Turtle Bay 27*38.54.0 N 115*54.0 W Population around 1200
Half way between San Diego and Cabo and a good all weather anchorage.
Woke up after a much needed sleep only to find that we had dragged anchor during the night -about 200 feet out into the bay but away from any boats. David and I anchor a lot and it is very unusual for us to drag anchor - just goes to show the different forces at work when you are susceptible to the off shore swells. So we started her up and reset. Then we washed and brushed our teeth, had some breakfast and started to feel human again. Now to tackle the day. David's quote for the day is worth noting "Drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life" - I guess you could say he was feeling a bit frustrated.
First things first - solar panels are raised and recharging the batteries nicely. Plugged in the phone and talked to Kathy. Insurance money for the dinghy had arrived.
Then David phoned Mark, the electrician, who just happened to be doing a job in Cabo. He walked him through a series of troubleshooting steps in order to isolate our charging problem.
1. Check alternator field to see what the voltage is to ground
2. Check regulator fuse and voltage at the fuse which seemed to be reading way above what was possible
3. Checked the fuse on the solenoid
4. Took another look at the alternator and David noticed that the positive lead had come off because the bolt had vibrated loose.
He could not use a nylon nut to prevent this because the bolt is not long enough. This will be one thing to check when we are checking the oil and water levels.
Alternator is now charging but not all of the batteries. We are really starting to think that the batteries need to be replaced.
Put in a call to Pelagia. They chose to run on the east side of Cedros island and loss some of their wind. They should be arriving sometime tonight.
Summary of all the issues on the voyage so far. Some were preventable. Most were not. Most were fixable by Captain Fantastic. This should serve as a bit of a reality check for anyone thinking of doing such a trip. This should also serve as a reality check for those of you who think that this adventure is all about swimming in warm waters and drinking Margarita's in the cockpit. There have been days when we laughed - tried to find something to laugh about every day. There will be days when you cry - well maybe not the guys - those moments were usually directly related to lack of sleep and then something untoward happening (like spilt soup). There will be days when you curse - the guys and the girls partake in this type of reaction equally. There will be days when you want to pack it in. For the two of us - that was only a fleeting moment and again directly related to lack of sleep and then something untoward happening. As Scarlet o'Hare said in Gone with the Wind - Tomorrow is another day! And we still wouldn't trade this for anything.
To prove my point: we were just entertained for the last hour by a couple of panga's (Mexican dories) setting a small sein type net for sardines. First one of the panga's heads out into the bay doing a drum march on his hull. This attracts all of the sea lions who follow him out like the pied piper so as to keep them away from the nets. Then they lay out the net.
Then the pelicans start swarming in looking for a free lunch. And I mean lots of pelicans.
Another panga tries to scare them away but they are fearless. This exercise goes on for about an hour 2-3 times a day. The fisherman just take it as it is - not getting too excited - throwing out the odd pelican that gets hung up in the net.
Dave and Michelle showed up later that night. The next day we put the dinghy in the water (getting better at that) and went over to see how their leg went. They put in even more sailing hours then we did. Left them to regroup, clean up and get caught up with some sleep and then returned for a lovely steak dinner. We had bought the steaks at Costco and then Michelle made a wonderful Greek salad, BBQ roast potatoes and stir fried vegetables. And of course a few bottles of wine. It was a lovely evening.
The two Dave's did go to shore to see if they could find a welder to fix the hinge on the windless. Pedro took them under his wing (for a fee of course) and found him a welder - after checking out many different places in town and a 2 hour walk. But eventually they found Marcos who stopped what he was doing and welded the parts together. Cost David 100 peso or about $10.
David had rigged a harness so that we could raise the dinghy out of the water for security purposes. Al told us that the last time he was here his dinghy and motor were stolen.
Very friendly town though a bit on the poor side. The story of the US sailors gives you an idea of the kind of people here. Some fishermen found two US sailors after their boat was lost at sea. They brought them to town and they were nursed back to health. Then the town people put together a collection to buy them a bus ticket so they could return to the United States. The sailors were so grateful that they in turn put together a collection and gave it to the town to build a church. It started as a one room church and is now the biggest building in town. Now I do not know if the additions are due to more donations or not but I thought it was a great story.
The plan was to leave later that day but the repair on the windvane took longer then expected. It was very difficult getting the spring to sit properly in order to get everything to line up for the locking pin. One of those half hour jobs than turned into 4 hours.
Next day it rained all day so we stayed in doors and read. It probably only rains in this place once a year and today was the day. But it helped to wash off some of the salt on the boat. I baked some banana bread and made a paella with prawns, chicken and cerazo sausage.
Bad weather blew through and the next day was sunny again. So we decided to go ashore and check things out. All the streets and yards are just sand and due to the amount of rain, there was a lot of mud. We brought in the Jerry cans and water jugs. The dock is not one that you can just tie up to and turn on the taps! Check out my water boy!
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That night Al and Sandy showed up with Al's brother Paul and Penny. They did not have as good a run as us because they ran into that rain storm. Went over the next morning for coffee. Loaned him our filter wrench. Then we spent the rest of the day getting ready for our departure.
