Pac Voy Day 4-8

It started slow on day 4 with us drifting in a huge pond to finding the wind this afternoon.We saw 2 bright white sailboats behind us before sunset last night, yay! Last night started to be a good sail until the wind turned off about midnight. Rolling us around in a circle and flipping about. We dropped all sails and bobbed for a few hours. Finally over breakfast it blew 8 knots, but slowed to 5 about noon, for 2 hours, then back up. Darn unpredicted fickle weather. We ran our main and Genoa all day.

A few activities to pass the time in our own personal duldrums: Scott started a Steve Martin book, Kathy had an epic nap, made fried plantains, sourdough bread and yogurt, we played a quick game of gin rummy to a 100, Scott took first place! We had a great discussion and drawings about lat and long, times zones, international date line, and what time it is actually now since our phones won’t be able to update out here with no cell towers.

Best news: Land Ho! We saw Isle Socorro. It will be the last land we see this month!!!

We chose not to fly Pink Floyd; the spinnaker at night with only 1 person awake, in the dark shifty winds, our Genoa gives us all the speed we need!  We have been turning on starlink for about an hour twice a day. Its mostly working well, but draws 5 amps per hour  and we have been managing battery levels. Today was cloudy and cool, good wind speeds of 13-15 knots and 77 degrees. It was fun to study our world cruising books and discuss future wants and wishes. A very great thing about being way out here are: no mosquitos, flies or bees. No sealife today, except for so.e stinky guests and for a white boobie, and it ain’t mine!

Day 7 and 8 …and….”The Call”
Sunrise for the second day in a row eluded us. The blue sky’s we had 3 days ago have yielded to Grey sky’s and muted colors in the water below us. For the second straight day the seas have been big, and it doesn’t help that we need to go almost dead downwind to get to our next waypoint. Sea Bella is a 30,000lbs surf board that lumbers down a face of a wave and she can see 11 knots while the scuppers on both sides of the boat might see water. I watch in amazement what surfing style Sea Bella does have is handled by the autopilot effortlessly. Thank god!
Sleeping, cooking, sail changes and even just sitting become a challenge. We could easily be sailing faster with more sail changes and pushing our gear but comfort and safety keep us conservative.
Yesterday morning we get a call out on the SSB morning net. Sea Bella is being hailed to change course to assist a vessel in distress. We are told a sailboat with a family of five has been dismasted and needs our help. We quickly change course and wait eagerly to receive the details via our SAT phone Iridium Go. As the details emerge, we learn that we are the closest vessel to them and we are still at least 220 miles from them.
Racing through our minds is how are we going to get these people on board in these 12’ seas! Also, how is Sea Bella going to carry (now) 7 people including a 5 month old Baby another 2000 miles.
Baby!!!! Ha. Whatever, we’ll make it work if we have too.
A few hours into our new course we learn that a tanker was also being diverted to intercept but that it was necessary for us to stay in route in just in case the tanker couldn’t render proper assistance. 6 hours later, the tanker pulls along side and rescues the mother and three children. The skipper decides to says aboard to try and save the vessel. He has cut the mast and rig away and is now under auxiliary power.
So, Sea Bella goes on her way, mother and children are now very comfortable on the tanker but have a new way point of Japan and the vessel’s skipper tries to figure out how to motor back to the Socorro’s with remaining fuel on board. The story has many more details but I won’t bore you. 😉
We are about 1/3 of the way there. We are looking forward to the equator and some flat seas. Until then, we will leave you with some pics of our efforts in find a sleeping spot

Pac Voy-The First 3 Days

The water is so much bluer 2 miles deep! The stars are so brilliant and use up the entire sky, right down to the horizon!

Such a slight breeze all morning, going only between 2 about 3 knots. Very little swell, clear skies and water and air temps at about 80 degrees. No sealife, birds or boats to be seen. We dont want to put a hand line in the water until we have room in the freezer or fridge for a fish.

