Adios Mexico. Bonjour French Polynesia

Waiting in Immigration, La Paz

On our return to La Paz, life became extremely hectic. We moved Sal Darago from Marina Cortez to Marina de la Paz next door. Here we took on drinking water and filled up with diesel from the nearby Pemex garage. It was a holiday weekend, so we could not begin to check out of Mexico until Tuesday, 19th March.

Did I mention earlier that I broke a tooth eating tortilla chips at Simon and Erin’s? The Receptionist at Marina Cortez was very helpful in finding a dentist for me just before the holiday weekend. I had to go to Hospital de Fidepaz straight away. The dentist spoke very little English and generally spoke to Jeremy. Half way through the treatment an English speaking nurse arrived and translated. My tooth was fixed for 800 pesos – approx. 32GBP.

Twin headsails

The rest of the weekend passed in a flurry of activity. The laundry was done, the non-perishable shopping was finished. Charts were checked, courses laid and the grab bag filled. The broken solar vent on the bow cabin hatch was replaced with a piece of wood. It can’t leak now! Club Cruceros at Marina de la Paz were very helpful in trying to find out for us which authorities we needed to visit, which order to visit them and which paperwork needed at each office. We got some things wrong.

Here’s a quick run through the checking out procedure:

1. Marina Office – do we have evidence of paying our API (Port) fees? No. We were told to get it from Marina Cortez.

2. Marina Cortez gave us a receipt for our API fees.

3. Taxi to Immigration. Half hour wait. All good. Paperwork stamped. Passports stamped.

4. Taxi to Cruz Roja (Red Cross) for health certificates. Half hour wait then height and weight measured and blood pressure checked. Health form completed and paid 80 pesos each. 

5. Taxi to the Port Captain’s Office on the other side of town (closes at 2.30). Form in Spanish filled in. Wording on form challenged. It said “depart to…” instead of “depart from…” Jeremy asked politely if the word could be changed as Immigration had already stamped the papers.  This was done but the API receipt was not acceptable. Go to the API Office on the Malecon, a 20 minute walk. No taxis around. The officer spoke English.  20-30 minute wait while a form was filled in, printed, stamped and copied. Taxi back to Port Captain’s Office. Time 1.50. Our Health Forms were not the right ones. Go to the Maritime Health Department, but first go to an Internet café and print out the required form in Spanish. A shipping agent helped here.

6. The Maritime Health Department was close by. We arrived a few minutes before 2pm. We were sent to the other side of a large building where the Receptionist said they were closed. I’d had enough. It was like a scene from the John Cleese film Clockwise. Jeremy said it wasn’t yet 2pm. A man ushered us through the building and our form was signed and stamped.

7. Almost running now back to the Port Captain’s Office. Stepped inside at 2.20pm. “Wait just a minute….” The last customer left the office. The door was locked at 2.35pm. We waited. Forty five minutes later we were given our zarpe (clearance). We could leave Mexico the next day.

Lunch was very late. Fresh food shopping was even later. Supper back on SD was around 10pm. Crossing the Pacific Ocean in a small boat can’t be more stressful, can it?

Beautiful Cabo San Lucas

We motored out of Marina de la Paz at 8.30am on Wednesday 20^th March, waved off by our neighbour, Peter. Jeremy called the Port Captain’s Office on the VHF radio. It was a beautiful but windless day.

After passing Cabo San Lucas, we saw a ketch called Windarra on the AIS and gave them a call on the VHF. We’d met the Skipper in Marina Cortez. We were quite close to them for a day. When the wind picked up they sailed out of range. There were a few ships around as well. We had to sail west at first to avoid a wind shadow south of Cabo San Lucas. We turned south and Jeremy put in a course to cross the Equator at 128 degrees longitude. The wind was rarely constant. The NE Trades when we got them were often light. We tried many sail rigs. The ITCZ (Doldrums) was scary with lots of lightning and frequent squalls. We celebrated our 44^th Wedding Anniversary on 29^th March exchanging cards just after midnight in the Pacific Ocean under the stars, the romantic moment marred only by the strong winds whipping up a big sea.

Sunset - there could be trouble ahead?

We argued, we cursed, we laughed, we prayed and probably went through every emotion at some point during the trip. The dolphins came and cheered us on. The last ship we saw was heading for South Korea. That was on Thursday 4^th April. We saw no other vessels until we approached the Marquesas Islands on Sunday 14^th April.

EQUATOR

We crossed the Equator just after 0600 on Sunday 7^th April. It was our 6^th Equator crossing. We toasted Neptune with whiskey, brandy and biscuits. We were out of the ITCZ and in the SE Trades. Hurrah! Except that the winds stayed light and we ended up motoring. It was very hot. To be naked was to be overdressed. In bed with no covers, sweat dampened the sheets and pillow cases. The squalls continued. The lightning was worse. Heavy rain fell. We filled up our drinking water bottles and one of our tanks. Sometimes we heard the Pacific Puddle Jumpers’ Net on our SSB receiver, so there were other boats out there somewhere.

On watch

A reasonably sized fish

After days of calm weather the wind began to blow until we had a gale at 0500 in the dark. Jeremy was on the helm desperately reefing down as the sideways blown rain hit him like a volley of bullets. I spent my watch sweltering in the saloon with the hatches closed, popping up every 10 minutes to check for ships. There were none. Our trusty Hydrovane wind vane steered the boat in the horrible conditions and kept us running before the wind. By 1030 we were motoring as there was no wind. Where were the constant SE Trades?

Land Ahoy

They arrived at sunset on 12^th April and blew us the rest of the way to the Marquesas. We were low on diesel, our fresh food had all been eaten and we’d had no luck fishing until our last evening, when Jeremy caught a small tuna. We ate it for lunch on 14^th April anchored bow and stern near Atuona, Hiva Oa, Islas Marquesas, French Polynesia. As we napped in the afternoon the bilge alarm sounded indicating a serious leak...

At the Semaphore Station, Hiva Oa