Plaza 13 de Julio - The Gazebo was built by Eifel. The Sacred Heart had roof damage and the masses are being held outside in the park area.

The Bank built also by Eifel

Municipal Building

Guaymas is an interesting city with an exciting past, rich with stories of priests, pirates, soldiers, villains, and heroes. During its turbulent history, more than one country has tried to grab the treasures of the gold, silver and copper mines of Sonora and to gain control of the seaport. Guaymas has one of the most beautiful harbors in the Mexico, with the small town clutched in an encircling ring of mountains. Some mornings the water is mirror smooth and reflects with unbelievable reality the ships in the harbor. However due to Jimena the water is very dirty.
In the 1700’s the Jesuit missionaries were established and included the Iglesia de San Fernando and the Iglesia Sagrada de Corazon. (Sacred Heart Church). They are both still in use today, however services for Sacred Heart are being conducted outside due to Jimena. So much rain fell in such a short period it caved the roof. There is talk of repairing the church due to its history and the fact that it is still in use.
By 1823 the customs house was built.
Today Guaymas is Mexico’s second largest port on the Pacific.
This is a bustling little town. There is a large navy base, navy school and supply centre. Luckily the Gringos have left Guaymas alone, opting for San Carlos instead.

The large shrimping fleet make their home here. Shrimping season has just started and these very large vessels are making their way out to the Sea of Cortez.

Ken and I are trying to get canvas and stainless steel work done while we are here. We want to extend the bimini out to the mast to provide for more shade. Currently we have been using a tarp and it seems to work well. Things are not done quickly here and we HOPE that it can be done before we want to leave.

A 10 peso bus ride took us to San Carlos where we met up with Michael from SeaVenture.

San Carlos is well noted for its beautiful protected anchorages. It has become a very popular tourist destination. The fishing here is phenomenal. We were somewhat disapointed. I believe we expected a little more.

Multi coloured salt water pearls are cultured in this area. There is Perlas del Mar de Cortez pearl beds and display room in Bacoshibampo near by but we have yet to make it there.
The cactus are amazing. They can grow to heights of 60 feet. We saw homes that were built around the cactus.

We have befriended the neighbours on the boat moored beside us, their names are Gayle and Dave. They own a trawler that Dave has built himself. He should be very proud.

Gayle and I have been walking every morning for exercise and I have been trying to do laps in the pool daily. This is not always possible as the pool is quite often occupied.

It is while I have been on these walks that I have seen the restoration progress from Hurricane Jimena. The mud came sliding down the mountains taking cars, animals and any thing else to the bottom (sea) that may have been in its path. The sewers backed up and now the problems are respritory. You see many people walking with masks on their faces.

They have manage to get most things back and opperational.

Many people lost everything.

Gayle and I have been traveling on the local buses for 5 pesos to the supermarket.

Ken and I found out today that their open market is on Wednesdays, so we will have to check it out. You always find fruit and vegetables cheaper at the markets than in the store.

Ken and I decided to go out Saturday night to get him off the boat. (His leg is recovering nicely). The band was very good but we are now the old people. Where did the time go?

All is well with us. Ken is doing well and by later this week we both should be out exploring and getting the boat ready for the next phase.

Bye for now

When a Week Feels Like a Month

For the past five to eight years, we have read books and other boater’s blogs to gain as much knowledge as we could to embark on this trip. We took as many classes as we could and taught many classes as we gained knowledge. It is because of things that I learned from other peoples’ adventures and mistakes that I have chosen to write about this week. I could keep it to ourselves but no one would learn things that could be advantageous if they chose to take a similar trip

