Hola again,
Wednesday morning I went to the local cafe/internet place to attend a computer club meeting. They couldn’t help me in part because their net connection went down. But I did meet the guy who operates the Internet for them.
When we returned Friday evening I go see this guy and as soon as I start my laptop his Internet connection goes down. Turns out, 2 hours later that my laptop was shutting his system down. My built-in wireless card is defective so I buy one from him for $35 and I can receive email but he can’t figure how to send mail so I’m only half way home.
Back to the Vagari log: We left Wednesday late morning and had a great sail up the coast. We were going to a small cove that was supposed to be great for one boat and protected from South winds/swells. When we arrived we felt it was too small (i.e. didn’t allow enough room to swing around the anchor when the wind changed direction) so we tucked in behind a large point that protected us from the wind and waves.
We didn’t see another boat or person the rest of the day except for a couple of pangas going past the point. We went swimming, snorkeling and took a dinghy ride. The moon was full with clear a sky so the landscape had a white color all night. We were in heaven until 4 am when the wind started screaming off the land. The anchor was holding and we were to close to shore for any waves to build up but the boat kept swinging around. This kept up until noon. We moved over to a large bay on the other side of the point hoping for better protection.
Two powerboats that we had met from our dock come in to share the bay with us for the night. Same problem at night except the wind started at dusk. Vagari has 300' of 3/8" chain for an anchor rode (line). We put out over 100' of rode and anchor in about 20' of water. The result is a strong anchoring system. The challenge is that when the wind shifts 180 degrees the pull on the anchor is from the opposite direction the anchor has to reset to the new direction. The main anchor on Vagari does that better than any other type of anchor. We also have 300' of heavy line we can use for anchoring but in these conditions we go with the heavy chain.
We have found some good restaurants and supermarkets in Guaymas, which is 18 miles from the dock. I think we have both lost weight due to the heat and physical work we are doing. Mom looks great! She is tanned and much thinner. She is very good at driving Vagari at sea and when anchoring. Our meals are very simple on the boat but healthy. No junk food except we drink liters of diet Coke every day. We go out for one meal a day usually when we in port.
A “dock guy” who cleaned our boat has befriended us. He also recommended a canvas shop that we use and a guy to go over the outboard. The outboard was back the next day and worked like a charm. We had a fitting on the mainsail halyard that we couldn’t open so I showed it to Pancho. Using vice grips, a screwdriver and lots of WD 40 (which I got from him) we had it open and working like new in 20 minutes. He is experienced at what he does and grew up in the area so he knows the local shops. Guaymas is a deep-water seaport with fleet of 300 + shrimp boats so they have most of what we need.
Big happenings in Marina Real Friday evening. The president of Mexico dropped in with his two helicopters and many white suburban vans. We got stopped at the gate and told very politely to proceed to the housing area until the presidents’ caravan had cleared the area. We got to see where the rich and infamous live.
Love Dad,
Saturday evening
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