SuperBowl Sunday!
thought of Lisa and Bently and the LEGENDARY party they host every year. Kinda bummed we missed it, so we went to Marina Paraiso and watched the second half on a small TV set propped up on the bar.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
We get off the boat early and head downtown for a breakfast at Cesar's "Elements of the Island" cafe. It's a Coffee shop / Apartments for rent / Yoga studio. What a great idea! and... it just happens to be for sale! Cesar is an incredible fellow who speaks 4 languages, runs the business, and also promoting recycling by manufacturing and selling goods (like shopping bags) made from throw away plastics, banners, bags, etc.
Tuesday, Feb 3rd
Wind still blowing out of the north at 20 kts. Clear sky, plenty of sunshine, but it's almost chilly in the shade.
Apparently a kick-ass high pressure ridge around Louisiana, and a low pressure around Honduras has got a good grip on the weather for the next few days. we both couldn't think of a better place to be stuck waiting.
Lee, E and I jumped on our bikes and pedaled around the Island till we ran into "Rico". This nutball carpenter dude built - not just his house, but, an entire "island" - complete with palm trees, beach, pool, etc. And... he built it all with junk. Plastic bottles provide the floatation. the main 'deck' is plywood. he plants mangroves on it - which root down into the plastic bottle bags and tie the whole thing into one unified houseboat/barge kinda thing. way cool.
Dinner aboard Jargo was "Fuego pollo" the hottest damn chicken breasts flavored with chipotle peppers! Slamin!
Lee wins the "sweating face" award for spicy food.
Wed, 4th
winds still 20kts. temp: below 70 - almost too cold to drink beer... almost. BarPrs : 1008 highest I've seen.
another day of sitting around. Elizabeth, Lee and I jumped on the bicycles again - and found some really cool sights on this Island - again. The Mundaca ruins. Legend is... this old guy, Mundaca, made his fortune selling slaves - fell in love with a young woman on the island - built this large homestead with beautiful gardens, to try and impress her - she turned him down, married someone else, and senior Mundaca went a little crazy. (women do that to a man)
We left the old Mundaca ruins, and on the way home... I discovered a "deli / bakery / restaurant" place that I have often dreamed about.
My restaurant would have a set price, set menu, 4 tables. Come in - sit down - shutup - and eat what the cook brings you. Well.... LoLo has done My restaurant! Sort of. She prepares 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 3 or 4 deserts, for a maximum of 16 persons, at 6:30 pm... of course reservations are required. She is happy cooking and entertaining new friends in her home. the upstairs is slowly being remodeled into a bed & breakfast. It is just Lovely!
Thursday, Feb 5th
Wind still kickin. pressure still high. not going anywhere today either
Back on the bikes. pedal around town. E walks the beach picking up shells.
I work on web site and video stuff. almost boring . . . almost
Friday,February 6th, 2009
Weather is finally getting better. East wind at 15- 20 kts. seas WAY up in the 8 - 12 range. mostly sunny... but, one or two rain showers a day pop up and surprise us. these never last more than 10 - 15 minutes. temp: 80 during the day. just below 70 at night. fuel: 40 gals. water: less than 20 gals. time to fill up. eng hrs: 2381
I paid 50 pesos for a 'day pass' at Marina Paraiso, and spent the entire day online - on the phone - on the computer. Tom has a free phone to call the states, so I catch up with my family and friends. still no success with the video.
Bruce and Debbie aboard uhane (a Whitby 42) have us over for dinner. Way cool couple! we probably could have swapped ipods and never noticed the difference. In the middle of our "after dinner drinks" - it began to rain - again. I left a hatch open - again! what a rookie. We plan to have them over for dinner later.
Saturday 7th
east 15 - 20 kts. seas offshore still too large. partly cloudy. low 70's - hi 80ish. two rain showers per day.
After 3 freakin days of Internet hell... I finally get the videos up-loaded and catch the website up-to-date. I hope someone enjoys it, because, it's more trouble than I anticipated.
Elizabeth spends the day shopping in Cancun with Bruce and Debbie. She also buys shrimp from the market.
