The parts saga is coming to a close! The correct extrusions ( sleeves) arrived on Wednesday morning. Along with another $200.00 tax bill. David emailed Defender and they agreed to give us a credit for that amount as it was their error. I personally feel that they should also give us a big gift certificate for our troubles but such was not the case.
So David and Wayne and I spent the day putting the roller furling together on the dock.
Then Wayne and I hauled David up the mast and installed it on the boat.
Then the sail went on and finally we were back to having a cutter rig and Confidence was smiling! I also kept the boys smiling with roast chicken and cranberry sandwiches for lunch and Indian Coconut Currie for dinner - and a couple of celebratory cerveza's.
So Thursday we did a final provisioning at Walmart, topped up the water tanks and got the laundry taken care of.
Friday involved a trip to the Port Captain, Customs and immigration. This is one thing that Marina Chiapas needs to be commended for. Enrique and Memo ensure that all of your documents are in order. Then Memo drives you to the various offices which is greatly appreciated as they are 3-5 km away and in three different locations.
Final phone calls to home. We were able to talk to everyone except my sister Susan - it was moving day for them so all I could do was leave a message.
Saturday afternoon the Port Captain and the army dope/money sniffing dog came onto the boat for our final clearance (Zarpe).
The dog did not find any large sums of money on the boat - we had already given all of that to Defenders, Customs and the marina!
We originally entered Mexico on November 1' 2013 and are leaving today - February 27 2015. And we both have to admit to being just a little bit sad. Except for the issues of bringing parts and Mail into the country, we really loved Mexico!
First and foremost are the people. They are happy people and always ready to greet you with a smile and a Buena Dias or a Buena Tardis or a Buena Noches. They may not work really fast - but then who can at temperatures in the low 30 C's. But they work hard at 6 days a week and often hold down more than one job. Sunday or holidays were my favorite as that is family day. It was nothing to see large groups of people at the beach with their food and drinks, young and old, just having fun. I cannot count on one hand the number of times I heard a kid cry.
It kind of reminded me of our Sunday trips to Batchewana Bay - with Mom's wonderful ribs and toast and peanut butter cooked on the open fire. Our family was not into Smore's!
The geography of the country is quite spectacular, with mountains and active volcanoes and waterfalls and beaches. Our favorites cities were Oaxaca, San Cristobal and Pelanque. Other highlights included the coffee plantations, fruit orchards and of course, the Mayan and Aztac ruins.
And of course there was the food! We loved the food, especially all the fresh fruit.
So Thank You Mexico (mucho gracias) for sharing your country and your people with us. We will be sure to return.
1705: away from the dock with smiles on our faces. There is always an immediate change in our disposition when we get back on the water. It's the way one feels after climbing back into your own bed after a long road trip.
1715: at the opening of the channel. There is a slight chop with a 4 foot swell.
1730: we have passed the breakwater and will be motoring for the first little while. David went to set the autopilot only to find out that it was not working. Guess we are into a night of manual steering. ? Loose wire. But it is getting dark and the seas are a little to rough to be playing around in the pit so we will make do.
1930: passing a net light on the port side - fishing vessel about 3 nm ahead.
1955: passed the fishing vessel abut 2 nm to port.
2030: steering 150* with an average speed of 4.5 knots. The seas have moderated a little. There is a teaser wind out of the south but not enough to keep the sails full with this swell.
2050: the light at Rio Suchaite, which marks the border between Mexico and Guatemala, is abeam
2100: BA is up. Dinner tonight is a homemade Mexican Chicken Tomato and Tortilla Soup.
0023: another fishing boat on the starboard side this time.
0054: abeam Champerica, Guatemala. There should be a white light visible at 13 miles but I am unable to see it. It is the end of my watch - do not have to wake up the Captain as his sixth sense has kicked in and he is up.
0245: Westbound cruise ship off our starboard beam.
0600: you can tell when David has done a watch as there are not too many entries in the Blog!
BA is up.
Sun is up.
Sails are up.
Monitor is on.
Coffee is on.
Captain is down.
A couple of Dolphins came by to say Good Morning. We are motor sailing and trying to maintain a speed around 5 knots in order to time our crossing at the bar at Bahia del Sol, El Salvador for a rising tide.
The winds are blowing around 5-7 knots and seas are rippled.
1000: Captain is up. Good because I am starving! All night long I have been thinking about what to make for breakfast. Huevos Rancheros or Ranch Eggs, as most of you know, is a very popular breakfast - eggs on a tortilla with some kind of red sauce. Every time we order this it is different, sometimes excellent, sometimes ho hum. So I have decided to take some of the ideas from my more favorite dishes and make my own. I may have come up with the best Huevos Rancheros ever - though sitting in the cockpit with no land in site, surrounded by azure water and sunshine and enjoying such decadence might have something to do with it!
Huevos Rancheros for Dos
2 6" tortillas
4 tbsps of Black beans: your own or canned or retried
Warm up and spread them over the tortilla
Sauce:
1 tbsp oil
1/3 sliced white onion
1/3 sliced yellow pepper
1/3 sliced red pepper
8 tbsp pickled jalapeño - diced
2 cloves of garlic - diced
2 fresh Roma tomatoes - diced
2 tbsp of tomato sauce
1 tsp oregano
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
Cook down for about 10-15 minutes leaving the peppers and onion with a bit of a crunch.
Crack 4 eggs in a non- stick frying pan.
Turn heat on medium.
