Category: 2020-05 (May)

We woke up about 7:45, got up and listened to the Amigo net, for a change they moved to the alternate channel 4146 kHz. Today, after breakfast and devotions, we will kayak over to the beach and take a walk that we have done before. From the net this morning, no updates (or change in status) on the Covid-19 virus.

After breakfast, we kayaked over to the boat we had been to before. The solo sailor is Lauren (Sp?) from France, he left there in 2011, had some crew to help get across the Atlantic, 26 or 29 days, and has been in the Sea of Cortez since January. We then went to the beach where Christine and Michele were clamming, and we learned how to get clams as well. Lauren had by this time finished his breakfast and came ashore to join us on the hike. It was a fairly quiet hike and when got back we kayaked back to our respective boats. The plan for the rest of the day is open.

Three of the boats that were here yesterday have left, we believe two headed to Refugio then Puerto Peñasco, the other is headed to Guaymas. We will go to the town here for internet tomorrow, and then figure out what is next.

We spent the afternoon, melting. It is rather hot, and we had a pretty good hike. We read our books, played games and chatted with Melanie. After much back and forth, it appears the decision is to have a video call on Sunday at 11 am PST. This means we will stay here tomorrow, and go out and run the water maker on Saturday, then go to town on Sunday, do the video chat and do our shopping then come back to Puerto Don Juan in the afternoon. After discussing this with Renee’, we may go to town on Friday, deal with a bunch of WiFi stuff, and verify the restaurant is open on Sunday morning, then out on Saturday for water, and then Sunday for the video chat. A very busy week for us.

We have not yet decided where we will head next. At this point, we are thinking back to Puerto Refugio, then up to Punta Willard (near Bahia Gonzaga, then to Puertocito, then to San Felipe where we plan to anchor out in the harbor, while we wait for permission to get hauled out in Puerto Peñasco. Each of those stops are less than 45 miles from the last one, except the trip to Puerto Peñasco, which is about 75 miles. At the rate we move, that means that most days that we move, we will be underway about 8 hours, and closer to 12 on the last day.

We started the generator about 6:30 pm tonight, this is to finish charging the battery, and heat the water for showers and dishes. As long as the generator is running, I turned on the A/C (of course!).

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

We woke up about 6:30 or so. Very calm, 6 sailboats and one panga here in the harbor. Got our coffee, and started organizing our day. We checked into the Amigo Net, and then had breakfast.

While we were working on breakfast, Larry from S/V Milieu (WIfe is Nichole, daughter Ellie age 11) came by and chatted for a bit, before he left, Derek and Barb from S/V Stray Cat came by and we chatted some more. Eventually that ended, and we came back below and finished our breakfast, and did our devotions.

BTW, last night was supposed to be game night, but I was just too tired. So, I took a nap to get ready to go to sleep. I did sleep well last night, this harbor is very protected and since I had no worries about moving around, I slept very well.

Renee’ is working on making bread, and later we will do some kayaking. Tomorrow is the day we will go into town for internet. In the meantime today is the big day for communications, we have had a text exchange with Jeff (one of the boat kids), emails from a variety of people some dealing with moving the boat here in the Sea of Cortez and some from friends and relatives in a variety of places, and of course the people who came by first thing this morning. This is more social interaction than we have had since we left Santa Rosalia.

We spent the day, doing a lot of nothing. Late in the day, we took a kayak ride over to a few of our neighbors. We checked in on Michele and Christine on S/V Inia and then across to Derick and Barb on S/V Stray Cat 2, then Nichole, Larry and daughter Ellie on S/V Milou. Stray Cat 2 and Milou are heading to Puerto Peñasco tomorrow. Then back to our boat, dinner and a movie followed by bed. This anchorage is quiet and calm, sort of like anchoring on a lake where you stay where you drop your anchor.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

 

We woke up about 7 am, got our breakfast and listened to the net on the SSB Amigo Net 4149 Khz Upper Side Band, or 4146 frequency, at 1400 Zulu time.

We got underway about 9 am, Renee’ started fishing right away, and had a yellow fin tuna on the line by 9:15 and filleted and in the fridge/freezer, boat cleaned and doing the dishes by 10:15. A great start to a very slow long day. We motored all day, very little wind, and dropped anchor about 6:30 pm. We ran the water maker for about 7 hours today, only at 15 gallons per hour, so we are ahead about 105 gallons. We use about 20 gallons per day, so that should be good for 5 days. We last made water 7 days ago, so while the gauge shows 90% in the tank, (260 gallons when full), I believe it is closer to 80%. Anyway, we are ok for awhile. Current plan is to go to town day after tomorrow, and we won’t take the time to run the water maker that day. We will probably go out Saturday and run the water maker to fill the tank.

We spoke to one boat on the way south, a Maple Leaf 54 S/V Secret Water. A good looking boat, they said they had 5 people plus a dog on board, and they had left PDJ and were headed to PR. They called us by name from about 6 miles away, so our AIS must have shown up for them. Later we saw on of the 5 boats in PDJ on the AIS, that makes the first two boats I have seen on it in about a month.

