Journal 8

Journal 8 s/v Blue

Nov 9, 2005

We motorsailed into San Diego accompanied by an aircraft carrier and little rubber boats escorting it with 50 mm cannons on the bow. What a sight. How do you stay 500 yards away in a half-mile wide channel with this floating airport in the middle? SD lived up to its reputation and there was no dockspace available in the entire town. We were asked to go to an anchorage at Glorietta Bay, which was 6 miles into the harbour. Lovely trip with a fabulous sunset.

Nov 10 – 15

We arrived at the police dock at 6 am in order to be first in line for a slip. The deal here is the time limit of 10 days so there are always some slips available. We were first in line and so got a slip right away. Then followed a round of trips to supply stores and BBQs and generally hanging out with other cruisers while we got our final prep done before we left for Mexico. This included a trip Old town to get our Mexican fishing licenses and visas and a great Italian lunch as a well-established restaurant.
We also spent our share of time in various marine stores and hardware places generally stocking up for stuff we felt we could not get in Mx.
We sailed some of the time in company with Veleda and Meridian Passage II. We have a sort of a handle on the HF but so far can receive fairly well but not send much at all.

Nov 15

First a final fuel up. We sailed off under spinnaker and it was quickly doused after the wind built up and almost as quickly as it built up it died as a pea soup thick fog rolled in and totally obliterated the sunshine we had been experiencing. I guess we had gotten a little complacent at the dock and so had not totally prepared the boat for what was next to greet us. Things got stowed and tied down as we went along. About midnight we were greeted by a really warm breeze off the land the fog lifted the windscreen cleared and then, the first smells of Mexico. Oh Oh. Chubasco. The wind quickly built to 20 knots from the SE with a very confused sea. Soon we were back to motoring into it and slogging along once again with spray flying. When we finally arrived in Ensenada and tied up at Cruiseport for our first taste of the new check in procedures. We had some great help from the folks at the marina doing the paperwork cha cha with immigration and customs and took the rest of the day off to do laundry and sight seeing.

Nov 17 - 20

Departed about noon after trying unsuccessfully to top up with fuel in Ensenada. Could not get anywhere near a fuel dock and so left for Bahia Tortugas (Turtle Bay). This would be our longest passage to date, a total of about 280 miles, which would take us more than 2 days. We try to time our departures so that our arrivals are in daylight. We passed inside Isla Cedros and arrived at 0900 about 33 hours later. Anchored in sand just off the town and met up again with many of the cruisers that we have encountered over the last few months. Much travel back and forth between boats, and visiting in the town. Internet and telephone generally not available, but there are restaurants, mini mercados and of course a palapa bar or two, and a panaderia (bakery).
We were invited to a 34th wedding anniversary celebration aboard Deju Too, David and Judy are the folks we met in Morro Bay.

Nov 21 – 22

We discovered that we are on Mountain Standard Time and so have had to make adjustments. This is a great anchorage and the water is warm enough to swim. We are having sunshowers in the cockpit.

Nov. 22

Rested up and bought fuel as we are motoring a lot. Fuel is delivered via panga in 60 litre jugs and siphoned through a filter into our tank. About a third less than the cost of fuel in San Diego.
A black day for us as we have just learned that our grandbaby has developed a staph infection and is in the hospital and has been for days. We feel incredibly helpless, as there is no relief. The phone system requires a specific type of phone card, which we don’t have and can’t get in Turtle Bay, Internet access is limited and we’re days away from the nearest airport. I find myself trying to be logical, saying that she is the best possible care, there is absolutely nothing we can do for Frances, and know that family and friends are there supporting mom and dad. But…. then there is the emotional side playing out the various scenarios.
We depart for Bahia Magdalena and only occasionally get to sail. This is like Juan de Fuca on a calm day. We have finally got a rhythm to our passages. We are both on during the daylight from 6 to 6 as we feel up to cooking reading and napping. Then Maureen starts the first shift and we do 3 hours on and 3 off. We find that we can usually get 4 –6 hours sleep at night and some in the day so we do not get as stupid as we used to. On the secind day Maureen saw a whale up close and a ray flying out of the water.

Nov 24

Arrived at San Carlos but decided that this was too exposed and went back to Puerto Magdalene. Here we met Gregorrio the port captain who brought us fuel as well as Antonio who ferried out 125 litres of desalinated water for our tanks. (75 pesos). Beats the price of a water maker but maybe not the convenience. This is a very poor small town here. Not much in the tienda. Even beer is rather rare. We did however dine on much lobster at Jose’s fine restaurante, Langostas are little but very tasty.
Took a day trip via Gregorrio’s panga to San Carlos and did a little shopping in preparation for our next passage and found phone cards, and an Internet café. Happily intercepted an email saying Frances was home, and recovering. The news was heard throughout this sleepy town as it was yelled out to everyone in proximity and beyond.


