We were only in San Carlos for a couple of days before having to heading to Guaymas to put the boat in a marina and catch some flights. The distance between the two towns is only about 15 miles, but Eitan wanted to split it up and stop for the night at a bay between the two. It was a calm day and we arrived about an hour later with enough time for Eitan to run into town for a haircut, since he would be flying back to San Diego in two days to attend a friend’s wedding. There was a small swell rolling into the anchorage so we decided to put the flopper stopper out to minimize the rolling and settled in for the night.
Around 4:00 AM, the swell in the anchorage started to pick up to the point where it became difficult to sleep, rolling around so much. We laid half-awake for a couple of hours before we couldn’t take it anymore. As the sun came up, we were surprised to find 3 to 4-foot rollers coming into the bay, which was strange because there wasn’t any wind at all. Eitan guessed there may be some kind of wind blowing up north that was pushing the swell down the sea. No matter the cause, we were beginning to roll quite a bit and needed to get out. I fumbled to get the dinghy unlocked and the anchor snubber off while Eitan fired up the engine. Eitan kept the boat pointed into the swell to minimize the rolling and I began pulling up the anchor. I held onto the bow pulpit to stabilize myself as we bounced up and down, occasionally taking water over the bow, completely soaking me and my pajamas. Once the anchor was up, I struggled to get the flopper stopper stowed and wrestled with the whisker pole to get it mounted to the front of the mast. A wave threw me off balance, almost making me hit myself in the head with the whisker pole and came close to knocking me overboard. Although a bit shaken up, considering we weren’t underway and my clothes were already soaking wet, I suppose it wouldn’t have been too catastrophic if I had fallen overboard at this point.
We bobbed up and down with the swell for another hour as we traveled south before making the turn into Bahia Guaymas. We anchored near the marina and Eitan began coordinating with a contractor we had scheduled to come onboard. In order to install the new solar panels, we needed to make some modifications to the davit and needed the services of a stainless-steel welder. Due to the nature of the work, most marinas won’t allow welding on the dock, I assume due to the fire hazard and proximity to other boats. The current marina originally said welding could be done in the haul out slip, but was completely booked up with getting other boats in and out of the water. Another marina suggested hauling out the boat for a couple days to do the welding, which seemed a bit extreme.
Finally, we found a different marina in Guaymas with an available haul out slip and made our way across the bay. When we arrived, we were surprised to see the sketchy slip that was basically a steel structure extending out into the water. On top of that, there was a 10-knot cross breeze to make getting into the slip even sketchier. The haul out slips are designed to have cranes drive over them to pick up the boats and move them on to land. There was a 2-foot metal track on either side to support the crane wheels which was higher than the lifelines on the Sierra Wind, meaning we had nothing to put the fenders up against to prevent the boat from getting pushed under the tracks and into the underlying structure. Luckily, the welder arrived in his truck at the same time we did and we threw the lines to the windward side of the track to tie off to. The welding took a few hours as the tide went out, leaving only 2 feet below the keel and 10+ knots of wind still on the beam when it was time for us to leave. We recruited the help of some of the local workers to get us off the dock. One strongly suggested we just stay overnight and wait for the tide to come up and wind to die but we had flights to catch in the morning and this wasn’t an option for us. With some skilled maneuvering and help from the guys on the dock, using the lines to pivot the boat around, we miraculously made it out of the slip without hitting anything or running aground.
After spending all day with the welder, we arrived back at the other marina just as it began getting dark. It turned into a late night getting the boat stored and our bags packed before catching the bus at 5:30 the next morning. Eitan was catching a flight back to San Diego for a friend’s wedding and I decided to use the downtime to see Mexico City!