The decision was made to continue to Guaymas on the mainland. It is still in the hurricane safety area. It was however hit by Hurricane Jimena.
There appeared to be 2 tropical occurrences happening further south so we didn’t want to wait around too much longer. The “Weather Guru” Don Anderson had anticipated that by Wed. more information could be determined on the possibilities of it turning into Tropical Depressions. This gave us the weather window we needed.
Sunday September 13, we departed Bahia de Los Angeles and headed out in calm seas.
We were about an hour into our 10 hour journey when Ken snagged his Dorado. It was doing lovely acrobatics in the air. It turned out to be about 30 lbs. The waves were kicking up a bit so we made a decision to alter our course so we could take more of a following sea. This would add about an hour to the trip but it would be way more comfortable.
Ken brought in the fishing lines and filleted the fish, but when he went to rinse off the deck of the boat, he realized we were out of water. The evening prior we had filled up a sailboat with about 100 gallons of water and figured we must have left the tap running and ran it dry. We weren’t too worried as we would make water when we arrived at the new anchorage.
It was right about this time that I observed what looked like a squall line. We were going to have a little more action. It was SE swells approximately 5’. No Biggy. All of sudden we took one a little harder and things were flying around. I started securing things down. When I went down below it was a mess. The cutlery drawer was lying on the only portion of the floor that had not been left open to let the heat out of the engine room. Cutlery was everywhere including down in the engine room. I picked up things secured the drawer and went up stairs to tell Ken he needed to get down to the engine room to check it out. As I was coming up the stairs he was heading to go down the stairs the starboard engine was overheating.
He was checking the sea strainer when his foot hit the radiator cap. Hot antifreeze was now showering the cabin. Ken managed to get out of the way but still received some steam burns. NO WATER! He did the only thing he could do and ran to the back lazerette and doused himself with sea water, full of bacteria.
Now the seas were becoming confused and we had only one engine. I checked on him and he was ok to continue dealing with himself. I went above. The seas were getting larger. They were 9’ from one direction and 5’ from the opposing direction.
Ken had now found enough water that we had in water bottles to clean the wound and kept a wet towel on it. It would be too warm up top and he needed to stay below and deal with his burns.
Now I am half Newfie and half French. My Mother’s ancestors were fisherman plying the Atlantic coast waters in boats called Dories. My Father’s ancestors were French voyageurs that floated over rapids in canoes among most of our Canadian river openings up places for the Northwest/ Hudson Bay Fur Companies. I bring this up because I was hoping I processed a recessive boating gene at this precise moment. It was also about at this time I made a few PLEASE GOD notes. 1) Ken would be ok. 2) That the left engine wouldn’t quit. 3) Keep us safe. I held back any tears and started to examine the water. It appeared that the smaller 5’ waves would knock down the larger wave and leave a trough. I experimented. If I stayed within the trough things were ok. Next I observed that on the 9th small wave, it wasn’t small. In fact it was as large as the large wave. So I needed to turn starboard into that wave before it hit me on the beam. First attempt did not work so well. I think that is where I thought try again. It will work. I did try again and it did work. The speed now had dropped us from 3 knots to 1 knot. We were now also dealing with a current against us. I figured if I could get closer to the lee of the island I could get rid of one directional wave. I headed over there only to encounter a floating cement dock, a tree and much debris left in the wake of Hurricane Jimena. I headed back out. I just had to “suck it up princess”, and so 3 ½ hours later we made it to a safe anchorage.(It felt like 12 hours) When all is said and done I think I took 3 on the beam. It felt like 100, but I know it was only 3. We sat and analyzed the situation. We decided we had become too complicit. The last few months had babied us. We were back in the real ocean again, with swells and waves. Neither of us was hungry. Hot dogs were supper.
That evening we slept outside as the inside was a steam bath with all the liquid, all evening I laid there thinking of scenarios. The next safe anchorage was 72 nautical miles. It was over 24 hrs on one engine in seas that were loaded with debris. Kino was 24 miles but the anchorage was not good. Kino however was 1 hr away from the capital with hospitals, mechanics etc. If I woke up and things were any worse I could radio the Mexican Navy stationed in Kino. I could fall asleep knowing things would be ok.
The following morning things looked brighter, Ken was fine. He was hurting but fine. Into the engine room he climbed. First why didn’t we have water? The hot water tank had sprung a leak and emptied all our water into the bilge and overboard. Ken isolated the tank and we made 150 gallons of water. Now what was wrong with the engine? The sea strainer, then the impeller, and then the exhaust systems were checked. Nothing seems to be working. The boat was torn apart, this would be when the Mexican Navy approached and decided to board us.
Passports and registrations were shown. I think they felt bad for us. They left fairly quickly. They set up camp on the beach for the 2 days in this bay where we anchored.
I was very, very happy to see them and was reassured that they were there if we needed them.
That day went by and we did not have any success. The Captain spent a restless night I am sure thinking about the engine and what it could be. The next morning, he decided to continue on the exhaust elbow. Bingo. It was plugged. Once it was cleaned all things looked good. The engine was purring but more importantly the exhaust was spitting out lots of cooling water. We could continue on with two engines.
Bahia Las Cocinas would be our next stop. It was 72 nautical miles away.
The seas were nice and calm with refrigerators, hydro poles, coolers, plywood, and palm trees sharing the water with us. It was an obstacle course. I didn’t care the seas were calm just a swell. As we were arriving to our anchorage the starboard engine made a funny sound.
In our boating classes we taught the 1/3 Rule. You travel out using 1/3 of your fuel, you travel back using 1/3 of your fuel and you keep 1/3 of fuel in your tanks. Yep you can guess what Neptune had in store for us next.
Adventures are made up of things that happen and people you meet. Ken headed out to the fishing camp on the beach with his Spanish boating book in hand. He met Phillip Surman. A gentleman that lives in the United States but whose family has owned this beautiful land for 40 years. He offered us his jerry cans and a 15 km ride inland to get diesel.
The next morning we drove through the beautiful desert totally in bloom thanks to Jimena, and 24 inches of rain. Everything was so green. Once we were inland we began to see irrigated fields used for growing vegetables and fruit. The state of Sonora is well known for its beef. Personally I still favour Alberta beef but I am just a little biased.
Now that we had fuel we weighed anchor and headed into Marina Real where we would fuel up and stay the night.
The following day we headed to Guaymas, our destination for the next month. Upon arrival one of the marina staff took us to a clinic to have KEN looked at. He did a great job at keeping the burn clean. He received 1’st degree burns on a portion of his lower right leg that are healing nicely. All will be fine. The doctor cost a whopping $40.00. This was a private clinic. I think if I were an American I would have everything done down here for 1/100th of the cost.
The staff at the marina are wonderful. They have driven us around to get things that we need. I would highly recommend to anyone travelling to Mexico to stay at Singlar Marinas.
The plans are to explore this area, going inland to see the Copper Canyon by train. We are also planning a trip by bus up to Tuscon to get spend some boat units and extend our tourist card so that we can leave this country without rushing. I will also be editing pictures and updating the photo portion of the blog as we have good internet connection. This will take awhile as I have so many pictures and need to limit the number I post.
Yes this week has felt like a month.

