Sailing the Karina C

This picture is taken of some of the beautiful homes as we enter the harbour of La Cruz
11/27
We finally got underway on the 25th. We left El Cid at 0900. The slack was 0800. We managed to get out of the slip at that time, but by the time the fuel was in and the paperwork was complete, it was 0900.
The trip was about 50% motorboat and the other half was light air sailing (< 15 knots of wind). At times we were dead downwind. I didn’t have the guts to pole out the genny with nightime sailing, so we broad reached down to San Blas.
Once we reached San Blas the Fonatur folks ignored us, so we anchored in Metanchen Bay. We went to the beach and had lunch at a great little spot that served the tiniest cervesa I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. Fortunately, I had stuffed and extra in my backpack, so not all was lost with the lunch. Though the cervesa was tiny, they severed us a huge portion of the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten in Mexico. The restaurant (1st. inset back one from the right –marked by yellow flag) served “Especialidad De La Casa Merequetengue” which had lobster, shrimp, squid, and other seafood that was a real treat. The waiter spoke a limited amount of English, and generously looked after our dingy while we went for a walk.

11/29
We hooked up with the crew of Avalon ( a Catalina 42) and we took the jungle river tour. Phil and Katie were a delight and we had a great tour of the jungle. We saw crocodiles and many different birds as we travelled through the jungle. We walked into San Blas after the tour and “did” the town. Anita and I walked up to the fort and church. Wonderful views from there.
We got back to Metanchen via taxi (as the walk was long). We had another nice lunch at Anita’s favourite restaurant, and we went back to Karina for supper and a swim. The evening was spent with Phil and Katie on Karina and we had music and a lot of pleasant conversation.
The next morning we got going early and I was having my breakfast and reported in on the Amigo Net that we had 5 knots from the E. Another station reported in from 5 miles S of us and reported 30 knots E and gusting! We immediately got the double reefed main going, and no sooner that we had it set and the blow hit. We kind of wallowed for a while until I got a little piece of the genny out and then Karina took off like a scared rabbit. We made it to Chacala in record time. As we sailed S we saw gusts to 40 knots! We used the old Tehuantepecker trick of sailing with one foot on the beach and one foot in the water all the way. The seas were not too big fortunately. However the wind was so hard on the beam we took a considerable amount of water into the cockpit. I cowered below while Anita tended things above. Once in a while I would come out for a look and make sure our navigation was sound.
As we approached Chacala the wind settled and dropped to a modest 10 as we entered the harbour. The bedding in the V berth was soaked so, as soon as we had the anchor down, we had the bedding out drying. Yes, it is salty, but dry (ish).
When we went to shore to check in with the port Captain, we met Cameron McLean ( a friend from Bluewater Cruising Assn.). We were shocked to say the least! We had a beer with Cam, Marianne and their family while they had lunch. We walked back to the boat and put our now dry (but salty) bedding back in Karina. Then we went for a swim and bath and fresh water rinse. In the evening, we made music with Stray Cat and Ustupu as audience and packed things up at 2100. The Port Captain was very friendly here and greeted us warmly with his limited English,(which pales my Spanish).
This morning I was up early and Don Anderson slept in today. Bummer! Geary was on though and we just got a pleasant forecast and we have been motoring S in very light S winds (< 5 knots).
I have been having a little trouble with the geriatric Manana net. As I suspected, they are older and are not too tech-hip, so anything but passage weather is too much for them to handle. I pointed out that there are 3 things a sailor is interested in:
His next drink
His next woman
His next weather update.
Since I have 1 +2 taken care of, all I need is #3. They responded with a list of excuses (weather guy is on holidays, dialup modems) and I pointed out that, as a maritime net, weather should be a major issue. I think they got the message. We’ll see as we head N from PV in 6 weeks.
We arrived in La Cruz in the late afternoon (Central time). I washed the bikes and later, sprayed them down with WD 40. We are having the cushions steam cleaned tomorrow so we should have things back to normal.
The Banderas Bay Blast is on right now and there seem to be a lot of racers on the docks. That seems to be fun. They are a hard living lot. I have been checking out the town and have found all the necessities. Anita is happy with good showers nearby. I’ve got good wifi and the weather is in the mid 80sF. Can it get any better?