We decided to spend a couple of days, refuel, get a few provisions and give the cook a break.
But really we have to thank Mom for that as the Easter donation to the account paid for a lovely dinner at Daniel's. Our waiter remembered us from last time. We had a lovely table under the shade, breeze coming off the water looking out at our boat. Like we don't get enough of an ocean view every day! Dinner included Pico de Gallo, coconut prawns, rice and vegetables.
It was pleasant sitting there watching a group of school kids having a kind of competition on the beach. No fighting or screaming. Just a bunch of kids laughing and having fun with smiles on their faces.
We also watched a group of 8 fishing buddies. They had brought in a couple of tuna and spent the next couple of hours preparing a type of ceviche called tiritas. Strips of fish, lots of thinly sliced red onion, juice of several limes and a couple of oranges, hot peppers and a bit of salt. The lime "cooks" the fish and it is ready to eat in about half an hour. Everyone plays a part in making the dish making it a very social occasion. It was great watching them share their bounty!
After getting our supplies we went over to a neighbour's Catamaran - Tropical Yacht - for cocktails. Patrick is from France. If you are reading this blog Barry you will remember talking to him as we crossed the Tehuantepec. The guy has been cruising, 6 months on, 6 months off, since 1993!
Friday was spent tackling the head problem. David started by rebuilding the spare one that we had.
He painted it up to look like new.
Taking out the old one was not as much fun! And then I got the job of cleaning up! I know. It was a shitty job but someone had to do it. Actually it really was not as bad as one might think. So now we have a working head again. Thank you Captain Fantastic.
We took Saturday off and walked along the malecon after breakfast.
Confidence de at Anchor
Then we went to the market and ordered some more water to be delivered to the boat on Sunday. We stopped at one of the shops - Artesanias Olinala and spent a delightful hour talking to the proprietor: Alberto Rodrigues Franco. His shop features the lacquer work of the people from Olinala, a remote village in the heart of the mountains of Guerrero. Layers of finely ground local earth and colored powder from natural sources like in the rugs, are alternated with chia oil to produce a lacquered finish. Cochineal is a small red bug that is dried. Then you grind it with water to obtain a beautiful red colour! This technique is used with boxes, trays and gourds. He had quite a selection in his shop and it took us a long time to choose one. Then he showed us these boxes made from the Linaloe tree. The aroma is similar to our cedar boxes but with a hint of eucalyptus. He had some beautiful boxes that were lacquered but the one I like the best was just the natural wood with lots of detail from the grain! So today we bought souvenirs for ourselves. Alberto was very knowledgeable about the work that he was displaying in his shop and it was a pleasure spending time with him. If we had more space I could have easily done more damage but am delighted with the two gems that we picked up.
Winds are picking up so we will delay our departure til sometime Monday. Then it is a 200 + nm run to Barra.
20-Apr-15 We will be leaving Zihuatanejo today along with Zephrus and Tropical Yacht. We were able to connect with family before we left - which is always a good thing.
1435: Anchor is up and we are underway.
1441: We are exiting the Bay of Zihuatanejo at a course of 250*. We have decided to head straight out from the coast for a bit in order to put us on a better setting for sailing up the coast. The starter did work this time but the Autopilot has taken a hiatus!
1630: Close hauled on a course of 310* sailing along at 5.5 knots. Our plan seems to be working. It is a perfect sailing day and we expect to miss Trancones Point on this course. It is for moments like this that we remind ourselves why we are doing what we are doing!!
1905: Motor sailing in order to assist us in sailing closer to the wind to miss Trancones Point and away from the surf line.
Midnight Position: 17* 50.78 N. 102*11.43 W
21-Apr-15
0600: the wind is on the starboard quarter but not enough to make progress in this chop. We are back using the Monitor as the Autopilot, though working for a while, has stopped again!
0619: Shooting star
0701: The skies are starting to lighten up and the Stars have gone to sleep. There is a strong smell of sugar cane coming off of the land.
