Feb 1, Saturday, El Cardonal

We woke up about 7:30, had breakfast and did our devotions and complained to each other about the wind. The wind finally calmed down around noon, but the sky remained overcast and cool. We stayed inside and read our books about noon, we heard a call on the radio for anyone who had the weather. No body answered, and our weather report was from Wednesday, so rather old. We did not respond. The same boat S/V PROLE called again and I answered that we had weather but it was 3 days old. We chatted a bit and he invited us over for coffee at 3 pm.  We organized what we would take over, Renee’ had made lemon bars the other day, and we had a couple of movies that we had watched and did not plan on watching again, and I stuck a boat card in with the movies.

We got the dinghy down and ready to go, and were still at least a half hour early, so we ran around the cove and looked at how shallow it was. We saw some interesting man made structures in the water (see the pictures) and a few fast moving things underwater. Usually I would say fish, but these were more shaped like turtles and not very close to us, so hard to say what they were.

Eventually, we got over to the S/V Prole and met Mark Richardson. He built the boat, he started when he was 24, and this has been his boat ever since. He said he had just turned 70, and he has had the luxury of being down here for 12 years. Four months at a time.  He had made a Cherry tart and fresh ground coffee. We chatted for about an hour and then headed back to our boat. I ran a book back to him as well (History of Submarines, political as well as just the history). Then we put the dinghy away and cleaned up on deck and started the generator and Renee’ started dinner.

OOPS! She poured the milk in with out checking first, it was bad! There goes the fantastic dinner she was making, Crab Fettuccine. Oh well, it was after she already had the crab in and everything. So that got thrown away. Bummer!

The wind has died down and our weather report (the old one) says that it is supposed to be very calm for the next 24 hours or so. We are planning to get underway tomorrow by about 8 or 8:30, motor out and make water for a few hours, then dump the holding tank again and then back into La Paz in the early afternoon. We have to do the final preparations for flying back on Monday. Laundry, packing, cleaning the inside of the boat, cleaning the outside of the boat and putting things that are easily taken off the boat away. This is not necessarily worried about theft, rather removing the temptation.

Good news! Renee’ had more crab and the rest of the ingredients to make the Crab Fettuccine again! We sure eat well in this cruising lifestyle!

Tonight was card night. We typically either watch a movie or play cards. Basically alternating nights. We plan to buy a few more movies when we are back in California next week. We may also look for a new two player game. Either cards or something else.

We have found a few places that need to be worked on, some of the port lights were dripping and the Dorade above my bed was raining all night long. (At least after 3 or so when it started raining).

No pictures today, sorry.

Jan 31, Friday, 3 months in Mexico

We got up as usual around 7:30, today the wind was from the north. It started sometime after midnight, we are not having much wind directly on us, as we are behind the island from the wind, mostly side effects, some waves that have been redirected around the points of the cove we are in so a little rolly but not as bad as the night before. We are planning to get underway at 10am, so no particular rush.

Today marks 3 complete months in Mexico. We left San Diego October 31. We have learned a lot about the boat, and the life of a cruising couple. We are enjoying our time together, and the closeness of living on a boat.

We got underway as planned and since we only planned to go about 6 miles, and it was all straight into the wind we did not put up any sails. The wind was significant, I am guessing as our wind instrument is broken. But I think it was around 30 knots. We had 6 to 8 foot swells in this bay. Anyway you cut it, not a bunch of fun.

As we got closer to our destination, we looked at three options, Calle Partida (this is the split between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo), El Cardoncito (a very small cove with room for only 1 boat) and El Cardonal. We had already been to Calle Partida and there was another boat in El Cardoncito so we pulled into El Cardonal. There were two other boats there with lots of room left over the wind was coming from the north, and this cove is protected from the north, so we figured this would be good. The good part was that when the wind shifted to coming from the East, there was not much FETCH for the waves to build up, so while we had quite a bit of wind, there were no waves to go with it. Still it made for an uncomfortable night.

I spent the rest of the day going through all the books and paperwork in the manuals locker and the nav station. Spent at least 3 hours and threw away a grocery bag (that was about half full) of paper. It did not seem like much, but it felt good to do it.

We watch Dial M for Murder an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Very well done. Then went to bed and tried to sleep.

in the bay and coming in
In the cove
Another sunset

Jan 30, Thursday, Ensenada la Gallina

Well it was a rather rough night, the wind came up late in the evening and then the waves. We had stayed up and watched a movie (rather old “Against all odds”), and the wind started before we had really gotten into bed. The wind was from the west and it is the one direction we were not really protected from in this anchorage. This late night wind from the west even has a name: Coromuel, usually starts afternoon/evening and goes most of the night. Oh well some good some bad. Biggest issue for me is that there was some pollen in the wind, and I woke up with a sinus headache to beat the band.

In any case, we got up around 7 am, read our books for a bit, enjoyed the view, had breakfast and did our devotions then I went back to bed and slept.

