Crossing time. Oddly the wind was calm from 11:00pm until about 6:00am, we would get some gusts but nothing sustained. The plan was to depart at 8:00am after a big breakfast and that is exactly what we did. Getting out of the protection of the anchorage we were greeted with some 4-6 foot white capped waves just forward of our beam. It was a bit uncomfortable but manageable. We had a 20 mile run to get around Isla Cerralvo before our turn southeast. There were a couple large waves that smashed against the hull sending spray into the cockpit so we put in the helm window and covered the instruments. Thankfully it was just a few rogue waves over the three hours and other than some changes to the wave pattern as we reached the shallower waters near the north side of the island, it was what it was.
Making the turn helped a lot and we unfurled the jib. We were making great time and with the better angle to the waves our comfort level improved. Soon we brought out the screecher to pick up even more speed seeing a peak of 8.4 knots. Over the next twelve hours we cycled from nice surfing down waves to some jerky motion but all in all it was good. Heck we even got a school of ten dolphins to say hi and make some synchronized jumps out of the water in front of us. Not a bad first day of the passage.
As night came, on came the lights, in came the screecher (out came the jib), and following dinner Jean and Vicki retreated until their shifts. Once during Jean’s shift and again during Vicki’s we pulled the power back to 2,200 rpm to slow us down which took away a jerky, sleep evading motion. Jean had the sunrise shift and we worked into our second day with a great 162nm in the first 24 hours.
Where did day two go? It was a mellow downhill run with a gentle surge every ten seconds as Strikhedonia sped up on the face of a wave. Perfect conditions made for an uneventful experience. Oh, oops! I nearly forgot that we drug two lines behind the boat and in the early afternoon hooked a sailfish. I was quite concerned once I saw what was on our line as I’ve read they will exhaust themselves fighting the tackle to the point where they need 60-90 minutes of help to recover. It as a quick battle and I was able to remove the hook and let this little guy go (20-25 pounds). Upon release he took a moment before steadying himself and slipping down beneath the surface. Exciting catch and happy release!
A calm second night passed quickly with the only real excitement coming from a Norwegian cruise ship on a collision course with us, forcing us to deviate 30 degrees. Oh the humanity. Come 7:00am we rounded the south side of Isla Isabel only to find a boat in the south anchorage. Blerg, well on to the east anchorage where there were only two boats anchored. We motored around found a patch of sand and dropped the hook. It slid across rocks before stopping the boat and I donned snorkel gear to check on the seafloor. No bueno, so I stayed in the water to guide Jean and Vicki to the best location. A couple more attempts with only one rock wrapped before I called it and went back to the south anchorage. Once there we found we could sneak in tighter than the other sailboat I jumped in the water and we found a good spot for the night. Whew!
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