Sailors Run’s Passage from Mexico to Ecuador. Days- 13-14-15-April-2015.
Day-13-24hr,Run=86NM. Weather: Wind SSE-SSW 5-14kts. Seas: 3-ft. from the south.
Position: Lat. 01*44’N Long. 81* 25’W.
Day-14-24hr. Run=115NM. Weather: Wind: S to SSW. 8-15kts. Seas-South at 4ft.
Position: lat. 00*15’N Long. 080*40’W.
Day-15-10hr. Run=42NM. Wind from South to SW 8-10kts. Seas less than 3′ from the South.
Position; Anchor down at Cabo Pasado Anchorage fifteen miles north of destination. Lat.00*21’S Long. 80*28’W.
Anchored for the night as the protection here is better than off Bahia Caraquez.
Top speed so far=9.3kts.
Distance sailed so far=1373NM.
Distance to go 15NM.
The Rest of the Story:
Day-13.
Debbie and I think we have finally sailed clear of the caldron where all the Hurricanes that pound Hawaii and the Mexican coast are brewed up during Hurricane season. This our third trip through the area and has been the lightest most inconsistent winds we have ever experienced. We think this must be the result of it being an El Nino year.
I also made my second “sv Freedom” bread using all beer and no water and cut the salt to ½ a teaspoon and the bread was totally “yummy”.
I also appreciate the many food tips that are coming in as they are very helpful for planning an extended stay at sea.
Day-14.
We sailed along with a nice light breeze throughout the day encountering at least 6-long liner fisherman operating out of panga’s out here 80 miles off shore. We had one with 3 men aboard pull up alongside, as he was concerned that we were sailing towards his long line that was stretched across our path. Debbie explained to him that we had a full keel with nothing that would catch on his long line and that it would simply go smoothly under our boat. The three men in the panga watched as we smoothly skimmed over their long line and seemed pleased as they fell off and went about their work.
PANGA FISHERMEN
APPROACHING SAILORS RUN 80 MILES OFF OF COLOMBIA
Day-15.
This day is an eventful day as at 2 pm Debbie & I crossed the Equator for our 11th time :
I suppose when you sail 85,000 miles out on these oceans,as we have your bound to have to cross the equator many times
It is exciting to get ready for this event as the time clicks off on the GPS,we had our message in a bottle and we pulled out our Best Tequila to give to King Neptune for a safe passage as well as some good wind.
At exactly 00’00.00 we took the tequila bottle poured plenty into the sea ,thanked King Neptune and then we both had tequila shots and threw our message in the bottle. What was amazing as we prepared to do all this many Dolphins arrived for the ceremony,they were 7ft long,grey with black spots and were jumping all around the boat, as if they knew this event was happening. They were beautiful and brought tears to our eyes and we took many pictures for our blog,so you all will be able to share the event in a few days
AIS SHOWS OUR EQUATOR CROSSING FOR THE 11TH TIME
DEBBIE READY TO THROW MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE OVERBOARD
GIVING KING NEPTUNE HIS SHARE OF TEQUILA FOR SAFE PASSAGE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
NOT ONLY DOES KING NEPTUNE GET TEQUILA BUT THE SKIPPER AS WELL
THE DOLPHINS THAT MYSTERIOUSLY COME TO JOIN IN OUR CELEBRATION OF OUR EQUATOR CROSSING
About the message in the bottle for the 11th time,in all the times we have thrown our messages, only 1 bottle was found. We had crossed the equator for the very first time in 2001 sailing to the Marquesas, after our bottle had bobbed around for 17 months it arrived at Savaii Island, Western Samoa 2002. A gentleman from Auckland, New Zealand was swimming behind the reef by his hotel and the bottle popped up into his hand. He found the note and wrote to our email and said when we get to New Zealand to look him up. What was amazing when he contacted us we were anchored on the next island from him at Apia, Western Samoa. So needless to say our bottle was 40 miles ahead of us. We tried to call the gentleman but we were not able to hook up while in New Zealand, but we know now that messages in a bottle are found
We now have this passage down to the short hairs and with just 50 miles to go and the winds light out of the SW we are able to sail the course.
We had to schedule our pilot for Friday the 17th as we were unsure of when we could get there so played it safe. As night was approaching we decided to anchor at Cabo Pasado for the night to get a good night’s sleep in a more protected anchorage allowing lots of time the next morning to sail down to Bahia Caraquez for our 3pm bar crossing.
The bar crossing is very challenging and requires a pilot that you pay 30-dollars for; a truly good investment for safety sake. We will let you know how this goes with a final installment to this adventure to come in a couple of days.
Happy to be here ,Your Amigos -Jeff & Debbie
P.S APRIL 17TH, FRIDAY WILL BE MY 69TH BIRTHDAY AND MY BEST PRESENT EVER IS DOING WHAT I LOVE-SAILING
I also share my Birthday Day with 4 other friends a Anniversary as well
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES TO: SHERRI ON SV REFLECTIONS, CLIFF ON SV ICICLE, LESTER FROM HAWAII AND JOHN PIERRE IN ISLA ROATAN.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO OUR NIECE & HER HUSBAND- MATT AND JESSICA