Life in the Mariana, Nov. 18 – Dec. 4
Once we were finished with repairs, cleaning and improvements to Enosis, we moved to Marina San Carlos. This marina is the sister to Marina Secca (the boatyard.) Since we had a trailer for the boat, it was an easier task than with most of the boats from the yard going into the water.
It was a busy time for the boatyard and Marina. The tides after the end of November were expected to be low until next April, making the amount of water in the marina too shallow for many of the larger boats. The yard crew was delighted there was so little work to get Enosis into the water, they could squeeze us in easily. The crew arrived at 10:00 am, right on time, with their tractor and slings to put around Enosis to lift it onto the trailer. All went well with no problems. We attached the boat and trailer to the truck and drove it the half mile to the Marina. Meanwhile, the boatyard crew was loading other boats on a hydraulic low-boy trailer to take to the Marina.
After arriving at the marina, the crews were going to lift Enosis off the trailer and put it into the water with the sling. We didn’t want the trailer immersed in salt water since that hastens rusting, so we gladly paid the $30 to have it hoisted in. Because of the boat’s double back stay, they had a hard time maneuvering the boat around the lift’s structure without snagging the stays. With Chris’ help and their patience and care, the boat got in the water with no damage. We motored our boat to slip K21 for what we expected to be 3 or 4 days. The slip, $6.25 a day, was convenient to the bathrooms and showers, coffee shop, laundry and even a really nice restaurant. We had potable water at the slip, but no electricity, so we began monitoring our energy diet in earnest.
Life in the Marina continued many of the same conversations as in the boatyard, but to a greater and more diversified extent. There were more people, people who lived in San Carlos who had boats at the Marina, local recreational fisherman who took fishing tours and party tours out on their boats.
Everyone was very friendly and we met lots of nice people with advice about living in the Sea of Cortez, what places to visit, and how and when to make the passage. People started going by their boat name…”I’m Alice from Enosis.” Common questions were how long have you been coming here, where are you from, when are you crossing? It is definitely a male dominated culture, but I must say nicer than I’ve experience in the past.
We had a few more projects to finish, and then we were planning to cross the Sea of Cortez to the Baja peninsula. We worked on the projects and watched the weather. What’s this about another possible late season hurricane? Will the tropical storm turn into a hurricane? These questions hung over us as the days in mid-Nov. passed by. We were not going to take a risk with a possible hurricane.
Everyone was very friendly and we met lots of nice people with advice about living in the Sea of Cortez, what places to visit, and how and when to make the passage. People started going by their boat name…”I’m Alice from Enosis.” Common questions were how long have you been coming here, where are you from, when are you crossing? It is definitely a male dominated culture, but I must say nicer than I’ve experience in the past.
We had a few more projects to finish, and then we were planning to cross the Sea of Cortez to the Baja peninsula. We worked on the projects and watched the weather. What’s this about another possible late season hurricane? Will the tropical storm turn into a hurricane? These questions hung over us as the days in mid-Nov. passed by. We were not going to take a risk with a possible hurricane.
Chris and I are Oregon Duck football fans and the team was improving as they went into November. Each Duck game we were able to watch in the Hammerhead restaurant at the Marina. They had 5 TV’s and were able to show the games folks wanted to watch. I should say I’m an avid, pretty vocal fan and very soon into the games, my cheers were shared by more Duck fans. (Yes in San Carlos Mexico). During the Stanford game there were some Stanford fans cheering as well. It was all in good fun. We ended up watching 3 games with a couple of UofO alums from Eugene area who have been coming down to San Carlos for 20+ years. They own a home that looks out onto Marina San Carlos. John is an amateur archeologist and after a game they invited us to their home to see the thousands of artifacts he had found. Chris was in 7th Heaven. At another game, two young vacationers from Utah saw our Duck T-shirts and they decided to watch the game with us. They too were UofO alums. It’s funny how small the world really is.
Meals in the Marina continued much as they had at the boatyard…breakfast and lunch on the boat and dinner out. However, we were referred to a great grocery store, Santa Rosa, where we were able to get wonderful prepared Mexican food for takeout for a few dinners on the boat.
So why in the heck did we spend so much time at the Marina? We needed a weather window. The tropical storm did turn into Hurricane Rita, and we didn’t know where it would land and how it would affect the seas. Also, the winds were unusually strong making the seas pretty high as well. We listened to the weather nets and the advice of those who had crossed before, and patiently, or not so patiently waited for a good time to cross. It was a good thing we were not on a deadline like we have been in the past.
On Tues. Nov. 24th, the weather was supposed to be calm and quiet for a day or so on the east coast of the sea, so we took an overnight trip to Bahia San Pedro. Separate entry for that. Then on the evening Nov. 28 we made an attempt to make the crossing, but the seas we so unfavorable that after getting soaked by a swamping wave, we decided to turn back.
At last on December 4, at 2:30 am we made the 83 mile jump across the Sea of Cortez, arriving safe and sound at 4:30 pm the following day.
So why in the heck did we spend so much time at the Marina? We needed a weather window. The tropical storm did turn into Hurricane Rita, and we didn’t know where it would land and how it would affect the seas. Also, the winds were unusually strong making the seas pretty high as well. We listened to the weather nets and the advice of those who had crossed before, and patiently, or not so patiently waited for a good time to cross. It was a good thing we were not on a deadline like we have been in the past.
On Tues. Nov. 24th, the weather was supposed to be calm and quiet for a day or so on the east coast of the sea, so we took an overnight trip to Bahia San Pedro. Separate entry for that. Then on the evening Nov. 28 we made an attempt to make the crossing, but the seas we so unfavorable that after getting soaked by a swamping wave, we decided to turn back.
At last on December 4, at 2:30 am we made the 83 mile jump across the Sea of Cortez, arriving safe and sound at 4:30 pm the following day.