October 26 – 27, 2021
My friend, Karen, gave me a ride to the
Puerto Vallarta Airport and dropped me in front of the Covid testing
tent. The line was short and, as I was aleady in their system, I was
whisked along to the cashier and, 500 pesos (about $25) later, into a
testing cubicle. They told me I could expect to receive my results
via email in 30-45 minutes. I went into the airport and got myself
some lunch while I waited. I had given myself three hours to
complete the whole checking in process, but couldn’t make any more
progress until I had my negarive test results. I waited and waited.
The line to check in appeared very long and, after an hour and 15
minutes, I began to get concerned. I went to the results window at
the tent, but there was no one there. Fortunately, they were still
not busy and the young woman at reception was able to get my results
for me.
Results in hand, I hurried over to
immigration to check out of the country. As a legal resident of
Mexico, I didn’t have a tourist card to surrender, so I had to get
one from immigration before checking in. Fortunately, the long line
I had seen was not for American Airlines and I was able to go
straight to the check in counter. I got to the gate shortly before
they began boarding. The flight went smoothly.
Upon arrival at LAX, I collected my bag
and then went about trying to get an Uber to the marina. Every
airport is different, but most of them now have a designated area for
Uber pickups. At LAX, this area was in a parking lot outside the
airport and I had to take a shuttle bus to get there. I was shocked
(and fairly horrified) to discover that an Uber to the marina cost
nearly $50. We would later discover that, at peak times, a taxi was
actually cheaper.
Brad met me at the boat and Curt
arrived shortly thereafter. Brad made me some soup and homemade
bread for dinner and then went home for the evening. Greg, from
Scout, stopped by for a short
visit and then we all made an early night of it.
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| The Crew of White Wind in Marina del Rey |
The next morning,
Curt and I walked to Noah’s Bagels for breakfast and returned just
in time to meet Brad. After taking some crew pictures for us, Brad’s
wife and dog left us and we set about taking an inventory of the food
on hand and making a shopping list. We made a quick trip to Costco
and then headed to Ralph’s for the majority of our shopping. After
loading our shopping onto the boat and stowing all the goods, we went
out for a late lunch at California Pizza Kitchen before delivering
Curt’s Jeep to the long term parking garage at the airport. We had
no luck getting a signal with Brad’s phone, so we couldn’t call
an Uber. We hailed a cab, instead, and were pleasantly surprised to
learn that the metered fare was half of what I had paid the day
before.
We had planned to
go out for dinner, but made do with snacks and a beer before hitting
the hay early.
October 28 – 29,
2021
We couldn’t leave
the marina until the office opened, so we spent the morning filling
the water tanks and stowing last minute items. At 9:00, we returned
the keys and set out for the fuel dock. After fueling and purchasing
last minute snacks, we headed out the south entrance of Marina del
Rey and were on our way.
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| Glassy Seas |
Seas
were flat and nearly glassy. We had to motor, but we made good time. There was a shortage of truckers and cargo ships were unable to unload. There must have been a hundred ships anchored outside the Port of Los Angeles. We wove our way through the obstacle course.
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| Anchored Ships on AIS |
The day passed uneventfully. I made pork chops with salad and
macaroni and cheese for dinner and we began our watch schedule at
19:00. We had decided to keep rotating three-hour watches. Curt had
the first watch from 19:00 to 22:00, followed by Brad from 22:00 to
1:00. I came on at 1:00. There was a beautiful half moon that gave
plenty of light. It was very damp, but not terribly cold. The three
hours passed very quickly even though I had forgotten my headphones
and my phone died and wouldn’t allow me to charge it from the
cockpit outlets because it sensed the dampness and told me to unplug
it immediately. We were just passing the Coronados when Curt came on
watch at 4:00.
I went back to
sleep after my watch and slept until it got light around 7:00. It
was much warmer when I got up. About noon, I made bacon and eggs and
we had a nice brunch. We pulled into the Cruiseport Marina in
Ensenada at 14:00.
We couldn’t leave
the vessel until we were cleared by the public health official. She
didn’t arrive until nearly 16:00. She took down the information
from our vaccination cards and took our temperatures and then
pronounced us free to go. We went up to the office to check into the
marina, but it was too late to go to the port captain that day.
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| The Cruiseport Marina Office |
Greg
stopped by to say hello and we met some of his crew. Then the three
of us shared a bottle of wine before meeting up with the crew of
Scout for dinner at
the lasagne restaurant just outside the marina. We were all in bed
before 21:00.
