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Friday, November 30, 2012

It feels like home

Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

After a good night's sleep at Playa La Bonanza, we were ready for our crossing of the Sea of Cortez.  The anchorage overnight was perfectly calm and we awoke to a beautiful sunrise on the long, deserted beach.  We left at around 8:30AM, bound for Mazatlan.

We made the decision to do this crossing in two days, hoping to arrive at around 8:30AM on Thursday in order to take advantage of the high slack tide to get into the harbour at Mazatlan.  The shortest route from Bonanza to Mazatlan is 223 nautical miles (not the 180 I had thought earlier) which meant we needed to average better than 4.5 knots for the trip - this meant we would likely not be able to sail the entire way in the forecast light winds.

We motored in a very light breeze for all of the first day.  The couple of times we tried to sail resulted in speeds of around 1.5 knots, crawling along in the calm seas.  At one point we passed a turtle sleeping on the surface.  We were going so slow and quiet that he never woke up, even as we passed within about 3 feet of him.

The winds piped up around 11PM and we were able to sail the rest of the night and into the morning.  We motorsailed for some of the 2nd day, mostly to maintain our preferred course, not because there was no wind.  The winds for this entire trip came from the NW and we were going SE, directly downwind - not the best point of sail for this boat.  By late afternoon, we were sailing again, and were able to keep this up until we were within about 15 miles from Mazatlan.  The seas were pretty lumpy for most of the time.  The winds at night were consistently between about 12 and 20 knots, kicking up some nasty short-period wind-waves from the north - we rocked and rolled our way across the sea.

As we approached the breakwater entrance to Estero Sabalo, at 8:45AM, the wind died and we had completely slack tide conditions, as predicted.

We made a non-dramatic docking at Marina Mazatlan where we are currently moored on dock 3 - nice and quiet but a long way from the washrooms.  Our first order of business was to find breakfast, then take a long nap.

Total mileage logged for the crossing was 237 so you can see that we made a pretty straight line across.   Life is good on Sine Timore!

Take a look at the home port of the boat in front of us.  What are the odds?

{GMST}23|16.19|N|106|27.30|W|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico|Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico{GEND}
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Bonanza

Playa La Bonanza, BCS, Mexico

After 3 nights in Ensenada Grande, it was time to move on.

The reason for our journey north was to try and get a better angle on the crossing of the Sea of Cortez to the town of Topolobampo.  The decision to go there was quite arbitrary and we are now considering the folly of our ways.  I have sent emails to the new marina in Topo but have not receive any reply - there is probably room but no guarantee.  Our intent was to possibly visit the Copper Canyon which is not far from Topo but having talked to other cruisers who have been there, it appears this might not be the best season - it is at high altitude and could be quite cold.   Since our real plan is to head further south, we are starting to think we had better get busy and start moving that way instead.  Reinforcing this decision was the arrival of the dreaded Coromuel winds in Ensenada Grande last night.

Ensenada Grande had been just about the perfect anchorage for us for the first two days.  Lovely weather with light north winds.  We had a chance to try out our new dinghy and it is proving to be a terrific asset.  Our little 5hp Mercury outboard really makes this dinghy fly, ever with the two of us in it, and it seems much more stable than our old dinghy.  As a bonus it seems to be a little lighter and easier to manhandle onto the deck as well.

We used the dinghy to explore the shoreline around the anchorage, and discovered an abundance of sea life.  Beautiful sand beaches and warm water make beachcombing a paradise.

Last night however, everything changed.  Around 11PM a moderate southwest wind came up.  Ensenada Grande, along with most every other anchorage on the west coast of these islands, is completely open to the southwest and the surge pounds in whenever the wind blows from that direction (probably why they have these terrific beaches here).  Needless to say we had a very restless night with the boat hobby-horsing up and down and the anchor chain growling on some rocks below.  This morning, we made the decision that we needed to be someplace else by tonight.  Our only real option, other than heading further north, was to circle around to the other side of the island and head south to a huge beach called Playa La Bonanza.  This place is quite exposed from the east and south, but reasonably protected from the north and west - we hope we will not regret this decision.  The journey down here was done entirely by motor, as we needed to charge the batteries and it only took a little over 3 hours - a lot shorter than when we were trying to sail the other way.  At least we should have lots of hot water so we can have some nice showers tonight.

