It started off as a great birthday, Neil and I headed into town, and spent the morning and most of the afternoon with our friends Isabel and Russell. It was their last day to be in town, as they were going to be in the states for Thanksgiving. We took them to lunch, as a way to thank them for their generosity, and to say goodbye. What a wonderful family they are, we will miss them.
After lunch, we headed back to the boat, to have a day of rest, as we knew there was a storm approaching on Saturday. More and more boats started showing up in the afternoon, so they would be in a safe place for the storm. By the time the afternoon was over, there was at least 30 boats in the bay. After having been here for two whole weeks, we felt very confident, that our anchor was nice and solid, so we felt good about going to bed, and getting a good rest before Saturday, when the storm would hit.
The winds started to pick up out of the north around 4:30 or so, and by 9:00 pm the winds had begun blowing at speeds of 20-25 knots. We felt safe and fine with that, so off to bed we went. At around 10:30 or so, the wind was causing some pretty crazy noises on our boat, as it whistled through our rigging, and so forth. It made it pretty hard to have a good solid sleep, because it was pretty loud. This would prove to be a very helpful thing…
At approximately 12:30 am, Neil woke up suddenly, due to some of the noises, and had a strong feeling he should go up and take a look. When he got outside, he looked over to our starboard side, and noticed we were not more than about 25 feet from the boat next to us! This was NOT the case when we went to bed. Either the other boat (Pegasus) or us, was dragging anchor!!!
Fortunately, the skipper of the other boat, popped his head out, as well, and we were able to talk to him, and after looking at his GPS/anchor alarm, he said they had only moved about 10 feet. This meant that Liahona had moved about 100-150 yards! YIKES!! Well, with our engine in a not so stable condition, as we were still waiting for our parts from San Diego, Neil took a chance and told me to start the engine, and he would begin pulling up anchor to get out of the way. SUCCESS! The engine started right up…WHEW! Okay, so we’re now able to start getting out of the way of the other boat, and Neil is pulling up the anchor line, nicely. However, because we were now so close to the other boat, our anchor as it was being hoisted, began to cross their anchor line. Neil shouted for me to hurry and put the boat into reverse, and gun it!
I did so immediately, and we started backing away from their boat. Finally the anchor line released and Neil was able to pull it aboard. Now that we were free, we motored over to a new spot, and dropped anchor once again. This time, since we had a motor (for the time being) we were able to set the anchor much better, than when you do it under sail. Neil also put out another 100 feet of road (anchor line) Now, the sit and wait game. We waited, and watched to make sure we were stuck, until about 2:30 am before we went back to bed. As the winds howled around us, we stayed put! Dodged a great big bullet tonight, thank you Heavenly Father, for that one!
Sat. Nov. 12, 2011
Storm Day
We woke to winds of about 10-12 knots and still blowing from the north, which really isn’t too bad, but it was very cloudy. Many or most of the boats, began moving over to the south side of the bay, because the storm was to be coming from the south. The mouth of Turtle Bay is just about perfect due south, so the large open bay area, nearest to the town, on the north west shore, isn’t the place to be for a storm coming that way. It blows right at you in that direction. So, this is the reason the boats began moving, because the south side of the bay is protected by the hills from the south blowing wind. At any rate, Neil decided that since our hook was set, and we didn’t move during the night in fairly heavy winds, he didn’t want to move over. He was worried that if our engine went out on our way across, then we’d be in the same situation as we were when we got here, which was to set the hook, under sail, instead….which though it took two weeks to do…we dragged anchor from that route. So, decision being made, (bad decision #1) we stayed, along with probably at least 5 other sail boats, and maybe about 10 motor boats. Bad decision #2: I really, really, REALLY wanted to go to town, and get some things since we were going to be stuck on land and talk to my kids, because with the weather being the way it was, I hadn’t been able to speak to them in two days. We started trying to hail a water taxi, and there was a lot of boats trying to do the same thing. Oh, by the way, during the night, and on Friday afternoon, there began to be at least 30-40 motor yachts that came in, for the FUBAR, which is similar to the Baja Ha Ha for sailboats. Now we have around 80 boats in the bay. Because the motor yachts were in the bay, there was a lot of fuel being needed, because those babies take A LOT OF FUEL!! So, our water taxi guys were busy fueling boats up, and it took a really long time to get a taxi. We had plenty of time now, to watch the storm come in, while we waited. Once it came, we almost wished it hadn’t…(especially Neil) By this time, the wind was definitely coming from the south, and was blowing at least 20 knots. The water taxi, was bouncing all over heck! Trying to get onto the taxi, from our moving boat, was quite a challenge, and once Neil was on the taxi, I had no choice but to get on too. Can I just tell you…this was one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve ever had, hence bad decision #2. Who’s idea was this anyway??!! The good news is, I made it, but it was a rough, rough panga ride. Once in town, though, it wasn’t too bad. We got our stuff done, and hung out a little bit with the cruisers at the palapa, then talked to the kids for a minute, but the internet on land wasn’t so good either. We now headed back to the boat, as it was getting close to dark. Once we were safely back on the boat, we fired up the generator, and I began trying to make dinner. THAT WAS FUN! Wow! The boat was rockin’ and a rollin’ by now, with winds up to about 25-30 knots. Once I was finally done with dinner (with several breaks to lie down from feeling seasick) we ate out on the deck, because it was really hard to be inside, with that much movement. After dinner though, we had no choice but to come inside to get warm. We were both really tired, and with all the movement, we really just wanted to go to bed, but it was only about 7:00, so we decided to watch a movie. About 1 hour into the movie, all of a sudden Neil ran up top to get sick! That NEVER happens, it’s usually me that does that. Poor guy.
