Baby steps

After a few weeks of waiting for Ziggy to heal from the presumed coyote attack and a couple of rental emergencies, we were finally able to get down to San Carlos for what would be our first foray into the “cruising” life. Okay, it was only an out-and-back over-nighter.

I’ve been dealing with a leaky dinghy. Longitudinal cracks had developed on the underside of the large tubes on either side, and when I floated it, water would seemingly boil from underneath. Not good.

We’ll need this bit of equipment in order to get to shore, never mind the dogs’ needs. I had brought along a couple of pints of bicycle tire sealant and put half a pint into both tubes. Upon re-inflation, they appeared to be holding air! Yay!

$17.00 spent to save a $1,200 dinghy from the scrap heap felt pretty okay, until I noticed that the floor was starting to separate from the tubes as well. We’ll get wet feet, but at least we won’t sink for now. I’ll either have to purchase some Hypalon glue in order to rehab this old dinghy, or just bite the bullet and go brand-new. My web browsing is littered with dinghy sales pitches.

The old cockpit speakers are now in my wood shop, living out the rest of their lives in anonymity. The holes that were drilled for the original speaker wiring in the cockpit got a down-and-dirty sealing up with a couple of bolts, nuts and trim washers.

The problem:

And the fix:

The new speakers are mounted on either side of the cockpit’s aluminum arch supports.

They’re older Jensen marine-rated 2-ways with 150 watts of capability and sound great with the new Pioneer Bluetooth-enabled stereo.

Besides the dinghy and sound system work, I was also looking forward to getting the watermaker out of mothballs for an acid test of its functionality. But before that, I needed to secure the Clark pump to the shelf on which it resides. A bit of yoga was needed to hash out the holes for through-bolting, then a check of the entire system’s plumbing arrangement. The previous owners were in the middle of some medical issues so they had some friends do the installation. The only problem I’ve found (so far) was a mis-routed pressure sensing leg. It had been installed after the pre-filters instead of before them, so an easy bit of plumbing awaits my next visit. Then I’ll check every connection for tight band clamps and threaded fittings, hoping that no leaks develop.

For our first “cruise” we’re going up to Bahia San Pedro, about 10-12 miles as the crow flies from our home base at Marina Real. Pam’s been haranguing me to get away from the polluted harbor, but the dinghy’s been holding me back from just doing it. Now that we’ve a relatively serviceable dinghy, let’s do it! The outward bound route (in black) was interrupted by the GPS getting knocked loose from the iPad.

We put out on a Saturday morning, motoring past the red flag that’s supposed to keep us safe in the harbor from the heavy winds and seas. We had a decent wind from the SSW with swells about 1 meter high. About 2/3rds of the voyage was with these swells rolling us from side to side giving Gilligan a reason to puke up his breakfast 3 times. The other tack was with the swells on our starboard quarter, a much better ride. So it goes.

About 4 hours later, we spied what looked like a small bay with a sandy beach. Upon entering the bay, there are two sailboats anchored in the lee of a small spit of hilly terrain on the South side. One of them is our buddies Virgil and Juanita aboard Halcyon Days!

First, I anchored too far out, exposing ourselves to some decent swell radiating around the point. Then I anchored too close to the other sailboat that was already there.

Third time’s a charm, and when my rode got put out I was in a reasonable position relative to both of my new anchor mates. Let’s pump up that dinghy.

Now for the hard part: getting the dogs into the dinghy for their afternoon ablutions ashore. Not without some consternation, both of ’em ended up in the little inflatable and I rowed the whole gang to shore about 150 yards away. This being my first dinghy landing, I sort of lost control just as we reached the beach, and the boat turned 90 degrees, dumping Pam out into the surf. Success! 🙂

Getting them back aboard required a bit of finesse, dealing with the swells still present in the anchorage. Just short of hanging the dogs from their leashes, we got their forelegs up onto the step, with one person pulling from above and the other pushing from below. Timing is everything.

Some photos of our anchorage. The first one’s of Halcyon Days, a 40+ foot Camper & Nicholson ketch.

Pam got a shot of some old white guy with a drywall knife trying to clean the hull of sea life.

It’s nice to be able to see your entire hull when diving.

We got invited over to Virgil’s boat for dinner that evening, which we accepted gratefully. Taquitos and lentils with rum and cokes. We reciprocated the next morning after a rolly night at anchor with leftover chili and egg burritos, sans the alcohol.

Another trip to shore and back for the dogs, then it was time to button up the ship for the sail back South towards San Carlos. The winds had dropped and shifted to the Northeast, giving us an almost dead downwind run with calm seas. When we finally reached Bahia Algodones we pointed the boat into the wind to drop the main, and then let the breeze turn the boat around towards port while re-deploying the foresail.

After docking in our slip without a hitch (there’s never anyone around when that happens), we celebrated with dinner out at Don Lalo’s taqueria. Unfortunately, we need to head back to Tucson tomorrow or the Mexican immigration authorities will charge us 500 pesos each for overstaying our free 7-day visas. That would be about 55-60 bucks that would PO old Pam to no end.

Can’t have that, can we?