Taking the seanic route
Well, the intention was to stay here two nights, but it was very rolly. We had breakfast did our bible reading then got the kayak out and went to shore, Renee’ looked for her glasses (did not find them) and then we went to the side of the bay and tried out our new face masks. They worked sort of ok, but the water was really too murky here to really see much. So, back in the kayak and to the beach and we had a beer. Renee’ got a couple of souvenirs and then back to the boat.
We got up at almost 8 am, we plan to leave after the net this morning (9 am, channel 22). We will need to check out of the marina and get rid of our trash (the bins are all the way around on the far side of the marina from here). Then we will pull out and head up to Tenacatita (about 16 miles) or the “secret anchorage” Cuastecomate, about 6 miles. There is no rush to get to either location. If the weather is good, and not to big of waves, we will try for Cuastecomate, as there is very good snorkeling there. Two nights here would be the plan, and then two nights at Tenacatita, where we would pick up Elton Lee on Friday night, and then sail back Saturday morning to Barra de Navidad. We will see what we actually do.
We wound up talking to John Schulthess from S/V Baja Fog (a catamaran) for about an hour, then left and headed out to Cuastecomate. We sailed for a couple of hours and then took the sails down and motored in and dropped anchor (only about 6 miles). We had lunch and talked to a few people on the phone and then Renee’ went for a swim.
Good news the water was great! Bad news, she lost her hat and dove in to recover it. Good news, she got the hat, horrible news, she lost her sunglasses. These are not “just” sunglasses, they are tools that we need for daily operation on the ocean. It is important to protect your eyes when you are out in the sun all day every day, also we get reflected sunlight off the water again all day. So, these glasses are wrap around with wide temples to block the sun from the side, polarized, blue blocking anti glare and progressive lenses for distance at the top and reading at the bottom. In other words not cheap.
We called the place we got them and ordered another pair. Ouch!
We got up around 8 am, made coffee and called the French baker. This is an incredible service! Within about 10 minutes of us calling him we had a knock on the hull as he was there with a very good supply of fresh baked goods. Renee’ had a quiche and I had an apple tart, we also got a baguette. All for a very reasonable price (170 pesos, or about $8.50 USD). At 9 am, I listened to the net and Renee’ took the laundry in. Plans for today include going into town and getting a haircut.
We walked for awhile, checked the map, and walked for awhile, then checked the GPS, and then walked for awhile (sometimes in semi circles), then asked someone and continued to walk for awhile. Then asked someone else and then we saw a paper/office store, we have been looking for one so we could get a better envelope to hold the boat documents, so we got that taken care of and then walked for awhile. Renee’ checked the GPS, and I crossed the street and looked down where we were headed, and found it! The Port Captain’s office is in a residential district nowhere near the water. In any case we got checked in and the port captain checked us out leaving on Monday after Easter, so we don’t have to go back! Then it was look for a place to get a haircut for both of us.
Mr. Google likes to take us on weird routs, this was a zig zag through a residential district and eventually (at least we were walking towards the water taxi and downtown) we found the shop. They were closed, but the window was open and when Renee’ asked she opened the shop and did a very good job on our hair and my beard. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch then grabbed the water taxi back to the boat.
After Naps, and relaxing for a bit, we changed into swim suits and washed the boat, boy was it filthy! That took about an hour and half, when we got done, it was time for Renee’ to go get the laundry and me to run the water maker. The water pressure here is the highest I have found in Mexico, good for washing the boat, not so good for the water maker, I have to throttle the supply quite a bit to keep the supply pressure on scale, it is almost high enough to run through the membrane with out the high pressure pump.
We ran the water maker from about 4:30 to 8:30, at about 30 gallons per hour, 120 gallons of water for a week.
We had company after dinner, Elton Lee from the church we went to on Sunday came over after his swim in the bay. He might join us for the sail back from Tenacatita next Saturday.
We got up on time (7 am) and had coffee and breakfast then got it together and called the water taxi to take us into town and so we could get to church. While waiting for the water taxi we met the French baker, he delivers fresh backed pastries to your boat in the morning! Guess what we are having tomorrow?
Renee’ plugged the address of the church into her phone and we started walking as we were talking to one of the other cruisers who was headed off to something else. After a few minutes walk she figured out that the 10 minute estimate for arrival was if you were driving a car, but we were walking and it would take 54 minutes from where we were to get there, so we got a cab instead!
The church is called Coastalegrae community church. There was 40+ people in church today. They said the numbers are down as many of the Canadians have gone home. This is an interesting church, it is a multi-denominational church with many different backgrounds. It was interesting to be in a church with a liturgy for the first time in ages, the entire congregation is made of ex-pats. Many of these people have dual citizenship and own property here in Mexico. They might be Canadian or US ex-pats but they all meet together in this church. After church we went to lunch with about 7 other people from the church. When we got to the restaurant, they said they come here often, and the menu we got was for breakfast. The orders were being given and Renee’ asked for a lunch menu, so she and I had lunch, we had several comments from the others “How did you get lunch?” I am ordering lunch next time etc. It was fun!
After lunch we were given a ride back into town by the pastor and his wife and then we walked around town for a bit, and did some shopping and had ice cream, while at the ice cream shop we met a couple who were also enjoying their ice cream. As it turned out, they have moved from Hawaii to Mexico to enjoy a change of culture, they run a YouTube channel (I have not checked it out yet, so I am not listing it here yet) and we talked about blogging and video channels and the difficulty, and amount of time it takes. Then back to the boat, changed our clothes and headed back to the pool.
We woke up early, listened and then took our sweet time getting together. The night had not been as good as we hoped. Just as we were getting into bed the anchor alarm went off, and we checked, yes we were dragging our anchor. We were in about 7 feet (or less water) with our great anchor (Rocna) on the bottom, with about 50 feet of chain out, even counting the level from the surface of the water to the bow roller (5 feet) we should have had plenty of anchor chain out, as I usually count the length of chain at the end of the snubber to the anchor. So, we had to reset the anchor and put out more chain before going to bed. So, when we reset the anchor we put 75 feet of chain, Then went to bed. I stayed awake for about a half hour watching to see if we were dragging. In the morning it did not look like we had moved (MUCH!) so, we asked about it on the net in the morning, and after the net someone suggested more chain, as in 100 + feet. So, we put out almost 150 feet of chain, and watched for an hour or so, then went ashore, and played in the pool.
When we got back to the boat, we checked and decided, yes we had drug again. Okay so let’s talk about this, we are in very shallow water, with a mud bottom with clay under the mud, we have a great anchor that when it comes up is filled with mud. So, it is sort of like trying to stand on ice. While there was no wind blowing, there was a tidal current (not huge but still there) and I think that was what was moving us. After discussing this, we decided to suck it up and pay for a slip in the marina. As we pulled the anchor up, I used the wash down system to wash the mud off the chain and then the anchor. What a mess! We tied up and felt much better about the boat not moving! This is the first time/place our anchor has not held. We took a walk into town and finally calling it a day played a game and went to bed.
