Night Watch

Night watches used to be the bane of my cruising experience. I l-o-v-e sleeping…especially at night and often well into the morning. Well, truth be told, these days “well into the morning” is usually around 8:30 am. At any rate, since I began cruising there has been no option. Night watches are part of the deal. There are just never enough crewmembers on board who are willing to do the entire 6pm to 6 am shift. Sigh…

At first, during the arduous (and seemingly endless) part of the journey as we descended the Oregon Coast night watches were not only frightening but cold and damp as well. The ocean after dark was pitch black except for the frothy wind chop breaking atop each swell. The swells were coming from both the NW and SW so it felt a lot like being an abandoned sock in a washing machine. There were 3 of us on board so we stood 2 hour watches but by the time you went below, no matter how many layers of clothing you had on, you were cold, cold, cold and the first order of business (even before using the head or crawling into bed) was to set your gloves and socks inside the engine room so they would dry out and warm up before the next shift. I was often heard muttering (or whining) “I don’t know which is worse…daytime when I can see what’s coming or nighttime when I can’t.” There was nothing romantic about this ordeal and, frankly, it was often downright scary.

When we finally rounded Point Conception, the seas calmed down and night watches got much less frolicsome. But…Southern California provides its own set of obstacles. There are more large ships to be dodged, crab pots with black floats (yeah...just try seeing those at night) and, in one section huge oil derricks that were lit up like downtown Hong Kong and wiped out your night vision pretty quickly. My adrenalin level never really went below the “alarm” level until we were well south of San Diego and I realized that it was finally possible to get through an entire shift without seeing another boat. In fact, we have now done entire passages where we have seen nothing but wildlife and an occasional sail way off on the horizon.

When I finally stopped being a big knot of stress, some amazing things began to happen. One night we were passing between Cedros Island and another smaller island to the west of it. When I came up for watch in the wee hours it was so black it felt like being inside a velvet bag and you could only tell there was an island close by because it blotted out the stars. It was a narrow passage and felt very eerie so I had some real heebie jeebies going on. Suddenly I heard a “whoosh” to port of the boat. Then I heard another to starboard. Suddenly there was entire pod of dolphins swimming with us and throwing off green sparks from the bioluminescence. They “escorted” us through the entire pass just as if they could sense that I was nervous. It was an unforgettable night.

Last summer, while we were in the South Pacific, I was assigned the “primo” watches on the boat: 6-9 pm and 6-9 am. It was amazing to watch the sunset and the sunrise every day we were at sea. Every one was different and each was absolutely glorious. It is not possible to explain what it is like to be in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean when the sun makes its first appearance of the day or takes its last bow on the horizon. With nothing but water as far as the eye can see the sun is in full command and it puts on an amazing show. On morning watches I would listen to either Andrea Bocelli or Chris Botti as I experienced the “birth of the sun”. It was a heavenly experience.

The passage we just made from Los Muertos to La Cruz seemed especially long because we had no crew on board and the auto pilot had quit working so Chris & I had to hand steer for 33 hours. Still, on my final night watch, as we passed the Tres Marias Islands, the ocean was filled with bioluminescence. All around us huge green blooms exploded just beneath the surface and the boat’s wake looked like a wedding veil set with millions of tiny, sparkling diamonds. It was like sailing through an underwater fireworks display.

All these experiences have changed my feeling about night watches. I’ve gone from dread to acceptance and now to eagerness. My only regret is the magic cannot be adequately shared with words or captured with a camera. Still, the beauty, solitude and majesty of night on the sea is a gift that I can hold within my heart forever.

Fun with Turtles!

Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (photo from internet)