0739: The sun is up. There is a slight chop with winds from the North at less than 5 knots. We are motoring on a course of 280* at 5 knots. The light at Point Fadero is still visible - 4 Flashing Whites every 10 seconds and not 20 as indicated on the GPS. It is a cooler morning - I actually have my fleece on!
0815: Western Highway is abeam at 9 nm.
Sometimes you just cannot win - the wind is actually blowing from the right direction for sailing but there just isn't enough of it.
1200: Noon position. 18* 05N. 103* 00 W
Motoring in light and variable winds. David spoke to Jon on Mahina Tiare III, the well known blue water charter boat out of Seattle. They are on their way to Sweden!
1305: I just saw a large Marlin jump out of the water off the port side. He did it six times!
1333: Autopilot may have to take a plane ride for servicing. The winds are also playing havoc with the Monitor wind vane. What seems to be working best at this time is setting the wheel lock . We are able to maintain a steady course of 260* with a westerly wind on our nose.
Side Bar: The Night Lights! Setting the Scene!
Put a candle in the window.
But I feel I've got to move.
Though I'm going, going, going
As long as I can see the light!
It is so dark on the port side that you can barely make out the horizon. And sometimes it seems as if the stars are so close to the horizon that at first you mistake them as boats.
On the starboard side is the busy port of Lazaro Gardenas - one of the busiest ports on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. There are numerous lights at the port entrance from the cranes, the buildings, the airport and freighters moving in and out of the harbor. It is difficult to make out the tower in amongst all of these lights but finally I see the white flashing light every 7 seconds! Visibility is 19 miles.
So is the freighter entering or exiting the port? I see a green light so that lets me know he is entering. Also the AIS will tell me the vessels name and course.
AIS refresher: Automated Information System
SOG: speed over ground
COG: course over ground
CPA: closest point of approach if both vessels maintain course
TCPA: time to CPA
Then you see the lights of the odd panga, if you are lucky, the phosphorescence in the water and more stars then I have ever seen in the night sky.
But I am not done yet as we still have the lights from our boat - red and green bow lights, navigational lights on the stern and when we are sailing, a tri- light on the mast. We keep the interior lights off at night but you still get the glow from the instrument panels and the radar.
So for all of you who did not know, the eye is made up of cones and rods. The rods are responsible for your night vision but they need some time to adjust. So every time you look at a bright light your eyes need time to readjust.
Now when you have spent as much time navigating at night as David has it becomes second nature to discern all of these different lights. But when you are still a novice, like myself, well it is easy to be confused. Is it a boat? How far is it? Like last night when I picked up a boat on the AIS who was not moving but was in too deep of water to be anchored. Maybe he was waiting for the go ahead to enter the port.
5 minutes later I checked and he was going 10 knots and headed on a course aimed right for me! So I panicked a bit (I admit) and asked David to come up and help me out. Thank goodness he had not been to bed yet but was setting up the radar.
First of all he gave me a better explanation as to what Closest Point of Approach means on the AIS. If we both maintain our course than it is the distance between us when we pass each other.
Second: if you put the cursor on the approaching vessel then I could see that he was still 7 nm away from me. So even at 10 knots, there is still a lot of time to alter course. It is not like he is a jet boat!
Third: If you just watch him for a while you will probably see him alter course as these guys do not want to collide with you anymore than you want to collide with them.
Fourth: if you really are confused then you can get on the VHF and call them. To get clarification on their course and to ensure that they are picking you up on their radar.
But it does make me wonder about all those cruisers out there who do not really keep watch on their watch. They read or watch movies or have 15 minute naps by setting an alarm. I can listen to music or do my exercises but I am always watching. David has spent so much time on night watch and that is one thing that he has taught me to not be complacent about. Our Autopilot has been temperamental and can easily set you off course by 90 degrees. You need to be watching it. We met a guy who's Autopilot did just that and he ended up on the beach - took 18 days and a backhoe and a lot of grief to get off that beach! Even with a constant watch we have come close to hitting a panga and have picked up fishing lines!
