Day 579 A short hop.
01 December 2009 | Mag Bay-Belcher Pint
Bill Hudson
We made the short hop from Santa Maria to Belcher Point in Mag Bay. Off early this morning so we could have the day to relax once we arrived. Not much wind but tried to sail. Failed. Put the sails down and motored again. For those of you out there, we actually do very little actual sailing. Either there isn't any wind, or it is always and I do mean always from where we want to go and a sailboat doesn't sail ito the wind.
As we rounded the point of the bay and headed in, we got slapped by out coming current. We had arrived just as all the water in the bay was trying to get out the very inlet we were entering. Our timing could not have been worse. Traveling in Alaska and BC had prepared us for this so it was no big deal, it was just unexpected. No "cruising guide" had told us to expect it. We motored in and dropped the anchor at Belcher Point 24 34.789N 112 04.045W about lunch time and settled in.
Shortly after lunch, I had my first swim since we boarded Zephyr back in April of 2008. None of the waters we have been in have been anywhere warm enough to make me go in the water. Diving to replace the zinc in San Diego doesn't count. I was forced to do it because we lost our zinc off the prop again. This time, it was by choice. The water was still only about 73 degrees, but after the initial shock, it was fine. I had on my mask and fins so I could inspect the zinc again(nice and tight screws and the finger nail polish on the screw area was still holding out). I pulled myself down the anchor chain as far as I could go. We had anchored in 19 feet of water and I had let out 100 feet of chain but while I could see the bottom and where the chain had dug in, I couldn't see the actual anchor. Once the inspection was done, I climbed back on board and rinsed he saltwater off. I wasn't about to go below covered in salt water. That's a big nono. It never dries and it really can mess up the wood floors.
Later in the afternoon, we receive an invite from another boat to come over for dinner. No idea who they are, but they had caught a Mahi Mahi and could eat it all so they put out a blanket radio call to come to dinner. You just don't turn down Mahi Mahi so the Puff(the dingy) was put in the water and Dragon(out board engine) was added as it was still blowing about 15 knots and we were ready t head out at 1700.
About 1630, we felt Zephyr change her position. Suddenly, our stern was into the wind the bow was not. That's wrong!! The tide had turned and was coming back into the bay and had caused Zephyrs bow to swing toward the incoming water instead of the wind. We'd only experience this once before and that was way back to when we were anchored just before we hit Prince Rupert, BC. We looked at the other two boats in the bay and they were riding better, so we upped the anchor and motored over to be closer to them. Well, they started getting affected by the same tide we had and they started to swing also. So there we were, Stern to the wind and waves and bow facing the wrong way. We just had to wait it out. Two hours later, we swung back to where we wanted to be and are now fine. Some time during the night, it will probably happen again. By the time this was over, we begged off dinner an stayed aboard in case anything else should happen.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that we caught our first fish yesterday as we were headed South from Punta Abreojos. We'd put a line over the stern and trolled with what is called a "cedar plug". About an hour or two later, we looked over the stern and there was a fish being draged behind us. Actually, it was a shark!! Oh goody, our first fish is a big stinking shark!!! Those thing have sharp teeth an can bite back and he (or she) didn't look to happy with us. I pulled i the line and Tracy got the gaff hook to pull him in. Lucky for us(and for him) we was only a small shark(but still a shark none the less) and I could get him out of the water and onto the deck with out the use of the gaff hook. Tray took my picture as I wrestled him down and got the hook out of his mouth. There was no way I was going to kill a poor little small shark. Their meat is tough to eat anyway. He was about 30 inches long and maybe 5 to 8 pounds. So once the hook was out--no I didn't reach in with my fingers--(you think I'm crazy)it just fell out of the hole it had made, I pick the poor thing up and tossed him back in the water. Meanwhile, all the other boats at anchor were talking about the dorados and yellow fin tunas they had caught and were cooking up for dinner. Oh well, there will come another day when we will catch something we want to eat. Of course, we have no idea what to do with it when we catch it(what ever it may be) but we will learn(pity the poor fish that is first to get caught by us).
So here we sit, rocking in the waves waiting for the winds to calm down so we will settle. Tomorrow is another day--and we will be moving to get away from this madness.