Day 5 : 2/19/16
San Quintín to Bahia de Tortugas
Pulled anchor in San Quintín at 6:30am. It's another cloudy overcast day. Wind is projected to pick up between 10am and 1 pm. Waves and wind are out of the Northwest so it should be a smooth sail. If I could only convince Scooby of this. At least all I have to do is say the word "bird" and he instantly jumps out of his bed to search and bark at birds. Confidence boost.
I mistakenly bought decaf instant coffee at Costco. Whoops.... Thankfully I bought a large tub of whole coffee beans from Trader Joe's on one of our many trips to San Diego for parts. We grounded the coffee beans by hand to conserve the batteries.
Breakfast is hot cereal with almond milk accompanied with lots of coffee. I would have preferred bacon and eggs but hot cereal is just too easy make.
By 9:30 am we put up the main and genoa sails and were motor sailing along at 7 knots. At 10:50am we turned the motor off and raised the staysail sailing at 5 -6 knots. At this rate we will make Bahia de Tortugas in 30 hours. Roughly arriving on Saturday between 12-3 pm. Let's hope the wind picks up for an earlier arrival.
The sound is peaceful with waves whisking by the hull and wind gently filling the sails.The sun is up and sky is now clear yet the air is still chilly. I'm wearing my offshore foulies (bibs and jacket) with a t-shirt, sweater and yoga pants underneath. As you can imagine going to the bathroom is a workout. Myron is just in his bibs and a t-shirt with a fleece jacket.
The swell is now up to 8 feet and it's nearing sunset. Myron brought in the genoa sail so we wouldn't have to leave the cockpit and adjust it in the night. The main sail was rigged out on a preventer to go down wind. The temperature is dropping. I had to add a sweater, scarf, beanie and another pair of socks to my existing layers. We settled in the cockpit with extra pillows and blankets to watch the sunset and moonrise while chili and Joe's O's were cooking down below.
I took the first watch from 6-11 pm and Myron took the graveyard shift from 11pm to 4am. We had originally planned for three hour watches but Myron went to sleep around 7pm and he was sleeping pretty well and I wanted him to rest up and I felt awake so I stayed on till 11pm. The watches went by quicker than I expected.
I didn't get much sleep while off shift as I was worried about Myron and Scooby. Our rules were to stay tethered in while in the cockpit and never leave the cockpit to go on deck at night while on watch by yourself. We followed the rules to the Tee but you still worry about the other person. The what ifs never seem to leave the back of your mind. The swells continued to grow through the night making for a rocky night at sea. Scooby was stressed and panting the majority of the night. I tried bringing him to bed in the aft cabin but the noises and rolling motion freaked him out even more. I found the best place for him was to be wedged in the corner of the cockpit in his dog bed with lots of blankets.
Day 6: 2/20/2016
Still at sea
I took over shift at 4 am when we were just outside the San Benito islands. This meant we still had another 56 NM to Turtle Bay. It was another overcast gloomy morning. Passing Cedros island was like driving through Texas. Never ending. Cedros is the largest island in Mexico at 21 miles long. Salt mining and fishing are the main industries on the island. We were tempted to anchor and get some sleep but we pushed on to Turtle Bay.
We noticed the the main sail had a small tear at the stitching just above the first reef point. We brought down the main to prevent further tearing. The wind was maybe 3 knots so we just motored until the winds picked up around noon at 5 knots. The swells were around 6 ft.
Once the wind came up we only unfurled the genoa sail half way and continued to motor sail the remaining 20 NM to our destination.
We finally reached Turtle Bay at 5pm after 35 hours at sea. We are officially in Baja Sur and in mountain time now. We celebrated with anchor down beers and hot showers on deck under the moonlight followed by lots of sleep.
San Quintín to Bahia de Tortugas
Pulled anchor in San Quintín at 6:30am. It's another cloudy overcast day. Wind is projected to pick up between 10am and 1 pm. Waves and wind are out of the Northwest so it should be a smooth sail. If I could only convince Scooby of this. At least all I have to do is say the word "bird" and he instantly jumps out of his bed to search and bark at birds. Confidence boost.
I mistakenly bought decaf instant coffee at Costco. Whoops.... Thankfully I bought a large tub of whole coffee beans from Trader Joe's on one of our many trips to San Diego for parts. We grounded the coffee beans by hand to conserve the batteries.
Breakfast is hot cereal with almond milk accompanied with lots of coffee. I would have preferred bacon and eggs but hot cereal is just too easy make.
By 9:30 am we put up the main and genoa sails and were motor sailing along at 7 knots. At 10:50am we turned the motor off and raised the staysail sailing at 5 -6 knots. At this rate we will make Bahia de Tortugas in 30 hours. Roughly arriving on Saturday between 12-3 pm. Let's hope the wind picks up for an earlier arrival.
The sound is peaceful with waves whisking by the hull and wind gently filling the sails.The sun is up and sky is now clear yet the air is still chilly. I'm wearing my offshore foulies (bibs and jacket) with a t-shirt, sweater and yoga pants underneath. As you can imagine going to the bathroom is a workout. Myron is just in his bibs and a t-shirt with a fleece jacket.
The swell is now up to 8 feet and it's nearing sunset. Myron brought in the genoa sail so we wouldn't have to leave the cockpit and adjust it in the night. The main sail was rigged out on a preventer to go down wind. The temperature is dropping. I had to add a sweater, scarf, beanie and another pair of socks to my existing layers. We settled in the cockpit with extra pillows and blankets to watch the sunset and moonrise while chili and Joe's O's were cooking down below.
I took the first watch from 6-11 pm and Myron took the graveyard shift from 11pm to 4am. We had originally planned for three hour watches but Myron went to sleep around 7pm and he was sleeping pretty well and I wanted him to rest up and I felt awake so I stayed on till 11pm. The watches went by quicker than I expected.
I didn't get much sleep while off shift as I was worried about Myron and Scooby. Our rules were to stay tethered in while in the cockpit and never leave the cockpit to go on deck at night while on watch by yourself. We followed the rules to the Tee but you still worry about the other person. The what ifs never seem to leave the back of your mind. The swells continued to grow through the night making for a rocky night at sea. Scooby was stressed and panting the majority of the night. I tried bringing him to bed in the aft cabin but the noises and rolling motion freaked him out even more. I found the best place for him was to be wedged in the corner of the cockpit in his dog bed with lots of blankets.
Day 6: 2/20/2016
Still at sea
I took over shift at 4 am when we were just outside the San Benito islands. This meant we still had another 56 NM to Turtle Bay. It was another overcast gloomy morning. Passing Cedros island was like driving through Texas. Never ending. Cedros is the largest island in Mexico at 21 miles long. Salt mining and fishing are the main industries on the island. We were tempted to anchor and get some sleep but we pushed on to Turtle Bay.
We noticed the the main sail had a small tear at the stitching just above the first reef point. We brought down the main to prevent further tearing. The wind was maybe 3 knots so we just motored until the winds picked up around noon at 5 knots. The swells were around 6 ft.
Once the wind came up we only unfurled the genoa sail half way and continued to motor sail the remaining 20 NM to our destination.
We finally reached Turtle Bay at 5pm after 35 hours at sea. We are officially in Baja Sur and in mountain time now. We celebrated with anchor down beers and hot showers on deck under the moonlight followed by lots of sleep.
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