Return of the hook
23 April 2019
Paul Barker
After a very fast and exciting sail we arrived in Isla Mujheres a pretty island 🌴 just off Cancun, Mexico 🇲🇽
It took us just under 5 days to get here. We left the Rio Dulce, to cross the very shallow sand bar for the third time at high water, this we did again without touching the bottom. We crossed the bay then dropped the anchor in a sheltered spot, it was a weird feeling because the water was so calm it felt like we were back on dry land. We could have sailed through the night, but our plan was to retrace our tracks from 3 weeks ago. Hopefully whilst it was still daylight, we would have time to have a look for the old anchor, (bought only 4 weeks ago) that was left behind due to extremely rough weather, and our anchor chain that wasn’t fit for purpose. So we sail into an open area within the reef that is about 1.5 km by 1 km. when we decided to drop the anchor to begin the search we did so within an arms length of our missing hook and chain that was laying in 5 metres of water, we all 3 of us put our snorkelling kit on and dove in, it took less than 2 minutes, Judy saw it first because she went down to check our anchor was going to hold whilst we were off the boat ⛵️. It took us over 5 hours to get it all (70 metres of chain) back on board because our new winch was again damaged. So I had to hand pump with a standard 1/2 inch ratchet, this alone took me over 2.5 hours, I was knackered when I eventually finished.
We then set off for Isla Mujheres, we had great sailing ⛵️ conditions with winds around 18 to 23 knots, an average speed of 6 knots and a max speed of 11.7 knots. I also lost a brand new fishing 🎣 lure and over 500 metres of line again, but I’m still learning this new skill.
We had a few other problems, which has lead me to believe that between the 3 of us, we don’t have the required skills or knowledge to attempt an Atlantic crossing, so sadly I have decided to leave Scorch, to continue my adventure elsewhere.