Isla Mujeres towards Fort Lauderdale End of Day 1

These Blog entries are edited versions of the messages we sent back as we completed the passage.  They were sent by radio using a laptop that controls a modem and the HF/SSB radio, using the SailMail system.  We sent the messages daily to my daughter Charlotte and she then forwarded them on to a list of family members.

2359hrs (CDT, GMT -5) 13 May 2020

Dear All,

Day 1 of the passage from Isla Mujeres in Mexico was a very long day.  We checked the GRiB files and listened to the weather forecast at 0800 the wind would be south of east at somewhere between 15 and 20kts but there would be squalls coming off Cuba.  On balance though, it seemed right to us to make the move onwards.  We'd be beating for most of the time and the seas might be rather large and unpleasant in the Gulf Stream when it curved to the run east, but if we left it another day, or worse two, we'd be motoring the whole way.  As it was, we thought we'd be doing a fair amount of motoring.

Nicky took Carla from Moody Mistress into the Port Captain's dock at about 0930, to complete the exit paperwork from him prior to the appointment with Immigration at the palapa at the root of the dock.  They anticipated a relatively quick turn-around, but no.  The Port Captain informed them that they hadn't actually completed the check-in the previous day, just the Health and Immigration processes.  So there followed a two and a half hour form filling and waiting exercise as the Port Captain cleared both vessels in and out at the same time.  Happily, the officer they dealt with did not insist on the originals and FIVE copies of all the documents (passport, boat registration, zarpe from last port etc) for checking in and a further TWO sets of the same documents for check out.  However, he did insist on a written statement from each of them as to why the yachts had arrived in Isla Mujeres rather than Key West in contravention of the zarpe (exit paperwork) issued by Roatan.  Then they needed to pay the Port Captain's clearance in and out, necessitating a walk to the bank (the wrong bank to start with) where there was the faff of paying in US Dollars and getting change in Pesos.  Followed by a walk back to the Port Captain to pick up the now completed paperwork before returning to Immigration (conveniently located next to the bank!) for stamps in passports etc.  But they got the job done, and more efficiently in terms of use of time than if we had properly completed our check in the previous day.

Old engine oil in the bildge – a clean up job
we could do without!

Meanwhile, I prepared BV for sea, only to discover a bilge full of oil.  Nightmare!!  Further investigation proved that the engine had not blown up, as I had immediately assumed was the issue, rather one of the bottles of used engine oil left over from when we completed the oil change in West End Roatan (there was no suitable waste oil dump, so we kept the oil on board) had sprung a leak.  I did a reasonable clean-up job but there's plenty more to go, including a fair quantity still in the bilge, sloshing around with Bilgex now.

Leaving Isla Mujeres

Leaving Isla Mujeres

The day's curve-ball dealt with, I completed most of the rest of the pre-departure tasks but there were still a few that only Nicky could deal with and by this stage we both also needed to eat some lunch, so we didn't actually get underway until about 1415, a good couple of hours later than we had hoped.

BV final sailing nicely.  But there were some towering cumulus clouds to keep an eye on because there would be squalls underneath them

The Gulf Stream gave us a big push up the coast
and at one stage our speed over the ground was 9 Knots!!

The first 3 hours of the passage were under motor in virtually nil-wind conditions but then the wind filled in from the south-southeast at about 15kts so with a reef in the main, the staysail and full genoa, we headed off as close to the wind as we could.  In an ideal world we knew we should head for about 23 30N 85 15W as the Gulf Stream runs north to about that point and then east from there.  Routing via that point would give us maximum help from the current.  But with the wind forecast to go easterly, Key West and Fort Lauderdale are both located well upwind of Isla Mujeres.  So rather than sail off wind a bit and then have to make up an additional 100nm beating, even with the benefit of the current, we reckoned we would be better to head up and point almost directly on the as the crow flies track.

It's a moot point really, as within a couple of hours the wind had backed and we couldn't lay the 23 30N 85 15W waypoint let alone our waypoint in the Florida Keys.  But we had a good shove from the Gulf Stream and so were making about 7.5kts over the ground for a boatspeed of around 6kts.

Towering cumulus clouds, the tops picked out by the setting sun

We had dinner in daylight.  We haven't done that underway for a while, which was definitely a benefit of the time change in Mexico, and then Nicky got her head down.  She'd only been asleep for about 90mins when I needed to wake her.  A huge thunder cell was looming over us and I needed help to reduce sail and then, when the torrential rain hit, to make sense of the instruments which I could hardly see through my fogged up glasses.  With the radar going we could see the extent of the cell and decided that tacking onto a southeast heading would help us clear it sooner; we really didn't want to go underneath it if as all possible!  The north-flowing Gulf Stream reduced our speed over the ground a bit but gave us a good easterly course and eventually, about 3hrs after I called Nicky up, we cleared the storm and I had the opportunity to dry off and get some sleep.  Meanwhile, Nicky tacked us back onto a more northerly course as the easterly course was aiming us directly at another big storm.  We stayed on that tack through the rest of the night.

Love to all,

Reg and Nicky

Passage statistics:
Position at 1415hrs 13 May: Isla Mujeres
Position at midnight 13 May: N21 53 W86 08
Midday to midday distance: n/a nautical miles (average n/a knots)1415hrs to midnight distance: 59 nautical miles (average 6.0 knots)Total miles covered:  59 nautical miles
Approximate distance to go (GPS route to Fort Lauderdale): 448 nautical miles

End of Day 1  Isla Mujeres, Mexico, towards Fort Lauderdale, USA