June 25, 2008
Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico

It’s officially summer and we both realized that this is the first time in either of our lives that we haven’t seen snow in more than year! SV Wand’rin Star is currently at the Singlar Marina, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico after a quick run up the coast from Puerto Vallarta. We left Paradise Village on June 6 after Gary returned from Tahiti…oh that’s right; he’d been gone for 53 days!

His final thoughts on SV Grace's journey and photos will be on the Pacific Puddle Jump page shortly.. He really enjoyed French Polynesia, returned with an appropriate gift of a beautiful teardrop black pearl, and learned much from the 21-day crossing from Puerto Vallarta to Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. We’ve even started daydreaming about heading to the South Pacific after the Galapagos Islands.

I was at the airport when he & Bill arrived after two red-eye flights and more than 36 hours of traveling; the smile on his face when he saw me was priceless! It was so good to have him home, safe and sound. (Well at least as sound as when he left!) He had a 14-hour layover in Hawaii and was able to visit with our friends, Tom & Sue of SV Three Bags Full. They were busy preparing to sail from Hawaii to Kodiak Island, Alaska and Gary enjoyed sharing some of our tales of Alaska with them. See their route here.

Bill had rented a car which also made our life easier for the next few days. If the reader has a good memory, a little light may be going off as the crew on SV Grace was originally composed of Geoff, Gary & Gary. Unfortunately, due to a medical condition, the other Gary was not able to complete the trip and our thoughts continue to be with him and his family during this difficult time. Bill of SV Scot Free IV filled in as crew and I spent 3 weeks with his delightful wife Sue, before she returned to Vancouver, BC. Bill would be leaving Puerto Vallarta on June 6, heading back to Vancouver with their adopted dog, Mexi, after readying his boat for the summer in PV. As the result of his generosity, Gary & I were able to use the car for an afternoon, making it much easier to provision before heading north into the Sea of Cortez for the summer. The boat has to be north of 27 degrees for our insurance to be effective from July 1-November 1, due to hurricane season AND we wanted to explore the Sea before leaving Mexico for our trip farther south.

It felt wonderful to be throwing off the dock lines and leaving the marina after being in Banderas Bay for 6 months. It will also help the cruisin’ kitty as marina space in Mexico IS NOT cheaper than the States and 6 months of paying slip fees adds up. As we needed a few days to get our sea legs before heading out into the Pacific for the trek north, our first day’s distance was only 6 miles as we dropped the hook in La Cruz. The dink wasn’t blown up, so we didn’t even go ashore to our favorite tacqueria for dinner. It felt SOOOO good to be at anchor and feeling the motion of the ocean under our keel, plus the cash register was no longer going cha-ching! The next day was spent tidying the boat and getting ready to sail in open water to Isla Isabela via an overnight stop in San Blas. We had decided to revisit Isla Isabela because our first stop at the National Wildlife Preserve was so captivating, see March 2008 LOG. The sail over was comfortable and we’re getting more in tune with how the boat responds under different sail configurations. There were several boats in the anchorage when we were here in the fall as well as many active fishing pangas; this time we had it all to ourselves. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperative as the winds shifted and were now coming from the south, making the anchorage unsafe…so we decided to hoist the anchor and head to Mazatlan back on the mainland. For the next week, we’d be doing most of our traveling overnight as anchorages were 80+ miles apart and we wanted to arrive in daylight. It’s easier to leave in the afternoon, travel all night and arrive in the next morning’s light. We pulled up to the fuel dock at El Cid Marina, Mazatlan, at 0845 on June 11 and took on 117 gallons of fuel, the first since we fueled in Cabo San Lucas in November. The price per gallon was $2.47 USD for diesel, much better than if we were refueling in the States! The joy of having a motorsailer is that even if we’re motoring, the main is usually up and we’re getting a boost from what ever wind there is, so fuel efficiency is quite good – approximately 1¼ gal/hour at 6 knots.

We only stayed at El Cid Marina for one night, but that was enough time to get the laundry done and meet some really friendly folks on SV Gallant Fox and SV Pieces of Eight who were summering over there. We’ll stop again at Mazatlan for a week on our way south as many cruisers rave about the city and its markets; we don’t want to miss exploring it, but weren’t ready to spend time in a marine.













