I have only once before seen the ocean this calm, 13 years ago when I was stuck for a few days in the middle of the Pacific High on the way back from Hawaii.
It is almost surreal. The water is smooth as glass. Not a ripple. “Ventura’s” wake trails behind for a mile or more, like a daydream. There is a long, long swell from the southwest, presumably from a storm in the southern hemisphere. It is as if the earth were breathing, asleep. The subconscious memory of wind. An occasional fish floats at the surface, surprised when “Ventura” comes close.
I am on the way to Bahias Huatulco, a series of small bays in southern Mexico. I will arrive late Monday night. The engine hammers around the clock. It is a new engine, a Yanmar 3YM30, and I trust it can handle the strain of pushing hour after hour, for days, in 90-degree heat. I am running it at only 2,000 rpm, a speed of only 4.1 knots, partly to conserve fuel and partly to be kind to the engine.
Once in Huatulco, I will take on more fuel. Gunilla will join me on Wednesday. She will stay with me. We plan to motor down the cost, first to the Mexican border, then past Guatemala. We’ll stop in El Salvador. And then on to Costa Rica. That will take us perhaps 10 days. We will then continue motoring and sailing along the Costa Rican and Panamanian coasts, perhaps arriving at the canal around May 1.
This is a huge complication, since it is now looking like I may not have the time to get the boat across the Caribbean before hurricane season starts on June 1. If that is the case, I will have to find a marina or boatyard in Panama or Costa Rica where I can leave “Ventura” until after hurricane season ends on November 1 and then continue the journey then.
I’m still absorbing the implications of this big change in plan. It will be a different adventure.
Fair winds (ha!),
David