The Travels of Aztec

I'm not really a "blogger". So far, I wait until I'm in the mood and then write a story about what I remember. It has been over a month since we left La Cruz, and what follows is from my notes, the log and feeble memories.

We waved goodbye to La Cruz at 10:00 am on Monday, the 28th of March. We need to be sure we won't miss our haul-and-paint date in Mazatlan on the 11th of April, and the weather has been iffy. We really don't want to have to do an overnight slog into 6 ft waves. This leg is north. The wind usually comes from the north. We don't usually worry too much about the wind, per se, because it rarely seems to get even into the 20's. But it bunches up the water! And this leg is entering the bottom of the Sea of Cortez, where the water bunches up into a mean steep chop - which might be fun for the afternoon on San Francisco Bay, but not all night long!

The plan was just to jump out to Punta de Mita about 10 miles away at the northern mouth of Banderas Bay and anchor for the first night where it's usually calm. But luck was holding, and by noon we were already off Punta de Mita on the OUTside, motor-sailing north at about 5.5 kts with a 7 kts WNW breeze. What the heck - keep going.
Engine on. Engine off. The usual Mexican sailing. No particular marine life of note.

At 4:30 we arrived at Jaltemba and decided to anchor behind the little island as indicated in the new Heather-Sean cruising guide. After 4 tries the hook finally stuck, and by now it was 6:00. Ran the engine for about ½ hour to make a little water. I really don't like the sound the watermaker makes. I think it's pulling in a lot of air, which over time will break parts. The solution is probably a feeder pump between the intake and the filters, but not today. Spaghetti dinner with a nice salad. Spoke to "Itchin" (TJ & Julie) who came in behind us - and appeared to have the same sort of trouble we did getting their anchor to stick. We've heard their name on the radio for years, but have never met. We won't today, either, because neither of us is putting the dinghy in the water. It's just a one-night stop on the way to Mazatlan.

David was up at 2:30 in the morning to set the "flopper-stopper" when the rolling finally got to us. We'd never used this one before, as we bought it in La Paz just abut at the end of our 2008 season. It worked fairly well - enough to get a few better Z's before morning.

UP anchor at 10:00, and shortly thereafter decided to skip Mantanchen Bay (San Blas) and go directly as the crow flies to Mazatlan, approx 150 nm. We don't want another rolly night, and it'll still be an overnight to Maz even if we stay in Mantanchen. Also the seas look fairly flat, and maybe we'll beat any worse weather than might roll down on us.
On top of that, we had reports of thefts off boats anchored in the bay. One boat radioed that their outboard engine had gone walkabout in the middle of the night.

All morning straight into the little breeze and the chop. By noon Mantanchen is on the starboard beam. Slower and slower we go into the stupid waddle-waddle-chop-chop. Down to 2.8 kt by 5:30 and wondering if we should slog on or just go back to Mantanchen. But it probably won't be better tomorrow. We remember hearing 2 other boats a few hours ahead complaining about the same conditions. So persevere! We passed inside of Isla Isabella (see pretty sundown pic), and saw a whale breach maybe a mile away. Just one breach, then a tail sliding down out of sight.

David was trailing the standard fishing rig all this time - a heavy line with a hook (in this case a cedar plug) about 100 ft behind. At one point in the afternoon we both heard a "bang", and we looked back to see just a remaining 3 ft of line (this is braided tuna line. I have no idea what test, but it would probably hold one of us up). So we're guessing we caught something ... BIG... So we re-strung the line - this time with monofilament that is probably only 130 lb test. And this time - unfortunately - I used one of those clips that looks like a safety pin. That's where the next cedar plug / leader disappeared. Another something Big... Maybe I need bigger, stronger shock absorbers in the line? And that's where the fishing ended for this trip.

On into the night. David lasted after dinner until 0200 hours on 30 March, and then woke Carolyn. In the morning (David on again about 0700) Carolyn reported being passed by 2 boats. One overtook from behind (at some distance to port) - probably a cabin cruiser type. But not much excitement. The new Raymarine wheel pilot just squeaks and whirs and we nap, setting the kitchen timer to look around every 15 minutes or so. We probably are a lot more visible than we used to be, too, with our new LED red and green bow lights.

Aztec has a 10 gallon day tank for the diesel fuel. It can be a nuisance having to go down and pump every few hours, but it has 2 advantages over pumping straight out of the main tanks. First, it keeps you very aware of your fuel status. Every time we pump I can estimate how many gallons are used (the tank fuel gauges as just sight gauges that don't give too much info). Second, we pump from a main tank to the day tank through a filter. In this case, we have almost 3-year old fuel on board. Does it have biologicals in it? Water from condensation over all that time? If there's dirt, we've sure shook that up. And finally this morning, as we are getting to the bottom of the port tank, it's taking forever to fill the day tank. Time to replace the pumping filter and see if that makes a difference.... Caramba !!! It's back like it used to be - about 1 gallon per minute. Bueno!!

The morning Amigo net on the SSB is scratchy and unreadable. I was hoping to get in on more report before going into the black hole of marinas. Can't even hear Don Anderson's weather report.

The seas decline all morning. Smoother and smoother. By the time we reach Mazatlan it's calm and we're doing 6.5 kts. Arrived El Cid Marina 1:00 pm and pulled in to Slip B21B behind another sailboat. Next report - Mazatlan