Dolce Vita: Back in the good old USA

I am back in California as I write this, visiting family and friends. Dolce Vita is on a mooring ball back in Key West, Florida. I arrived there on Thanksgiving Day after completing a passage from Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Isla Mujeres is off shore from Cancun a more familiar location for most people.

Many of my readers have been on my case saying it has been too long since I posted my last blog. So here I am. Better late than never.

I thought I would take a little different approach and give you some insight into one of my passages before showing photos and sharing other stories.. Now I could bore you and share a passage that has stories of a wonderful sail, during calm moon lit nights and escorted by a pod of dolphins or I could give you some insight into what can happen during heavy seas and high winds, referred to as a shitty passage.

I stayed in Rio Dulce, Guatemala during this years hurricane season which technically doesn't end until after the end of November. It is rare to have a named storm after the end of October. I had planned to depart the marina on the 29th of October but found that I had to wait until November 1st because of a late year-end hurricane. Just my luck, this hurricane was headed straight for Isla Mujeres, however it lost most of its power before hitting the island and there was little or no damage other that several inches of rain. I had a friend flying into Cancun on the 4th to meet me and I hoped that I could avoid any bad weather that would delay my own arrival.

There is a sand bar across Rio Dulce's entrance and I had to wait for high tide before crossing into the Caribbean Sea. I sailed to a point off of Honduras but had to sail off to a second location because the winds were from the north and there was little coverage from the waves at the first anchorage. The second anchorage had great coverage and I had a restful evening until the alarm went off at 4:00 am. I pulled anchor and started heading north towards Isla Mujeres. I was inside the reef, which is the second largest in the world outside the great barrier reef in Australia and sailing was smooth and enjoyable until I passed through the cut to the outside of the reef around 10:00 that evening. I found myself in confused seas and settled in for a night of a rough ride. I am still sailing alone and should not sleep longer than 20 minutes. I awoke with an alarm, look around for other traffic, check the boat systems and sleep for another 20 minutes before repeating the process. The sun came up over the eastern horizon and I still found myself in heavy seas. I continued to sail for another 24 hours with conditions getting worse but still manageable. It was now the 4th of November and I was still a day from my destination. Had I continued without stopping I would have arrived in Isla Mujeres at 3 in the morning, to early, so I set a course to a marina on the Mexican coast across from Cozumel. That is when everything started going to hell.

I was down below in the cabin holding on to a hand rail as I made myself a sandwich. One would find himself being thrown around the cabin without something to hang onto. Suddenly the boat was thrown to one side from a large wave. I was thrown to the other side of the boat hitting my hip on the edge of a bulkhead. I felt severe pain in my hip from the fall, hoping that nothing was broken. I moved my legs and found everything was still working as it should. Nothing was broken as the pain began to diminish. I opened my eyes and could see that I was still holding onto to the rail with a death grip. The one difference was that the hand rail was no longer attached to the side of the cabin, having been ripped off from one end to the other. The only thing that came to my mind was that I now had something else to fix. The boat was still on course while I cleared the cabin from stuff thrown around. I returned to make myself the sandwich that I had started before the wave hit the boat. Everything was back to normal as I rested and thought about what had just happened.

I changed course as the sails moved to the other side. The lines controlling the front sail became tangled into a knot. I went forward to untie the lines as they wiped around from the force of the loose sail. The lines hit me with the force of someone holding onto a hand held whip. One line hit me directly in my left eye as I turned my head. I was scared that there may have been some damage but a later eye exam showed that everything was normal.

Now one would hope that these last two adventures would be enough for a three day passage, but I was wrong. Sometime later, within a few miles of the marina, the engine quit. I put the boat into a configuration called heave-to and went below to diagnose the problem. The fuel filter was clogged. I changed the filter, bleed the fuel line and restarted the engine. I had to run the engine if I was to arrive at the marina before dark.

I docked at the marina, went ashore for some food and a beer and settled in for a restful nights sleep. I threw off the dock lines early the next morning and set a course for Isla Mujeres. I arrived late in the after noon on the 5th. Everything was right again with the world and I met my friend Tracy for dinner as we began an enjoyable 10 days together exploring the island and the sights.

Now back to the typical blog of photos and stories.

There she sits. She still looks good for an old girl but I might have to give her a face lift soon. She at least is not getting fatter like her captain

Tracy and I went for a long walk around the island. Although I didn't want to stop and rest, she insisted that we do so. Now I am sure she has a different version of this story which is not to be believed.

Tracy and I decided to get a change of scenery and took the ferry boat to Cancun and catch a 3 hour bus ride to Merida, located in the Mexican state of Yucatan. This is a photo of the hotel where we stayed. This was taken just outside of our room.

This is the central park in the city. You find parks in the center of all cities or small towns in Mexico as well as the Central American countries.

The town is well known for its artist community and has many museums to visit were local artist display their art.

I had to take a photo of this because of the vibrant colors and intricate carvings of each of the pieces that you can see.

This is one of the many churches here. This one is located across from the park

Now we are back on the island. There were several of these iguanas that made their home in the marina.

Tracy and I started a tradition of stopping for a margarita or two every afternoon at a bar and restaurant called the Saucy Peso. It was a Gringo hangout and we meet many people from the states and Canada.

Now here is some good advise that all of us should follow.

Our favorite bartender. He made the place and made sure that everyone there was having a good time

This is the Infinity pool that is in the marina. The cost of staying here was reasonable but will go up after they finish all of the improvements that are being built, This pool is also new.

This is a patio located in a bar at the southern end of the island. If you could see over the horizon, you would see the island of Cuba 90 miles away.