The Winning Best Costume Using Noodles
A Roosterfish (Does exist)

Time to Have Some Pleasure

(I guess that is all the time these days)

With Hurricane Jimena now behind us it was time for the cruisers to depart the hidey hole, go reprovision, and to get news back to family and friends that they had come through unscaved.
The fleet moved on to Ensenada La Gringa where a mighty fine social event of the month was going to get underway.” The Howling at the Moon Party” We had missed the total full moon but only by 2 days.
The day began with the competition of the best floatie. There were several categories. The best float made only with pool noodles. The best home made floatie, and the most ingenious. We won first honourable mention for our fire truck float. It was made with 2 red coolers, bogie boards, life rings and lots of rope. Ken had made a pump that could spray water aprox. 15’.
The contest brought us to an estuary with tides. We soaked up the sun and water for about 1 hr before the tide began to descend the estuary. Off went the floats being shot out the entrance at about 6 knots. Pretty cool.
The winner was 4 yr old Quinn, dressed as a rooster fish. His parents had sacrificed a few pool noodles to make the tail, and painted his face. It was great. The second price went to Blue Moon, a boat from New Zealand. They had made their float from things they had collected on the beaches of the world. As Jo said, “she even collected Rob on the beach”. It was unbelievable some of the things that were used in their float. Linda on Jacaranda won for best homemade. She was a seahorse. I am not sure how much tin foil she used but it had to take the week waiting for the hurricane to prepare her costume.
The evening had us all gathered on the beach enjoying a pot luck dinner and music. Many songs were made up with Jimena as the theme.
The group of 20 boats stayed for many days enjoying the howls of the coyotes, plentiful fish dinners and clams to collect to your hearts content.
Several boats continued to anchorages further north while most came back to Bahia Los Angeles.
Finding the things we needed in town seem to be like finding a needle in a haystack. We did however find most things.
It was pleasant to have most of the remaining couples come ashore and help us celebrate our anniversary. We have many memories we will carry with us of the people we have met in the upper Sea of Cortez.
As I write this, a family of Mexican’s are tied to our dinghy fishing. The two young boys are having a blast. I have given them Pepsi’s and have made 2 new friends.
We now are weighing the pros and cons of heading to Guyamas. A hurricane is brewing south of Acapulco. If we go we need to make it as quick as possible so as to have as much prep time as one can have. If we stay we would be here possibly for a week and a half. Stay tune.

