Our World Adventure

Many of our sailor friends and family know that ropes on a boat are referred to as lines or sheets. But it can get complicated and every boat has different types, colors, and sizes of lines. Since we now often sail down wind and in light breeze, we have the need for additional lines. After leaving the rugged and windy California coast in August 2021, and since we have been offshore and night sailing, we added a few important lines. I will attempt to identify them here by color and location (see picture above). Beginning on the port (left side of a boat) our yellow strap is referred to as a ‘jack line’. It is the line to clip your safety harness to, in dark or poor conditions. Next is our royal blue ‘Staysail sheet’ which pulls the sail out. Our newest line is our whisker pole ‘guy’, which is on the far left, on the outside of our boats’ lifeline wires. This ‘guy’ can be pulled in or let out which alters the poles’ location so slightly. Next, is the heavy white line, our ‘Genoa/jib sheet’ running nearly horizontally in the above photo (since our whisker pole is in use). On the port side, we run our 2 roller furling lines, one to the Genoa and one to our Staysail. One is blue dotted and the other is yellow dotted. Pulling these lines will furl or roll up the sails. To the Starboard, which is the right side of a boat, is our heavy blue preventer line. It clips on to the end of our boom (see below pic) to hold the mainsail as far out as possible, creating the fullest sail for downwind. As with most lines, they run back to the cockpit, for ease and safety. These pictures are taken while we are going ‘wing and wing’ which means one sail is to starboard and one sail is to port. Another line you see is the white line laying messily piled on the foredeck. We left at midnight, so I guess I was too sleepy to tidy it!This is a ‘snubber’ which is attached to the anchor chain when we are anchored. (It prevents tugging on the anchor chain all night). If you look close you will see the last line in the picture, it is dynema and it’s clipped to secure the anchor, as a safety back up. Below is a shot of the lines attached to the boom, in addition to the boom brake and the boom vang.

You can see below that our 24 foot whisker pole holds our Genoa out, since light wind and rolley swell will cause a sail to flog or flap in the wind, which can slow a boat down and be uncomfortable. The large white line is the jib sheet. The line on the right is the ‘guy’, discussed above. The topping lift is a line which holds the pole up horizontally. Lastly, the line under the pole is to extend it or shorten, if needed.

If this wasn’t confusing enough, stay tuned next time for the information for the below photo (mast lines)!

We have now traveled over 1500 miles mostly over the last 30 days. Currently we are in a slip in Barra de Navidad in Jalisco. We are now south of Latitude 20 (hot here today).
This is some interesting data (especially for the California folks that are north of conception that think it blows stink all the time).
Following is it an estimate of how the wind has blown for us since leaving California:
5% of the time over 20 knots (never saw over 28)
15% of the time 15-20 knots
30% of the time 10-15 knots
50% of the time less than 10 knots (most of that we barely sailed or motored)
We waited in multiple locations for wind to keep from motoring. (Hate motoring)
Weather predictions are inaccurate no matter where you’re getting your info. PredictWind, Windy and local nets were most helpful.
Navigation Aids:
Electronic chart including Navonics and C-Map are great but not always accurate when it comes to harbor entrances, or remote anchorages. We are really hesitant to enter any new anchorage at night. We have even seen fisherman in pangas sleeping in their boat at night without lights.
Radar has been a huge tool at night especially with local fisherman running about.
VERY FEW navigation tools (bouys, daymarkers, shore lights) since leaving the United States. No Coast Guard either!
Fishing gear can be offshore in the form of nets and long lines. Some miles long and unmarked. We have had to cut off nets/fishing gear multiple times that has hung up on Sea Bella. We try not to travel in heavily fished areas at night and if we do, we go far offshore where the water is over 600+ feet deep.

This trip so far has been fantastic with more highs than lows for sure. Sea Bella has proven to be a fast passage maker, comfortable and very sea worthy. Our only major mechanical issues was a water pump on the diesel I replaced in Frailies anchorage north of Cabo. (Thank god for spare parts).
Now we will spend much of the winter here on the Gold Coast of Mexico with many family and friends visiting. We will head back north into the Sea of Cortez in April.

Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to anchor one night at Isla Isabela, an unspoiled natural Bird Sanctuary which was featured in National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau TV shows. One can visit only by small boat, so we felt very lucky!

As we sailed, 93 miles south of Mazatlan, we saw tens of thousand sea birds circling overhead this small volcanic island. We noticed the dramatic hardened lava flows on the cliffs. These are perfect little shelves for the nesting booby birds. Once anchored, we paddle boarded to the small beach and hiked to the volcanic caldera, now filled with fresh water for the birds and iguanas (the only largish animals on the island).

Along the beaches we were able to walk right near both blue footed and yellow footed, sweet faced booby birds, nesting on the rocks. They are fearless, since protected.

We walked through the small mangrove forest and quickly were surrounded by Frigates, Boobies, Terns, Noddies, Pelicans, and their nests. We saw numerous mating dances and shows of the magnificent red breasted male Frigate. All these birds are absolutely fearless, since they have been protected since 1981 in a National Park and World Heritage site (and there are no predators).

What a delight, we never expected this treat!

Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to anchor one night at Isla Isabela, an unspoiled natural Bird Sanctuary which was featured in National Geographic and Jacques Cousteau TV shows. One can visit only by small boat, so we felt very lucky!

As we sailed, 93 miles south of Mazatlan, we saw tens of thousand sea birds circling overhead this small volcanic island. We noticed the dramatic hardened lava flows on the cliffs. These are perfect little shelves for the nesting booby birds. Once anchored, we paddle boarded to the small beach and hiked to the volcanic caldera, now filled with fresh water for the birds and iguanas (the only largish animals on the island).

Along the beaches we were able to walk right near both blue footed and yellow footed, sweet faced booby birds, nesting on the rocks. They are fearless, since protected.

We walked through the small mangrove forest and quickly were surrounded by Frigates, Boobies, Terns, Noddies, Pelicans, and their nests. We saw numerous mating dances and shows of the magnificent red breasted male Frigate. All these birds are absolutely fearless, since they have been protected since 1981 in a National Park and World Heritage site (and there are no predators).

What a delight, we never expected this treat!

We motored/sailed/ bashed (sailing directly into the wind, and maybe big swell, is called bashing) with a few other cruisers from Cabo North to a little bay called Frailes, then continued our way North to Bahia de Muertos (cute bay with 1 restaurant and 1 fun resort). Kathy took a 3 hour paddle board adventure along a white coral beach. This plus our fun friends, baby turtles, snorkeling and views were the highlights.

We then spent few days of R&R and grocery shopping at the markets in La Paz. Our goal was to sail up to the GORGEOUS Isla Pardita North of La Paz. VERY Amazing water, hiking, paddle boarding and excellent snorkeling.

Woke up last week and noticed the water was only 79.9 degrees so for sure time to head south. We sailed 50 miles back south to Muertos and watched the weather closely. The winds were coming from the north and held nicely for our overnight Sea of Cortez crossing Thursday/ Friday, headed for Mazatlan.

Plans for Dec, Jan, and Feb: We will be combing the mainland coast, North and South with the winds from Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Barra De Navidad. Our adult children and parents will join us for a warm winter vacation as well.. We of course will stay in our honeymoon spot anchored in Zihuatanejo. There is an International Guitar Festival which is full of culture and live music. Come join us for this week of fun if its your thing!

We motored/sailed/ bashed (sailing directly into the wind, and maybe big swell, is called bashing) with a few other cruisers from Cabo North to a little bay called Frailes, then continued our way North to Bahia de Muertos (cute bay with 1 restaurant and 1 fun resort). Kathy took a 3 hour paddle board adventure along a white coral beach. This plus our fun friends, baby turtles, snorkeling and views were the highlights.

We then spent few days of R&R and grocery shopping at the markets in La Paz. Our goal was to sail up to the GORGEOUS Isla Pardita North of La Paz. VERY Amazing water, hiking, paddle boarding and excellent snorkeling.

Woke up last week and noticed the water was only 79.9 degrees so for sure time to head south. We sailed 50 miles back south to Muertos and watched the weather closely. The winds were coming from the north and held nicely for our overnight Sea of Cortez crossing Thursday/ Friday, headed for Mazatlan.

