We had a couple of reasons to
leave Belize and head to Mexico. One,
we needed to get out of Belize by the 18th because our permit from
Customs expired then. That was just 5
days away. The other reason was that we
had a buyer wanting to see the boat in the Cancun area. The buyer and brokers had a survey, scheduled
for April the 22nd and with Easter Week, we needed to travel to
Mexico and get checked in to be able to make the date. I felt some anxiety as we needed to do our
first overnight sail and our longest passage of about 240 NM. I was really happy that Kathi had decided to
stay with us, as an extra hand was going to make things easier!
After Mike left, I had a list of
boat chores that I needed to do before we headed north. We also filled the water tanks and topped off
our diesel tanks too. With all of our
preparations, you would have thought we were heading across the Atlantic or
something. I guess we over prepared for
a few day passage, but it was our first, and I wanted it to be great!
Kathi helping me fill the water tanks and extra bottles of drinking water
Once we filled our tanks and
checked out of the marina, we headed out the channel to the Belize City
Harbor. We had our sights set on Cay
Caulker, as Kathi hasn’t been there before, and we can stock up on cokes. When we cleared the marina, we were hit with
20 knot wind directly on the nose. The
waves were huge, as the water was very shallow, allowing the waves to build,
before crashing on the shore. Soon the
20 knots became 25 and then some gusts over 30!
This was crazy!!! What happened
to our nice sail to Cay Caulker? To
complicate matters, there were two huge cruise ships and a freighter directly
in our path. There was also a small
island with reefs and shallow water on our port side. We tried to sail to gain some stability, but
unless we tacked directly south, the small island and Belize City blocked our
northerly tack. We took down the sails
and motored with both engines directly into the waves and wind. It was probably the most uncomfortable that I
have been on the boat. Kathi looked at
me and asked if the whole passage would be like this? I told her that I hoped not, as we crashed
into wave after wave!
One of the cruise ships that we were trying to dodge
Once we were clear of the cruise
ships, we were able to slide between the freighter and the small island. We then raised the sails into a 25 knot beam
reach, shooting us north at 7 to 8 knots!
This was more like it!!!
A tugboat hauling four barges heading south in high winds
We flew
through the Drowned Cay pass and through Porta Stuck, and arrived in Cay
Caulker around 3:00 pm. Kathi and I had
time to stock up on cokes, and the three of us headed into town for dinner at the
Barrier Reef Bar and Grill. We also saw
Drew on s/v Hellion, who seems to have gotten anchorites there at Cay
Caulker. Every time that we come into
the harbor, he is still there! He must
enjoy Cay Caulker!!!
We wanted to spend more time at
Cay Caulker, but we needed to get to San Pedro to check out of Belize on
Tuesday! We have a weather window to
Mexico on Wednesday, and wanted to make sure that we were checked out and ready
to go!
The next morning, we had a nice
sail up to San Pedro. Kathi was amazed
at the clear shallow water, as we silently sailed north in 8 feet of
water. We anchored just off of the TMM
dock in a white sandy patch, pulling our anchor into the grass. Kathi and I headed into the Immigration and
Custom’s Office to check out. We also
stopped at TMM and talked to Simon about our future plans for MokaKat. TMM is one of our options to put MokaKat into
charter, if she doesn't sell. He helped
us with a spare belt for one of our engines, as we had gone through a couple in
the last couple weeks.
s/v Impromptu, a catamaran that we have run into many times in Belize
Kathi and I headed over to the
Immigration office first! The guy was
super nice and checked us out with no ‘extra’ charges. Last time that we checked out of Belize, we
were charged an extra $90 B for something…probably the guys lunch for a couple
of weeks! We then headed over to
Customs, where I was a bit nervous, as it was the Custom’s office in Big Creek
that made such an uproar about our extension in Belize. Surprisingly, the lady was super nice and
made sure that we enjoyed Belize and that we would come back! We told her that she was the most pleasant
official that we have had since coming to Belize last year! She also said that we didn't have to check in
with the Port Captain, as we were paid up on our fees! I questioned her about this, and she set me
straight, that she knew and we didn’t have to go! Once I got back to the boat, I called the
local Port Captain, just to make sure!
He said that we were good to go!
Sometime you never know, so I felt better after talking to him. So, we were checked out of Belize and just
waiting on our weather window to head to Mexico!!!
We then went back to the boat to
pick up mom and headed over to our favorite restaurant, the Blue Water
Grill. Kathi and Mom then went over to
the Greenhouse to buy some fruit and veggies, while I headed over the fishing
store for a few blue water lures! We met
back at the TMM dock and headed back to MokaKat!
