Arrived at Zihuatanejo
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Fri 19 Mar 2010 04:18
Passage length 180 NM
Distance to go:0nM
Location: (17:40.006N 101:36.928W)
The night shift was calm and beautiful under the stars, and clear skies,
with my added challenge of making sure the 700 foot container ships knew we
were here which the AIS helps dramatically as you can call them. We went
past an industrial town you smell the sulfur and every so often the whole
night glowed, reminded me of my steel works days, with the flare off from
BOS plant. We were 6 miles off so it was not bad, and made for an
interesting night line. The dawn awakes with a clear day and flat seas
(except a 6 foot NW swell at 14 sec) we had 35 miles to go, and we continued
on motor sailing as the wind was nonexistent. I spent a couple of hours
getting further sleep and then cleaning out the V birth which we got salt
water in there last night through the hatch 9a long term leak which we can
not solve) and when the waves came over a small amount came in, I have plans
to deal with this with the dinghy as a cover in the upcoming legs, now we
have to wash and dry things out.
After these jobs about 15 miles out I went for one on one time up the bow,
it is so nice with the bow wave peeling off and the clear water, and you
seem removed from the world, and the boat motion aligns with your mood.
While at the bow I spotted these things shining on the surface initially I
thought they may be lobster pots markers, but no they were Sea Turtles big
ones just mozzing along on the surface so the tops of their shells look like
floating rocks from a distance. Some of these were greater than 3 feet (1
meter) in size, and there were a lot of them, I got the boys out with me,
and Alex started spotting them on his own, and Sean started counting. We
went down latter and looked them up in his books, and where you get them.
We will try for a Marina tonight for 1 night to wash things down with fresh
water and get laundry done, and get some good sleep. I also want to wash
down the decks after two weeks at anchor and beach and salt water coming on
board, we will see if they have any space otherwise we will be at anchor.
Well we pulled into the marina (now the only place to get fuel here) so we
filled up, and the entrance was very narrow and waves rolling in over the
bar, so I had to surf Gijima in on the waves. We then pulled into the dock
and started the fresh water wash down and laundry which we have to do on
board as they do not have laundry here so our machine is getting a real work
out. We used the chance to clean the boat and swap toys in the day boxes.
The signs around the dock talk about crocodiles in the marina, and sure
enough one of local captains came up and said keep and eye on the boys, as
dogs are taken off the dock when looking over the edge. Sean and Alex
realized and decided it was good to be in the center of the dock, and stay
away from edge, when riding their bikes.
This is an up market marina with good restaurants a full selection we joined
some local captains and got some further information on our
next couple of legs, and where to get things here.
We also talked about the sea and issues we had yesterday afternoon and they
confirmed that the currents combined with winds can make that area really
like a washing machine. As Tracy said you have 5 hours of hell, and then you
have a magical morning this morning, we just need to learn how to handle
each situation as when the seas a bad you can only just sit, lie and do
nothing, this is an issue with the boys, but even more with Tracy but as she
said we just have to be patient.
So ended a interesting 24 hours, we will move around to Zihuatanejo bay
proper tomorrow for a couple of days of exploring having done all the tasks
here.