Cook to preferred fineness - basically by the time the pan reaches temperature the whites should be cooked and the yolks runny!
Divide the sauce over the beans and tortilla.
Divide the eggs over the sauce
Grate at little bit of Manchego or Monterey Jack Cheese
Enjoy!
Noon Position:13* 57.3 N 91* 21.8W
1215: wind is shifting to southerly
1300: motor off. Southerly winds at 6-7 knots and we are maintaining 3.5 to 4 knots
1543: we have travelled 100 nm. We are starting to lose our wind and painfully maintaining 3 knots. I do see a wind line up ahead - it gave us a little push up to 4.2 knots before the sun goes down.
1800: radio check in scheduled with Marova. No response.
1825: container ship " Hansa Kirkenes" came up for, astern. How do we know it's name? It shows up on the AIS! That is cool! It gives you the name and the course and the closest point of approach. He was about 1.2 nm off the starboard side and no threat to us
1825: furled in the Genoa. Motor on. Which wakes me up. So I make some tea and send the Captain to bed.
The skies are clear and the moon is 74% which makes for good visibility.
2330: Genoa is unfurled. Engine is off. Makes it nice and quiet for me to get some sleep. But as the night progressed the winds picked up to greater than 15 knots and Dave was sailing 6-7 knots. This woke me up as I could hear him playing with the sails. This was faster than we wanted to go in order to time our crossing of the bar so he reduced sail on the Genoa. Eventually slowed us back down to about 3.5 knots. I know it sounds silly to want to slow down - I mean we are finally going hull speed and should be enjoying it. But certain things are all about timing and when you are talking weather and tides and currents on the seas - well Mother Nature rules!
0400: BA is back on watch. The moon has set which has allowed the stars to light up the sky.
First time I could make out Scorpio so clearly.
0600: battling to keep 2 knots and having to come off course to do that so I rolled in the Genoa and turned on the motor.
0616: sun is a big red ball rising in the east and the wind is on our nose! With the main still up and the Monitor engaged, Confidence is able to maintain a course of 090*. With the Autopilot out of commission it is nice that the Monitor is able to help out. Look Mom - no hands!
0800: David decides to test the watermarker. It seems a bit odorous at first but settled down after running it for awhile.
1100: the wind has picked up to 10-15 knots again. We tried slowing it down this time with a reefed main and just the stay sail. Pleasant 4.5 knots. Monitor is maintaining our course of 060 and we are now in El Salvador! David trims the sails!
1130: Watermaker started overheating and tripped the breaker.
1200 Noon Position 13* 25.407 N. 89* 43.696 W
1330: 5 miles offshore. Wind is southerly at 6 knots. We passed a couple of fishing boats with well marked nets.
1400: seas have calmed down a bit. So I decided to do some preparations for dinner - Pico de Gallo and Chicken Quesadillas. All I'll have to do when we are ready to eat is turn on the frying pan and heat then up.
On a constant lookout for fishing boats and nets. But it looks like they are running them along the 114 foot contour lines. And we are traveling on the 139 foot line so we should be okay. Managing to just keep the sails full and traveling a whomping 2 knots.
Coastline of El Salvador looks a bit arid. It is definitely the land of volcanoes.
1630: BA tries for a siesta.
1800: David makes contact with Marova. Of course this woke me up so the Captain owes me an hour on my next watch. Might as well get up and heat those Quesadilla's. Sure glad I had prepared them earlier as it was quite lumpy. I couldn't even write in my journal. I went back to sleep and managed to get 3 hours.
2300: while I was asleep David decided to turn on the Autopilot to test it out and for some reason it just started to work! Who knows what was going on there but we were grateful to have the break from manually steering.
The air is very warm and the moon is up - 88% tonight. The moon is so bright that I can almost write in this journal without the help of my flashlight!I had to alter course to 070 to avoid 3 fisherman. The El Salvadorian fisherman seem to do a better job with maintaining lights and floats than the Mexicans.
0118: the last 2.5 hours seemed to go by really fast. Looking out for fishermen and writing in the journal helps to pass the time.
0153: Are we awake now? A fisherman in a panga turned on his lights just as I passed him - maybe half a boat length away. And then I came pretty close to a float so I pulled back on the throttle just to make sure that I had not picked up his net. This woke David up so he put the searchlight on. Everything was okay but as soon as he put the searchlight on other panga's flashed their lights. So we figured that we may not know where these guys are but they sure know where we are. After David went back to bed a couple more fisherman flashed their lights - just so I would know their location. I was on a course well away from them so they just flashed a couple of times and then shut it down. Communication. On the open seas. - without a radio!
0400: night sky is starting to lighten up. Quite a few planes flying overhead - probably from the military base. The moon has dipped below the clouds and is acting like a searchlight on the stern of our boat. Beautiful!
0719: we are approaching the entrance to the bar but are way ahead of schedule. Bill has contacted us from the marina and gave us the waypoints for anchoring and for the meeting place.
So we dropped the anchor in 40 feet of water and rolled around till noon. We tried to catch up on some sleep but that was almost impossible with the surf and the wind.
1200: raised the anchor and started moving towards the meeting place getting a bit apprehensive as we watched the surf crashing on the beach and on the gap. Our friends had taken a large wave in the cockpit when they went across the bar just last week so we were a bit nervous.
Stay tuned for the next installment of the crossing of the Bar! And remember that is sandbar and not a place where one consumes alcohol - though some alcohol was consumed after we crossed it!
No comments:
Post a Comment