I tackle about 6 more boat projects, and decide to move us back out to the anchorage. The anchor was buried so well that I almost couldn't get it out! Very hard time starting the diesel. ran motor 1 hour to 'top-off' batteries. eng hrs: 2383 new position: N 21*14.665' W 086*44.685'
Sunday, Feb 8th
winds east 15-20 seas still over 8. low last night just under 70. high 80's. sunny morning. clouds build all day. two brief afternoon rain showers. Water tanks finally empty enough to clean. fuel still over 3/4 full - 40 gals.
called my sister this morning and had a nice chat. They may come visit us in Belize.
I rigged up the water pump to empty one tank into the other. We cleaned the empty tank, then started the whole process over again... pumping water through a filter, over to the cleaned tank, then cleaning the empty tank. Elizabeth spent the rest of the day ferrying water back from the Marina in six - 2 1/2 gal containers. It took her five trips! She got a good workout today. I re-wired the wind generator with shorter / heavy gage wire to try and make it more efficient. then, tracked down my "hard start" issue. needa new switch for glow plugs.
have Lee over for dinner and I light the pit and grill 1) the shrimp E picked up. 2) the steak Lee brought over.
3) some Mexico chicken from the market. Surf and Turf, couscous, broccoli... another FEAST! we eat really well on old SOEL. Movie - Captain Ron
Monday, Feb 9th
Blue Monday. "cloudy in the morning, rainy in the afternoon" Tab Benoit.
wind screaming all night. blowing at least 25, gusting over 30. the wind generators howling kept me awake most of the night. not worried about us dragging - who else is sliding around out there about to bump into me? temp: low 70's. pressure finally dropping back to normal 1003 Mb. fuel: 40 gals water: full - plus fifteen gals in reserve containers in the bilge.
Elizabeth is sore from her Water Can Workout yesterday. Lee donates a switch to SOEL and I repair my glow plug problem. Then I tackle the Aries windvane, re-running the control lines, and taking apart - cleaning - reassembling the direction mechanism. We finish all our work by noon and pedal around the Island the rest of the day.
We find another cool spot - Villa La Bella. (www.villalabella.com) sign out front reads: "Beer so cold - it'll make your teeth hurt!" I skid my bike up to a palm tree and dash to the bar. Curtis is an old surfer dude from southern California who sold everything and moved to Isla Mujeres six years ago to open this B & B with his wife, Ashley. "I ain't a 'trust fund baby' - I ain't got a Rolex - and I don't drive a Corvette - but..." he waves his half empty Corona bottle towards the waves crashing on the beach, "this doesn't suck!"
We pedal to the cemetery and search for the tomb of Mundaca. Ride over to North Beach and I call Sarah to catch-up with things going on back in the states. We sit on the beach till the sun sets, and... of course... it rains for 10 minutes. HA-HA-HA ! I remembered to close the hatches today! gettin pretty good at this cruising stuff.
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 0800
winds east 15-20kts. seas 8 feet - 8 seconds. mostly sunny. temp 70's. BarPrs: 1002 Mb. fuel: 40 gals diesel
Half tank gasoline for dinghy. water: full fridge: full
Elizabeth is sick. may be the water... may be food poisoning... may be appendicitis.
She gets fired - again - and demoted to "Bilge Rat"!
Last minute organizing on the boat... getting ready to head south. today's list includes things like:
1) tie down bikes and stow any loose items.
2) ashore: gas for dink - Internet - grocery.
Dinner and a movie - Leftovers and "Pirates of the Carribbean 3"
Wednesday, Feb 11th
weather is still beautiful - no change. Elizabeth is feeling better. We may sail south tomorrow.
Head to town for last minute provisions, and e-mails. Lee stopped by for a beer and a quick goodbye. Elizabeth talked to her Mom for a while to catch up and we were sleeping by 2030.
Thursday, Feb 12th
Depart: Isla Mujeres N 21*14.660 W 086*44.680 - 0730
destination: Cayo Norte, Chinchorro Bank N18*45.600 W 087*18.700 heading 190* Distance: 150 miles Wind: East at 10 - 15 kts. Seas: 2 -3 feet temp: low 70's - high 80's.
fuel: still 3/4 Water: 7/8 Barr: open weather: sunny, perfect, and ready for a passage.