OK! THIS is the kind of stuff that makes cruising really fun!
Yesterday evening Chris, Mary & I went to Nuevo Vallarta and were able to take part in releasing baby turtles into the sea. What fun!
When we arrived there was a small children's wading pool that was full of turtles that had just hatched within the previous 48 hours and were anxious to get on their way to the water. The folks in charge of the release program gave a short presentation about the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (which is what these were). These turtles are on the endangered list and Mexico is doing a great job of trying to protect them and help them to re-populate. In Mexico, it is a felony to touch a turtle...even if it is a dead one! Further, turtle eggs are still a real delicacy here and are often a part of wedding feasts and other ceremonies as they are considered to promote fertility. There is still a large black market for the eggs so the authorities have their work cut out for them.
We were told that these little babies (and they are really little...not even as big as the palm of your hand) have to swim all the way to the Marietta Islands (about 10 miles) before they are "safe" and only about 5% will likely make it. There are lots and lots of predators between here and there. Here are a couple of the really interesting things we found out:
1) The sex of the turtle is determined by where the egg is in the nest. The ones on the bottom, where it is cooler, will be males and the ones closer to the top (warmer) will all be females.
2) All the babies are born with a "power pack" built into their tummies. This is a special energy "pack" that activates as soon as they hit the water and will provide the nourishment they need for 15 days while they are traveling to their "safe" area.
3) Once they are in the water, the male turtles will never come back to land again. Only the females return and only when they need to lay eggs.
4) The releases are done at different times and in different places so that the fish (ie: predators) don't "learn" where they can find these delicacies on a daily basis.
The baby turtles are very, very cute and they feel like velvet. They are a bit slow moving when you put them on the sand (and seem to get tired out and take rest periods) but once they get to the water they are gone like a shot.
Being a part of this activity was something we all enjoyed immensely and will always remember. Since we often see these turtles when we are out sailing it was really fun to be there at the beginning of the cycle.

Note: Photos and video courtesy of Chris!

Whaaaat?

Two days ago we awoke at 5am to a "funny" noise on the cabin top...RAIN! Chris & I got up and quickly closed hatches but when we arose later to begin the day, the sun was shining and all was well again...except that the cockpit cushions were a bit on the "squishy" side. We set them out in the sun and by the time we returned from breakfast they were dry and ready to be sat upon once again.
This morning, again in the wee hours, wet stuff began pitter patting on the cabin top. I forced myself to climb out of my warm bed, run about making sure hatches and ports were closed and move the cockpit cushions onto the dashboard so they would remain dry.
What is going on?? Is this another aspect of Global Warming? Last year we didn't see rain at all from the time we arrived in Mexico until we returned to the Northwest. Granted, it is warm rain so we can still wear shorts, but it isn't exactly ideal weather for tanning or dining in the cockpit. In addition, even when the water stops dropping out of the sky and the sun makes an appearance, a residual amount of moisture remains behind (think humidity) that causes the "heat index" to increase.
Chris tells me we are right in the middle between two giant high pressure areas but that shouldn't cause wetness to fall from the sky. We are completely flummoxed about why it is raining in Mexico!
Mary is, understandably, confused as well. Is it possible the Portland weather followed her? No...NOAA's prediction for Portland today is freezing rain...quite typical for winter there. Her expectation was that she would go home with evidence that she spent a lot of time on the beach. We will do our best to accommodate that. Perhaps there's a tanning salon nearby?

Christmas at "home"

Here we are in La Cruz again after an absence of 9 months and our arrival was like coming home. When we called the office and requested a slip they told us the dock guys would be there to take a line and they were...just like last year. As I stepped onto the dock, Manuel recognized us and welcomed us back. He loaned us his gate card so we could go check in with the office and I was happy to see Maria was still there. She was genuinely delighted to see us again and gave me a big hug and welcome. Raffa, who had just taken over as marina manager shortly before we left, even remembered us! As Chris & I walked back to the boat after checking in, we both commented that it is good to be "home". I was also excited to see quite a few friends from last season and look forward to catching up with them as well as making new friends this year.
One of the things I love the most about Mexico is the people. When you go to a restaurant, a butcher shop, a vegetable market, etc, the people who work there (usually the owners) ask your name and add you to their "friend" roster. Even better, the next time you frequent their place of business, they remember you!
So...it is Christmas morning. Mary is here visiting. Yesterday we took her to Bucerias to do some shopping and have lunch at a palapa on the beach. Last night we attended a Christmas Eve potluck-on-the-lawn with the other cruisers who are here, took a quick shower and then rowed back to the boat to play some Mexican Train before going to bed so Santa could make an appearance! This morning, after opening our gifts we are listening to holiday music and doing a bit of email, etc before we row across to the restaurant for breakfast. Since we just arrived the 22nd and Mary was flying in the 23rd Chris & I had no time to shop for each other so our gifts were IOU's! Chris is giving me an inflatable kayak and my gift to him is a new handheld GPS...as soon as we can get to a place where those can be purchased!
Christmas dinner will be at Philo's Restaurant where we celebrated Thanksgiving last year. He provides the turkeys and the guests bring potluck dishes to share. Then "Santa" arrives and gives gifts (all of which have been donated by cruisers and local residents) to the local children. Once all that excitement is over there will be music and dancing and plenty more socializing. We are looking forward to a very fun evening.
Sunshine, 80 degree weather, secure at the dock, a wonderful husband and my best friend here to share the occasion and a few calls to family to top off the day. How much better can it get? I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Leaving San Carlos

Don't get me wrong. I love San Carlos. But it is definitely time to leave. It's getting cold! We have taken to wearing jeans and sweatshirts (I refuse to give up my flip flops). Nights on board involve two comforters. Dinghy rides to and from the boat are chilly at best!
JJ & Cher, arrived last Monday and we still were not ready to leave the dock. Thursday we were "ready enough" and at 2:20 cast off and headed out into the Sea of Cortez. By 4:30 we were back and anchored in the anchorage where we still reside. Less than an hour out we discovered that the batteries were DIScharging. Turns out the alternator had decided to give it up so we turned that over to Star Marine for repair and spent some time training our guests and showing them around San Carlos and trying to eat and drink our way through pretty much every restaurant and cantina in town. The boys got a little out of control at the Soggy Peso on Catch 22 Beach and purchased lots of tourist duds (after they had purchased a few cervezas).
The alternator was finished and installed this morning and is making power like nobody's business. The weather is starting to turn around (from south winds to north/northwest) so tomorrow morning we are boogying south. It will be a much more abbreviated trip than we anticipated but our expectation is that we will have JJ & Cher back in La Paz in time to catch their 6:30 am flight on the 13th.
So...last minute jobs included provisioning at Ley's (what, exactly IS a "Donkey to Iron"???) another trip to Tony's for more fresh produce, a pedicure and haircut for the "Capitan" and returning the truck, yet again, to the storage facility.
Stay tuned for more of the adventures of "Faith" and her steadfast crew!

Get the vaseline, Martha...I'm goin' in!!

Get your mind out of the gutter!!
The title of this entry refers entirely to the activities that took place yesterday when we had to fit a boat 13'10" wide into an area that was 15' 5" wide!! Yikes!!
Our friends, Barb & John, had a slip they had rented through Dec 2nd and got finished with their boat work and left early. This marina has a serious shortage of slips (especially in the Spring & Fall when all the cruisers are getting their boats into or out of storage) so they offered to sub-let their space to us for the balance of their time. We were delighted to accept as this not only saved us money but also allowed us to get the boat out of the work yard and into the water much sooner.
John & Barb's boat is over a foot narrower than "Faith" and the slip in question is a double with a very large, wide powerboat installed in the other side. John measured carefully and we determined that "Faith" would fit, but with only 19" clearance it would be very, very tight. We arranged to have a friend of Chris' join us on the boat to help fend off if needed as well as Chris' brother, Lee, and a couple with another Morgan 41 on the dock to take lines and pull us in.
I spent a sleepless night worrying about all the "what if's" and "how's" that would take place. Turned out to be pretty painless but I still tend to worry.
The boat was to be launched at 8am yesterday but they were almost an hour late so that added to my list of things that could go wrong ("What if the wind picks up? What if the tide goes out?"). When they got her in the water it was quiet, calm and sunny. After being stored on the hard for the past 5 months we were delighted when the engine started right up and after about 10 minutes of idling it was purring like it did all last season. Now it was time to go.
In order to get to our slip, we had to back out of the launch area to the main fairway and, since "Faith" has an "I back only to port" problem I had been concerned about how I was going to negotiate the backing straight and then to starboard in that very confined area. Well...I learned a great trick from a new Canadian friend of ours. We'd recently been to dinner with John & Barb and Bill & Janet from "Optical Illusion" and John & I were commiserating about how poorly our boats back up. Bill told us to set the rudder in the middle, put it in reverse and get started backwards and then put it in neutral and "you can drive it anywhere". I was skeptical at best but decided to give it a shot. OMG!! It worked like a charm! Not only did she back straight but she went to STARBOARD as well!! It was a beautiful thing!! I saw Bill later that afternoon and thanked him for the new skill and he assured me that with practice I'll be able to parallel park. Well, I'm not at all convinced about that but who knows?
When we got to the slip Lee & Steve were there to take lines and the power boat neighbor was out on his bow to fend us off if need be. We're only 4 boats down the dock so not a lot of room to get Faith pointed in the right direction but I got pretty close. We were pretty much nose-to-nose with the power boat. Chris threw the bow line to Steve and then he & the neighbor pushed us away while Steve pulled us toward the dock. Steve pulled us in far enough for Rex to throw the stern line to Lee and I just sat and watched the 5 guys literally pulled us into the slip. I just love strong men, don't you?
Once we got tied up, Chris & the neighbor were positioning fenders and I tried to turn off the engine. No go! The cable that you pull up to turn it off seems to have seized up during the summer! Once we got tied up and stabilized Chris went below and stopped the engine by hand...and added that fix to "the list".
It was great to have the boat in the water and tied up to a dock but both of us were exhausted. Between my cold and my "parking anxiety" neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before so we just closed the girl up, went to lunch and came back to the trailer for a couple hours sleep. Today we washed all the yard dust off and then started on all the myriad jobs we need to get done so we can start cruising this year. It won't be much longer now...and the best part is now we can go sit on the boat again. It is amazing how relaxing just that little thing can be.

Work, work, work!

First look! She looks great!

OK. Silly me. I was convinced that inside of two weeks we would have Faith cleaned up, put back together, the projects done, bottom painted, she'd be back in the water and ready for another season of fun in the sun. Hmmm. A bit too optimistic perhaps?

After leaving Tucson at 9 last Wednesday morning we arrived in San Carlos at 6 pm. This is normally a 5-1/2 hour drive but towing a trailer added another 2-1/2 hours to the trip. We pulled into the Totonaka RV Park on the outskirts of town just as the office was supposed to close but the manager was waiting for us thanks to our friends, Ken & Linde, who are also staying here, telling him to wait for us. Better still…by the time we got parked and set up it was after 7 but Ken & Linde had dinner and wine waiting for us. It was great! I just love cruisers!! They really do “pay it forward”.

Thursday morning, after a good night’s sleep, we got our first look at Faith and it was a bit of a good/bad thing. She looked wonderful at first glance. The wax job we had done before we put her to bed last Spring was still shiny and new looking and there was no outside damage from the storm. Once we got on top we discovered she was a total dirtball. Inside wasn’t too bad. We could see where water had gotten in from Hurricane Jimena but it appeared to be only a couple inches in the galley and aft part of the salon. The only damage we could really see was that some of the varnish had lifted off the cabin sole so we will have to re-finish a section of that. Not bad at all. When we inquired about getting her into the work yard we were told there was a waiting list. Harrumph! Since the flooding wiped out the work yard entirely (not to mention the road and parking lot) they have been working very, very hard to get it all put back together and I must say they have done an admirable job. Still, at this point only half of the work yard is usable but, because of the space shortage, the management has given the OK to work on boats in the storage area. Since there is no water or power available there we opted to wait until they could get us in and late Thursday afternoon they had us installed in the very back corner of the work area.

Friday morning, bright and early, we were at the boat with buckets, brushes and soap to start on the first project…getting the top layer of dirt off so we wouldn’t be tracking it inside. It is hard to believe how thick a layer of dust can accumulate in a few short months. We spent a good three hours just washing the topsides and then went below and while Chris checked all the batteries (Yippee!! All are perfect!) I scrubbed the section of floor that was muddied by the workers who pumped the water out. By 1:30 we were done working, had lunch and crashed back at the trailer! From then on we have been working pretty much 9 am to 1-2 pm every day doing as much as possible.

Chris spent a good part of today taking apart the steering so he could re-pack the rudder post. When he got it disassembled he discovered that this particular rudder is not made that way…there ISN’T a packing gland in it! Oh, well, he needed to check out the steering system anyway and was happy to see that it is in superb condition. His current project is filling up the holes in the deck from the old windlass and getting the new windlass installed. Brother, Lee, and Lee’s wife, Julie, are here in San Carlos as they rented a house for the winter and Lee has been down helping on the boat almost every day. We are quite happy to have him, especially since he is an excellent fiberglass man.

Friday we made arrangements to have the bottom painted and once we signed the papers the guys were there quickly to start sanding. By Saturday afternoon they had the whole bottom sanded and pressure washed and I thought, “Wow! This is going to be fast!” Alas…they don’t work on Sunday, Monday was a holiday (Revolution Day) and no one showed up today. I wonder if they forgot?

I almost feel like a piker since my jobs have entailed mostly cleaning, oiling the teak, putting things back in their proper places, etc. The operative word in that sentence is “almost” as both heads were quite icky and required some serious rubber gloves and chemicals. No…we didn’t leave them that way. In point of fact, just before the boat was hauled out we went out, dumped both holding tanks, added vinegar & water and then flushed that out so, presumably, they would be nice & clean & empty. Judging by the rings in both bowls there must have been some residual water still in the plumbing and as the water evaporated during the summer it left progressively heavier stains. Yecch!!! Do I even need to elucidate on the fun involved in cleaning that?

Sooo…we had planned to celebrate Thanksgiving in La Paz and have friends arriving there on the 29^th to spend a couple weeks with us. Will we make it? Only the Shadow knows!!