Monday October 29, 2012
Tuesday October 30, 2012
Early in the mornings (around 7:30am), we reported our position to the Baja Ha-Ha Grand Poobah by way of a relay. The Mother Ship, a 63 foot custom built catamaran called Profligate, kept track of the fleet's progress (approximately 150 boats) by way of a morning roll call on Single Side Band (SSB) radio. Since we (and many other boats) did not have SSB, we reported our position via the shorter-range (and much cheaper) Very High Frequency (VHF) radio to a boat that did have SSB and that was willing to relay our position. Later in the trip we realized how lucky we were--it was easier to relay your position instead of participating in a lengthy hour-long plus chatterfest (which we got to hear once the fleet was in port and they conducted the roll call on VHF). It was all informative but way too long. Lawrence (the eagle eye) noticed the pin fall from the shackle on the clew of our mainsail. It was quickly replaced with a spare and turned into a non-event. Amanda and her Dad saw a sunfish on the surface and we have the sketch Amanda drew for me. At 2:45pm we caught our first fish (of many), YEAH!! It was a 20-24"8-12 pound Yellowfin Tuna, and was caught while sailing 7 knots in 15-16 knot winds. Amanda LOVED being part of the fishing team but did not care for the blood. She did however enjoy announcing our first fish on VHF radio to those boats monitoring the channel that agreed to chat about fish with a 6 year old. Boy did we enjoy fresh sashimi, fresh sushi, and tuna tacos. Nothing much more eventful except the radar pretended to stop working which was concerning but it revived itself after a long break. Day turned into night again and we repeated night watches with variations.
Wednesday October 31, 2012
Happy Birthday Amanda!!!! Happy Halloween!!!! We were surfing downwind. Amanda was happy all day and she received gifts all day. She very much enjoyed receiving a camera (from Mom & Dad) and she proceeded to document most of the 64 fish we caught during the trip. She equally enjoyed getting a fishing lure from Kevin, pancakes and an awesome rice crispy treat birthday cake from chef Andrew, killer head-phones from Uncle Lawrence, and a Spanish story book (read by Andrew in Spanish to Amanda) along with a personal English translation and a totally cool blue plastic moldable flower vase, perfect for travel (especially on a boat) from Aunt Marilyn! MANY THANKS FOR ALL THE GIFTS!! We caught 5 more fish, all Yellowfin Tuna, including a triple (3 fish on 3 lines at the same time). It was windy, 18+ knots with wavy rolling swells. The boat creaked a lot. We are about 30 miles offshore and there is no land in sight in any direction. We are catching too many fish to count (though we are keeping a log). We enjoyed more tuna sushi and Amanda LOVES her camera and taking photos of fish. For dinner, we had Amanda's favorite: Steak, couscous and tomatoes. Andrew's rice crispy treat dessert with a candle on top was a hit. Lawrence even carved it into the shape of an A (for Amanda). By nighttime the seas were rougher with 8-10 foot faces. The crashing waves sounded a bit treacherous from below. The auto-pilot was turned off in favor of hand-steering by compass. It was a crazy night surfing downwind in following seas. Just as we finished dinner and were contemplating our course, a big wave sent some dishes flying into Kevin's lap. It was perfect timing to duck behind Cedros Island where it was calmer and we motored. Pretending to sleep below with the engines on is quite amusing (as in LOUD). Nonetheless, the moon is LARGE and BRIGHT. There are occasional shooting stars and WE LOVE OUR CREW and Amanda is a trooper!!!
 |
| Amanda's 6th birthday at sea |
 |
| Kevin's beautiful Yellowfin Tuna |
 |
| Kevin, Lawrence, Mark - chillin' |
 |
| Mark and Kevin - cheers! |
 |
| Amanda's beautiful Yellowfin Tuna |
 |
| Liz and Amanda with birthday gifts from Marilyn/Mike |
 |
| Another beautiful sunset |
Thursday November 1, 2012
We arrived in Bahia Tortugas at 8:01am. It is a large bay that accommodates the whole fleet by anchorage. After anchoring, we immediately went swimming (i.e. bathing) and paddled around on the surfboard. Then we took a dinghy ride into town. We walked through town till we arrived at the large Corona bottle. Then we meandered across town to a big baseball stadium where the whole town participated in a fun baseball game pitched entirely by Richard, the Grand Poobah. After the game we took a Panga ride back to BLUEWATER while Lawrence and Kevin hired a dinghy mechanic to dismantle our carburetor. The day was splendid but night time was rough in that some other families organized boat trick-or-treating but we missed it. It was super windy and we couldn't trust our little dinghy against strong winds. Other boats who offered to take us around never quite made it to our far end of the fleet even though one guy radioed that he was still trying to get to us by paddling. By that time, Amanda had fallen asleep in her Vietnamese outfit and face paint so I urged the guy to stay safe and turn back to his own boat. Prior to that I had been shining a light on our mast to signal the other boats we had candy to give out and were hoping someone could make it over.
No comments:
Post a Comment