Plans for Dec, Jan, and Feb: We will be combing the mainland coast, North and South with the winds from Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Barra De Navidad. Our adult children and parents will join us for a warm winter vacation as well.. We of course will stay in our honeymoon spot anchored in Zihuatanejo. There is an International Guitar Festival which is full of culture and live music. Come join us for this week of fun if its your thing!

We sailed south from Ensenada to Turtle Bay (Bahia Tortuga) at
17-25 knots with large swells keeping us on our toes. We threw out our lines and must have sailed through a 1 mile long school of Bonita- catching and releasing 46, 12 to 14 inch fish. These are not very tasty so we don’t keep them. I am happy to see them wildly swim off.
The next leg we sailed south 230 miles to Bahia de Santa Maria . The water is just getting warmer and sweat shirts have been packed away. Caught one small tuna and a 3 and 1/2 foot Yellow Tail Tuna! Now this made for some very delicious sushi meals!

For our final leg of the BajaHaha Rally we had 3-4 fishing lines out all day, about 9 hours. A few little hits but nothing to reel in,because “fishing isn’t always catching!”

We nights sailed right into the large, crowded bay of Cabo San Lucas.
Resting and recouping was much needed with friends and a few margaritas. We are still pinching ourselves that we’re here and floating in (very salty) 85 degree water. The sights are amazing and the nightlife is endless.

Night Sailing; what a trippy and spooky new experience for us. All of our senses are hightened to the fullest, because it’s damn dark out here! Every little noise keeps us on our toes: waves, hull splashes, wind in our sails, rigging, water foaming at our stern, the creaking of drawyers and hinges in the galley, or a random hallyard clanging the mast. We also hear various ships using the VHF radio. San Diego had many military announcements round the clock. Ensenada had shrimp boaters and fisherman rambling quickly in Spanish. When in Bahia de Santa Maria we primarily heard our new sailing friends chattering about where they will anchor or what’s cooking for breakfast. We hail nearby sailing vessels that we know, asking if they have reefed their main, put away the whisker pole and/or furled their jib. “Sea Bella, Sea Bella, Sea Bella calling Reverence, over”… “change to channel 62”. One night, we discussed the waxing sliver of orange moon setting on the horizon. I have never seen such brilliant stars, millions of stars just above brightening the pitch black sky. The biggest challenge of night sailing for me is sleeping. We rotate night watches every few hours, while the others try to sleep down below (the various sounds and rock n rolling is much less though if you sleep outdoors in the cockpit). The person on ‘the watch’ glances at the chart plotter screen for navigation. Always checking waypoints and rum lines. We look for other boats, weather and/or objects on our radar. We regularly peek at the wind direction and speed indicator, as accurate sailing is very important for boat speed and maintaining full sails. Watching depth wasn’t critical on this leg, as it is extremely deep 20 miles off the Baja coast, averaging hundreds of fathoms, I guess. We have had fun watching one nautical guage monitoring the water temperature as we were sailing down the coast. The temperature in Morro Bay when we left was 59 degrees and Cabo San Lucas just turned 84! Since we were Hobie racers for so long, watching boat speed is habit. We get a thrill when Sea Bella reaches 10 knots on a downwind sail, surfing the 10 foot waves! We also like to log our latitude and longitude every hour, and it was exciting to close in and cross the Tropic of Capricorn. But, the biggest mystery is to see how many squid have jumped up on deck by first light, Andrew and Jane Weeks counted about 19. Other friends collected squid and fried them up for a sunrise breakfast!

Tonga is so different! So many caves!
The first video below shows us snorkeling in Swallows Cave and then diving in Shark Tooth Cave which we we entered 40 feet down. We were back in the cave about 100 yards and Kathy finally pulled on Scotts fin and motioned to she didn’t want to go back any further. Agreed, as it was getting a bit tight and our lights weren’t near good enough for how dark it was. 🙂
We had wet suits on, but it’s more for the protection against the walls vs the sea temperature.

Camp fires, friends and exploration are the daily fix. We even snapped a shot of Patrick Star from Sponge Bob in the wild for our kids.

Back to town in the next few days to get ready for our guests Denny and Susan Osburn. Mixing our old friends with our new friends in these exotic locations is just so cool!