Weigh anchor in Isla Mugeres @ 0730 (somebitch is heavy!) then depart via "shoot da chute" pass. Hoisted full mainsail, and #2 jib. Making 6 knots over ground - until Hut Point. got a bit too far off shore and a three knot current hit us like a ton of bricks! As soon as I tried to nap... Fish On! another barracuda. No edible fish, but... a beautiful sailing day! Could not ask for better! Aries steering the boat - because the RayMarine electronic autopilot has been showing the same compass heading since we pulled up the anchor. Finally, I dismount the display unit, unplug the compass( while still powered up) and reconnect. It resumed working and is still going strong.
SPOT updates every hour. Oscar called Sarah, nice chat. Also called Mikey about the "fast and furious".
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Sunny, winds east at 10 - 15. seas 2-3 feet. temp: 80's. Pressure: 1002mb
Arrival: Cayo Norte, Chinchorro bank. N 18*45.165 W 087*18.545 - 1730
one of the BEST SAILING TRIPS SO FAR! ! ! (if you dont count the 2008 Harvest Moon Regatta)
Elizabeth got over her sickness thing - Stugeron.
Weather is perfect! Boat is happy.
I planned on 30m hours for this 150 mile run. It took me 34 hours. not too bad. average speed = about 4.4 over ground. BUT - the trip log shows 230 nautical miles! that sets my real average of over 6.7 knots. pretty good speed! of course, that also means an AVERAGE counter current of almost 2.4 knots. Ouch!
now... when we arrived in Isla Mujeres, we checked into Mexico with the help of a "ships agent" Jose at Marina Parisio - We cleared into ALL of Mexico! - however, when we threw out the anchor here on Chinchorro... the Mexican Navy immediately came out , boarded us, looked over our paperwork, and told us to get the hell out because we "didn't have permission." Elizabeth and I are both so fed up with Mexico, we may never come back. After some haggling, they agreed to let us stay the night.
Saturday, 14th
Happy Valentines Day !
Departure: Cayo Norte N18*45.165 W 087*18.545 0830
Arrive: Xcalak, Quinta Roo, Mexico N 18*16.370 W 087*49.580 1700
weather: sunny, perfect, 70 at night 80 daytime. BarPres: 1000mb winds: east 10-15 (steady trades)
heading 225* distance: 40 miles eng hrs: 2385 water: still 7/8 fuel: about 30-35 gallons
Decide to make the best of out brief stay in Chinchorro - last night we watched the sun set, enjoying cocktails, and Elizabeth cooked 'Arroz con Pollo' The best yet. We stargaze until 2230. Oscar wakes early and begans writing on the next 'story'. When E finally wakes at 0600, we discuss our options. disable the engine? sail to south end and have the Navy throw us out again today? Go back north - with the current? Xcalak? (pronounced: Sh-clock) Sailing for Xcalak won. Set a single reef main and a #2 jib. make 7 through the water. less than 5 over ground!
Took 9 hours to go only 40 miles - just like last year ! "Go My Way" called on the radio, offering help to get us through the reef pass. Hell Yea! Peter from "Justoo" came out to the cut and we followed him in.
drag two lures, 200 freakin miles, over three days, and only catch 2 barracuda! this area is so seriously overfished! we talked to a local who owns a dive shop about spear fishing: "I can catch, because I live here." he informs us, "But, I can't bring you." and he hangs his head.
Sunday 15th
Project day!
E chases rotten food - cabbage and carrots - save what you can and cook.
Os repairs sail slugs that have chafed through, and other tasks. The pump at the sink is leaking... Elizabeth takes apart the galley foot pump and cleans it - inspects it - puts it back together - and... IT WORKS LIKE NEW ! ! !
She is again promoted from "galley hand" to "Admiral"
Peter and Connie from "Justoo" come over for waypoints and a planning chart of da Mexico coastline.
they casually mention a theft over in Caye Caulker about a week ago... another project! Oscar adds a padlock hasp to the weatherboards, as a feeble attempt at theft prevention.
We stargazed until about 2200 and then the "sleep of death" took over.
