Isla Isabella pictures and more

It seems that Sea Venture’s crew encountered fog, fog, and more fog as they left Marina Mazatlan on Saturday, which meant good practice for the crew. Mark and Sandee had never steered by radar before, but if you have ever sailed northern California, you’ve  either used radar or experienced panic.

I remember Sea Venture’s fuel line clogging after too long at the dock. We were headed down the San Juaquin River toward SF Bay. Visibility was nill and the radar not yet working. Fortunately for us, we knew the river, knew the direction of safe landing, and could drift in the quiet water while Michael changed the filter. I must confess, though, that my ears were constantly on the alert for sounds of big engines that would signal the advent of a ship. I didn’t really expect one to be out that early, but…

That day, the fog lifted before we reached the Antioch bridge and oncoming traffic.  On our trip south from Ensenada, we used the radar to direct us into Bahia Assuncion as waves crashed against the beach a mile away and fog obscured the horizon. Most of our Sea of Cortez sailing has been coastal, with little reference to the radar, except when we’ve needed to gauge distance from a land mass, such as off the tip of Isla Carmen. The guide books mention a rock lying three feet below the surface somewhere about a mile and a half north of the island. Where? Oh, someplace up there. Which meant, of course, that one needed to stay two miles offshore. But the charts are offset by up to a mile in places, so we steered to the two-mile mark with the radar.  Good radar. Good boat. Nice rock.

Sea Venture pulled in behind a shrouded Stone Island. And now her crew has one more box ticked off on their need-to-learn chart. Michael is so pleased by their willingness and aptitude. It’s a good match.

The trip from Stone Island to Isla Isabella involved calm seas and no wind. But the men don’t seem too disturbed by the quiet, do they?

That’s Mark, enjoying the captain’s chair.

Sandee wrote of sea turtles on the way to the island and then hundreds more yesterday, as Sea Venture continued to Punta Mita. Boobies landed on the dozing turtles, most of which slept until disturbed by the engine’s noise. Whales, dozens of whales, spouted water on the horizon. One surfaced and then dove within a hundred yards of Sea Venture, the first whale sighting for Mark and Sandee. Such fun.

Isla Isabella

Knowing that the bottom around Isla Isabella was littered with rocks, Michael tied a trip line to the anchor before dropping it. The crew rose at 3AM, dressed, and tried to raise the anchor. It lifted, but the chain didn’t. With a swell heaving the bow, the chain went taut and then slack, but didn’t budge. They motored slightly forward, back, to one side and then the next. Michael envisioned leaving our wonderful, hefty Spade lying on the ocean floor, thirty-some feet below the waves. The thought of diving on it in all that swell did not appeal.

And then, finally, it cleared. A scratched chain shows its war wounds, but at least it’s now back in use in the sandy bottom of Punta Mita. Thank You, Lord!

I’m waiting to hear about their night in Banderas Bay.  Michael told of a Beneteau’s skipper who zipped past Sea Venture yesterday, trying to beat her into the anchorage. They watched as the Beneteau’s crew set about tying a line to their Fortress, which was light enough for him to lift and toss. It was a big boat…but perhaps his larger anchor and his chain lie somewhere under the sea.

I wonder how often that boat drags…. We prayed for safe holding for someone who ought to know better, especially as a collision with a drifting boat would be a rude way to wake in the dark.