Anchor up at 1620.
Half way between San Diego and Cabo and a good all weather anchorage.
Woke up after a much needed sleep only to find that we had dragged anchor during the night -about 200 feet out into the bay but away from any boats. David and I anchor a lot and it is very unusual for us to drag anchor - just goes to show the different forces at work when you are susceptible to the off shore swells. So we started her up and reset. Then we washed and brushed our teeth, had some breakfast and started to feel human again. Now to tackle the day. David's quote for the day is worth noting "Drop kick me Jesus through the goal posts of life" - I guess you could say he was feeling a bit frustrated.
First things first - solar panels are raised and recharging the batteries nicely. Plugged in the phone and talked to Kathy. Insurance money for the dinghy had arrived.
Then David phoned Mark, the electrician, who just happened to be doing a job in Cabo. He walked him through a series of troubleshooting steps in order to isolate our charging problem.
1. Check alternator field to see what the voltage is to ground
2. Check regulator fuse and voltage at the fuse which seemed to be reading way above what was possible
3. Checked the fuse on the solenoid
4. Took another look at the alternator and David noticed that the positive lead had come off because the bolt had vibrated loose.
He could not use a nylon nut to prevent this because the bolt is not long enough. This will be one thing to check when we are checking the oil and water levels.
Alternator is now charging but not all of the batteries. We are really starting to think that the batteries need to be replaced.
Put in a call to Pelagia. They chose to run on the east side of Cedros island and loss some of their wind. They should be arriving sometime tonight.
Summary of all the issues on the voyage so far. Some were preventable. Most were not. Most were fixable by Captain Fantastic. This should serve as a bit of a reality check for anyone thinking of doing such a trip. This should also serve as a reality check for those of you who think that this adventure is all about swimming in warm waters and drinking Margarita's in the cockpit. There have been days when we laughed - tried to find something to laugh about every day. There will be days when you cry - well maybe not the guys - those moments were usually directly related to lack of sleep and then something untoward happening (like spilt soup). There will be days when you curse - the guys and the girls partake in this type of reaction equally. There will be days when you want to pack it in. For the two of us - that was only a fleeting moment and again directly related to lack of sleep and then something untoward happening. As Scarlet o'Hare said in Gone with the Wind - Tomorrow is another day! And we still wouldn't trade this for anything.
To prove my point: we were just entertained for the last hour by a couple of panga's (Mexican dories) setting a small sein type net for sardines. First one of the panga's heads out into the bay doing a drum march on his hull. This attracts all of the sea lions who follow him out like the pied piper so as to keep them away from the nets. Then they lay out the net.
Then the pelicans start swarming in looking for a free lunch. And I mean lots of pelicans.
Another panga tries to scare them away but they are fearless. This exercise goes on for about an hour 2-3 times a day. The fisherman just take it as it is - not getting too excited - throwing out the odd pelican that gets hung up in the net.
Dave and Michelle showed up later that night. The next day we put the dinghy in the water (getting better at that) and went over to see how their leg went. They put in even more sailing hours then we did. Left them to regroup, clean up and get caught up with some sleep and then returned for a lovely steak dinner. We had bought the steaks at Costco and then Michelle made a wonderful Greek salad, BBQ roast potatoes and stir fried vegetables. And of course a few bottles of wine. It was a lovely evening.
The two Dave's did go to shore to see if they could find a welder to fix the hinge on the windless. Pedro took them under his wing (for a fee of course) and found him a welder - after checking out many different places in town and a 2 hour walk. But eventually they found Marcos who stopped what he was doing and welded the parts together. Cost David 100 peso or about $10.
David had rigged a harness so that we could raise the dinghy out of the water for security purposes. Al told us that the last time he was here his dinghy and motor were stolen.
Very friendly town though a bit on the poor side. The story of the US sailors gives you an idea of the kind of people here. Some fishermen found two US sailors after their boat was lost at sea. They brought them to town and they were nursed back to health. Then the town people put together a collection to buy them a bus ticket so they could return to the United States. The sailors were so grateful that they in turn put together a collection and gave it to the town to build a church. It started as a one room church and is now the biggest building in town. Now I do not know if the additions are due to more donations or not but I thought it was a great story.
The plan was to leave later that day but the repair on the windvane took longer then expected. It was very difficult getting the spring to sit properly in order to get everything to line up for the locking pin. One of those half hour jobs than turned into 4 hours.
Next day it rained all day so we stayed in doors and read. It probably only rains in this place once a year and today was the day. But it helped to wash off some of the salt on the boat. I baked some banana bread and made a paella with prawns, chicken and cerazo sausage.
Bad weather blew through and the next day was sunny again. So we decided to go ashore and check things out. All the streets and yards are just sand and due to the amount of rain, there was a lot of mud. We brought in the Jerry cans and water jugs. The dock is not one that you can just tie up to and turn on the taps! Check out my water boy!
That night Al and Sandy showed up with Al's brother Paul and Penny. They did not have as good a run as us because they ran into that rain storm. Went over the next morning for coffee. Loaned him our filter wrench. Then we spent the rest of the day getting ready for our departure.
Anchor up at 1620.
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