, but we are not in their path.
Despite pretty good rest from my cat naps, I happily turned over the boat to
Scott when he got up at 3 am. I made him a cup of tea. Put out cold cereal.
Gave him my report & went down to our cabin for a wonderful sleep. I took a
Sonata to make sure I really slept soundly. It worked great. I woke up 2
times, but went quickly back to sleep. Being well rested makes all the
difference in the world in my attitude & sense of adventure vs. enduring
something grueling. I got up at 8:15 am so we could have some overlap time
together. Scott reported to me, we put both the main & genoa up & are motor
sailing. We have fuel to burn since we don’t really want to be loaded to the
gills for our haul out in mid Oct & between now & then we’ll be on dock
power so not using up diesel running the generator.
At our current pace we will arrive at about 2 am tonight (early Tues a.m.).
I had designed our watch schedule so Scott would be up for both the 8 am & 7
pm HAM radio nets. We may switch to 3 or 4 hr shifts after that since Scott
will definitely want to be up when we take the boat into the marina in the
dark. Because we’ve been there before he says he feels confident to do this
& not slow down & spend 2 full nights out here. Always better to have the
shortest exposure to the elements if there is a risk of unfriendly weather
cropping up. It is hurricane season around here, but it seems we picked a
nice calm window so are taking full advantage of it. Arrived at 1 a.m. and
we were met at the dock by the security guards who were expecting us. A
nice night’s sleep at the dock.
Scott & Cindy, Mazatlan, Mexico
Monday, August 25, 2008
Aug 24-25, 2008
Remember that song?
We have been on weather watch for days as tropical storm Julio is heading
our way. Not sure when we will go “OUT” next. Our next “OUT” will probably
be our last. This is the trickiest weather month, we must watch for our
weather window to get the boat across the sea to Marina Mazatlan for our
scheduled trip to Los Angeles on September 9th.
11 am
The weather report indicates that tropical storm Julio is due to affect our
area about midnight tonight. Seems like weather challenges always occur at
night. We are anticipating AT THE WORST 50-60 knot gusts, maybe sustained 35
knots for a few hours. I was in that amount of wind in Gibraltar so I know
what it feels like. I am very calm & even feel somewhat excited. You should
hear the chatter on the radio & group hysteria that is brewing.
Because of the geographic peculiarities of the Baja Peninsula & Sea of
Cortez we cannot anticipate which direction the wind will blow from. Our
best guess from the info we have right now is that it may come from the
South & East. So we moved Beach House closer to the mountains enclosing this
mooring area on the S & E side to get some wind protection from those
mountains. Scott scuba dived on this mooring & secured the bridle lines (one
from each bow, like reins on a horse) to the mooring float ball. He is
confident that we are secure. As the day progresses we will do a thorough
scan of everything on the boat that could potentially blow overboard or get
shredded from strong winds.
A local problem is many boats are tied to a mooring & left unattended for
months or years. No maintenance & no one watching if the lines are chafing.
Two days ago one of these neglected boats broke loose from its mooring.
Luckily it did not hit another boat, so no damage, but it jacked up the live
aboard community & they are pretty irate with these negligent boat owners.
Many of them now live in homes in Loreto which is 20 miles away. The owners
of these boats should just sell or sink their old boats. Now with this storm
coming, the ante is up & tension is high. The unattended boats in the area
near us seem well secured. Our closest boat neighbor is now Ray on s/v Adios
who has been down here 4 yrs & through 2 hurricanes. He is very mellow & I
am hoping he will be a calming influence as the night progresses & the wind
picks up. The spa radio is a good seratonin drip, usually Scott is content
to have it on. It is a sign that he is really worried when he turns it off.
The sky is dark & cloudy.
3 p.m.
Just after I wrote the above the rain started coming down. Scott zoomed back
from shore in the dinghy. We secured everything outside, including the
dinghy & got soaking wet. Several other boats came scurrying into the
mooring area. Scott uploaded some large satellite images via Satellite phone
(which can handle much large files than our HAM radio connections). The
satellite images look pretty impressive. Sure glad we aren’t in Cabo. We are
tracking the barometer, wind speed, direction & trying to get some rest
since it could be a long night with the most action expected then.
August 25 morning
We are happy to report that the anticipation was much worse than the actual
event.
It is overcast & there is some wind, but the weather is almost back to
normal. It turns out that Julio brought far more rain than wind, which was a
big relief. We got a good soaking: 8 inches in 24 hours. Scott & I were both
up several times during the night, but never saw wind speed over 25 knots.
Whew!
So now you know the story of “Me (we) and Julio down by the Marina Yard"……
Scott & Cindy
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