Nov 27

After resting and visiting for three with more of our cruising friends, we finally left Mag Bay heading for Puerto Vallarta. The first afternoon was fabulous sailing with 15 knots out of the NW and very little swell. If it was always going to be this kind of a sleigh ride for the next four days then Adam was right; you could do it in your dinghy.

Such however was not to be. By nightfall the wind started to strengthen. By 3 am we are hove to in 40 – 45 knots and 15-foot waves with a cross swell from the Mexican coast. This is no fun. By 1800 on the 28th the wind is down enough to get under weigh. By 2400 we are motoring again in calm seas and looking for an anchorage at Cabo San Lucas. Saw a large pod of dolphins in the calm seas on our way in. We anchored at 0900 on the 29th and slept for a while until we were hailed by Morova and invited for beer and shower. Al and I have a great deal in common going back to boat building days in Gumdale, Queensland in the mid 70’s. We enjoyed a day in Cabo but it hasn’t improved from the last time we were there so we were in hurry to leave.

Nov 30

Left with Morova for a long slog to windward to Los Frailes. Our destination has now changed to La Paz. It was a tough 50 miles upwind, up swells, and up current. So far the Sea of Cortez has not been kind to us. We took a wave over the bow that ended up travelling down the companionway and stopped in the middle of our computer. Oh well, so much for electronic charts. We arrived at 9 PM and anchored in the dark with much assistance from Adam. He left in the middle of the night headed to La Paz so we never actually got to see him.

Dec 1

Tried to go out to head north again but the wind is still form the NE at 20 so we went back to the anchorage and read.

Dec 2

Tried again, winds down a little but still coming from where we want to go. After 2 hours of this, a little voice said to me ‘If you’ve got lemons, make lemonade’ (Thank you Peter Hammond) So we altered course 100 degrees and sailed east to Mazatlan. Now the seas were on the quarter, the spray was no longer over the dodger, the wind was at our backs and the only problem was that we had not been able to get fuel since Mag Bay and were we going to be able to sail enough that we could make it all the way. Fortunately we had some very good sailing; it was all sunshine and 5 knots, with cockpit showers and pina coladas. Only 180 miles so we would arrive at sunset. We almost made it, too. Sunset is at 5:45 p.m. and it is dark at 6:01 p.m. We were moving east so getting to the eastern side of the time zone meant that sunset was getting earlier. Add to that all our navigation was now dead reckoning and GPS as the faithful old Toshiba had received a salt water douche on the way to Los Frills so we had no electronic chart. Back to the good old days of paper and parallel rules. It really is like riding a bike.

Dec 3

About 20 miles out our friend Jens on Veleda advised us that the downtown harbour where we had planned to anchor is a cesspool and there wasn’t much in the town there, so we all headed for Marina Mazatlan. Going through this entrance in the dark was a real test of navigational skill and patience. While the landmasses on the chart haven’t moved all that much, the data from which they are derived is between 60 and 200 years old. This means it does not match up exactly with GPS positions. Also, the lights shown on the chart frequently do not exist or have been moved or are so dim you can’t tell them from the shore lights. So we felt our way in with the depth sounder and eventually got to a slip where the night security was fabulous in helping us get tied up and oriented.

We love Mazatlan.

Dec 4

We have sailed 1042 miles since San Diego in about 11 days and three of those were really ugly. It is time to rest and recuperate and get the boat back in shape. Making arrangements to spend Christmas in La Penita and then decide what to do next. Some things we are trying to accomplish is to take Spanish lessons and get a HAM license so that I can make the SSB radio work, as in transmit not just receive.


Dec 5

Met up with Larry and son Stephen from Victoria. He has a truck here and he has offered his truck and knowledge of Mazatlan for various expeditions. The one where I went into a ferreteria y plumeria to get fittings to rig up a sediment filter in the hose to fill the water tanks was quite entertaining. Talking to the senora that owned the place and her lovely young assistant about male and female fittings and thread types and sizes using my impeccable Spanish and their non existent English meant that they had to occasionally go out back to get help because they were laughing so hard. Anyway I sweet talked my way behind the counter and had my way with their inventory bins under their watchful eye. Amazingly I came out with exactly the parts I needed and it works like a charm.
Larry has been cruising for a number of years so knows how difficult it is to get ‘chores’ done without a vehicle or knowledge of a new community so his generous offer of being tour guide/chauffeur has made our lives certainly a lot more relaxed.
Larry is also very familiar with La Penita and surrounding area, as he has traveled in the interior and has a 5th wheel in a trailer park in Los de Marcos, which is very close to La Penita.