Dinner tonight is fish burritos, with fresh yellow fin! We are in Puerto Don Juan, which means a very quiet anchorage, even though there are 5 other boats, there is enough room for dozens (at least a whole bunch of boats), it is very protected, which means no swells, and little wind. So, I will sleep well tonight, unlike many of the nights at anchor, where I wake up often to check how “things” are doing. We have not had any issues, and the anchor is big, and the chain is heavy, and all of that allows Renee’ to sleep with no issues. But I worry, so I sleep badly.

I have written the blog posts every day when we are moving, and tonight I organized the pictures for all the posts. Renee’ is making bread, and we have had showers. When she gets done, I will do the dishes, and then it is a game night, and then bed.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

 

We got up around 6:30 or so (maybe, still not sure of the local time). I connected with the Amigo Net, and checked in and decided that it is too hard to get the weather this way, and difficult to figure out where the people are, on the other hand we found a new place to go at the other end of the big island that we are next to (Isla Angel de La Guarda).

After the net we had breakfast and did devotions. We noted that Dale was back from his hike (he told us last night that he was going ashore about 5:30 or so and was hiking to the top of a local peak). Then we settled into our stressful, busy life, me by reading a book, and Renee’ by doing some embroidery. We decided after lunch we would do some kayaking and see if we can get the wind socks set up to direct some wind into the boat to help cool it down.

At this point after some disappointing news from Salvador (more of the “I don’t know when we can get you in” variety) we are thinking about going to Puerto Don Juan (PDJ) and leaving tomorrow morning. We will empty the holding tank, and run the water maker. We are thinking about making PDJ a “home port” to hang out for a couple of weeks. With occasional trips to Bahia Los Angeles (B.L.A.) to get internet access for a bit. With a goal of getting to P.P. by about June 1. We will see what happens as we get closer.

After lunch, it was too windy for either kayaking or the wind socks, so we read our books and Renee’ watched a movie on her iPad. Later I put together some files for weather for Dale so that he would have an idea what to expect t for the next couple of days.

When Renee’ was getting dinner ready she figured out that she had run another tank out of propane. The one we have left I used to BBQ last night, so it is pretty full. We have talked about getting a third tank and having a mount on the rail for it. In Mexico, propane seems to be fairly easy to get, but we are not so sure south of here and through the Panama Canal. Obviously once we get back to the states, to do the great loop this won’t be an issue, so we will have a need for it for a couple of years and then probably not again. That is something we will have to think about.

Dale came over, we had Pain Killers, and ice cream, shared the weather and chatted for a bit. Then he went back to his boat, and we put our kayak back on deck, started the generator and got started with our evening routines. Charge the battery, charge the computer and iPads and phones, turn on the anchor alarm (on my iPhone) heat the water and wash dishes and take showers then bed.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again

 

We got up around 7 or 7:30, had breakfast, since this is Sunday we normally would have had oatmeal, but we were both having a bit of trouble figuring out what day of the week it is, so we had eggs and sausage instead. Oh well, Renee’ says we will have the oatmeal tomorrow.

We had a quiet day on the boat, Janice and Colin from S/V Kaya came by and gave us back the thumb drive with the weather that they got off the sail mail system. It appears to be just one of the four predictions we get from Predict Wind (GFS) which might be the most conservative (highest wind speed) of the bunch. We chatted for an hour or so, and then about 1130 they headed back to their boat and they headed north to Puerto Peñasco. They have a trimaran, and to get hauled out they need a very high tide. The window of opportunity is about May 22. They don’t have a reservation and may or may not have to wait until the next high tide (could be as much as a month). They also have a leaky shaft seal, and an engine that is not secure in its mount, so that they are limited to about 1500 RPM, which means that they sail or motor at about 4 or 4.5 knots. They also gave us the information to get to the Amigo Net on the SSB. This is a net of other cruisers that may be close or far away, but can connect on the SSB to exchange weather and local conditions.

When Colin and Janice left, we finished watching/listening to the sermon from North Coast. It turned out that about 15 minutes in, the video froze, but the audio continued. I checked 3 other videos that I downloaded using the 4k downloader, and they all had a similar issue. Nothing I can do about it until we have a better internet connection.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to doing nothing. We read our books, and Renee’ had her bait in the water, but she did not catch anything. A nice relaxing afternoon.

About 5 pm, Dale from S/V Oly Girl, came by for dinner. I BBQ’d chicken and sausages, and “Rib Eye” which apparently in Mexico is a cut of pork not steak. I worked on transferring files for OpenCPN over to a memory card for Dale and we chatted for awhile.

We got an email response from Salvador in Puerto Peñasco, and it basically says, find someplace to hang out for a couple of weeks. So, we are reevaluating where to go and what to do next. Around 8:30 or so, Dale went back to his boat and we started the generator and when the water was hot did our dishes and got showers, then bed.

We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.

If you want to know where we are, click this link:

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again