March 31, 2013, Easter Sunday, Isla Isabel to San Blas

It is only 40 miles from Isla Isabel to San Blas so we had planned to leave early in the morning and do it as a day sail.  Because of the sudden south wind we ended up leaving at 3pm so it will be an overnight sail.  If we have a brisk wind we will get there at midnight so this is one case where less wind is better, and that is a good thing because no sooner do we clear the island than the wind drops to 3 knots.  Then it keeps dropping until by sunset it is down to 1.  Eventually it creeps back up to about 2 and we settle in for another long quiet overnight sail.  There is a high overcast so not many stars.  The moon comes up about midnight.  The auto tiller holds the course so there is not much to do on my watch but sit and read. 

April 1, Monday
The next day dawns clear and calm and we are still coasting along at about 1 knot.  The coastline along here is really flat and the shallow water extends way offshore so we have set a course to keep us well off shore.  Every once in a while I turn on the plotter to check the depth.  At one point it reads 2 fathoms which seems impossible this far from land.  Luckily it sorted itself out before I panicked and woke up Alan. 

The entrance to San Blas harbor is supposed to be very treacherous, with a sand bar across a very narrow channel. First time visitors are advised to get a pilot to lead them in.  The town is also known for having hundred of no-see-ums which eat you alive at dusk and dawn.  Because of both of these factors, our plan was to anchor in the bay south of town and take the bus into town for the day.   However, it is high tide and so calm that we decide to go ahead into the harbor and anchor there.  I do my radio negotiation in Spanish with the port captain.  There is no pilot and he seems surprised that we are planning to anchor but gives us the OK to enter.  The channel is indeed very narrow and the depth drops to less than 2 fathoms over the bar, but once we are in, it holds steady between 2 and 3.  We pass 2 very new looking dredging machines.  According to the charts, we are to follow a long narrow channel past the shrimp fleet and anchor just opposite the marina.  In order to really see where he is going in close quarters, Alan needs to stand up to steer.  However, when he is standing he cannot see the depth gage.  So I sit by the plotter and call off the numbers to him when it is shallow.    because the boom is between us, we cannot see each other and I can not hear him but he can hear me.  And so we glide along until we are just at the fuel dock and opposite where we are supposed to anchor.  Suddenly the depth starts to drop from 2.2 to 2.1, 2.0, 1.9, 1.8, 1.5, 1.2.  (I get real nervous whenever it gets below 2 but I trust that Alan knows what he is doing.)  1.1, 1.0, he still does not stop.  .9, .8, .7, and there is a shudder and jerk and we are aground! 

For some reason, it takes him several minutes to realize what has happened.  It is not possible that it is that shallow right by the fuel dock and opposite the marina full of other sailboats.  Apparently the channel is VERY narrow here and runs right along the shore.  So here we are, stuck, really stuck, crosswise in the channel, at high tide, which means there is no chance of just waiting for the tide to lift us off.  He tries going forward, reverse, turning, nothing.  People are gathering on shore to watch the excitement but don’t seem to have any bright ideas.  I can’t get the marina office on the radio.  Eventually I put out a call for “anyone who speaks English is San Blas harbor”  That raises one boat who is watching us from the marina and can’t understand why we got stuck.  Finally two guys show up in a ponga and offer to tow us.   Ropes are tossed and ties, engines rev’ed, nothing.  The rudder is now jammed in the mud.  Meanwhile, we seem to have become the tourist attraction of the day.  People are gathering on the shore and several small boats load up with passengers and cruise around. The panga guy eventually gets out his radio and soon another boat shows up.  With the two of them pulling together, they finally get us free.  They seem to think we want go into the marina but I have had enough of San Blas harbor and we head back down the channel and out across the bar again.

Three miles south of town, we anchor is a wide, shallow bay lined with palaba restaurants and watch a glorious sunset while drinking the last of the warm beer.  As a final end to this crazy day, we get a radio enquiry from another boat wanting to know if we have seen the boat, Magic Places.  Apparently it was taking on water on it’s way down from Mazatlan and has not been heard from since yesterday.