5/19-23, 2013, Barra to Zihuatanejo,  Four Nights at Sea

7:00, sun going down, high tide, slowly creeping across the lagoon.  1.5 fathoms where we are anchored.  The anchor comes up covered with black mud.  Alan has put waypoints into the GPS from our cruising guide but the guide is 3 years old and sand bars shift.  Slowly, slowly we head out.  Depth gauge reads less than 1 fathom.  We creep along knowing there are only inches of water under the keel.  Then the bump as it hits.  Reverse, reverse we are off.  Now which way to turn.  Check the GPS.  Creep along.  Less than 1 fathom.  Past the point where we stuck on the way in.  Little by little the depth increases.  I never thought that 1.5 fathoms would seem like a lot of water.  In the channel now and out of the breakwater into the ocean. 

It is just sunset and there is a good wind.  We are heading south to Zihuatenajo, about 200 miles south.   It all goes well it will be a 3-4 day sail.  Once we are out we raise the sails and set the course.  The patch where it was torn looks good.  I whip up dinner.  I have actually become quite good at cooking underway.  The galley is so small that it is easy to brace myself in and we only ever use the same 1 or 2 pans.  Not much fancy cooking but it keeps us going.  After dinner I’m off to bed.

Midnight, my turn to sail.  Sometime while I was sleeping Alan has turned on the motor.  There is a slight wind but it is coming from dead ahead.  The main concern is that we are in the shipping lanes.  According to AIS, there are large cargo ships all around us.  I never see most of them.  Dodge a few.

The wind comes up towards dawn and blows a steady 7-8 knots all day.  We run the water maker.and take turns sleeping.  Wind dies about dusk and we turn the engine on again.  The sea is glassy calm.  During my watch late at night when I am very sleepy, I suddenly hear loud breathing right next to the boat.  Scary, until I figure out that It is dolphins swimming along beside us.  The wind has gotten really light and shifts.  I actually manage to tack twice without waking Alan.  The third time the wind shifts, I get the sails all confused and in irons.  I finally turn on the engine to get us out of it.  Darn.  But I am starting to get it.

The next day the wind has died to almost nothing.  It is hot and still.  We strip and take turns dumping buckets of cool sea water over each other.  Drifting along.  We try various sail combinations and eventually turn the engine on again.  It stays calm all night and most of the next day, although there are clouds building out to sea.  Alan sleeps most of the day.  We are doing OK with 4 hour watches as long as we follow the schedule but when one of us does not sleep when we should it gets all messed up.  Mostly I try to get Alan to sleep as much as possible during the day, since I need to have him available if anything goes wrong at night.
 

The last night, after 2 days of no wind, suddenly the storm hits. Big clouds have been building all day.   Suddenly there is lightening all around, really close.  There is not much I can do except to keep going and try not to tough anything metal.  We have heard stories of lightening strikes frying all the electronics on boats. when I get a chance, I stash the iPad and the spot in the oven.  They say that will protect them.  Then the rain starts.  There is no cover on the cockpit, it is just wide open.  Luckily the engine is running and the autopilot is working so I take refuge just inside the hatch where I can keep an eye on things but get a little protection from the rain. This is our first rain storm and I discover that most of my “waterproof” jackets aren’t.  I have packed away all of the warm gear into plastic bags in the back of the closet.  Alan is still sleeping through all of this and by the time it is time for his watch the rain has stopped.  I manage to dig out a jacket for him and stumble off to bed.  No sooner has he gotten a cup of coffee and settled down than the rain starts in again.  I feel bad but it is his turn and I am exhausted. 

When I get up again, the rain has let up but there is still a lot of lightning. He has the radar on and has been using it to try to steer around the storms.  He gives me the course heading and heads off to sleep.  Unfortunately there is no way to distinguish between rain and land on the radar and we are getting close to shore.   I follow the course for a while but it seems like we are getting way too close to those lights so I decide to turn and head out to sea. It will be daylight soon and we will be able to see the harbor entrance.  If we are too far out when it gets light we can always head back.  Meanwhile we are headed more or less in the right direction and Alan is getting some sleep. 

Gradually the lightning stops and the sky brightens and I can see our surroundings.  Yes we are close to the shore and there are a number of large islands around.   There is some morning fog but by the time Alan is up it has cleared and we sail into the harbor at Zihuatenago and drop anchor.  We have completed a 4 day passage and survived our first lightening storm.