Sailing, sailing,: A Good Ending to a Hard Night's Passage

Monday, April 18, 2022

A Good Ending to a Hard Night's Passage

After towing us for about 2 hours to Cozumel, the Mexican Navy rescue boat rafted up to us to put us on a mooring in front of their base.

April 17 - We are celebrating my birthday here in Cozumel but it was a very difficult trip. We had an early problem with the engine coming out of Sapadilla Lagoon but Scott thought changing the filters would resolve it. And it did until we got 100 miles down the coast in the early evening. And the engine hasn't worked since. Well, let me make this clear, we have no problem with the engine. It's the fuel. Unfortunately we have no control over the quality of the fuel in foreign parts. And the boat wasn't used for several years over COVID so we need to empty tanks and have them cleaned thoroughly as soon as possible. Certainly in Isla Mujeres!

We managed to sail all the way until just south of Cozumel. Our boat doesn't go upwind well and our "tacking angles" make it difficult - so we were having a hard time getting east to Cozumel. And then the wind dropped and we were stalled..

We had been talking to friends on the Northwest Cruiser Net that morning and they instituted hourly check ins. Jeff and Sue on Blue Jacket contacted the Cozumel Port Captain and he offered to arrange a tow. Scott didn't want to do it for some time (we also were concerned as we didn't have much cash on hand) but finally agreed. Not long after the Mexican Navy rescue boat arrived with 3 men and towed us 2 hours into a mooring off the Navy building (just south of the regular anchorage). So we are there now and what a relief. And they didn't charge us anything!!! (Happy Birthday Heather).

Scott gave me this lovely necklace and cooked up a terrific dinner for my birthday.

But now our problem is getting to Isla. The weather for tomorrow is for Light & Variable and we would like to be able to sail. Scott can change the fuel filters but it is possible that the fuel line might be clogged so we really want to sail as much as possible. From Cozumel we need to go northeast up the channel and that doesn't look good tomorrow. And the forecast from Saturday was for wind filling in from the NE Monday night. So we'll talk to Chris tomorrow morning. We can't check in here but we were told we can stay here until the weather allows us to go.

April 18 - We enjoyed the first sleep (and real meal) last night we'd had since Friday. It was so quiet and peaceful on Scott Free! After our conversation with Chris this morning, we decided to wait until Wednesday when the wind turn more easterly to continue on to Isla Mujeres. The officials here have agreed to our remaining on this mooring. We expect a bouncy night tonight when the front comes through with northerly winds but we're on a safe huge buoy.

(earlier notes from before our trip) April 13 - Scott checked out of Belize and we did last minute provisioning and laundry. Marc's son Hadrian arrived so we had them over for dinner. I managed to make a lasagna and carrot cake - lots of baking in the hot weather! But it was all great and sad to say good-bye.

April 14 - An even sadder good-bye was to Yoli, Reagan, Cherie and Eric. We went in early this morning after talking to our weather guru (all continues to look good). As we were exiting the north entrance of the harbor a pod of dolphins escorted us - good luck sign for sure! It was an easy trip up to the Reserve Marina at Sapadilla Lagoon - sunny day with wind behind us, around 10 knots so we motor sailed. We haven't been able to find the slow water leak so wanted to fill up our tanks. We had planned to anchor out in the lagoon but the dockmaster Taina gave us a price we couldn't refuse (much less than expected) so we stayed on the dock for the night.

April 15 - After talking to Chris at 7 AM and the Northwest Cruiser NET at 8, we were off the dock and starting north. The rest of the trip is covered in the first post.