Make Me Laugh Again

March 3, Tuesday, Bahia el Burro

We got up around 7 am, had breakfast, checked the weather and did our devotions. It was a bit warmer and calmer this morning than it has been. We saw two kayakers come by and they told us there was a dead whale out in the bay, and they were hoping it would not beach itself on this beach.

We got the dinghy down and went ashore, we talked to a few locals who told us that the nearest petroglyphs were about 10 kilometers to the north, and that there is no trail here into the mountains. I don’t know maybe we are not communicating very well, or they don’t like having a trail in the mountains here, or what. We have a book that describe this specific beach and that the trail starts on the other side of the highway from the restaurant Bertha. “The Sea of Cortez a cruisers guide book”. It has a picture of a petroglyph found on this trail. Also, we can see the trail from the boat. I am pretty confused about this. Oh well.

We got back to our dinghy and headed out to the boat. In the intervening 2 or 3 hours since we left the boat, we have walked about 2 miles, along highway 1, found a tienda (small market) a few restaurants, (mostly closed at this time of day or on Tuesdays), and watched the wind come back up.

We also got one of the wheels for the dinghy stuck in the down position. These wheels make it easier to pull the dinghy up on the beach, they also protect the lower end of the outboard. Unfortunately, we have managed to bend one of the bars associated with the wheel, and what should be an easy process to pull the wheel down and out to remove it from the dinghy required a hammer to convince it to move. So, I got it out and will try mounting it the other way the next time, so that instead of bending it further in that direction it will bend it the other way.

It was clearer and calmer this morning, now it is overcast, cool and windy. Not horrible. It is just that in the dinghy going 2 or 3 miles to the other side of the cove to go to the restaurant that has live music at 4 pm tonight would be a wet prospect and that means cold. Perhaps we will move the boat over there and the dinghy ride will only be a quarter of a mile instead of 2 or 3 miles.

Ok, we moved to Santispac, closer to 5 miles than 2, we saw gusts to 32 knots on the way over and small waves with white caps. When we got anchored in about 25 feet of water, with wind down to about 10 knots (thanks for the mountains around here!). When we pulled in, Renee’ spotted S/V Karma not far away, and she called them on the radio and we spoke a bit. All in all this appears to have been a good move. It is now about 1:30, and happy hour is supposed to be at 4 pm, complete with live music (maybe?).

So, the happy hour was a bunch of cruisers hanging out at the bar, no WiFi, and cheap beer. 25 pesos for two beers. (About $1.25 US). We spent the hour or so hanging out with the crew of Karma, Reina and Clint. Then back to the boat, put the dinghy away and prepped for getting underway first thing in the morning. Clint and Reina Brought by some of her sourdough starter (40 years old, been in the family for ever).

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

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking

March 2, Monday, Bahia el Burro

We woke up at 7am, so much for sleeping in. Actually Renee’ got up and I slept in until about 7:30. It was pretty calm most of the night, and Renee’ said it was a fantastic sunrise, lot’s of red in it. (Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning). In any case we had breakfast in stages, we had oatmeal, did our devotions, and then a half hour or so later the fresh banana bread.

We planned to go ashore and take a hike, we are planning to be here three days so, we will have to do something. The next thing we had to think about was how to get ashore to do the hike. First thought was the kayak, it is a beach landing and the kayak is easier ashore. BUT, we get wet in the kayak and this morning is cold, probably 65 or so. It is overcast and there is no wind. So, we decided that we would take the dinghy, that sounded good until we were actually in the process of getting the dinghy down and decided it was too cold for that as well, (when we get ashore with the dinghy, we have to get out in the water) so, we decided that today would be a stay on the boat sort of day. Reading and relaxing, some days are like that.

Renee’ talked to her mother for a bit on the satellite phone, and we are reading and lazing about.

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

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking

March 1, Sunday traveling from San Juanico to Bahia Concepcion

We got up at about 6:45, and underway by 7:30. Breakfast and devotions underway. We had about 20 knots of wind from the east as we were headed north, so great sailing weather! We got as high as 7.5 knots boat speed! It helps that we just had the bottom cleaned. We sailed for about 5 hours most of the time above 6 knots. Finally the wind was coming from the wrong direction and then it went away, so we motored for a quite a bit. Total travel distance today about 65 miles. This makes for a very long day. We anchored in Bahia el Burro in Bahia Concepcion. This is the furthest north we have anchored in the Sea of Cortez.

Along the way, we saw a bunch of birds, and a whale or two not too far off. We also found out that this part of the Sea has been called the Vermillion Sea, this is due to the reddish slick on the water from the stuff growing. One book “ Charlies Charts” referred to as an “burst of life of millions of tiny sea organisms which seem to tint the water during certain periods”.

When we finally arrive at this anchorage, at about 6 pm, we managed to find the end of the 20 foot depth, it went from 60 to 30 like normal (gradually getting shallower) then from 30 to 20 was about the same, and from 20 it went to 5 feet. We stopped at 4.4 feet. The problem with that, is that we draft 5 feet. So, I put the engine in reverse and put the rudder in the middle and locked it, then brought the engine RPM to 2500 and left it there. I used the bow thruster to move the boat to the left (it seemed like the right direction to go) and we sat there for a minute or two, eventually we backed out into deeper water. When we got to about 25 feet we stopped the boat and dropped our anchor. We know have a “First” that is the first time we have run ”this boat” aground. Thankfully it was soft mud, and not too sticky. We did not even feel it, but we definitely were aground. We were moving from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm. That makes 11 hours to cover about 65 miles, average speed about 6 knots! Like I said a great day!