We are now anchored in about 14 feet of water with 125 feet of chain out.  The wind is gusting from the northeast but there is little or no swell hitting us - so far so good.  There are no other boats here at all!  I wonder if they know something we don't?

Tomorrow we may make the big break and head SE, across to Mazatlan, some 180 miles away.  This will be at least a 2 day trip for us.  We will wait to see what the weather report is before proceeding.


{GMST}24|27.136|N|110|18.375|W|Playa La Bonanza, BCS, Mexico|Playa La Bonanza, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Friday, November 23, 2012

Rough ride

Ensenada Grande, BCS, Mexico

We spent a day at anchor in Caleta Lobos, in order to take stock of ourselves and the boat. We both fared pretty well. I spent the bulk of the day getting the watermaker working. It would not have been so bad if I hadn't screwed up when I replaced the filters. I accidentally gouged a couple of grooves in the plastic top of the filter housing, and this turns out to be really important if you want a good seal when you screw on the bottom part - water pretty well running everywhere when I started the unit. So I had to somehow fill in the grooves in the plastic - who would have thought that Bondo would be so useful - working great now.

Today, we left early in the morning for a short trip north to the tip of Isla Partida, in a bay called Ensenada Grande. We managed to sail close-hauled for lot of the distance, turning a 17 mile route into a full 33 miles by the time we were anchored. Lots of wind, all coming from the north. We sailed with a double-reefed main and full genoa for about half the time, then eventually had to reef in some of the genoa as well when the wind pushed 15 knots. The seas got really lumpy and the crew was sick. We gave up sailing when we were only about 2 miles from the bay as we were worried it would take us over an hour to get there, and it would be getting dark soon (dusk is around 5:30 PM here).

Nice anchorage, shared with about 10 other boats.

Bonus today was a brief visit from a whale in our anchorage at Caleta Lobos, just as we were getting up this morning.

{GMST}24|33.566|N|110|23.983|W|Ensenada Grande, BCS, Mexico|Ensenada Grande, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The getaway

Caleta Lobos, BCS, Mexico

Yes that's right, we are no longer in La Paz!

We made our escape this morning, after a quick visit to the fuel dock, then the marina office to pay for the fuel and the last month's moorage, and sadly, to give back our keys to the marina.

We decided on a short trip today, in order to see if everything is running OK, and to see if we remember how to handle the boat after so much time in the marina.

The plotted course was just 10.4 nautical miles.  The first 5 miles is just following the dredged channel to get out of La Paz, so we had to motor that distance.  Once clear of the port, we hoisted both the full mainsail and full genoa, a sail combination that we have not used in over a year.  I felt that since the winds were so light, we could risk having all of our canvas up for a change.

We sailed, close-hauled, for almost 3 hours, with wind speeds between 7 and 10 knots, at a good pace of between 4 and 6 knots for most of the time.  The wind, of course, was coming from exactly the direction we wanted to go, so we spent our time tacking back and forth, making very little progress for the most part.  We eventually arrived at our chosen destination, here in a small bay called Caleta Lobos, after turning our 10.4 mile route into a 17.8 mile journey.  Sailing is such an efficient way to get places, don't you think.

This bay that we find ourselves in is the same one that we stopped at just before we entered La Paz last spring, so we were familiar with it.  The idea was to anchor someplace easy for the first night in order to see if we still know how.  It went very smoothly.

The only issues on this trip were the usual ones of things shifting around the cabin as we alternately heeled the boat to port and starboard on our tacks upwind, plus an annoying issue with the oil pressure gauge which seems to have quite completely.  I don't think it is possible to sail on a boat with absolutely everything working properly at the same time.

Tomorrow, we may carry on further northward, or stay put for a day if the flies here don't get too bad.  If you notice in the attached picture, the beach and mangrove swamps - these are ideal breeding grounds for small insects - not too bad as long as there is a stiff breeze blowing to prevent them from finding the boat.  Having said that, they seem to be finding me as I write this entry.

BTW  Since we are now out of the marina, our nice fast internet connection is gone.  We are still close enough to La Paz for cell phone coverage, so this update is being done via our Banda Ancha (broadband 3G) service from Telcel.  Not quick, but better than nothing.  As we move north, we will no doubt lose this as well and be reduced to sailmail only.


