But first:
Enjoy a few shots of Mexico's Isla Mujeres or Island of the Women. Holly, Kathleen and I did some sightseeing by golfcart where, from the back facing seat I took most of these shots.
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| Isla Mujeres web |
Sea Star and Braveheart set off sailing from Isla Mujeres, Mexico on 6:00AM Thanksgiving morning to begin our expected 40 to 44 hour passage across the Yucatan Channel and the Gulf Stream. To be determined by weather was whether our first landfall would be the Dry Tortugas National Park at Fort Jefferson, or the funky islands off Florida’s Southern extreme, Key West. If we chose the Dry Tortugas we would be taking a slightly shorter route to land, but landing in a more remote location. Dry Tortugas is well known because, as it a park, no spear fishing is allowed within the park boundaries but the snorkeling is superb. If we chose Key West we would continue to travel for about 80 miles more, would miss the stop at Tortugas but we would truly be back in the USA. We could complete the necessary clear-in procedures and visit restaurants we both remembered from previous visits. Something I as cook was looking forward to.
By 7:00 AM Sea Star was motor-sailing along at about 7 knots in six foot seas with swell from the East and winds of 20 to 22 knots. We made our way out of the harbor and flats that protect Isla Mujeres and finally over the shallow bar entering the deeper channel and the way out to the Yucatan Channel and the expected current boost we hoped would help us travel in a northeasterly direction. We had plotted a few waypoints to hopefully take advantage of an expected .5 to 2.5 knot northerly, then northwest current, expected to improve our speed through the water toward the tiny islands either 270 nautical miles to the Dry Tortugas or 350 miles to Key West.
For the first thirty miles we bounced along, popping in and out of deep troughs with water cascading down both side decks, sailing along with staysail and main. The forecast was for the wind to slowly abate and become a comfortable 15-20 knots by mid afternoon. We were able to add the jib and we sailed along with the benefit of 1 knot of current. By the end of sixty miles and 10 hours the seas had subsided a bit. We heard the weather report from our new cruising friends on the Selene trawler, Mystic Moon. They mentioned that Chris Parker, our weather guru, warned of a period of higher winds coming quite soon, so Chris thought it best that Mystic forgo the stop at Dry Tortugas and move right on toward Key West, so by Saturday afternoon they would be in port. From then on our course was set toward Key West. Mystic Moon, a beautiful 45 foot Selene Trawler set out from Isla Mujeres about eight hours behind us.
Dan and I relaxed as the wind slowed a bit, reefed the main and jib for night sailing, checked the current and continued on through the night with about two hour shifts on watch. We saw a few targets on the AIS system but they were not too near. That night was warm, the stars were brightly lit overhead, and the moon was close to full. We could see the tricolor light of our buddy boat, Braveheart, with Holly and Jack and their dog, Charlie, aboard. We had radio contacts with the two other boats on schedule and we all were moving well.
Moving well means we were traveling along on course, the boat was acting correctly because there was enough wind to sail a course, but neither of us had to touch the wheel. “Auto” does it all and we just push a button to correct minimally right or left. At 4:00 AM Dan called to me to come out to the cockpit because we had “lost” our autopilot. “Auto” was not able to keep on course and was not reading the correct heading. We had in fact strayed somewhat off course and Braveheart, who were able to see us, called on the radio and asked if anything was wrong -as we were shining our biggest lights on the sails and were apparently sailing erratically for awhile. We told Jack what seemed to have happened and he and Holly stood by to see what we would need to do.
The problem meant that Dan had to go into the deep, dark lazarette to try to discern the trouble and I had to hand steer the boat, which I find difficult to do with sails up. We furled the jib and I held the course while Dan climbed into the large locker to check the arm on the autopilot. He soon emerged; nothing was obviously wrong, but he thought it was possible we might have to hand steer for the next two days! Not a fun contemplation as it does take energy to steer in rough, confused seas. Dan tried a few different things to see if the autopilot would work. He did something, maybe a reset, maybe a vodo dance, and we found we could hold the course again. The gauges weren’t reading correctly but we could steer a compass course. What a relief!
It’s always best on passage when morning arrives. Usually we are both awake, we have a coffee, (which can be an adventure to make on a rolling boat) and one can see any ships approaching from a distance and what the sails are doing. This day we were still under sail alone and within a favorable current, but the wind was variable now and we needed to start the motor which we ran all day. It’s hard to remember exactly when but after we shut off the motor, the next time we needed it, after a run of about four hours, the engine temperature had risen- not to a dangerous level but Dan was concerned and shut it down. So we sailed on as best we could in even less wind until we just had to start the engine again. This time we were able to use power assist for even less time before the over-heat. Finally after more sailing and again the wind decreasing, we ran the engine for only one hour before needing to cool it down. Uh, oh now what to do?
Now, in the early morning , we had come over 300nm from Isla Mujeres but still had about 60 miles to go to arrive at Key West. There was absolutely no wind and the ocean was smooth; without a ripple and we were going nowhere. In checking the weather forecast- there was no wind coming for days, but the Selene was out there somewhere. Just as we were wondering where the trawler was in relation to us, Kathy and John called us on the VHF radio and they were quite close; within a mile! They pulled up close and transferred a doubled 300’ line they had attached to a bridle from their stern. We attached the line as a bridle to our Island Packet and carefully John took up slack. We were moving and moving along well under tow.
Yes, Sea Star, our beautiful sailboat was embarrassingly under tow toward Key West. The Selene pulled us over twenty miles, where we met the Tow Boat US boat, Ranger. After about six hours, after dark, we were safely nudged onto the dock at Conch Marina, Key West.
Thank you Mystic Moon, Tow Boat US and all the friends who met us at the dock to help get us into a safe berth. It took three working days to fix the Yanmar engine. We needed a new water cooling pump, impeller and lots of patience along with our great mechanic who struggled to work on our very inaccessible engine.
After a week we were able to move on from Key West.
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