October
30, 2021
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| White Wind in the Cruiseport Marina |
Having
gone to bed early the night before, we were all up early enough to
have a leisurely morning before heading up to the office at 9:00 to
meet the marina employee who took us to the port captain’s office
and immigration. Despite being relatively empty, the process took a
couple of hours and it was nearly noon by the time we returned to
White Wind. I made
some oatmeal while Brad and Curt transferred the diesel from the
jerry cans into our tank. After breakfast, they took a cab to a gas
station and refilled the jugs with diesel. Not long after they
returned, we received our exit papers and were free to go. We left
the marina about 14:00.
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| Leaving Bahia Todos Santos |
It was
a cold, gray day. We motored across the bay and took the channel
between the islands before turning south. Curt took the first watch
at 16:00 but, halfway into his watch, we discovered that the bilge
was full of diesel. I took the helm while Curt and Brad looked for
the source of the leak. It turned out that we had overfilled the
tank and it was leaking out of the top of the tank where the sender
was attached. We increased the RPMs on the engine to burn off fuel a
little faster and they mopped up the mess. Brad had been concerned
that everything was going too well and actually relaxed a little
after we had detected and corrected a problem.
Just before dinner,
two whales crossed just in front of our bow. While boaters are
directed to stay at least 200 yards away from whales, no one tells
the whales to give boats a wide berth. They passed so close I feared
we might hit one.
I made chicken
masala with veggies for dinner and Brad took his watch at 19:00. I
wrote for an hour or so, trying to get caught up on my blog which I
had neglected for over a year. Then I took a little nap before my
watch which began at 22:00.
It was
cold and overcast with no moon, but much drier than the previous leg.
I was comfortable enough and saw very little except the light at
Punta Colonet and a fishing boat lit up like the sun that appeared on
neither radar nor AIS. After my watch, I stayed up, reading, for a
couple of hours and then slept until my alarm went off in the
morning.
Halloween, 2021
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| Isla San Martin |
Curt wished me a
happy Halloween when I emerged from the forward cabin. There was a
bag of candy set out in the cockpit. I took some cocoa and a bowl of
granola up with me and stood my watch from 7:00 to 10:00 alone. It
was dismal and cold and no one wanted to sit outside unnecessarily.
We passed Isla San Martin on my watch and saw no one except a panga
in the distance and a freighter passing us on the outside. Curt
relieved me at 10:00 and I went below to write. At noon, I reheated
a leftover pork chop and the remainder of my lasagne to help in
emptying the refrigerator, which was crowded with leftovers.
I napped for a
couple of hours and then came back on deck for my watch at 16:00.
Our autopilot had mutinied in my absence and, while doing an
admirable job of holding a course, refused to be turned off, even
when turned off at the breaker box. The moment we put it on standby,
it described a circle and fought for control of the boat. We figured
we could anchor under autopilot in Turtle Bay, so left it alone for
the time being, not wanting to upset it so that it might stop
functioning. Being Halloween, we nicknamed it Chuckie.
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| It Got Dark Early on Halloween |
It grew cold and
dark early on my watch and was too overcast for a nice sunset. We
caught a large clump of floating kelp and had to stop and reverse to
dislodge it. I was on watch during the dinner hour and Brad wanted
to use up leftovers, so no one prepared dinner. After my watch, I
made myself a quesadilla and ate a banana. Then I read for a bit and
had a snooze before my watch at 1:00.
November 1, 2021
It wasn’t a bad
night for standing a watch. It was dry and the seas were calm. We
made better than six knots all night, touching seven knots at times.
The moon threatened to come out as we neared Cedros Island, but then
retreated behind the clouds. We saw no one.
Curt’s alarm went
off at 3:00. I went below to verify that it was his alarm I was
hearing and to make sure he was still alive. I found him snoring
peacefully next to his beeping phone. As he wasn’t due on deck for
another hour, I left him alone, figuring he would wake when next he
drifted out of deep sleep. I was wide awake and not uncomfortable.
He finally appeared, bleary eyed, about 4:45, grateful that I had let
him sleep. I went below and slept until nearly 8:00. The gentle
rocking motion of the boat had provided all of us with a good night’s
sleep.
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| Passing Cedros Island |
The sun was out
when I came on deck and we were passing Cedros Island and headed for
Natividad. Dolphins leapt about the boat. We reversed to shed
another lump of kelp. The sun was welcome after days of overcast and
I stayed on deck through my watch from 10:00 to 13:00 before
repairing below to write.
