2010 Hola Mexico - Missive 5

December 13, 2010: Time to leave San Jose del Cabo but first we wanted to take on fuel which usually is a quick process. Not this time . thanks to a big power boat taking on about 885 gallons it took forever especially when his credit card company wouldn't authorize the transaction of about $2,800. Gads! After about an hour hovering around the fuel dock we finally got our turn.

Once that chore was done we were eagerly looking forward to a good sail and short day. So we got one out of two - the short day. But not all was lost, we saw flying manta rays and whales. Our destination was Bahia Los Frailes, a bay well protected from the north winds and it borders Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. It was at the beginning of this year, as one of our tourist activities, we snorkeled in the park with sea lions, manta rays and the coral reef fish. It was fun to come back on our own boat.

Cabo Los Frailles 23 22.720N 109 25.475W

December 14, 2010: It's time for our first beach landing with the dinghy contending with the surf. The hardest part, even with wheels on, was pulling the dinghy up the beach. So far so good, no disasters or swamped boat.

We strolled along the beach with Mike & Nita from Odessa and pondered all the sights. One direction you find run down fishing shacks used by the locals, another view gives you the "all American" motor homes plus toys then finally you see the mega homes scattered along the beach. We witnessed about 23 ft power boat being loaded onto a trailer then hauled thru the surf and sand by a tractor. The tractor had a cable on the front of it that ran up to "anchor" located back from the beach. It gave the tractor some pulling power thru the sinking sand. It worked!

Nita suffered a take down in the surf while rescuing her sandal. By the time I helped her up, she was soaked from head to toe. I not sure she believed I was laughing with her not at her. Our time was coming!

Pelicans were hanging around one boat cleaning a dorado looking for hand outs. They were so interested in food it didn't bother them how close we walked. Watching them devour parts of the fish was fascinating especially with their long beaks.

It was back to dinghys to explore around the shoreline and check out the sea lions. We helped Mike and Nita shove off thru the surf but not without a soaking; then it was our turn. We got the boat down the shore and the bow pointed out ready to catch the right wave. Well that "right" wave soaked me as I got into my seat. In the meantime, Bob started sinking into the sand losing his balance and footing, then sunk to his armpits. I had to pull him into the dinghy since now we were in deep water and Bob couldn't touch bottom. There was nothing we could now but laugh; we were drowned rats. Good thing the water temp is 75 degrees and air was around 80. Dinner is on Odessa since they were given some freshly caught tuna. It's another good day in the neighborhood.

December 15, 2010: The anchorage emptied early this morning with most of the boats travelling north to Ensenada de Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead). Odessa & Ponderosa were also part of the caravan. Already we have formed friendships with these cruisers as we have been crossing each other's paths along the way down from San Diego.

Sunrise and sunsets to me are the prettiest part of the day here in Mexico. The air is cooler and refreshing, the skies are full of color and the purple colored mountains rise sharply against the skyline. Meteor showers have been occurring nightly but none us can stay up that late to watch.

Once at our destination, most of the cruisers gathered at the El Cardon Tequila Bar & Grill for refreshments, food and conversation. Bruno & Yvonne on "MoMo" remembered seeing Ponderosa somewhere before and it turns out they were in Alaska in 2008 and around Vancouver Island in 2009, the same time we cruised the area.

The dock system and steps to the restaurant pathway are definitely not ADA approved. I am sure one of these days I will fall into the water while negotiating my way across docks to our dinghy. Cruiser's midnight (9 pm) came even earlier tonight after a hot day in the sun, a glass of wine, two margaritas and a belly full of food.

Ensenada de Los Muertos 23 59.313N 109 49.645W

December 16, 2010: Life was rather slow today, in fact, none of us moved off the boats until 6:30 pm when we headed to shore to listen to live jazz. What an incredible venue to enjoy music of George Benson, Santana, etc. The band was really good and the El Cardon filled up with a bunch of gingos.

Three out of the four sailboats needed to get an early start in the morning so we were back and in bed by about 9:30 pm. The winds were picking up by now, in fact, the most wind we have seen in days. When Bob gets up in the middle of the night for a restroom visit he always checks around outside to make sure we are safe. All of a sudden I hear him calling me to get up . there was a power boat that hit Odessa and it was moving our way, his anchor had broken loose!

