Vamos a Mexico

Even though Avante was in the marina for 3 months, which would seem like a long enough time to get a lengthy list of to-do items done on her, we (meaning mostly The Captain) worked down to the last minute getting everything completed. Every serviceperson is good at getting their task 90% complete. A common excuse one hears is, “I just have to come back one more time with the item that I forgot the last time.” Another good excuse is, “but you’re not leaving for 2 days.” Thus, it is that last 10% that tries the patience of even the most saintly. As Sainthood has never been an honor this Captain has sought, the days leading up to any departure are tense. The First Mate has learned to lay low, out of the way and quietly attend to her list of to-do items. This list included her most important and looked forward to task of stowing securely the new set of pottery dishes she bought for Avante. Scratchy old plastic plates and bowls have now been consigned to passages only. We are now dining elegantly, and The First Mate is delighted. The Captain is still somewhat perplexed as to how it ever happened that he allowed this addition to occur. To his way of thinking, these dishes rank right up there with the Tommy Bahama blue, tan and white striped cushions The First Mate had commissioned for the cockpit. These, too, delight The First Mate no end, and, yes, she did find a place to stow everything ignoring The Captain’s protests that she would not.

January 4th, The Captain arrived on Avante hitting the deck with both feet running. January 6th, The First Mate arrived on Avante, and they go out to dinner. January 8th, first crew, eldest son David, arrived. January 9th, second crew, Al Adams arrived. Al was with us on the race from Canada to San Francisco last fall. January 10th, we conduct a test sail to check that all systems are go. We cruise the harbor for a bit and then head out to raise sail. Everything works perfectly. We are relieved and delighted. It proves a great sail, and we give David a lot of time at the helm to familiarize himself with the feel of Avante after a 2-year absence.

We spot several whales heading south and consider that a good omen. Sailing back into the harbor in the early evening, we watch a gorgeous, huge full moon rise above the city. It is beautiful, and we are all impressed.

We are now set to go – only we have one last minute delay. Bill could not locate the original copy of the boat’s documentation. This is a must when traveling to Mexico. The new original was supposed to arrive by Fed Ex on Friday, the 9th. Of course, it did not. So, we must wait until Monday, hoping that the government official really did do what he said he would do. Frankly, the delay is a blessing. It offers us a breather (“us” really meaning The Captain). Mañana –-- we are beginning to learn the true meaning of Mañana. We decide to use Sunday as another test day, sail out and raise the new spinnaker. That’s a wonderful – as in dreaded for The First Mate – exercise for the crew. Saturday night, The First Mate cooks dinner aboard and discovers that the main burner on the stove will not stay lit when the oven is on. This is a totally dissatisfactory state of affairs for the cook and must be attended to tomorrow morning. The chief coordinator of getting things done on the boat, Eric, arrives Sunday morning to attend to a last few nitty little things. He has no idea what is wrong with the stove. David insists that it is just a cleaning issue and proceeds to take apart and clean the thing. By the time Eric is finished with his list and David successfully has the stove back together and running, it is 2:00. Relaxed and still feeling calm about a departure tomorrow, it is decided that we will not sail today. There is no wind anyway, but we will head over to the fuel dock to fill both the tanks and the extra jugs we plan to carry heading south to Cabo San Lucas. 2:30 – engine is purring nicely, lines are untied, The First Mate adds power, the engine revs up but we don’t budge an inch. Something must be wrong with the propeller? Back to neutral. We’ll try this again. Engine revs up, prop is churning up water, but we go nowhere. Bill had not bothered to turn on the instruments because we were just going around the corner to the fuel dock, and we have sailed up and down this harbor many times. Well, remember that huge full moon last night? Big full moons often bring low, low tides. We turn on the instruments. Sure enough, our depth is 8.4 which means that Avante’s 9’ keel is securely in the mud. We are not going anyway today. The phrase often quoted by sailing friend, Bob Trenary, “off like a herd of turtles” runs thru The First Mate’s mind, but she decides now is not the time to utter it. Instead she says, “No problem. Mañana on the way out we will fuel”. The Captain agrees and puts crew to work polishing topside. The First Mate vanishes below, as polishing out in the hot sun is not one of her job descriptions.

Monday, January 12th, the document arrives by 10:00 in the morning. Wow! The First Mate is at the Laundromat making sure we are all clean and sweet smelling for the trip. The Captain returns the rental car. Crew makes final calls to loved ones. We are ready. Not wanting to fool with that low low tide, we set 2:00 as our departure, and off we go! We fuel, and as we are passing by our slip on our way out of the harbor, The First Mate notices the depth meter drop to 12’. Right in front of that one slip, there seems to be a build-up of sluge, for the rest of the harbor is well into the teens and deeper.

It is 70 miles to Ensenada where we will clear customs into Mexico. Our plans are to make an overnight passage so that we will arrive early in the morning giving us the full day to get all the paperwork done. Winds are light, but with our newly acquired Mañana mentality, that is just fine. We have all the rest of the day and night to get there. Mañana will do. That moon rises as we sit down to dinner on deck – plastic dishes, though. This is a passage!

The Captain sets up a 2-hour watch schedule which works great for this first night out. We slowly sail the whole way. In fact, the autopilot had to work so hard keeping up with the light, erratic winds that most watches are stood at the helm steering. For those of you who know The Captain, can you believe that he was content to ghost along like that all night? We pull into a slip in Coral Marina at 10:00 in the morning. It is sunny and warm. Mexico, we are here! What will this country hold for us? What will the cruising be like? So much awaits us, and we are eager.