We pulled into
Turtle Bay about 14:30 and dropped anchor off the end of the pier.
Hardly had we dropped the anchor when a panga approached us to ask if
we needed fuel. I was assigned the duty of negotiating with the fuel
guys, since I could speak Spanish. I told them we needed about 159
liters, so they went back for the boat with the large fuel tank.
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| Turtle Bay |
I chatted with the
fuel guys while we were tying their boat alongside and agreed on a
price of 32 pesos per liter. The fuel guys had purchased a new
spigot in anticipation of the Ha, Ha fleet’s arrival. We were
their first customer and they had to hack the end of the spigot off
with a saw before it would fit in the tank. We lent them a pipe
wrench to tighten the spigot onto the hose and reamed out the spigot
to keep metal shavings out of our fuel. Then I called out the
quantity as we filled the tank and jerry cans. Turtle Bay has been
known to cheat sailors or charge exorbitant prices, but we had no
problems and concluded our transaction in a friendly manner. I lent
Brad the pesos to pay them in cash and, not having been gouged, we
included a tip.
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| Curt Barbecueing Hamburgers in Turtle Bay |
We spent the rest
of the afternoon relaxing and then barbecued hamburgers for dinner.
Despite having slept pretty well the night before, we were all asleep
by 20:00.
November 2, 2021
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| Dawn in Turtle Bay |
We got up at 6:00,
had coffee, and prepared to sail. By 7:00, we were weighing anchor
and following three other boats out of Turtle Bay as the sun rose.
It was quiet in the bay, but the wind picked up as the morning
progressed. By 9:00, we were able to cut the motor and proceed under
sail without losing speed. Then it became a race. We had lost two
of the boats while we were motoring, but were fairly well matched
with a sloop called
Stella J. Curt took the watch from 8:00 to 11:00
and he and Brad enjoyed racing. We hit speeds up to 7.4 knots. I
went below to write and get out of the wind.
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| Testing the Whisker Pole |
We sailed right
along until 10:30 when the wind died. Then we relaxed and drifted
with what wind we had, knowing we could make up lost time with the
engine if the wind didn’t fill in. I came on watch at 14:00. Brad
casually mentioned poling out the jib and I took up the challenge,
figuring it would give us something to do. Brad had never used
White
Wind’s whisker pole before and it took us a few tries to get
the jib sheet run correctly. The pole closely resembled a spinnaker
pole, its butt being attached to the mast and running up and down on
a track. It was odd to attach a pole to the clew of a roller furled
sail and I didn’t quite trust it. We had a spinnaker halyard to use
as a topping lift, although we had to be careful to keep it from
getting furled up in the jib. We did not, however, have any sort of
a foreguy and the pole bounced a lot. I kept a sharp eye on the
forestay, as a Hunter has no backstay. Still, we made good time,
zooming along at seven knots until the wind began to die near the end
of my watch and we stowed the pole.
I made chicken and
rice with tomatoes and chiles and went down for a nap about the time
Brad took the watch at 20:00. The wind built into the low twenties
and the boat began rolling uncomfortably. I was unable to sleep. We
were sailing nearly dead downwind when I took the watch at 23:00.
The wind speed had dropped to the low teens, but the seas remained
lumpy. It was warm enough that I had to remove my coat. The wind
continued to drop and then began to blow lightly on our nose. Brad
had headed slightly inshore in an attempt to make our passage more
comfortable. I returned us to our course, hoping that sailing close
hauled would steady the boat. It made little difference. We rolled
all through my watch and it took nearly the length of the next watch
before I found a place I could sleep without sliding onto the floor
or being brained by loose water filters.
November 3 - 4,
2021
I got up at 7:30
and blearily prepared to take my watch at 8:00. I had not slept
much. The temperature outside was pleasant, but the rolling
persisted. The wind had returned to our stern. We had lowered our
speed during the night, trying to improve the ride, but had decided
just to make a run for Bahia Santa Maria with the day.
My watch was
uneventful. Several sport fishing vessels appeared on the AIS, but
we never saw any of them. For the first time, I had difficulty
remaining awake. I was glad when Curt relieved me at 11:00, but was
still unable to sleep. I got up at 14:00, made some udon noodles for
lumch and then sat down to write. Sleeping crosswise in the settee
had been my best position, earlier, and I tried, again, to nap there
after lunch.