Our next port of call, Altata, is one not often visited by cruisers due to the difficulty getting to the town through shallow Altata Bay with its unmarked channel (we definitely understand that now!) We left El Cid just after lunch on June 12 and entered the channel into the bay at 1100. Two groundings and 3 hours later we had finally traveled the 5 miles to the anchorage off the beach at Altata! Our friends, Pat & Trish on SV Rhapsody visited Altata in the fall and posted the waypoints used to navigate the tricky channel on their web site. Gary downloaded them and we also had waypoints from our Rains cruising guide; regrettably - probably due to weather over the ensuing months, the channel wasn’t where it had been and SV Wand’rin Star soon ran aground in the sandy shoal. Even with Gary’s excellent ship-handling skills, we didn’t budge. Fortunately, a panga with two men came to our rescue and after a mimed, partial Spanish conversation, pulled us off the sandbar and pointed us in the direction of deeper water. We kept our eyes glued to the depth sounder but within 30 minutes we were again seeing 0000! Our guardian angels returned, but alas their motor wasn’t powerful enough to unground us this time! Shortly, another panga arrived; additional lines were led to each panga thus providing enough PULL to get us off the sandbar. “Muchas Gracias” were shouted to the kind senors and cold cervezas were passed to them. Gary went very slowly the remaining 1½ miles and we arrived with no further incidences. We could definitely see why this isn’t a major cruising destination, if only because of the relative difficulty of getting here. Once here, everyone is friendly and helpful, again I definitely appreciated the poco (little) Spanish I know!. Altata is a beach resort for Mexicans from the state of Sinaloa, not a gringo resort. The layout of the town is interesting as the “main” street is right on the beach and part of it disappears at high tide. Many of the beach palapa restaurants have water lapping under the tables and chairs at high tide! Strange?!? The first cruising boat arrived here in 2001 and Gustavo of Restaurante La Perla warmly greeted the folks aboard. It’s now tradition for all cruisers who make it to Altata to dine at his restaurant and to enjoy his picture book of the other cruisers who’ve ventured into Altata. We recognized the several of the boats and took this picture of Gustavos and me to be added to the album. While in Altata we also met folks on a wooden sailboat from Port Townsend, WA, where we had spent two winters…it sure is a small world on the water.

Sunday was Dia del Padre and we splurged using the cell phone ($1.49/min.) to call Dad and wish him Happy Father’s Day. It was bonus day as my sister & brother-in-law, Diane & Den, and my daughter and son-in-law were also visiting from out of state/town and we were able to speak briefly with everyone. As I’ve mentioned before being away from family and friends is the most difficult part of this vagabond life for me; I’d become spoiled with our good Internet connections in Banderas Bay which made calling with SKYPE so convenient.

Monday morning found us crawling back through the bay on our way to Topolobampo (what a fun name to say!) Gary had carefully plotted our course on the way in (along with the grounding spots) and added some information gained from the Washington boat. We were doing quite well, when alas, Wand’rin Star found a sand bar and decided she wanted to stay put. Luckily, we had already hoisted the main sail, causing the boat to heel slightly, and that along with the wind, helped us limp off the bar as the tide rose and Gary maneuvered. A sigh of relief as the instruments showed boat speed and depth. However the end of the “excitement” was still to come. Just as we were clear, the nav computer crashed and Gary lost all of the waypoints going in & out of the channel. The air turned a little blue on the boat as he tried to recapture them and navigate the boat out into deeper water. On our incoming approach to the channel, we’d seen one sea buoy at what we assumed was the entrance to the channel. As we passed a buoy, Gary was still fiddling with the computer and his lost way points and I was doing something else, but we both saw the buoy and assumed that we were out of the channel and clear of the breakers on either side. Soon, the depth sounder’s readings started to decrease …6.6’…..5’….4.3’…..something was WRONG! The breakers were coming in and we were in shallow water off shore…..2.1’!!! We donned our life jackets as the possibility of a grounding with breakers washing over us was very real. Again, Gary’s excellent boat-handling skills and concentration saved the day and we changed course, only to realize that we were passing another sea buoy. This one did mark the end of the channel and the beginning of deep water! It took several minutes for our hearts to stop pounding and words to make their way to our mouths after that close call. We talked about it afterward and determined that we were both distracted by minor things when we thought all was under control….luckily the sea gods were understanding and gave us a second chance. The rest of the day and evening were spent sailing to Topolobampo, arriving there in daylight.