Mike had been out on the cabin top tying down their main sail tighter and he watched this 61 foot power boat bear down on them. He blew his air horn until it was empty and it was only when the boats hit that woke up the crew on the power boat. The owner and his brother scrambled topside, started their boat and tried to get clear of Odessa but by then the anchors were tangled. We are now dealing with 25 knot winds and 2-3 ft waves and the power boat is behind Odessa dragging them along towards Ponderosa. Bob is on the bow blowing our air horn to alert the power boat how close they were coming towards us. Then we hear on the radio, the port engine on the power boat quit and the owner was concerned the anchor rode was tangled in his prop. Fortunately it was not and he got the port engine started and they moved away from us. Bob was ready to tie on a buoy to our anchor chain and cut ourselves free since our engine was running and every outside light was on so we could be seen.

In the meantime, I was monitoring the radio conversation between Odessa and the powerboat. Mike was now on his bow assessing the moves each boat had to make to free each other. Odessa's crew used their headphones to talk to each other . then Nita would transmit instructions to the power boat. The power boat needed to round Odessa on the starboard side and then position his boat so they were nose to nose with Odessa. In the meantime, Mike was pulling his anchor up trying release the other anchor. No such luck, now both boats were floating loose but at least away from the other 3 anchored boats.

Mike needed a third hand, so Bob jumped in the dinghy with lifejacket, radio, headlamp and boat hook. He would work from the dinghy to reach the two tangled anchors while Mike raised and lowered his anchor accordingly. The power boat shined a bright light which helped out substantially. Finally the boats were free of each other. Odessa came back and reanchored. The power boat in the meantime had all their anchor rode deployed. And its anchor sunk once free and reset itself so they just stayed put.

Of course, all of this is happening between midnight and 2:30 am and the winds are still humming from 20-25 knots. Bob stayed in the dinghy while Odessa had gotten anchored for a second time. He toured around the outside of the boat to assess any damage that made need immediate attention while Mike checked the inside. Thankfully, no problems were noted. It was very hard to get back to sleep. Mike and Nita stayed up on anchor watch.

December 17, 2010: First order of business for Odessa was getting contact information from the power boat owner who suffered quite a bit of damage on their bow roller and fiberglass. The chain had jumped out of the track and they couldn't pull anchor except by running it over the fiberglass. This guy had a 121 lb Rokna and when they got it up, the shaft was bent about 25-30 degrees from center. We all speculated this damage occurred when it got set the second time on something besides the bottom.

Mike & Bob went snorkeling to check out the bottom for damage since the power boat's chain scrapped across Odessa's keel. There were nicks in the fiberglass and missing bottom paint but for the most part very minimal damage. The boys felt we could move onto our next anchorage and then to La Paz for further assessment in the boat yard.

We managed to make it to Playa de Bonanza just before dark. Both boats had dead tired crew and bedtime came very early. Ponderosa felt very at home anchored in the Bonanza Bay!

Playa de Bonanza 24 26.978N 110 18.482W

December 18, 2010: Good thing we had a short trip to La Paz since all of us were still wound up about the anchor dragging incident. There were a lot of lessons learned from that night. This was the second time we experienced coromuel winds. These winds begin in the evening and blow throughout the night. They are created by the cool air from the Pacific Ocean flowing across the low land of the Baja peninsula towards the warmer waters of the Sea of Cortez.

First of all, radios are left on all night as a safety feature. We always set our anchor well and we have been letting out much more chain then we normally needed in the PNW. (5 to 1 ratio) Our dinghy was deployed ... but what would we have done if it was still on the bow? And to get the motor mounted on it with the high winds and rough seas? Not sure we have an answer on this one. The headsets worked great to communicate between partners. It was hard to place blame with the power boat owner since he had an oversized anchor, claims he had a good set, set an anchor alarm and stood watch for a couple of hours before going to bed. It could have been one of our boats slipping anchor. And when life was getting critical he remained calm and very much in control of his boat. We just don't know how much anchor rode he had deployed.

On our way into La Paz we were greeted by a boat labeled "marina" with 5 guys and one automatic weapon. We were promptly boarded to allow our guest to fill out his paperwork about our boat. He reviewed our boat documentation, inquired about life vests, fire extinguishers and our engine, our last port and our current destination. Meanwhile, one guy drove the panga, one guy fended off their boat from ours, one guy took a picture of our boat and the 5th guy sat on his duff holding onto his automatic weapon. Sitting in the middle of their boat was 30 gallon container of gasoline that feeds their outboard motor by a hose with gas splashing everywhere. And here they were questioning us about our fire extinguishers ... go figure that one. We found out that we were really boarded by the Mexican Navy. All went well and they were very courteous and respectful. Once they departed our boat we warned Odessa what to expect and not be alarmed.

After setting anchor, the crew of Odessa came over for several glasses of wine to debrief about the events of the past 36 hours. And you thought we were having a boring trip!

La Paz 24 09.578N 110 18.482W