My eyes opened at 8:30pm and rather than kill time I decided it was go time. I had prep’d the boat in the afternoon so I jumped right to firing up the port engine and raising the anchor. Minutes later we were navigating out of the anchorage mostly by instruments since the moon hadn’t risen yet. Understanding physics we adjusted course to avoid a number of anchored tankers. Soon enough we were on course and pointed to Isla Isabel.
The large swell was still with us at the beginning, diminishing throughout the night becoming 3-5 foot by the sunrise. We both slept in the saloon – Nora because of the rolling and me to be available is she needed help. It was an easy passage with not much wind and the swell behind us, with the morning light slowly the island crept into view. It always surprises me that once you see your destination it still takes hours to reach it – sailing is not for speed demons. Perseverance prevailed and we pulled into an empty southern anchorage (we had planned for the east anchorage but the remaining swell cancelled that plan).
I only had to dive in the water and adjust our position three times before finding a suitable patch of sand for our anchor. This is not a great place to set the hook, but with light winds forecast I was comfortable with our location. Time for a celebration coco-pina y ron and to unwind after our successful passage.
After an appropriate rest, we hopped into the dinghy and headed to shore to check out the wildlife.
Tired from the lack of sleep the night before, Nora whipped up an early dinner of chicken vegetable stir-fry. Bellies full it was lights out before 8:30pm less than 24 hours since we left Mazatlan. Zzzzzzzzzz
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