So when we are on watch we are on watch. And if I find myself nodding off it is time to wake up the captain or do some exercises.
So the rest of my watch was uneventful. David got 4 hours of sleep and then I got 5 hours and now it is daylight!
1450: It is a sunny day and quite warm but the movement of the boat and the winds help to keep us cool. There is a slight chop with minimum swell.
1515: we saw another Marlin jumping out of the water. This time he jumped 10 times and was much closer. We are pretty sure it was a black Marlin. David now has his highly engineered fishing line out. Maybe we will catch him!
1600: The motor is back on. Our new tactic did not work so well today as we were only able to sail for a couple of hours. Thank goodness the motor is running well!
1910: Seoul Express on a course of 290. CPA is 6.5 nm Speed is 14 knots.
2035: abeam the San Telmo Lighthouse and altering course slightly toward the NW. The wind has shifted and still,a ages to be on our bow.
2055: David spoke to "Cheryllnn" on the VHF. It is a McGregor 26 enroute to Costa Rica.
2322: abeam the Maersk Stockholm
2324: Orange sliver of the moon has begun to set. Wind is picking up but still on the nose. I have to say it is a bit uncomfortable with this constant rocking horse motion.
2400 Position: 18* 29.29 N. 103* 44.575 W
22-Apr-15. Cover is off the GPS. I am using a flashlight to write in the journal
But it has woken those cones in my eyes so I do not think I will do this for long. Really does play havoc with the night vision.
Asia Excellence on the AIS with a CPA of 6.5
0735: The sun is up and another freighter is coming my way. MV Couragous. Course of 109* CPA 5.1 nm SOG 13.7 knots
I took some screen shots so you can see what I am looking at.
The black circle indicates our location. The red dotted line is our course line from where we have been. If you look directly ahead of our location and also a little to port you will notice two triangles depicting boats. They face the direction that the ship is moving. When I put the cursor on the triangle a new screen shows up giving the information that you want.
Cool eh?
0843: now for my excitement of the morning. I sited a panga ( fishing boat) off to port but I could not see what direction his net was set. Then just ahead I saw a turquoise float. I turned hard to starboard and noticed a string of them so I ran parallel to them. At this time the panga started moving towards me on the other side of the line. He used hand gestures to indicate to me that the line went to starboard for quite a while and I should turn around and follow it to port. I only had to do this for about 10 minutes when I came upon the black flag to indicate the end of the line. That was nice of him to show me the shortest route. Little Spanish on my part. No English on his part. But we still got the job done!
0914 to 0951. I see another long line but I cannot see a panga. My guess is that the lines are being set towards shore so I head to port. Not so lucky this time as it took me 37 minutes to get to the end of the line!
1155 to 1205: Breakfast burritos, cleaned up, washed my hair and then took over the watch. And what do I see? More blue floats! This one almost extended into the shipping lanes. So another 15 minute detour. David said the next one we come to we will be passing over or else we will never get to Santiago! The panga may mark the beginning of the long line but the end is either not marked or too far away too see and sometimes these long lines can be 10 miles!
1300: Sure enough - more blue floats. I throttled back and used the momentum of the boat to pass in the centre of two floats. David was at the bow with the boat hook. The line was very close to the surface so he guided it under the bobstay fitting and the line passed under the boat. Then David went to the stern to make sure that it did not get hung up on the wind vane rudder. Phew! No damage done!
1400: Sails up for one last blast across Manzanillo Bay. We topped up at 7 knots. We sailed right into Santiago Bay and dropped the hook for the night. We may just stay here for a couple of days as we always liked it here. We are only 30 nm from Barra.
1557: Anchor down in Santiago Bay. We had a bit of an issue with the anchor chain as it does not lay as well when you bring it in by hand rather than the windless. But eventually we got it set. Modelo ( type of Mexican Beer) time!