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| Sunset at Sea |
I came back on at
17:00. We had talked to our friend, Blair, on the radio. He had
ducked into Bahia Santa Maria to avoid the swells, but had resumed
his journey a couple of hours before we got there. He had weather
information and promised us a night with good wind and gusts up to
twenty.
As I was on watch,
Brad made burritos for dinner. I saved mine until after my watch at
20:00. I wasn’t hungry and preferred to wait and watch the sun
set. We were passing Bahia Santa Maria when I came back on watch at
2:00. The swell had died down and the gusty winds never
materialized. We enjoyed a pleasant ride south.
We put up the pole
and sailed for a couple of hours on Friday morning, but the wind died
and we were forced to take it back down and motor. We soldiered on.
Curt made chili and cornbread for dinner. It was finally warm enough
to spend the night on deck in shirtsleeves and I began to feel that
we were truly in Mexico.
November 5, 2021
I had the 5:00 to
8:00 watch and got up to find Brad drifting off Cabo Falso, waiting
for dawn so that Curt could see Cabo San Lucas as we passed. By
6:00, all three of us were up. We had overshot the cape by more than
we realized and it was after 8:00 before we passed Cabo. All of a
sudden, there were a hundred boats issuing from the harbor and
speeding off in all directions. A big fishing tournament was under
way. By the time we reached the mouth of the bay, the boats had
scattered and we scarcely saw another until late afternoon.
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| Passing Cabo San Lucas |
We passed Cabo and
headed for San Jose del Cabo. We had hoped to acquire a slip for the
night, but the fishing tournament had every slip in the marina taken.
We stopped to take on fuel and offload garbage, but found the little
market/restaurant that had been near the fuel dock out of business.
We didn’t really need anything, so we conducted our business and
got out of there.
I had the watch
from 14:00 to 17:00. We sailed most of that time, tacking back and
forth, trying to clear the point so we could strike out towards
Mazatlan. I rigged lines from the bow of the dinghy to the bow of
White Wind and from each dinghy pontoon to the mast so that
we could tack without fear of snagging the jib sheets on the dinghy.
The weather was perfect and the water temperature was 83.5.
Belatedly, we realized we should have anchored long enough for a
swim. We enjoyed the respite from the engine noise until the wind
died near the end of my watch and we rolled up the headsail.
After my watch, I
prepared spaghetti for dinner and we had a relaxing meal in the
cockpit. After passing a number of returning fishing boats in the
late afternoon, we saw no one again that night. The water was flat,
the skies were dark, and we were alone on the sea. It was bliss.
I was in such a
state of relaxation that I somehow slept through my alarm and was
half an hour late for my watch. Brad had started the process of
baking bread and was letting it rise until morning. For some reason,
he had our watch alarm, which usually goes off every 20 minutes,
turned off and I spent a glorious watch alone with the stars, heading
back to my bunk at 2:00.
November 6, 2021
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| Passing Freighter |
I awoke before my
alarm and rose to a nice, sunny morning. There was no wind, but the
seas were calm and we were making good time under motor. I had the
watch from 8:00 to 11:00 and Brad baked and served cinnamon raisin
bread. A large freighter steamed past us at 18 knots about 10:00 and
then we were alone again. When I got off watch at 11:00, I made
smoothies for Curt and myself and cleaned the galley. Then I settled
down to write. Time passed quickly but the days ran together and it
became difficult to remember the course of events if I allowed too
much time to pass between writing sessions. The previous two days I
had spent my spare time diligently forcing myself to learn all the
different scale positions of the guitar, something that I had been
unable to find the time to do with all the chaos of moving, painting,
and preparing for our voyage.
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| Sunset on the Crossing |
We continued south
all day, passing the Marias Islands. The prison was long closed and
the islands converted to a national park, but they were still not
open to the public, possibly because of the continued existence of
booby traps intended for escaped prisoners. Many friends had tried
to anchor there, but all had been run off after a single night, if
not before. The weather continued fine and there was a beautiful
moon to light our way, after dark.
November 7, 2021
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| The Marietas Islands |
Morning saw us
nearing Banderas Bay. We saw whales near the Marietas Islands. We
sailed along the northern shore of the bay and finally dropped anchor
in the La Cruz anchorage. Eager as we were to get ashore, we
couldn't get the fuel tank for the dinghy to work, so had to spend
another night in the anchorage until we could get a slip in Marina La
Cruz. It was good to be home.
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| The Happy Crew in La Cruz |
