Arrival in San Carlos... Blanca dies down as she heads N over the Baja

The friendly little swallows on the boat opposite me in Isla Mazatlan had fledged their nestlings . The closed stern barbecue conveniently had a hole at one end that was just the right size for them.. It seemed the right time to leave Mazatlan to head north again - the prospect of sailing overnight in the bright light of a full moon was appealing...

The hurricane season has started up with a vengeance - Andres obligingly turned out to sea, as expected, but was very early and increased to well over a hundred miles per hour... To my surprise, Blanca was hot on his heels and looking quite threatening, as I made my way up to the Sea of Cortez, in a good southerly swell. I'd spent a pleasant couple of evenings before leaving, firstly with cruiser friends and then with Osvaldo (skipper of 'Romance') and his family..

I was sorry Eduardo (skipper of 'Mi Casa') hadn't taken up my offer of a farewell 'cerveza' on my last afternoon. Both he and Osvaldo had been very keen to help me in whatever way they could, but Eduardo clearly didn't realise just how early I wanted to leave ..... By 7am, I was well underway, avoiding the dredger in the shallow entrance channel and hoping not to run into difficulties with the big swell over the entrance bar. The waves were crashing heavily into the nearby shore, coming from the S as a result of the hurricanes not so far away. Eduardo had appointed himself my Press Agent and I'd had two newspaper interviews and one TV interview by the time I had left - a severe test of the minimal Spanish I've been working hard at trying to improve.. Fortunately, Eduardo was close at hand with his good English, to translate when needed. My time in Mazatlan was made very enjoyable by the many friendly people I met up with (a wedding party included!) and I hope to return there soon.

My passage N was, as expected, full of motoring in increasingly calm seas with a diminishing S swell and occasional light breezes from just about every direction as the heat of the day caused an onshore sea breeze and; later; offshore land breezes. The mainsail had been raised from the start but I was only able to enjoy the peace of sailing a few times in all, with quite a nice downwind run under poled-out genoa, goosewinged for a few hours.
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Dolphins came by several times and. in the heat of the midday sun, I enjoyed a brief dip in the sea and a delicious deck shower within sight of San Carlos entrance and its familiar, distinctive, twin peaks . Other boats were only seen on arrival - surprisingly, I'd had the sea, sun and stars to myself for three days!

Now in harbour, I'm trying to find the cause of a major problem I had on passage - the toilet kept back-filling with sea water ... I had to turn off the outlet seacock to prevent the boat from flooding... Quite a worry, but a relief to see the water level in the bowl stay low in the end... I'm still trying to figure out what's going on. The other smaller problem was finding the motor stopping unexpectedly when I reduced power quickly (I was very gentle coming in to dock!). Luckily, there are two good mechanics here in San Carlos, so that problem should be easy to fix.. The other nice thing is the friends and acquaintances that are here - it has felt like a bit of a 'homecoming' having been here for most of last year when I met so many people - but I hope not to be on the hard again this time.

Blanca is still a worry and several boats have crossed over from the Baja peninsula to escape the very strong winds and heavy rain expected - far more so over there, to the West, than is forecast for here (Historically, San Carlos has been a good 'hurricane hole'). With any luck, Cabo San Lucas and the Baja won't be hit too hard. We were expecting some strong weather here also but the last I heard, Blanca will move out into the Pacific soon and not cause so much trouble on land as had been feared. ... Fingers crossed!  (Well, she actually came onshore at Cabo San Lucas and La Paz and on North, but diminished as she came - see above)