{GMST}24|17.920|N|110|19.961|W|Caleta Lobos, BCS, Mexico|Caleta Lobos, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Everyone loves a parade

La Paz, BCS, Mexico

Yesterday, Monday, was a national holiday for Revolution Day.  Today apparently is Navy Day.  The entire route along the Malecon has been closed all day for a major parade.  Needless to say, getting paperwork done is not a high priority with the local authorities right now - we should have our exit papers by the end of the day.

The parade was a hoot.  We watched it for about 3-1/2 hours, as representatives from what must be every school in Baja Sur marched by, followed by demonstrations of every conceivable sport by the various clubs and organizations in the area.  The athletic heroes from the Olympic and Para-Olympic games were on hand, as well as the municipal and state police and, of course, the Navy.

Lots of crowds, loud music and marching bands (just drums and trumpets for the most part).  All in all, quite a nice send-off for us.

The weatherman is calling for a less windy morning for our departure tomorrow.  Lets hope we can get to the fuel dock without incident this year.










{GMST}24|9.3066|N|110|19.6068|W|La Paz, BCS, Mexico|La Paz, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Monday, November 19, 2012

Parting shots

La Paz, BCS, Mexico

After completing our huge list of boat projects, this boat should be ready for anything.  We have made 3 major trips to the grocery stores, stowed everything on board as best we can, and washed all the dust off the decks.

Tomorrow we will attempt to get some exit papers from the Port Captain before we take off for places unknown.  Well to be honest, we have a pretty good idea of where we are going but hate to make any promises in writing.  Today, a north wind started blowing in the marina which could make getting out a chore.  It has also been very overcast, although not really any cooler.  We will wait to see what tomorrow brings.

A few pictures from around the town that has been our home for over a month since we arrived back from Canada.  Time flies when you are having fun!





 


{GMST}24|9.3066|N|110|19.6068|W|La Paz, BCS, Mexico|La Paz, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Arrivals from land and sea

La Paz, BCS, Mexico

We are still here but our departure is imminent...

First things first, our new dinghy has passed its last test - it fits on deck (sort of).  Susanne had to do some scrubbing to get rid of the growth that had accumulated on the bottom in the 5 days it sat in the water - you cannot believe how fast stuff grows here.  On the mothership, we had a diver clean the bottom last week - I just hope it holds until we actually get moving.

I'm sure that that growth will slow down somewhat now that winter is finally arriving.  The daily highs are now around 27 or 28 degrees and we actually need a blanket at night.  With the shorter and shorter days and a bit of cloud cover just now, it does feel like autumn (sort of).  Of course, we are still wearing shorts and T-shirts, so everything is relative.



A whale shark make out of plastic bottles
With the cooler weather, we have been able to take some longer walks around La Paz, covering the place from one end to the other.  There is always something happening in this town.




Since this is November, we are seeing the arrival of lots of boats from the annual Baja-ha-ha rally (145 boats this year, coming down from California) as they gather for their scheduled party on the 20th.  The VHF radio is very busy in the mornings and the internet service is suffering somewhat with all the additional load.  This is just the incentive we need to get our act together and get out of here.  Having said that, we plan to leave the marina early next week - it is a major holiday weekend right now and nothing will be open until next Tuesday.

The other arrivals have been the overland fleet competing in the Baja 1000 rally.  The course this year was some 1100 miles from Ensenada to La Paz, right through the desert.  The fastest crews did it in under 20 hours.

We took a long walk (about an hour each way) yesterday down to the road by the Walmart which is closed off for the finish of the race - they come in staggered over a period of about 2 days.  We got to see a couple of the front runners arrive in the morning.

They do not trim their trees with tall people in mind.
Lots of people and a festive atmosphere.

Can you tell which beer company sponsors the event?






{GMST}24|9.3066|N|110|19.6068|W|La Paz, BCS, Mexico|La Paz, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sail Number 3 and so much more

La Paz, BCS, Mexico

We have been very busy for the last two weeks.

Packages started to arrive and we had to scramble to deal with it all.  The first to arrive was my new Kindle, which was the easiest to deal with - interesting to note that when Amazon says you will get your Kindle on a certain date, you get it on that date!  It took only three days from order till delivery.

The big packages arrived on schedule as well, although it did take a bit longer (much bigger boxes that we did not feel like shelling out the big bucks to get here any faster).

The largest of these boxes of course, was the new dinghy.  Here you can see me happily unwrapping my gift.  Only two weeks later, we got around to putting some air into it.  The dinghy looks good and works as advertised, but as usual our trusty Mercury outboard was not so cooperative.  After sitting in the hot sun for 4 months, what fuel was left in it seems to have turned to some kind of glue and the fuel filter actually broke in half.  After searching the town of La Paz from one end to the other, I did find a suitable replacement filter (only about 10 times the size of the old one) and after completely disassembling and reassembling the motor, it is purring like a kitten again.  In our one little test out in the wind and rough waters just outside the marina, the dinghy appears to be much faster and more stable than the old one.  There is just one test left - to see if it will actually fit on deck.

A large amount of the time I spent over the last few days has been with installing our new chartplotter and radar radome.  After numerous conversations with people at West Marine and Raymarine, assuring me that the new unit would fit exactly in the space of the old one, it turns out that the hole had to be just a bit wider.  My Dremel tool took care of this problem and I soon had it looking good.  Exchanging the old and new radomes was not technically challenging, but did require extracting the old cable and running the new one through all the various twists and turns that get it from the back of the boat to, well, near the back of the boat.  The 10 meter cable was just exactly the right length, but it did require moving everything out of the cockpit locker (lazarette) and me squirming into the bowels of the boat again to get it fed through.

The wiring was basically the same as for the old chartplotter and it all basically worked first time, although I have been battling with some intermittent signals on our NMEA interface between the Nexus instruments and the new C95 chartplotter - I think I have that working OK now.  Note: For all the upgrades done, it really does not look much different than it did before (If you could see the back of that radome, you would see the word "Digital" written on it - the only evidence that anything has changed.

We worked on lots of other little projects as well.

I installed a new starter battery.  This time I went with a maintenance free AGM type battery, mostly because it is installed in a box that has little or no ventilation and I don't want a build up of gasses in there.  Because our main house battery bank is made up of regular lead-acid, non-maintenance-free batteries, I have installed a new Balmar Digital Duo charger to allow different charging programs for the two banks.  I already had a similar arrangement for our windless battery, so now we have dueling Duo chargers - pretty cool huh?

We have mounted most of the equipment in the cockpit area and now have the bimini up - we now have some shade in the cockpit again.

 
Oh yah, the last of the sails is now up - not a difficult job once you figure out which way is up.  The foresail, with its newly installed matching beige Sunbrella UV strip, is now functional.  As you can see from the pictures below, the boat is looking ready to go to sea at a moment's notice.


We hoisted the main sail a couple of days ago so that I could string the reefing lines.  All went smoothly until, as we were lowing the sail, the wind piped up and made a shambles of our nice neat flaking job of stowing the sail.  I don't know how the weather gods always know just when to attack.  In spite of that setback, the sail is down and stowed, the reef lines are in place and we are ready to go.

With a lot of the work done now, we have started making trips to the local grocery stores to get some provisions.  For much of the last week, we had run out of food and were forced to eat out a lot (a real hardship, I know).  It did not help that Susanne found some bugs in some of our older food stocks and had to throw most everything away - she has been busy cleaning out the pantry and deciding what she wants to re-stock.

Since we usually go to the stores early in the morning (we prefer to do the long walks before the heat of the day), the aisles are not nearly so busy and the produce has not been picked over quite so much.  The parking lots look pretty deserted at that time of day.

As for the weather, it just keeps getting better.  Now that the hurricane season is officially over, the daily temperatures have been steadily falling.  The highs are mostly around 30 and it cools off very nicely at night.  This is probably the best time of year to be here.  Regardless, looking at the weather reports from back in Edmonton, we are very happy to be here right now.


As for our plans, the only thing really holding us here in La Paz is the Magnun charger/inverter that we ordered some 3 weeks ago.  It has still not arrived and I have to keep extending our stay with the marina office - they have been extremely helpful and have told us we are OK in our current slip until the end of November if we need it - hopefully it will not come to that, although living in the marina is very addictive.  It seems the longer we are here, the harder it is to leave.

{GMST}24|9.3066|N|110|19.6068|W|La Paz, BCS, Mexico|La Paz, BCS, Mexico{GEND}