To bring you up to date, we made our second maiden voyage at noon on Tuesday, motor sailing across the Sea of Cortez and arriving the next day at about noon at Isla Carmen (26.01.2N 111.09.8W) which is 10 miles East of Loreto. We were a bit nervous about picking the weather window as once pounded, makes for a bit of caution. But we had fixed the engine (again), found foam to stop the water ingress at the hatches, and we really wanted a break from Guaymas.
So off we went! Some of the highlights of the passage included star gazing, watching the moon set, waiting for the sunrise, and being escorted for a bit by a pod of dolphins visible through their bio-lumenesence. We could see the lights from several cities: Guaymas, LaPaz, and Obregon. Eventually we picked out lights from Loreto on the Baja side. Alan has been fishing; still hoping to do some catching. Doing an all night passage is tiring, even with three of us trading watches. So the first need was rest and we lazily napped all afternoon. Magic was tucked into a beautiful anchorage called Puerto Ballandra, along with three other cruising boats and a shack for fishermen, on the shore. We all slept well Wed. night and Thursday we launched the kayaks, explored the cove, then did a 5 mile hike across the island to see the abandoned salt ponds. In this very arid landscape, we were very surprised to discover many varieties of birds, none of which we recognized. Back home on Magic, we had a great meal and watched the movie "Date Night", which wasn't at all like the date nights we've had in Guaymas.
Today Alan asked for some local assistance on the cruisers net based in Puerto Escondido to help get email via winlink (for HAM operators) working. He had tried many times to send emails, but the response was always the same: no answer. A boat, Misty Blue, offered to help troubleshoot and sure enough after talking back and forth and trying various frequencies, the issue was figured out. He had been using a "duplex" and not a "simplex" frequency. Anyway, with that problem solved, we now have email through the radio!! This blog update is sent via winlink. A milestone.
We then pulled up the anchor and continued our journey south to LaPaz. There were fabulous winds most of the day -- we left about 11am and finally turned on the engine about 4pm when the wind died. We do not like going into anchorages in the dark and when our speed dropped -- the motor was back up. We actually flew our double headsail rig -- both of our new sails up on poles and running dead down wind. A great motion on a cat and we saw speeds up to 8.0 kts. That is flying for us; though we are a cat we are a bit heavy and feel no need to push the speed. Speed is more fun on someone else's boat as pushing the limit often means things break.
We had the anchor down here in Agua Verde about 6pm. There are a few other boats here, a small fish camp, and a tiny village. We will be here a day or so and then continue on. I am hoping to provision here, at least find some fresh tortillas and maybe a few vegetables.
The one thing that struck both of us these past few days, is that this boat is Really Ours! Having lived on her in the work yard and even the dock didn't drive home the amazing feelings just realized, that we truly are off on the adventure we've so longed for.
It is a Friday night so we had pizza for dinner. Very delicious way to end the day. All around -- a marvelous start to our cruising adventures.
Happy Birthday to Terri W!! Make it a great day.
Good Work you guys!!! Good to see you got 'net access. I was worried that since Texas is now the new Canada, that Mexico would be the new Wyoming... glad you got good weather.
ReplyDeleteThere are 5 Agua Verde's in Mexico (didja know that?)
Enjoy the pizza!