As we prepared to leave San Evaristo on Saturday we really had no idea what we would be facing with the now broken windless. When the accident happened two days earlier we slowly took up about 50 feet of chain just so wouldn´t be swinging all over the anchorage with 200 feet out. We how had to bring up the other 150 feet and then move to another anchorage and drop the hook there, at this point we both felt that we would be OK dropping the hook, but were very nervious about raising it with the now gimpy windless. As it turned out we figured out a system of raising the anchor without jamming the chain into the windless, it is a slow process and leaves me with a bruise on my forearm that is about the size and color of an apple.
Originally we were going to stop somewhere between San Evaristo and Agua Verde for a night or two, once underway I made the decision that we would continue straight to Agua Verde, thus limiting the times we would have to raise and lower the anchor. We arrived in Agua Verde around 1700 and dropped the hook in about 20 feet of water, as we had thought dropping it went smooth.
Agua Verde (pic) is a small fishing village that I would describe as charming. It was a stark difference from Evaristo, the waters are a beautiful green/blue, the village sits in a lush valley at the base of the majestic Sierra de la Giganta mountain range. While walking around the small village I was surprised to see that most of the simple casas (homes) had beautiful gardens around them. We found a small tienda and needed to replenish our fruit supply. We not expecting much in this out of the way village at the end of a 25 mile dirt road and were very pleased to find better fruit and veggies than what we had been getting in La Paz.
On Sunday night PT208 a mexican patrol boat (see pic) pulled into the anchorage. PT208 dropped their hook outside of the rest of the boats at anchor, launched their dinghy and proceeded to stop all of the outbound panga fisherman. I wasn´t really sure what to expect but decided to end happy hour early and put together my ships papers....just in case. PT208 ended their questioning of the panga guys at around dark and went back to their boat. They ended up staying in the anchorage all night and first thing in the morning they headed my way. There were four guys in the dinghy, an officer, a dude driving and two dudes dressed in cammies, helmets, flack jackets and with very large automactic machine guns. As they approached Si Bon the officer said in pretty decent english " Hola, we are the mexican navy and we are here to inspect your papers" the young officer was having a little trouble getting onto Si Bon so I offered him a hand and once aboard asked if he or his men would like something to drink, he declined but the three amigos in the dink said they would take a coke. The young officer was professional and friendly as he wrote down my info and asked me questions, he then gave me a brief safety check and told me that they were available on channel 16 if I ever needed help.
The Mexican navy carries out many of the jobs that the US Coast Guard does in the US, I look at both as a mariners friend and I´m sure I´ll be seeing PT208 again.
Tomorrow I will update the blog with the trip from Agua Verde to Puerto Escondido and explain why if you are thinking about reefing your sails you probably already should have.