Start: 20°44.916’ N 105°22.649’ W
Great sleep after all, woke at 0400 to go to the heads (quietly) but slept till 0700 with the beautiful morning light.
Met Brady and Jim, and we all exchanged stories about our sailing history.
Showers were the first order of the day, taking advantage of the marina facilities.
Next up was final provisioning for tortilla, fish, coke and alcohol for the trip. I loved walking around the town soaking up the atmosphere and warmth.
The tortilla shop was interesting, making and selling the various products on site.
Brady and I walked down to the fresh fish market and bought some mahi mahi. The fish was all super fresh and there was a good variety.
Then it was back to the boat for leaving the dock.
Leaving the dock was helmed by Brady and very smooth. Interesting technique to get reverse speed for rudder control while holding the bow on (against the prop walk) but then moving in to neutral to get the boat turning, using the wind to push the bow round too.
We moored just outside the marina to get safety briefings and do the route planning. After lunch we’ll leave for an overnight passage to a small island Isabella around 90nm away.
We had a welcome lunch of Mahi Mahi tacos and salad. It’s just so lovely being on the water again. So peaceful, and the warmth is amazing after the cold recent weather in the UK.
On our way and we motor out towards the wind. Just as we start to find wind we saw whale spouts in the distance. We paused for a while as they came close enough to see the tails and breaches. A family of male, female and a calf. Magical!
Then we got the sails up and its fabulous to be under sail. Lintika doing very well at 7knots in 15knots at 43-45degrees. This lasted for a fair few hours.
After lunch we rotated helm control, each of us having a turn.
As time passed the wind dropped to 10-12knots true, and we got a few tacks in to make ground on our destination. Wind is expected to disappear overnight
At about 1800 the whales made a return and a couple more times we say the tails raised in the air before slowly sinking. Feeling so lucky.
The watch rota was allocated, Elpie taking the first watch at 1800-2000, followed by Jim 2000-2200, Dewey the 2200-0000 and I got the 0000-0200 watch. We’ll rotate until landfall.
Motor went on around 2000 and I went off to bed to try and get some sleep in a rolling boat and loud engine noise. Discovered that the first one to bed must take the inside bunk to avoid being woken by the next!
End of day 1 : 21°10.112’N • 105°43.811’W