One last latte, the purchase of a 5-gallon jug of water (emergency supply), and the return of the marina key – and we were off! About 8:00am we untied the dock lines and made out way out past the huge Carnival cruise ship. Fairly quickly the clouds filled in, the winds were light so we motored around the south point of the bay and began our passage down the Mexican coast line. The seas were comfortable with a 4-6 foot swell from behind and we clicked off the miles. It was an uneventful day – always appreciated at the start of a long passage – and with no fish biting our lures it was Vicki who whipped up a tasty chicken, veggie stir-fry for our first dinner. Dishes done I headed to bed to rest before my first watch at midnight. A bit of sleep later I came up to a very foggy view. I am beyond thankful to Alison and Allan for upgrading the radar as it was the only thing keeping us from crashing into other boats or objects. It is a digital unit and it is amazing – we kept watch zoomed in tight to see anything with time to react. A number of ships pasted us in both directions with about a 50/50 split between having AIS (shows us course, speed, closest point of crossing) and just radar to avoid. The seas built overnight but nothing crazy.
The second day at sea was another easy one with a large swell behind us with some wind, we used the screecher and jib together with no main sail. The miles clicked by and soon it was time for me to cook dinner. A hearty thick pork chops, potatoes, and zucchini plus a salad filled our bellies. We switched engines at 6:30pm and with the wind only needed 1,600 rpm, there was a slight vibration but nothing to be concerned about…a precursor to later. Coming on shift at 9:00pm the wind had dropped so I increased the RPM a bit and by 9:50 we needed full power and to bring in the sails. Unfortunately, this resulted in a significant vibration. Huh, hoping it wasn’t anything seriously wrong with the saildrive we swapped engines for the night and continued on.
As soon as the sun came up Jack and I took a look and could see something hanging onto the port sail drive. We started the engine and used both engines to back up the boat. Waited a minute, back to forward and still a vibration on the port side. Fuck. Guess it was into the water for me. Suited up in a wetsuit for the 62 degree water, I dove in and sure enough in that ten minutes the propeller was cleared. I still gave the prop an inspection checking the rubber bushings, that the prop folded both ways smoothly and then cleared the sail drive leg raw water intake holes. The diver who cleaned our bottom in San Diego did a great job on the bottom but these needed a bit more attention. Both sides cleaned up I was out of the water and the port engine was back in operation!
Coming out of my hot shower to warm up, I noticed a lot of steam on the port engine exhaust. Here we go again… An hour later (running on the SB engine, giving time for the port side to cool) I tore into the raw water pump, again lucky it was just the impeller and I could get the broken vane out of the hose. But…during that I found engine oil around the sail drive (later talking to Allan I learned this has been an issue with synthetic oil and the oil he uses changed the formulation to semi-synthetic) and the five gallons of water in the compartment behind the engine. Thankfully it was fresh water, the swimstep shower had inadvertently been left barely on (it is a terrible valve design). All of those hurdles cleared, we continued on and a few hours later turned into Turtle Bay. Our anchor down at 10:30am and some basic straightening up complete it was off to bed. Jack and I took an hour nap to recharge after the stressful start to the day.
Nap time over, it was back to work. Transfering the jerry can fuel to the main tanks, cleaning the front of the boat from the salt water spray coming south, hanging the sunshades (thank you Allison and Allan!!!), and giving the inside of the boat a deep clean. Whew, it was a hard couple of hours. Finally, we could play. We headed into town and were bummed to see the two beach front restaurants are now homes but not deterred we walk around until we reached Restaurante Las Torres de Johana. Walking up a couple ladies were struggling with a propane tank, so Jack and I helped them get the empty tank removed and install the new full one. Task complete, it was time for a beer and some shrimp tacos! Okay, maybe to beers. It was a relaxing break from the boat and our limited Spanish was tested talking with Joana once the food came out. Bellies almost full, we walked the next block over to an ice cream shop. I’m not one for sweets, but today it sounded good.
Cones in hand we wandered around town some more, checking out the baseball stadium with kids practicing, the park where people were putting together their oferendas for Dia de los Muertos (tomorrow), and past the fisherman who were proud to show off a monster fish they had caught (I’m not sure the type). Finally we had our fill and headed back to Strikhedonia for the completion of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on the big screen. 8:30, my head hit the pillow and I was out!
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