A quick update to advise that we left Marina San Carlos on Thursday morning (April 15th) as planned for a fairly straightforward motor sail to Marina Singlar in Guaymas. This is our "last stop" in the cruising itinerary, with just a short motor trip from the dock around to the travel lift in the dry storage area, later next week.
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| Zooming..... |
It took about 3.5 hours to cover the 18 nm south and eastward into Guaymas harbour. INTREPID II was settled into her slip by 12:30 pm. The swells are more pronounced on this eastern side of the Sea of Cortez and it was a good thing there was enough wind for us to haul out the jib to minimize the rolling motion. We had shrimp boats "zooming" by. They were in a hurry to get back, and passed us much closer than we'd like.
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| Sunning Sea Lions |
We saw sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks, and frigate birds, gulls and other shore birds kept us company. We also experienced a "cape effect" as we rounded Cape Haro and felt the west wind right on our beam. It was time to take in some sail, find the range markers and call up the marina to confirm our spot at the dock. There was lots of Spanish discussion while we waited on the radio - now we are being directed to A dock, not B dock. INTREPID II has reached her final destination for our first most excellent cruising adventure!
Our chart plotter recording never did work well, so our intentions of showing our stops along the way were disappointed. In summary, our first cruising adventure took us from the southern tip of Victoria, B.C. Canada, southward along the U.S. west coast to the tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and north into the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California on the map below). We are proud of INTREPID II and her accomplishments. She carried us safely an incredible distance and allowed us to gain first hand offshore sailing experience, build our confidence, test our skills and challenge ourselves.
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| INTREPID II - from Victoria to Guaymas (near the notch above the 'l' in Gulf) first cruising adventure |
Since we arrived we have been busy with all the "decommissioning" required to store INTREPID II safely and securely over the summer and fall months. Still, we found a chance to visit with Jack of SV Moonraker and Ian of Salish Sea before they set off yesterday across the harbour to Gabriel's Marina Seca for their respective haul outs. Geoff of SV Verdia is next to us at the dock, so we've got company to compare notes and help each other out as we work through our projects. This is a small marina, right in the centre of the city, with all the usual Singlar facilities - showers, laundry, cruisers' lounge and a restaurant. The karaoke 'club nautico' located next to the restaurant believes in very loud music (and my point is? almost everyone believes in loud music here!). It's just that someone forgot to tell them about cruisers' midnight.
Kelly finally had some success today finding a marine store actually located where it was supposed to be and bought nylon line to use as messenger lines in place of the halyards. We washed the jib yesterday, but in bringing it down, we discovered glitch #1 - the foil is either bent or warped and we can't lower it. Now we are working on a plan to go up the jib somehow to see the spot and determine the fix. Many of the lines are now washed and dried (and smell nice - like Downy!), including our safety tethers.
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| Sheets washed and out to dry |
The main was hauled up today very early, before the wind came up, washed, dried and is now folded and secure in its bag, for now, on deck. Inside, we are going through clothes to take home or leave behind and sorting through medical supplies and toiletries to see what should come with us and what, if anything, can withstand the summer heat and still remain effective.
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| Guaymas waterfront at night |
Our evenings have been to the soundtrack of "duelling bands" along the waterfront and from our own dockside bar, as we mentioned above. There is still a use for those earplugs when it's time for bed. We've walked up
Avenida Serdan, the main street fronting the marina; found banks, a supermarket, a dollar store, Woolworth's and various other establishments. We hope to have some time for a break and see the city for fun as well. We'll do another post with pictures of some of the historical buildings which are plentiful here in Guaymas, some of them being very architecturally impressive former temples of finance.
Bye for now...here's a bonus -- we finally have another picture of us -- usually one or the other is behind the camera - Cheers!