Genesis Stripped Down

Hurricane Preparation 101

Hurricane season in the Pacific waters has not been a normal year. To date until this week all the hurricanes took a turn West towards Hawaii. Normally Hawaii would get 1 in a season. This year so far they have had 4.
Mexican hurricanes develop in the Gulf of Tehuantepec at about latitude 15 North. This hurricane genesis region varies with the position of maximum maritime heating, which interacts with movements of the cold northern currents from California. They begin as a tropical depression, a tropical storm then a tropical hurricane.
Early in the season June and July a few tropical disturbances lack power, they usually get to about Acapulco then turn North Northwest towards Hawaii. As the summer progresses the seas get warmer and the storms get stronger. They begin to travel faster and further North. Those that stay alive during August and September usually hit land.
August is the most active however not this year. None came north. September however tends to be a time when then turn East and either cross the Baja Peninsula or head straight up the Sea of Cortez. By October they are fewer in numbers but these late season hurricanes are particularly dangerous. They become erratic, are able to intensify rapidly and frequently recurve and hit the Mexican coast.
Hurricanes a very low pressure cell, generally under 1005 MB. Warm water fuels the low.
Luckily there is plenty of warning. (More on that later)
Early last week we knew there was a tropical depression with Easterly waves. This means that on weather charts you see waves in the pressure gradients lines. An indication something is up. As days went by through SSB forecasts (Weather radio) we were told to watch out that a critter was forming.

Sun August 30
An official forecast was issued that a Tropical storm had been upgraded to a Hurricane with the name given as Jimena (He Men A). She was likely to hit the outside of the Baja and high winds for the inside were being forecast.
Genesis looked like a gas station. There are boats that are having a problem with their watermakers, and boats with no watermakers. We have plenty with the ability to make lots so, we had boats tied along side while we filled water their tanks. It is important to have full tanks due to the fact that after a hurricane flash floods and the churning of the water with much debris prevents boats from making water for several days after.
I would like to mention that as we helped others we were also helped. Fellow Canadians, Peter and Marnie on the Sailboat 2 Pieces of 8, discussed storm anchoring with Ken and came on board as we deployed the anchors. Dave on the Sailboat Wave Sweeper helped take our sea kayaks to shore to store in an abandoned fish boat.
We headed over to Puerto Don Juan with the rest of the fleet. 21 in all.
We deployed 2 anchors in tandem. The first being our 45 lb CQR attached by 35’ of chain attached to our main anchor our 66 lb Manson and 250’ all chain. A killet weighing 37 lbs. was added. We then attached 2 X 30’ 5/8” nylon bridle snubbers. We had another 200’ all rope rode. The chain was taken off the windless and attached to the Samson Post. At the Samson post the anchor rodes also were double snubbed. An extra anchor our 30 lb Bruce was ready with all rope should the need be to deploy in an emergency. Lots of extra rope was cleaned and also ready in case needed. We anchored in 40’ of water in what is like a trench underneath. If we dragged either way it would be up hill.
We marked our anchor location on our charting program and put a range circle around it. Should we drag the alarm would sound and alert us to the problem.

Mon August 31
0200 hr. Forecast Hurricane Jimena’s location 450 miles south of Cabo San Lucas and 250 miles west of Cabo Corrientes (By Puerto Vallarta)
0645 hr. Hurricane is gaining strength.
0715 hr. This is the strongest Hurricane ever seen in Mexico. The eye is now at 19N 090W. It will hit the outside Baja at Magdalena Bay by tomorrow night. All the Southern Baja Coast will have hurricane winds. Inside and out. It will go north over land then head straight for Bahia Los Angeles for Fri! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken put chafing gear on the snubbers and around any other possible weak points.
1800hr Forecast changed to say that it would now enter the Sea of Cortez at Santa Rosalia. Some relieve.

Tues September 01
0900hr a team of divers and dinghy drivers were put together to dive anchors. 5 teams in total. All 21 boats anchors were secure.
A roll call was made up with the boats and the persons on board
Medical/emergency persons were named. Genesis would supply the dinghy to act as an ambulance since we have to keep the engine on. It’s bolted on. We had a vet, a couple of nurses and a fireman. We had enough emergency equipment on all boats.
0700 hrs Mexican Government issued a Hurricane watch for Southern Baja Peninsula. It will be a very dangerous storm.
Now this is where things started to go strange with weather reports. We were collecting weather by several different methods. Satellite Imagery, SSB nets, SSB Weather reports. It was around this point we started to receive conflicting reports. The US Hurricane centre had it going off the outside as far as Turtle bay then heading West. HOWEVER and it was a big HOWEVER. The satellite imagery showed it going around Mag Bay heading across to Bahia Conception heading north to Santa Rosalia heading on a NNE track. Just skirting us by Fri.
While Ken was out checking anchors I continued to strip the boat. Everything was in order. Our ditch bags were ready, we were ready as ready can be.
0700 hr. Don’s weather report.(weather predictor from Oxnard California that has been doing the weather net here for 20 years)
The eye of the storm had a low 933 MB pressure. Wind speeds of 165 knots. It was expected into the Sea of Cortez by Fri morning.