Topolobampo is a shipping port and has undergone development since the cruising guide was published. The surround waters were also very shallow and we were very limited in our maneuvering. After a long night of travel, we finally dropped anchor off a lovely, sandy beach and spent two quiet days there. We didn’t go ashore here, but rather just enjoyed “being” on the boat. Our second day another sailboat entered the bay and hailed us. It was Bill & Lisa on SV Beyond Reason, a Hans Christian 43’, who had also come south with us on the Baja Ha Ha last October. It was nice to chat with them and we hope to catch up with them on the Baja side later this summer. An anchorage on the northern shore was calling to us, so we hoisted the anchor and attempted to find our way to the new anchorage but were again stymied by shallow water. What was to be a short trip to another spot in Bahia Topolobampo morphed into a 32-hour trip to Isla Pajaros, just outside of Guaymas! At 0617 June 19th, we crossed the 27th parallel and were “officially” north of the hurricane zone per our insurance carrier. As conditions were good, we sailed with the winds on our stern. Unfortunately shortly after gybing to maintain course, I failed to watch the winds closely enough causing us to do an “accidental gybe”, which was very un-nerving and heart stopping as Gary had been handling lines close to the boom. It was another of those situations that could have been drastically life-changing and a very tough way to learn sail handling lessons. The power of the wind is never far from one’s thoughts while on the water and I still feel very overwhelmed with my inadequacies. Fortunately, we were again able to talk about what we did correctly and incorrectly to hopefully prevent a repeat performance.

The anchorage at Isla Pajaros was deserted (most folks don’t visited here in the summer due to the heat – 90 + degrees!) and we had a great view of the cactus-covered island and part of Guaymas harbor. This was home for a couple days and we got the dink ready so we could go ashore to visit the Capitania de Puerto to check in when we moved into the harbor. The cruising guide listed an anchorage right off the point by the Fisherman’s Statue so we dropped the hook, but were surprised to see a marina! No mention of one was made in any of our information. We dinked to the marina and were greeted by Julio, one of the employees, who helped us tie up and invited us to visit the marina office. This is a government-run project that is part of the long-range Mars del Cortez tourist program and under the auspices of Fonatur and Singlar. Carlos, the harbormaster, was very helpful and we decided to move into the marina for a week as we were awaiting the arrival of Leon & Letica of SV Long Ben in a few days. The rates are excellent….$128 US for 7 nights, there are showers, laundry, wi-fi, a pool, a coffee café, and the marina is only a block from downtown with large supermarkets, a farmer’s market, and all the trimmings of a town of 130,000. Guaymas is not a tourist town and we appear to the only gringos here. My Spanish is improving out of necessity and we’re enjoying delicious local food! We’ve been struck by the large number of families taking nightly walks along the waterfront until late into the evening, as well as the impromptu entertainment. This is a town that definitely shuts down in the heat of the day and becomes revitalized as the sun sets and the temperatures drop.

Sunday night, June 29, was our last night in Guaymas and it surely was a night! About 2200, we noticed a drastic change in the weather as the wind went from 2 kts. to 30 kts. in a matter of seconds and the sky was filled with dust. It was the beginning of a blow that would last for 3 hours and our wind instrument recorded a gust of 74.9 kts!!!! We quickly began to double up on docklines, double-checked the security of items on deck and then Gary went out to assist the marina staff and others with the two unoccupied boats that needed attention. While still working on our boat, he was at the bow and said that the wind was so strong that he thought he might be blown off the boat....he quickly hit the deck and laid still for a few moments until the wind subsided. Lines and docks held as we experienced just a few drops of rain, some thunder, and sustained winds of 40-45 kts; the morning dawned bright and calm as we left Guaymas heading to San Carlos.



Leon & Letica are due to arrive in San Carlos, about 5 km from here, next week to work on their boat, SV Long Ben, which is moored at Marina Real. We’re looking forward to seeing them again and also exploring San Carlos, with its lovely beaches and snorkeling. They have kindly agreed to bring us some things on our “Wish List of Stuff from the States”; things like sweet pickle relish, pick-a-size paper towels, Myer’s Dark rum, and top-side paint…a rather ecletic list!

Again the log is up to date...whewww! I mentioned at the end of the last log that writing this is like doing laundry – you think you’re done and then you take off your clothes and there’s more to do. I’ve thought about that statement several times recently as we are definitely wearing fewer clothes as the temperature rises, so maybe it will be easier to keep up with the laundry and the log in the future!

May you enjoy the blessings of a comfortable summer!

Dorothy, Gary & Murray the Boat Cat

Addendum: Just a note about Murray and the heat. He has adapted very well to living in the hot, humid Mexican summer by sleeping most of the day and then enjoying the freedom of roaming the boat at night with the ports and hatches open in the cooler air. It amazes us to think that he is now ten years old!

© Copyright 2008
Last updated on September 2, 2008