Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria

Day 7

I had good wind for the first time of the trip. I spent the morning in about 15 to 20 kts. It was directly aft and so I eventually dropped the main completely so I wouldn't risk an accidental jibe. There was some decent sized swell and it was making it hard for Otto to steer. I spent the afternoon with just the Genoa (front sail) doing almost 6 kts.. The wind was steady all night giving me my first 24 consecutive hours of sailing without having to use the engine.

Noon
N27.28.110
W114.44.263

Day 8

The wind didn't last forever of course. On day 8 I was back to the normal 5 to 10 kts. Most of the day was actually 5 kts ot less.. Back to moving slow.

Late in the morning one of my fishing rods took a hard hit. I assumed kelp but I was a bit far out for that. At this point I was about 20 miles offshore. I started to reel it in but it was pulling really hard. RIght about then a large fish leaped out of the water. My 2nd real fish! After about 20 minutes I had him right beside the boat. Now what do I do? I needed someone to net or gaff him but there was only me. To cut the story short, he snapped the line. He was a 2 and a half foot dolphinfish (Mahi Mahi) and maybe 20lbs.....

Noon
N26.08.919
W113.34.287

Next came the crazy seal. I guess even seals get bored but an hour or two afte losing the fish this seal swam up to the boat and proceeded to give me a 10 minute acrobatic display. Jumps, summersaults, twists and so on. Then just as suddenly, he was gone...

When the sun went down I had the calm that you can only wish for. There was just enough wind to keep steerage but not enough to break one knot on the ol knotmeter. The amazing thing was that there was also virtually no swell. I had nothing to do, the boat was calm and comfortable and there were a million stars out. It was really surreal. Then of course there was a huge slow shooting star. (maybe it was an old russian satellite or something?) I just got comfortable in the cockpit and enjoyed the show.

Eventually we did pick up speed and broke the one kt per hour mark. We were sailing again!!

Next was really wierd. My depth guage usually just shows nothing when it gets deeper than 600 ft, but now it showed that we were in 35 ft of water. Now this happens a lot with a large school of fish, but when it's fish it's gone in a second or two. This was staying as a solid reading!! I was 45 miles from shore! I jumped for the chart (which was on the wrong page) and checked my position. There was a series of pinacles coming up but they were supposed to be a few miles away. I got really nervous since me specific spot wasn't on the chart. Maybe there was a spot here that was only a few feet below the surface and I would run into it.....

N25.47.178
W113.13.756

Shallow water is not something you really expect when you are 40 miles offshore but it seems like there is plenty of it here

This area probably has some incredible scuba diving but you would need to have your own dive compressor and be completely self contained....


Later on it got really busy. Funny, I don't see anyone all day but run into 10 to 15 boats overnight. Damn I can't even nap now.....


Day 9

Another low wind day. The hgihlight was going through a giant school of dolphins that must have been working groups of baitfish. There were literally hundreds of dolphin jumping, diving and swiming all around the boat. and then they were gone.

Noon
N25.04.251
W112.42.269

Speaking of dolphin, I caught another mahi mahi and lost him right beside the boat. looks like I need to bring crew along to act as gaff persons....

Later on I did manage to land a 8 to 10 lb black skipjack though.

Not long after that a bird landed on the spreaders and hung out there for several hours even though the boat was flopping about. a Booby perhaps??

Soon after that I caught sight of my objective. Maybe I could make it there before dark.....

Almost Aground !!

Of course I got to Santa Maria about an hour after dark. The moon wasn't up yet so it was really really dark. I was now really tired and just wanted to get in the bay and anchored. I couls see the faint outline of a hill and the light that marked the northern end of the bay. All I had to do was go around that light to the south and I was in. I could already see the anchor lights of all the boats inside. After checking the radar something didn't seem right. There was an echo well south of where it seemed there should be. The depth was also getting allot shallower than I liked. This is when I figured out that in Mexico the lights don't mark the edge of the danger zone, just their approximate location!! I made a hard turn for deeper water and gave this area a wide berth. Later I would see that there was a long low point sticking out well past the light. I could see the light of the anchored boats over it and so was confused into believing the passge was open. In the darkness the low point just blended in with the water. Thankfully I was double checking things with radar and depth and caught my mistake in time!!

Eventually I worked my way in to a spot in 35 ft of water near what would be considered the SW portion of the anchorage. This area had no boats nearby and was easier for me to get into in my very tired condition.

N24.45.567
W112.15.129


Flop into bed for another 14 hour sleep.

By the way, if you didn't already figure it out you'll notice that I don't really sleep much on these passages. Mostly I get 15 to 30 minute naps here and there but no real sleep. I wait until there is nothing on the horizon or on the radar and then set the timer for 30 minutes. I just can't relax enough to get completely asleep while the boat is moving even though I am really tired....
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