Activities of the day: quickly made fried eggs, avocados and tortillas at 7am before we started healing again, watered new basil plants, screwed down leaky skylight in vbirth, made new dynema spinnaker bow soft shackle, hung up sheets for shade, and noticed the thousands of string of pearl jellies.

The lack of wind the first two days has been biggest frustration. We even decided to motor an hour here and there, not good. Definitely not making the miles we had hoped but doing better this morning. The first night was a drift fest with 0 wind and 3-5 foot seas. That does not bode well for sleeping.
Last night we had a steady 5-7 knots and it made for a good night. I actually told Kathy that we had a calmer night underway than we’ve had at anchor in front of La Cruz. Ha
We are planning on sailing out to about Clarion and heading southwest. It might have been light the on the way out but we will definitely have a sled ride south after Wednesday.
We have also both given up on any alcohol consumption for the passage. Many cruisers will have a beer or so but we decided it would be good for us. May be the longest I’ve gone without an adult beverage since college!! 😝
We are on the SSB twice a day talking to many. Super fun to keep up with others and still having fun with an upgraded radio I picked up in Barra.
Only about 20 days remaining!!!! Lol
See the notes below the pics for more information. You can always find us on our Predictwind Tracker and we will post here occasionally if Starlink permits.

Kathy’s fix it plan to all things that go bump in the night.
New little hobby
Delicious Pizza
Communing with the dolphins

Bon Voyage Mexico

Goodbye Mexico and cruising friends around here, it’s been AWESOME!! Our last day on terre firme was an exciting and busy one: topping off on diesel/propane, dinghy tied up tight, laundry, final run for leafy greens and fruits, friend visits, stowing all deck toys, securing all items, making up salon beds, and spending our last pesos in La Cruz. We have a 3 day good wind window going west, then we catch good trade winds going south. Expected to be a 21 day passage total.
Ready…
Aim…..
Fire……

Goodbye Mexico, and land for awhile!

Goodbye Mexico and cruising friends around here, it’s been AWESOME!! Our last day on terre firme was an exciting and busy one: topping off on diesel/propane, dinghy tied up tight, laundry, final run for leafy greens and fruits, friend fun visits, stowing all deck toys, securing all items, making up salon beds, and spending our last pesos in La Cruz. We have a 3 day good wind window going west, then we catch good trade winds going south. Expected to be a 21 day passage total.
Ready…
Aim…..
Fire……

Andrew Visits

Wonderful week with my terrific brother Andrew: Day 1-adventure to PV Airport and back to Barra. Day 2-sailed 40 km to private Bat Island. Paddle boarded, snorkeled and hiked to cave. Star gazing, splashing in bioluminescence and a chess game.
Day 3-snorkled for 3 hours, saw amazing urchins then surfed Chamela. Chess rematch. Day 4-Snorkeled with Dean and Gaby for 2 hours found a huge conch. Sailed to Perula, beach walk and ate coconut shrimp. Day 5-great dinghy ride to snorkle spot, saw a turtle then sailed south with hundreds of dolfins to the Acquarium. Ate fresh tuna sushi and played cards with Ave Marina. Day 6- snorkeled acqarium, saw spotted eagle ray. Tasted Raicilla and laughed with Poncho. Sailed south, caught and returned an abandoned kayak, went to Tenacatita for home made bread and beef stew. Great game of Stratego. Day 7-Breaching Humpback and her baby, snorkeled and saw giant glowing jellyfish. Paddle boarded through mangrove river. Sailed south to Barra. Stratego game and special dinner at the Art Gallery with amazing guitarist Salvador. Day 8-sunrise hike to secret beach, huge waves and fun stairway. Saw chacalaca and coatimundi. Came back for French Bakery treats. Took chicken bus to Melaque, walked new malecon and tacos on the beach. Back to Grand Isla Hotel hammocks for epic naps and hot tub with friends. Walked the amazing grounds and pools. What a week!