While I was running back and
forth with the dinghy, I stopped and talked to a couple on a mono hull
sailboat. Their boat name was s/v XAVITA
IV, and Birgitta and Johan, from Sweden, were heading to Mexico the next day
too! We exchanged information and hoped
that we all had a good sail to Mexico.
s/v XAVITA IV, and Birgitta and Johan, from Sweden
We were now ready to head to
Mexico, we just had to wait until morning, and hope that we had calm enough
seas to get out of the pass.
The rest of the day we were all
anxious and nervous about the passage.
Kathi probably was the most calm, as she didn’t really understand some
of the potential risks to the open sea.
I of course, was thinking about every possible scenario and what I would
do for each! As night fell, we had
another full moon, as we missed the blood moon the night before. I finally fell asleep, praying for a calm
seas to make it out of the pass. If we
couldn’t go out the pass, we were either have to wait, or go back about 20
miles to a larger pass.
The next morning, the seas were
calm, and quickly we readied the boat to go!
We had anchor up at 6:30, and we headed out toward the pass. s/v XAVITA had a 6 foot draft, and was going
to wait until high tide at 10:00 to go, so we went first.
Going through the pass was very
easy, as the seas were calm. We had to
angle southward until you got to the yellow buoy and then head straight
east. We motored out and then set the
sail, heading north to Mexico!!! We put
all of the sail up and were running 6 to 7 knots!
Good bye San Pedro!
Beautiful morning to start our passage!
The San Pedro pass looks calm this morning (yellow buoy is the center of the pass)
Outside of the reef!!!
Our plan was to either go all of
the way to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, about 240 NM, or stop half way at Bahia de la Ascencion,
a safe harbor to spend the night. Since
this was our first overnight passage, we had a contingency plan in case we were
too tired to keep going.
Dale and Kathi putting up the main sail
Taking down the Belize courtesy flag! Ready for Mexico!
We were able to get s/v XAVITA on
the radio, but because we were sailing so fast, we quickly got out of radio
range after a few hours of sailing. We
hoped that they would be safe on their trip.
Beautiful morning for a passage - open ocean!
Passing cruise ship
Mom relaxing in her favorite spot!
Dale with a little emergency repair. Nothing like being on the hardtop trying to fix a line in large waves!
Checking hatches!!
Kathi enjoying her time at the helm
The day went very well, as we
continued to sail out of Belize waters into Mexican! We had put out our fishing pole in hopes of
some Mai Mai. Just after lunch, the
reel started singing and line was stripping off at high rates! Fish on!!!
I put the boat into a hold to, and turned over the helm to Kathi. I set the hook and tried to slow the fish
down, who was now heading toward Guatemala at a high rate of speed. Finally, I slowed him down and made some
progress to pull it back to the boat. At
that time, the boat fell back into the wind, and we started sailing again! I didn't do a very good job instructing Kathi
on how to hold the boat into a hold to, my bad!
Once we finally slowed down the boat again, I went back to the
fight. It turned out to be a large
barracuda, not a Mai Mai. We decided
that we had enough fish in the freezer and let him go. Actually, we were so focused on getting to
Mexico, that we decided that we didn't want to fish anymore, and took in the pole. It was fun while it lasted, but it
was more important to keep sailing toward Mexico, and stopping to reel in a
fish impacted our time!
Nice barracuda!!
As night was coming, we decided
how we were going to split up the shifts.
Mom and Kathi were going to split the 8:00 pm to 12:00 pm slots, I would
take 12:00 to 2:00, Kathi 2:00 to 4:00, and I would finish off the night with
the 4:00 to 6:00.
Kathi, ready for her shift!
The last sunlight before we arrive in Mexico!
As the sun set in the west, and
the moon hadn't come up yet, I stated to get a little queasy. I couldn't see past the lights on the
panel. This continued, until the full
moon came out an hour later! I usually
don’t get queasy, but the nervousness and lack of light impacted me. We had a beautiful night with 15 knots of
wind and a full moon!
I decided not to put a reef in
the main, as the wind was around 15 knots and the night looked clear. I turned over the helm to Kathi and Mom and
headed below to sleep. Around 12:00, I
woke up and looked out the window to see the seas flying by! Wow, we were flying!! I ran up to the helm to check on Kathi! She was sitting at the helm having a great
time! We were flying along at 9 knots
with all of our sails up! The wind had
picked up to 17 to 20 knots and we started to feel the advantage of the north
current of 2 to 3 knots! We decided to
put a reef in the main, and slow down the boat a little. I was uncomfortable with the speed that we
were traveling, especially at night.
Kathi watched me, as I went forward to put in the reef. Once the reef was put in, I felt better about
the speed. We slowed down in the 8 knot
range. I grabbed a snickers bar and a
coke, and got ready for my shift. Kathi
sat with me for a while, before she headed below to sleep.
