Upon arriving in Mazatlan the daily subject of concern was : when is the next weather window to cross the Sea? The winds are typically blowing northwest and everyone waits for a window when it doesn't blow northwest! At least three web sites were looked at and their information was compared and notes taken. Grib files were down loaded showing a forecast 5 days out. When to go West depended so much on inexact information, but after several days it was clear: Tuesday or Wednesday was the time to go. We were not alone in this quest. In our anchorage there were 7 other boats waiting and who knew how many in the marinas at the north end of town. But besides when to go, where to go was dictated by the weather too, for a southerly wind would make 3/4 of the anchorages on the Baja side untenable. We had three options : Los Frailes @ 162 miles (just N of Cabo San Lucas), Muertos @ 190 (40 m. N) and Playa la Bonanza @ 230 more northerly yet, on the East side of Isla Espirtu Santo, a bit NE of La Paz.
When dawn broke on Tuesday, the first thing I noticed outside was the empty space nearby where four boats had been. There were all single handers and had chosen to go early and take the shortest route to Frailes. The rest of us opted to wait for the following day, but when I got up Wednesday at 4AM I noticed a problem: FOG! Really thick, no visibility FOG. Even the sun had a problem getting up and it seemed like we were back in the S F Bay area! On the morning VHF net we learned the Port Captain had closed the harbors out of safety concerns. A short time later our friend Phil on "Manassea" (ok, I call it Lunasea sometimes) snuck out and got away with it. We had planned on leaving at 1000, as it was an expected 48 hour passage and wanted to arrive in daylight. At 0930 a tug sat in the channel, awaiting the morning truck ferry from La Paz. At 1000 a charter fishing boat floated by to wait for the moment he could leave. So we pulled the anchor up and idled around too. It took awhile to realize the two long horn blasts we were hearing every 2 minutes were from the ferry sitting outside waiting for the fog to lift. Then at about 200 feet away, we couldn't see the tug or the breakwater even closer! We moved back to where we'd been and put the hook back down, to sit it out. Finally at 1315 the ferry came in, a navy patrol boat came in (good thing we didn't try sneaking past them!) and we left.
I must say here we had an unusual plan: leave late, go slow when needed, taking our time, as we choose the longer route to Playa la Bonanza and the forecast predicted strong westerlies the morning we planned to arrive (Friday). Leaving late, it turned out we were at the back of the herd of some 25 boats all going West at 3,4,5,or 6 knots. So we had plenty of boats to give us info as what we'd find ahead, and with our speed it was not likely we'd be catching anybody--so fewer targets on the radar at night. The fog was still shrouding the mainland but luckily caused us no more problems.
You must understand that there are a lot of hours without much to do when traveling, especially when motor sailing. It can be hard to read books, there is no internet connection and doing projects on a moving boat is no fun. About the best option is to be outside and watch for wild life. On our second day, having very flat seas, we sat out on the forward trampolines and saw 100's of rays trying to get air born, dolphins playing on the bow wave, turtles floating by, a Tropic Bird sitting on the surface just 75' feet off, and so many pilot whales we couldn't keep count! We were sitting there in contentment when the anchor windlass turned itself on! What caused that? AT least the clutch was released so it didn't do any damage. Alan went into Handyman Alan mode but after testing switches couldn't figure it out. Oh My, what to do? It was getting dark when we decided we couldn't go anchor anywhere we planned on, as we could get the hook down easily but eventual retrieval was doubtful.
The New Plan became: speed up to make La Paz on Friday by midday; go into a marina and get an electrician. Doing those early hours of Friday we passed Manassea. Good luck was with us, as the notorious Cerralvo Channel was flat and we were motor sailing hitting 7 kts and averaging 6.6 for hours on end. At day break we turned left into the San Lorenzo Channel and found the previously predicted strong westerly and ugly steep oncoming waves that dropped our speed to 2 kts.! The fun was over, but at least it came near the end. Five hatches leaked water that washed over the decks. Eating was about out of the question. It took 7 hours to go about 20 miles but the flat calm water of Marina Palmira was a welcome relief.
Our favorite electrician Victor, could come in an hour! Alan had tried to contact Magic's previous owner for answers, but he was AWOL. Victor arrived and after looking things over asked just one question: "Where did you come from?" What does that have to do with the electrical problem at hand? "You have a pneumatic deck switch, when you traveled from the cool mainland across the hotter Sea, the air in the switch expanded and both turned on the windlass and wouldn't allow it to turn off." With that he showed the back of the switch, sucked some air out, and the repair was done!
Now what to do? The larder's full, the anchor's good to go, the marina doesn't know yet how long we'll stay, this isn't where we like to live... OK, let's stay a week, clean Magic at a slow pace, swim in the pool and have a vacation!
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