About noon, I woke up again, and felt a little better. We had lunch and went for a snorkel to shore. The fresh air, seawater and all helped with the sinus headache and I felt much better afterwards. Just before we took off to snorkel, Renee’ checked the battery charge and we were down to 62%. That was a cause for concern, as with the solar panels we should have started the day at about 70% (we did not check this morning) and been charging all morning. So, I looked at the solar charger (behind the settee port side behind some storage), and found the breaker for the solar tripped. The location of this particular breaker is not exactly optimal, as it is mounted with the test button pointed out (where things get stored) and it is pretty sensitive. I pushed the reset button and the solar immediately came back on charging at 25 amps. I showed Renee’ and she moved some of the stored stuff around to make it harder to bump the test button.

We got back from our snorkel trip around 2 or so, I started the generator and made sure we were charging the battery. The main reason for running the generator in the afternoon was to take hot showers after swimming. We got showers planned where to go tomorrow, and I got out the GO PRO.

We have had the GO PRO for a couple of years, Nate (our oldest son) found it and gave it to me. We have not used it very much but I have played with it a bit. When I first got it, it needed a battery charger, and a memory card and a case. So, I bought a battery charger that came with two batteries (we now have 3 batteries), a waterproof case and a set of attachments/accessories. I really only wanted the waterproof case and a float to be able to use in the water, and an adapter with a suction cup to use it in the truck, but those few adapters were going to be about $25. The entire case full of adapters , I am thinking there is something like 2 dozen (including the straps to mount the GO PRO on a dog), was only about $25. So, we played with it a bit this afternoon to make sure we use it in the future.

I have an adapter for the Mac Book Pro to connect a variety of things (HDMI, 3 USB, a network port, a USB C, and two card readers 1 SD and 1 Mini SD) I checked and I can access the Mini SD card from the GO PRO on my iPad Pro via this adapter.  This means that we might not need to take our phones ashore when we go for a hike, and when we go snorkeling in the future we can take pictures and video of the fish we see.
We saw quite a few pelicans today and a panga with some people fishing and two other sailboats, one appears to be anchored on the far side of this bay (about a mile or two away) and the other was sailing by the island. Very secluded and quiet. It actually makes the crappy weather last night almost worth putting up with.

Pelicans
Pork Chops, it is what’s for dinner!

Jan 29, Wednesday, Leaving La Paz

We got up early to give us time to get the addendum to the TIP for bringing the parts in to Mexico and check out by noon. It is a bit cool at 7 am.

We had breakfast and did our devotions. Then caught an Uber to the ferry terminal. Found the Banjercito (Not really sure what this translates to) incredibly helpful! We needed copies of our TIP, and Passport, and the guy we were talking to sent us to the middle house at the entrance to the packing lot, where there was a parking guard who had a copier. He charged us 6 pesos (19 pesos to the dollar) to make copies of the TIP, my passport and the letter that authorizes us to operate the boat (since it is in a LLC). We spent about 20 minutes to get all 4 of the forms filled out and there was no cost. We took an Uber back to the marina. The driver for this trip was Sergio who speaks English and will be the driver that takes us to the airport on Monday. We have his number and will be using him in the future.

We filled the holding tank with water, and disconnected shore power. I could not get the adapter unplugged and we called for help. They sent three guys, the took the meter out (which takes the power off everything) took the socket out of the box and eventually got it disconnected. Similar to what the guy had to do to get us hooked up two nights ago. Anyway, we left the marina at about 11:30, went out in the bay, sailed for a bit and then dumped the holding tank (got down to 0%) then motored up to Espiritu Santo and anchored in Ensenada la Gallina. There was a report on the NET the other day of turtles here. 

We will stay here at least two nights, unless we have issues with waves/wind. Currently, it is very calm, no waves, no wind. As Renee’ said on a couple of occasions today, “THIS IS WHY WE DO THIS!” There are no other boats around, just us and the pelicans, a gorgeous day, a great view and no cell service or internet.

The View we had got to see
Sunset on the boat

 

 

Jan 28, Tuesday, fixing the sink Palmira Marina

We got up as normal, listened to the NET, and had breakfast, did our devotions and planned the day.

Renee’ took the laundry up and started it. Cheaper than other places we have been, but the marina is more, so still not even.

When she got back, we dropped the box under the sink to access the suspected leak. Well, some bad news first, there is about a half inch of water under the engine. Not sure where it came from but, there is no leak visible under the sink. So, back to the top, closer inspection of the valve and …. take the top of the valve apart and there it is a loose nut that hold the valve together. I tighten that up and wipe the sink down and the leak is gone. We redid some of the insulation tape inside the engine room and at 2 pm today Michael N. will be by to help put it back up. Then I can look for the other leak on the engine. In the meantime, laundry is done and Renee’ took the shuttle into town.

At this point it is pretty clear that we will be leaving in the morning headed out to the islands again. We have reservations for our flight to Tijuana on Feb 3rd, and for a slip in this marina starting on Feb 2nd, so we will be back for that.

So here are some pictures of the day.

This is the box we had to drop to see that the leak was not there.
Bottom of the sink
The real leak
The box reinstalled
Renee’ taping the corners to make it look better