Tag Archives: anchorage

Arrival

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And just like that – we’re here. After a last fitful day of slow down, speed up, and try to time a perfect arrival while trying to decide where that perfect arrival is. We were aiming for the southwestern tip of Hiva Oa but would still had to sail down the southern side of the island for about 10 miles to reach the anchorage,
which we could do in the dark but… was that the best decision? Oddly, as Melody expressed, after over two weeks in the open ocean we were more nervous about land then we were about sea. I guess familiarity sometimes breeds comfort. We spent hours staring at the GPS counting down the arrival time to our weighpoint, calculating the hours remaining into a local time so we could maximize our daylight hours in the anchorage.

In one of our slow down moments we sustained the worst damage we’ve had all trip – a partial tear in the mainsail cover system. Another boat has already asked to borrow the sewing machine on board so it was coming out anyway, but still it will require some work to get the cover off and on the boom where it permanently resides. And it is frustrating to break something just hours from arrival. Previously our damage consisted of breaking a loop of line that was anchoring one end of the main sail preventer, which was really inconsequential in the scheme of things. The day before we left there was some damage to the dinghy lifting system, but that didn’t technically occur while we were underway so I’m not sure if it counts (Jeff says it does).

Overall, last minute damage not withstanding, it was an amazing trip. We reeled it off in almost exactly 17 days, not bad for a passage that averages 24 days (give or take). We averaged 167 miles a day, and only sailed about 150 miles more than the rhumb line. The amazing thing for sailing such a short course is that we stayed in the wind almost the whole time. I don’t have the exact numbers but a rough guess is we motored for 12-15 hours, and two of that was getting out of Banderas Bay because we left before the daily breeze picked up. Leaving on Good to Go Friday really was the right choice. Throw in some savvy decision making and some dump luck, but I don’t think we could have timed things any better, or chosen a better course. Listening to other boats give their positions on the net revealed that we were passing up multiple boats, although at least one, Cherokee Rose seemed to be pacing us. I would be hesitant to sail this trip again because I suspect I’ll never have another ride this great, no matter how many tickets I bought. Other than the last minute sail cover damage, I feel like we had about a perfect trip.

Yes, there were some moments of hang on, but 34 knots was the highest wind speed we ever saw, and that was just a momentary gust. We did push 30 knots for a couple minutes, but overall we sailed on and on, and on in 17-20 knots of wind. Listening to boats just behind us talk of days of light to no winds in the ITCZ makes it all the more amazing – for the most part we slid right through this notorious area. We did battle an adverse current for a few days, but suddenly it was a positive current boosting our boat speed so in the end I imagine it all averaged out. There were a few brushes with squalls, but nothing severe and no sustained rain fall. It
wasn’t just great wind and weather, we all had fun, enjoyed each others company, ate great food and just generally reveled in our amazing trip. I’m sad to see it end, but looking out at the amazing view of the cozy tropical bay we are now anchored in, I’m excited to explore a new country, take a turn at some hiking instead of sailing, and hopefully catch up with some old friends as other boats arrive.

We’ll be spending today getting checked in, cleaning up the boat and ourselves, catching up on some rest and other such things that come with landfall in a new country. I’ll try to resume the more interesting posts once we get settled in and I get my creative writing juices going – and maybe have some new things to write about. For now, we are here, it was a wonderful ride and we are all safe and happy to be here, if slightly sad to be done with the sail of our lives.

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Here we are, back in Bahia de los Muertos. For today, I’m sticking with the old name, Bay of the Dead, not the new one, Bahia de los Suenos, Bay of Dreams. My dream for today is dead, sailing to Mazatlan. After listening to the radio net yesterday morning in La Paz, where the cruisers club web master announced over the net he was resigning because of someone in the clubs “dictatorial attitude,” and another woman calling in with a boat name announcing Christmas caroling at her house, we just kind of spontaneously decided to pull up the hook and go. Not that I’m being a grinch with the Christmas caroling, but you aren’t a cruiser if you own a house in the city you cruised to. You are a resident with a boat. We really enjoyed La Paz, and will be back next spring for a jumping off point to the north end of the Sea of Cortez, but it was time to go before we ended up stuck there. There are some wonderful resources for cruisers, but the community feels stagnant after staying for a few weeks (and by community, I mean the “cruisers” who haven’t left the dock or pulled anchor in months, if not years, not the great people we hung out with!). Plus we perceived a break in the northerly winds that had been pinning us down. So around 4:00 pm, we just pulled up the anchor and started toward our journey to Mazatlan.

So far, it hasn’t been our best trip. No major problems, but about two hours into the trip, Jenn’s attempt to boil water resulted in the surprise discovery we are out of propane. I say surprise, as we had sent the tank out to be filled just a few weeks ago, and have had the tank last well over a month with prior fills. I’m not sure if it wasn’t topped off, or there is something to the snipet floating around in my head that the gas here is something other than propane and not as efficient. After some digging, I found the adapter to run our stove off of a 1 pound tank for the BBQ (in the first compartment I looked in, just at the bottom of it). Of which of course we have one almost empty tank, and one full one. Hopefully they will last a couple days.

After some light wind sailing, with a couple hours of motoring when there just wasn’t any wind, we exited a channel around daylight, and made our decision to set sail straight across the Sea of Cortez for Mazatlan. Then the wind and sea state began to vary from the forecast. The admiral made another decision, and we turned around and actually had wonderful sailing conditions back to the Muertos anchorage, maintaining 5 plus knots with bursts in the 6 knot range with most of the jib rolled in to keep us a bit more upright. Minion had a bit to say about being under sail again, but other than talking quite a bit doesn’t seem phased to be underway, as usual. He is just a born sailor. While anchored, he amuses himself, and us, by chasing flies. We purchased some netting in La Paz, and the next time we tie up to dock and have shore power the sewing machine is making an appearance to sew some covers for the hatches and companionway. I’m sure we’ll all miss the fly chasing antics, but not the flies.

We are now anchored, and getting weak internet but enough to check weather and hopefully upload this post. We think we can manage to try and cross again tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have a bit better luck then. It is about 190 miles to Mazatlan, in pretty much a straight shot. If the forecast holds and the seas don’t beat us up too much we should be able to make it in a day and half. Sadly we’ll miss catching up with the Jen who crewed the Haha with us, who is leaving Mazatlan today. We had planned to visit her their, but the wind just didn’t work with us.

If you were following the Spot, I think the batteries died, so we’ll look for another set before we head to Mazatlan.

After an overnight sail, it is time for some naps!