We chose, at that point, to go to bed. Sleep was not in the cards though tonight…
We laid there for not more than 10 minutes before Neil was up looking to make sure we hadn’t moved any (sounds are so much louder down below) Nope, all is well, other than the constant rocking and rolling. So, back to bed. 10 minutes later…back out on the deck, so forth and so on…you get the idea. All night checking the situation out, every 10-15 minutes, it was a long night! At about 10:30 on one of the occasions Neil went out again, I heard him holler for me to come outside, he yelled “a boat is going down!” I ran up top, and looked out to the starboard side, and sure enough, we saw a sailboat going down. The mast was at about a 45% angle, and the back end of the boat was beginning to pop up into the air. As we watched, both in silence, we came to the realization that it was, at least, the derelict boat that had just been left by someone in the bay two years back. It obviously had some holes, as it was going down. Only 10 minutes went by before it completely sank. The back end shot straight up into the air, we could even see the keel, then it went straight down! The only evidence in the morning was about 5-6 feet of the mast, sticking up out of the water, because the bay isn’t very deep.
Wow! What an eerie feeling it is to watch a boat sink, thank goodness though, there was no one in it! The rest of the night, was as described above, though by around 2:30 am we were able to sleep a little bit longer between checks. When we woke on Sunday morning, it was beautiful and sunny, and the wind and waves were very calm. We found out later, that those folks who wandered to the other side of the bay, had a very restful, and peaceful night for the most part. J Lesson learned!
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| Other boats, and stormy bay |
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| Stormy bay |
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| Mast of sunken boat |
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| Mast of sunken boat, close-up |
Sun. Nov. 13, 2011
Once we awoke, and had had our breakfast, we grabbed a water taxi and went over to town, we definitely needed to get off the boat for bit, after the crazy night we’d just had.
Basically we just sat around on shore today, we had a little get together with the other cruisers later in the day, then most of them took off to prepare for leaving in the morning. The few of us that decided to stay for Monday as well, decided to have a little fish tacos on the beach party. It was delicious! The guys had purchased some freshly caught sea bass, and boy was it good! That’s pretty much it for today, we were tired, and went back to the boat afterward, and just slept like babies.
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| River running through the beach cantina |
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| If you look just under the palm tree on the right, where the water line begins, just over the dock, you can see a rainbow. |
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| Yea for fish tacos on the beach!! |
Mon. Nov. 14, 2011
Today, was back on land day again, we hung out at the palapa most of the day with our new friends Kyra (spelling?) and Rick, Dave and LeAnn (again with the spelling??), Ed and Teri, and a few others. Kallel, and Isreal (Pampa) our local boys, helped us with a little “Fiesta” David had cooked up for the local boys and girls. He and LeAnn bought a piñata, and a bunch of candy and we all went in on it, and then Teri and Ed, got some cake and frosting, and we put together a pretty nice little party for them, it was so fun! Afterward, we went back to the boat for another really good night’s sleep.
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| Tio Hector |
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| LeAnn & Tio Hector |
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| Local kids, getting soda! |
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| Raising the pinata |
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| Pampa frosting the cake |
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| Pinata party begins! |
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| David raising and lowering the pinata, Kalel (on the left) |
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| Candy galore!!! |
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| it's a mad dash to get it all! |
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| serving cake (pastel) |
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| Dave & LeAnn |
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| Ed & Teri |
Tues. Nov. 15, 2011
Today was getting our parts day, finally!! We waited around until about 3:00 before Talpa, and her husband got home, so we did our shopping and preparing for our last “fiesta” on the beach while we waited. After receiving the parts, we promptly went back to the boat, to get the hose put on. Rick was so kind to do it for us, as Neil still doesn’t quite fit into that back hatch yet, (we’re both working on it) anyway, he put it on in about an hour. We thanked him profusely, then headed up to the palapa for our sail away party. We had a great time, and once again had fresh fish tacos, it was mui delisioso!! Once back at the boat, Neil prepared the filters for changing, first thing in the morning. Night night!
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| The guys being our guys, on our last night in Turtle Bay |
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| The last BBQ on the beach in Turtle Bay |
Wed. Nov 16, 2011
Started off this morning, getting ready to go, Neil changed the filters, and bled the line, but somehow, we’re still having trouble keeping the engine going? We’ve bled the line now, 4 different times, and it hasn’t helped. L But, the wind is very favorable for leaving so, we’re off anyway. He will continue to try to fix it, once we’re underway. It just seems like there is so much air in the line still?? Anyway, just now we’re battening down the hatches, and preparing to leave. Turtle Bay has been wonderful, and such a great experience, we hate to say goodbye….but…GOODBYE TURTLE BAY, we hope to return again sometime soon!
So kool :)love u guys. Kiriko&terrance.
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