We had dinner, took showers and then went to bed. It was a long day.

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

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking

Sunrise, looking at another Island Packet

This is the red stuff that causes the sea to be named “Vermillion”

Feb. 29, Saturday, San Juanico

We got up at 6 am, saw a beautiful sunrise, had breakfast, did our devotions, and then got to work. We put the dinghy away, had to clean up some bird dropping on the deck (huge!), and got underway at 8 am. We had almost no wind the whole way, and motored and ran the water make for about 5 hours. We had decided that since we lost a day screwing around with the oil change to bypass Balandra (on Isla Carmen) and go on to San Juanico, which is about halfway between Puerto Escondido and Mulegé. A pretty uneventful trip, Renee’ fished (did not catch anything) and I watched the way we were going. We anchored about 2:30, in 12 – 15 feet of water. I took a nap and Renee’ read for awhile. We plan to get an early start in the morning to get up to Mulegé and Bahia Concepion. We plan a day or two there and then onto Santa Rosalia , and there we will stay a day to rest up and then go across to Guaymas on the mainland.

Tonight we opened a jar of jalapeño’s that were canned by Warren & Katrina Hay. If you are reading this Thank you very much! Very tasty! Renee’ made homemade refried beans and burritos.

We have no cell service here, it was spotty in the marina for the last week, so basically no internet stuff unless we were ashore at the Captain’s lounge and on the way up here it was also in and mostly out. But with the Iridium GO!, (satellite communicator) we can send and receive texts and email, with limits, like virtually no pictures (file size is limited to 5k for the file with the picture and text). It takes about 5 minutes to download the low res weather files. In any case, I sent Warren a text thanking him for the peppers.

This anchorage is one of the best we have been in for being calm, at least tonight. We will see how it is by morning.

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

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking

If you look close, there is a boat at anchor in the lower right portion of the picture

Feb 28, Friday. Oil change

We got up about 7, had breakfast did our devotions, listened to the net, and then I started to do an oil change. Our plan was to get the bottom cleaned, do an oil change and be out of the marina by noon or thereabouts, with a short 10 mile jaunt to Balandra (on Isla Carmen). The bottom cleaner was supposed to be at the boat by 9 am. At 10 I called and was told he would be there in 10 or 15 minutes. He showed up and went right to work. It is kind of expensive here. $1.50 per foot, compared to $1 a foot in La Paz or other places I have seen. Almost as much as San Diego. This is not too surprising, I don’t believe that any locals actually use this marina. Everyone we saw that did not work there was a gringo. The price to use a mooring ball was $1/foot per day or $2.50 per foot per week. Oh and while you could anchor here, it was really frowned on.

In any case I started into the oil change. I have (had now) an electric pump and collection tank for doing the oil change. Unlike a car, you don’t drain the oil, you suck it out via the tube for the dip stick. So, I started. It seemed to work and after about a half hour (it takes a while to pull 6.5 quarts of oil out through a straw) figured it was done and pulled the oil filter off. Promptly getting an oily mess to flow down the side of the engine and engine room. I tried to suck up as much oil as I could out of the filter hole and then the bilge of the engine room. Eventually giving up and wiping the oil up. In the mean time, I poured a gallon of fresh oil into the engine. I cleaned up the mess then checked the oil level. Way too high, and dirty. OOPS, I finally figured out that while the pump motor worked the pump did not, and I had not managed to remove very much of the old oil before I added the oil to the engine.

At this point, I needed to leave and come back and start over. I also needed to pay for the bottom cleaning at the shop. So, I ran into the marina and paid for the bottom cleaning, found out where to get rid of the oil and went to the market to check on oil as I did not have enough to do another oil change. They did not have the oil I wanted (15W40), but said they would have it at closing time (7 pm) so I had to come back.

I went back to the boat, and we had lunch, followed by my taking the oil out of the engine again.

I used the manual vacuum pump and pulled about 8 quarts of oil out of the engine. We poured that into the electric vacuum pump tank and closed all the vents on it. I poured the 5 quarts of oil that I had left into the engine and checked the level, and it looked about right. By this time it was about 4 pm.

We took the old oil and stuff to the fuel dock and got rid of everything. Actually the cost was reasonable (5 pesos per liter). Then we took the dinghy over to the main part of the marina and got a couple of beers at the market and went up to the captains lounge to do some internet stuff for an hour or so, then headed out to the Tripui hotel and restaurant for dinner.

We had fajitas, Renee’ had chicken and I had beef. The price was a little on the high side, but there really were only three options for restaurants here, the market (kind of like a 7-11 only higher priced, and nice sit down restaurant at the marina (we had diner here the other night, and it was pretty pricy) and the Tripui hotel. So, we had our fajitas. The food was pretty good, (not great) the atmosphere was excellent, and the service pretty good as well. Finally at about 6:30 we headed back to the market, and had to wait until almost 7:30 to get the oil. We then went back to the boat and decided to take showers and go to bed.

Not exactly what we had planned.

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

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking