Full Circle

I just realized that I have come full circle this year.  At the end of November last year, we left San Diego and went down the pacific coast to Cabo San Luca, then crossed the Sea of Cortez for Mazatlan.  Then we went back across the sea and spent the summer meandering north in the Sea, and now we are back in Mazatlan, ready to head south this time.  So I have made a circle by coming back here to start off the next phase.  Mike and I are both happy to be back here - it feels like home to both of us.  Especially we really have nothing left in San Diego other than Steve living there.  It isn't our home anymore.

When we made this latest crossing, I decided to keep a running log of the trip.  I always do this in the sense that every hour I record some navigational data and make little notes about what is happening.  but I thought I would do one that is more extensive, although not necessarily on the hour every hour.  Of  course, I failed miserably, but here is what I did manage to record.  I wrote it out in longhand because I am afraid to take the computer out while we are underway - something might happen to it.  So here is my first true log of one of our voyages, and I hope I get better at doing this as time goes on.

10-24-11
1430 (2:30 pm)
We got underway at about 9:30 am - we motored out of the harbor.  There were a few spots where it was hard to tell which way to go - and there is no room at all for any error as the harbor outside the channel is shallow and rock strewn.  And the channel itself is really narrow with a number of dog-leg turns that are marked, but not completely.  But with our engine humming along perfectly, out we went. 

Sails went up between 11:30 and noon, have been up ever since.  With the transmission in reverse, the prop does not spin while we sail.  There were a lot of boats to dodge especially while leaving the harbor - big ships like tankers and fishing boats.  No danger because we are alert, conditions are about perfect, and our navigation elecgtronics give us great data to work with.

It is a perfect day, between 4 and 6 knots, gentle seas, 60 degrees close reach.  Mike and I find ourselves constantly remarking how perfect it all is.  Sundancer radioed that they had seen whales - we will keep our eyes open.

10-25-11
0215 (2:15 am)
Perfect day today - I am now on watch.  It is calm and quiet - just got going up to 4 knots, steady with only the genoa at 3+ knots.  Wind is off the starboard stern quarter (130 degrees).  We had a pod of small dolphins playing around the boat about half an hour after dark.  The sunset was all pinks and peaches and purples and yellows with those same colors reflecting off the water.  And the engince has worked perfectly.  What a great first day of the voyage!

0303
Saw a huge shooting star - big ball of white fire with a thick tail that went straight up in the air, and then dropped down again and dimmed out.  I think there are a lot of shooting stars tonight as I can see flashes of light through the canvas of the bimini top. 

0400
I saw two more shooting stars this past hour. 

0500 possible glimmer of light on the eastern horizen - small sliver of moon is rising there also after having no moon at all for the entire night.

0700
It is light out and the wind is almost completely astern - the genny is flapping.  I have been fiddling with the course and the sails to try and even things out, but there is always ome collapsing and filling of the genny under conditions like this, when the wind is very light and right off the stern.

0717
The sun is rising - a pink ball coming through purple clouds, then light violet, peach, yellow and then blue sky . . .  the water is slate and silver.  As the sun clears the purple clouds, it becomes orange, then shading to yellow as it climbs higher in the sky. 

I slept yesterday from 8 pm to about 1:30 am this morning, but I did get up at about 9:30 pm and had a snack, and then went back to sleep.  I got about 4-5 hours of sleep, pretty good.  Mike went down at 2 am - it is now 7:22 and he is still asleep - really good because it is always a struggle for him to get enough sleep when we are underway.  Sundancer just called on the radio - they are doing fine but there was a lot of static and it was difficult to understand them.  Looks like another beautiful day!

0900
Mike is making breakfast.  We put up the mainsail and changed course a bit, the wind is fluctuating between being on the stern quarter and right on the stern - just enought to fill and collapse the sails.  But it is still a real nice day.

1025
Wind has shifted to the port quarter and so far we are sailing smoothly with the main and the genny.  Speed is up to 3-4 knots after what seemed like hours of 2 knots.  This is a really gorgeous day and it makes up for a lack of speed and all the scary days that went on before.

1219
I am re-reading Gone With the Wind while Mike naps.  Real slow going - less than 2 knots at times.  But it is really nice out and we are going in the right direction.

1345
Engine on to charge batteries - and a good excuse to move along  faster as it is good for the engine to be run under load than just idled.  Engine is working really well.

2251 (10:51 pm)
I slept from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm.  Then I got up and made french toast and bacon.  I am now on watch and have coffee and dolphins  nearby.

10-26-11
0120
Slow - the wind is below 5 knots.  I can do 2.2 knots with 4 knots of wind when the direction is from a beam reach to a broad reach and back again.  The beam reach is better.  Beautiful wwarm night with the proverbial "caressing breeze."  No moon yet.  It is a little hazy but there are still lots of stars.  Today 2 or 3 little birds came to the boat - one was black and white, one looked like a cross between a sparrow and a dovbe with smokey colored feathers, and one was a sparrow-y looking bird with a bright patch of yellow at the base of his tail.  He brought a bug on board and ate it.  We joked aout being a bird way station in the ocean.  We thought we did not mind and would even not object to cleaning up after them.

0300
Wind almost gone - we are under 2 knots, not much to be done about it.  Mike is sleeping through the noise of the slatting sails!  I tightened the main whichc helped some with the boom slamming around.

0410
Four shooting stars between 3 and 3:30 am. 

10-27-11
0309
It was a really nice long lazy sailing day and I got lazy too and did  not write.  I even let the regular log lapse a couple of times.  I guess I need more discipline.  But I just can't bring myself to write in the early ams when it is getting light - it is too gorgeous to stop looking at it and grab the pen.  All I want to do right then is to experience that transitional period beween night and day - first there is a glimmer of light along the horizen, then it gets brighter, then the sky gets light and you think it is over but its not, and THEN the actual sun comes up.  And of course all sumrises are different depending on so many factors . . .

In the daytime, it is pretty much all about looking at the water, unless there is a weather issue and you are looking at clouds.  But mostly you look at the water and the color and what it is doing and what is in it.  But at night it is all about the sky and the stars and the planets and the moon.  Shooting starsare not rare - I see them almost every night.  And sometimes the milky way is so thick it looks like cloud cover.   Sometimes the moon is so bright you can read by it and other times there is no moon at all - only stars.  Or clouds.  Right now there are stars and clouds but no moon.   I can see the lights of Mazatlan - we will be there soon!

This ends the part I had written out as we sailed.  When we got to Mazatlan, we discovered the marina slip is so very narrow we are only a fender's width froim the boat next to us!  But Mike got us in, no trouble.  It is great to be back here - and it does feel like home.  There are a lot of the same boats that were here before, and the staff has made us feel really welcome.  We have commented over and over how good it is to be back here.  We watched the Cardinals win the series yesterday, and tonight Sundancer is coming over for steaks and maybe we will all go out.  Sundancer is anchored in the main harbor on the other side of town, and we miss not having them close by.  By the way, we took it back ab out wanting to be a bird way station.  There was a booby that spent the entire night perched up on a spreader over the vee berth hatch and in the morning we discover it shit all over the hatch and the entire bow of the boat.  So from now on hitch hiking birds will be gently but firmly discouraged!

Anyway - that brings us up to date.  I can't over stress how happy we are to be here with all the people we met last time we came - it would be really easy to make this our home.  We think there is something special about people here in Sinaloa - everywhere in this state they are especially friendly.  And everyone is asking about my nephew and are really glad to hear he  is returning.  So that is all for today - and may it be a good one for all.