With some caffeine and some
sugar, I was set. It was beautiful
sailing at night with a full moon. I had
turned down the illumination on the instruments to a soft glow, and with the
full moon, you could see everything! I
had time to reflect on the past year and living on the boat. This passage was a fitting way to cap off a
great year. We have had many moments
where we were totally out of our comfort zone, but we had met those
challenges. This passage was just
another one of many events that challenged our experience and knowledge. I felt very proud of our accomplishments and
the fact that my mom of 75 years of age was with me this year. I also realized that my sister, who we
haven’t been around each other much in the past 20 years or so, was very
similar in her lust for adventure. She
picked up sailing very quickly, and even though she didn't have formal training
and the terminology, she was a natural at picking it up!
Kathi came up around 2:00 to take
her shift. We sat at the helm for a
while, enjoying the great night and the fact that we were sharing it. We had enjoyed catching up on each other’s
life and also reminisced about our childhood in Baytown Texas and Kansas
City. We brought up some old names that
I haven’t thought of in many years! She
had done a better job keeping up with some of our old friends that I had! Through these talks, I was able to find some
of my old fiends on Facebook!
I headed down to sleep for a
couple of hours, while Kathi manned the helm.
During the night I kept hearing singing, and when I looked up at the
helm, Kathi was singing and having a great time! I guess she is a natural at sailing! I finally woke up and checked on Kathi around
5:00, an hour past my shift! Kathi was
so proud, as she set the boat speed record at 9.5 knots! That was even with a reef in the main and
jib. I took over as the sun was rising
to a beautiful day, and Kathi went below to sleep a little! We were just coming up on Cozumel, so we flew
right by Bahia de la Ascencion in the middle of the night! We were heading to Isla Mujeres, Plan A!
It is good to see the sun rising!!!
I am assuming that we were in the
middle of the northerly current, as the boat kept gaining speed. The wind was still under 20 knots, but I was
hitting over 10 knots at times! A couple
of time we hit 10.5 knots our new boat record!
The sails did not seem over powered, so I kept the sails the same. Wow, this is sailing!!! Later that morning, Kathi came up to check on
me! She asked if we set any new speed
records, and she couldn't believe that we hit 10.5 knots! She had the record at 9.5 knots last night!
We hit 10.5 knots, but this photo shows 10.2 in 17 knots of wind!
We spotted the resorts that are
south of Cancun and our excitement started growing! I was really tired, but wanted to see the
trip finished! It seemed to take forever
to get up to Cancun, as our boat speed slowed down to 7 to 8 knots. The wind was coming from the northeast, and
with the current flowing north, the water became confused. This was
not as comfortable sailing, but not too rough to worry. As we got closer to Cancun, there were many
offshore fishing boats trolling the edge of the current.
Resorts in Cancun in the distance
As we rounded Cancun, we needed to cut
between these boats and head more northwest toward Isla Mujeres, our final
destination. The fishing boats were
spaced about a ¼ mile between, so I had to hurry between a couple boats to
finally get on the bearing toward Isla Mujeres.
Once I exited the current, the roughness settled down, but so did our
speed. After the roller coaster ride in
the current, it felt like we were limping into Isla Mujeres at 5 knots. I was so tired but we were so close, that I
stayed on the helm to finish the trip!
Isla Mujeres!!!
Lighthouse and snorkel spot at entrance to the harbor at Isla Mujeres
Busy snorkel spot outside Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Kathi on the bow watching for fast moving ferries as we approach Isla Mujeres
Busy Isla Mujeres harbor!!!
Party catamarans!!!!
Isla Mujeres Anchorage
Isla Mujeres was a complete
culture shock for us, as large ferries zipped back and forth between Cancun and
Isla Mujeres. Also, little pangas,
loaded with tourist were everywhere, taking tourist to snorkel or
sightseeing. We managed to not get run over
by any of the fast ferries, and finally we arrived at the harbor. We ended up anchoring at the back of the
pack, and spent a little time cleaning up.
It was nice to be anchored in a protected harbor, after the past 31
hours of open ocean. We had traveled
around 240 NM in 31.5 hours, with an average speed of over 7 knots! That was a great first passage!!! We were all happy to be in Mexico! I crashed for a couple of hours, after
cleaning up the sails and halyards.
There was no hurry to check in, as this was Holy Week in Mexico. We were just happy to be in Mexico, so
checking in will have to wait until tomorrow!
Dale, dropping the main sail after 31 hours of sailing!
Our first Isla Mujeres Mexico sunset! Beautiful!!!!
Wow, what a first passage!!! Sailing under the full moon has to be an
experience everyone needs to do, especially at 9 to 10 knots!
Happy Sailing on MokaKat!!!
