05/10/2009, Gulf of Mexico
Over halfway there. 290 miles to go, Spinnaker is up and flying. We are fighting some current now though and not going very fast, should still be there on Tuesday.
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05/08/2009, Gulf of Mexico
We got out of Isla at 10 am this morning and are having a great sail. We were able to turn the engine off right away and are currently sailing wing on wing with the pole on doing 8-9 knots. The computer says we will be there Monday but I expect it will end up being sometime on Tuesday.
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05/07/2009, Mexico
Isla Mujeres is quite nice; it reminds us a little of La Paz, Mexico (on the Pacific side). We are perhaps on the friendliest dock we have ever tied up to, every other night there is huge fish being cooked up as well as fresh ceviche for everyone to enjoy from the sport fishing boats that stay at El Milagro Marina long term. We have spent the last few days getting the boat ready for our passage and getting some meals cooked in advance that will be eaten underway.
Tuesday we took the ferry over to Cancun to meet our crew for the trip to Texas and then also catch my sister, Laura for a night. Laura is doing some volunteer veterinary work at a nearby island over the next week and somehow we managed to coordinate all meeting up in Cancun for Cinco de Mayo (which really is not celebrated in Mexico). We all enjoyed a nice dinner out and breakfast the next morning in our hotel before going our own ways.
Departure is set for Friday morning and we are heading toward Galveston, Texas (Seabrook to be exact). It will most likely be a 5 day trip. Kent will post position reports and brief updates along the way. Hard to believe we will be in Texas in less than a week. Once we arrive we need to hurry to get the boat in tip top shape as it will be in a small local boat show 2 days later. Everyone keep your fingers crossed that the boat show will draw in some interested parties and a new owner for Hiatus.
Photo above is from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant in Cancun.
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05/01/2009, Mexico
We landed at Isla Mujeres (which is just off of Cancun) shortly after 9am this morning. The predictions for E winds did not come true and we spent most of the journey bashing into NE winds and swell. This made for a rather uncomfortable ride but that is how it goes sometimes.
Excitement along the way included 20 or so dolphins playing in our bow wake for a good 15 minutes, a boarding by the Mexican Navy and then a Mexican Marine helicopter almost capsizing us. The boarding by the Navy was routine and done very professionally. We are used to their process from our boardings on the Pacific side and despite the language barrier we know most of what details they are most likely to ask us. We saw 2 other large naval ships along our route; it is reassuring to know that the waters are being watched so heavily. To our surprise, a helicopter came straight at us within a half hour of our boarding, circling us twice at way to close of a distance. We are sure he was just getting our name and port of call off our stern but those blades generated a lot of air movement against our little sails! No radio contact was made so we figured we passed whatever mission was given.
We will stay here at Isla Mujeres for almost a week, avoiding the swine flu.
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