Wed September 02

It is dead calm here. Not a ripple in the water. With everything done Ken and Bob from New Zealand went fishing. They kept 10 and distributed the extras throughout the anchorage.
I made up meals for the BIG weather day. I didn’t think cooking would be something we would want to do.

1430 hr Cindy from Masquerade was in Puerto Escondito. They had sustained 90 knot winds all night. It was currently 60 knots. You could not see the boats at the anchorage from the spray in the air. 5 boats had dragged anchors. One had a captain aboard and was able to re anchor. The others grounded. One was Waverly. A boat that dragged the night we had a Chubasco in Isla Carmen. A power boat named Bad Company had Satellite radio weather and had the storm directly over Conception Bay. Getting hammered.
The National Hurricane Centre still had the hurricane on the outside and going north expected to go west. It was not going NW. It was going NE at a high speed for having come over ground. It was still clocking 11 knots of speed.
1800 hrs. The Hurricane was now downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 1. Sustained winds of 75 knots. We should expect the winds to be around 45 – 60 knots. Storm strength.
We go to bed waiting for Jimena.

Thurs. September 03
0330 – Heavy rains began no winds. Lasted 1 hr.
We had the odd gusts of 45 knots but the seas stayed small.
0630 hrs – The net reports that Santa Rosalia was hit hard. The older marina had severe damage. Several boats tossed around, 3 cars in water, mud slides but more important a loss of life by a police officer. All the boaters were safe and accounted for.
0700 hrs. Don’s report. The Hurricane had taken a turn and was heading East not NE. It was hitting San Carlos / Guyamas on the mainland. It was now heading to Texas. Hurray!
The US Hurricane Centre STILL had it outside the Baja! On the Pacific side.
Everyone started putting their boats back together. Many are planning on leaving tomorrow to head over to Bahia Los Angeles
1600 hr Ken has his net to do! Don’s weather report. This tropical depression is regenerating itself. It stalled over San Carlos/Guyamas and they have been getting hammered the whole day. It is getting larger and is heading West back to Santa Rosalia AGAIN. Tropical Storm. You could only hear silence in the anchorage. I could tell no one could believe what they were hearing. We could expect winds of 40 knots. As net controller Ken had his hands full but he did a great job getting everyone’s questions answered. The one boat that had left came back into the anchorage.

Fri. September 04
We had the odd blast of hot air but no wind. We awoke to blue skies, light breeze and calm seas.
0630 – Sunrisa net. San Carlos was damaged badly. Electrical wires were down. There is only one road open for emergency crews. Major mud slides, wind damage. The Marina Seca (dry storage marina) was washed out. No idea how many boats could be damaged because the road to it is washed out and no one can get to it. 8 boats washed ashore, reported 3 sunk. Our friends from Seaventure have their boat there and we hope all is well.
Conception Bay and Mulege seem to have the most damage. A 15 foot wall of water and mud came down the valley draw causing extensive damage to the town and the roads. The bridges have been washed out. The only traffic being allowed, are the Army and Hydro repair crews. The Mexican government has sent helicopters into the high lands and urban areas to check on residents. This has caused the lower Baja Peninsula to be isolated. No fuel, or food supplies will be able to get in. It was reported that the Mexican gov’t will get food to these people. The President vowed that the government would not allow the Mexican’s to go through what the survivors of Katrina went through.
Conception Bay had all the Palapa’s flattened, damage to all the house roofs, roads washed out, power outages, no back up generators. It never had phone service.
At the beginning I mentioned that Hurricanes give you lots of warning. Yes, that they are in the area. No, you cannot tell what they will do. They are unpredictable.
To put this in perspective; the mistakes made by the National Hurricane Centre was all within a few hundred miles. It really was not that much for this big of a storm. The people expecting the storm didn’t get one. The ones expecting not to see the storm got one.
We were lucky. We saw nothing. We were ready as ready as one can be. One boater mentioned on the net that he felt guilty that we had nothing and so many others had endured a hurricane of tropical storm. He was reminded by his fellow boater, that all of us in Puerto Don Juan had done what we were suppose to do, get to a hurricane hole up North. We shouldn’t feel guilty. With that statement I say we are trying to stay safe, and do not take anything for granted. Unfortunately there is another critter down south. It looks like it is headed NW to Hawaii. Lets hope so.