We just got set up and a Catamaran anchored close to us. It was Luke and Marie on Belle Oiselle from France. They were on the hard in Chiapas the same time as we were. Yesterday he caught a 20 pound red snapper so he came over in his dinghy and gave us some. I had already taken out prawns to make Phad Thai but it will make a good dinner tomorrow!
I went for a quick swim but there seems to be a lot of floaters in the water. Kind of grossed me out. Would you swim in this water?
I do not believe it is algae, just straight pollution from the port, the lagoon and the steel mill. Needless to say I was disappointed. I do not remember it being so polluted last time we anchored here! So I had a shower on deck and then we decided to cut our time short.
1140: anchor up and we are on our last leg to Barra. 24 nm away.
1600: we turned around and headed back to Santiago.
Today ended up being one of those days where we spent 6 and a half hours going nowhere! We had made a late start and as a result the thermal winds had already started to pick up. When the land heats up the air rises and that creates a low pressure so the cooler air from the sea flows toward the low pressure to fill it in. Today those winds were 15-20 knots and they were on our nose. But after 4 and a half hours of bashing into it only covering 5 nm we decided that we had had enough. And it did not look like it was going to abate any time soon.
It took us less than 2 hours to get back to where we had started! It may seem silly as we only had 10 nm to go, but at a forward speed of 1 knot it would have landed us in Barra in the dark. And we try our best not to enter into anchorages or marinas in the dark. The two times that we have we were just plain lucky. Remember the time in California when we woke up in the morning and their was a line of lobster traps about 20 feet off our starboard side? And then there was the time in Nicaragua where we went aground and woke up a couple of boat lengths away from a wreck. So going back to Santiago was the smart thing to do.
Things in the bay were dead calm. It was nice to stop rocking and rolling. I cooked up some of that red snapper for dinner. It was fantastic! Thank you to Luke and Maria.
We spent another lazy day in the Bay. Put the dinghy in the water and did a garbage run to the beach. David took me out for breakfast. And then we walked through the grounds at Club Santiago to the tienda ( store) to pick up a few things and put some more time on the phone.
Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then early to bed to prepare for an earlier departure.
Alarm goes off at 0415. Captain makes the coffee we get the boat ready. Dinghy is brought back on deck. Anchor is raised and we are off again.
0532: leaving Santiago Bay
0730: we are at the point where we turned around the other day! Sun will be rising in three more minutes. It is pretty calm but a bit overcast and cool. The wind is a little off starboard and the right direction for sailing but there just isn't enough of it. We just can't win! Oh well. At least we are making good time.
0940: tied up on Dock C in the marina at Isla de Navidad. Jim from Liebling was there to assist us with the lines. We had met them in Huatulco at Christmas.
We got the immediate jobs completed. That is: power and water hooked up, one water tank filled, garbage off, mail sail reflaked and sail cover on.
Registered at the Marina Office. We could get the same rate as last year as long as we paid for three months up front. Plus the hurricane rate does not really start til May 1 st but they gave it to us starting today. Rate is $8.50 per foot per month which works out to $314.50 US plus tax. That is pretty good with all the amenities of the hotel. They have improved their Wifi so now we can get it on the boat! That is a big plus!!!
Then we went to the front desk of the hotel to get our Free Wifi access, our towel cards and an account (so we do not have to carry cash to the pool in case we want the odd beer or lemonada!)
Then we went to the pool to have a swim and get that beer and lemonada! Phoned Mom's as Debbie, Stuart, Paul and Heather were there to celebrate Debbie,s birthday a bit early (April 28). Everyone sounded good and were getting ready to enjoy Minelli's and Mom's pumpkin pie and lemon meringue pie.
David took me out for a lovely dinner in town at Marlena's. A lot of the restaurants and shops are starting to close down during this slow season. They have done a lot of work on the beach and it looks great.
Back to the boat where I was able to post one blog. Tomorrow the work begins. If you can call it work.
