Now I seek my own volunteer crew or even better... my permanent sailing companion

After a week at the marina we left Friday. We fueled up then anchored out at Isla Mujeres. We set out at 6 am and ended up motoring the whole way with hardly any wind. It would be cool to stay here a few days. We are only staying the night. The reef is so close you could snorkel to it from the boat. It's clear to me that I'll want dinghy davits on my boat. Our dinghy is up on the bow tied in securely and no simple task to use. A sailboat we met at Marina Paraiso has been here a couple days and is staying yet another...doing it right...not rushing through. I don't mind that we are rushing to Rio Dulce as we sat in Florida 5 weeks and then it took another 3 to get to Mexico from the forbidden island. It sounds like it's less than 30 NM to reach Puerto Adventuras Marina where we will be tomorrow. Hopefully we will stay 2 nights as then it's a 50+ mile stretch to reach the next place to anchor. Another reason I hope for 2 nights is I'm hoping to meet a F...

It's been a week we've been here at Marina Paraiso on Isla Mujeres. Tomorrow we leave the marina after one more breakfast, shower and some Internet. We will go fuel up then anchor in the bay here. Saturday we set out quite early to our next planned stop at Puerto Morelos. We will only be anchored there and get another early start to reach Marina Puerto Adventuras. I believe we will only stay there one night but today captain mentioned possibly 2 nights. There was talk of checking-out of the country there and going nonstop through the rest of Mexico. That would make the next stop San Pedro in Belize? Anyway that would mean a change from 4 day sails anchoring to rest each night to reach Belize to going non stop. As I write this I'm not sure what he decided or even if he has decided. Time will tell.

After borrowing the marina manager's golf cart yesterday to go to the grocery store I saw the downtown tourist area. I decided to walk there this morning for breakfast and check it out. It's been just a routine at the marina. One street.. Hildago was closed to vehicles and filled with sidewalk cafés and a scattering of gift ships and guided adventure centers. Many restaurants were lunch and dinner only but a fair amount were open for breakfast. There were plenty of tourists already about so it makes sense. The place I chose was not as god as the restaurant at the marina but did cost more pesos. Same fresh squeezed orange juice as I've found to be the norm here. Anyway I took,a few photos and here they are... I finally took a peak at the outside of the Island.

This is a story about a sailboat that was in Marathon when we were there waiting for a weather window. I was told by captain that 2 of the 3 guys on a boat docked just across from us were from the sailboat Pumpkin Pie. He reminded me of how he and various other dudes hanging out at Marathon waiting thought it crazy this boat had actually left to sail direct to Isla Mujeres during the arrival of a cold front.. The captain said they got de-masted in heavy seas and had to cut it loose as the boom was banging against the hull and they worried it might punch a hole. Apparently the fore stay gave way and it fell back then the port shroud and it was in the water on the starboard side held to the boat by back stay and starboard shroud. Anyway yesterday I talked to the owner and got more details. He blamed it on the failure of a steal pin that was involved with attaching the fore stay to the bow.. Call it lack of inspection or maintenance. He did mention the seas being up to 6' but...

It's become a routine to get up, do some wifi, have breakfast, sit on boat, do pool during hottest time of day, take shower, have dinner, do wifi, read on boat and sleep. I guess we plan to leave the Marina Thursday and go fuel up then anchor for an early start Friday. We have a series of 25 to 35 mile day sails with mostly anchoring but likely one more marina stop before reaching Belize. That should take 5 or was it 6 days? About 3 more days here though. Belize is only about 2/3rd's of the distance as the Caribbean coast of Mexico. Anyway a guesstimate of reaching Rio Dulce, Guatemala is March 5th. I'll likely hang out another week or two checking out the 5 or 6 marinas there and getting a feel for it. Then fly home in the second half of March sometime. Here's a few photos... On the way to downtown Isla Mujeres. On the right is a Mexican Naval Base. To our starboard is a really nice Endeavor 40. Our neighbors invited me to have a look inside. It's so m...

The very day we arrived other cruiser's told us of a fundraising event at the very marina we had chosen. It was for a children with special needs school called the Little Yellow School. It seemed to have a good turn out. Music, food and a silent auction.

We left where we had been and crossed the Yucatan Channel. It is about a 120 NM crossing but due to the 3.5 knot current you first go south about 50 miles then head due west. The northbound current carries you up to the vicinity of Isla Mujeres. Where we arrived about sunset. We are tired from the 35 hour crossing so just anchored and ate some left over pasta and now some real sleep. Sounds like we will be here about 3 days for groceries, Internet, laundry, showers. We will clear in tomorrow. Captain says we will go to a marina and pay some guy to chase around for paperwork. It's not the usual procedure. Anyway we can't get off the boat until we are cleared. When I first volunteered to crew with captain from Florida to Rio Dulce Guatemala there was talk of taking our time and snorkeling and the like. Well that's not happening. With the 5 week delay waiting for a weather window to cross the Florida straights than the last 3 plus weeks in mystery island it's...

I'm writing this as we get ready to head to Mexico... finally. Weather permitting we should set out February 5th. That makes 2 months since I arrived to Marathon, Florida as volunteer crew to sail to the Rio Dulce of Guatemala via Mexico and Belize. There was talk of sailing to the Bay Islands of Honduras once we'd reached Rio Dulce and captain had secured a berth. At this point, considering the date I'm sure I'll be searching for airfare home and planning my 5 hour bus ride to Guatemala City once we get to Rio Dulce. It's likely to be mid march by then? I an going to spend some amount of time checking out Rio Dulce. As we've worked our way west along the coast of the forbidden island, I've written maybe a dozen posts but am thinking I'll not post them. I'm just not sure I should? It sure doesn't seem like I broke any rules... At least any that make sense.

We were hopeful of some nice winds today but other than a few hours of motor sailing the light winds completely went away and we purely motored the majority of the way. Now that we're docked at the so called marina...what would have been perfect winds today really rocking the boat as there is no breakwater at this dock. At least it's not a north wind as we couldn't stay here then. It was another far from perfect docking.. The starboard anchor hit the concrete dock as the boat came in too steep and one could say also too fast. Anyway, we didn't hit the 65' ketch from France that we saw arrive here about an hour before we arrived. It's really lurching on the bow dock lines. You wouldn't want to be on the east side of the dock. It's a stretch to call this a marina considering the exposure and minimal capacity. Sunrise as we are underway. At anchor at the end if the day. The pelican seemed to think we were fishermen and might feed it. Pelican flying ...