Harmonica
N 22 59 W 109 40 Thursday 19th Oct 2000

Well we are in the tropics; it is 1100 am and it has been HOT for 2 hours. We saw Cabo San Lucas at dawn this morning, rounded it in a boisterous chop and 25 knots of wind, which dissapeared soon after heading towards the Sea of Cortez. Now we are motoring in a flat calm.

We just heard that our letter "Harmonica 10" failed to get out properly so hear is a repeat attempt!

Dave Jan & Harmonica

N 25 51 W 113 56 1430 Monday 16th October

Hello All,

Well Harmonica had a long stay in San Diego, and the folks there (particularly at the Downwind Marine store) were very friendly and helpful, but we are glad to move on. We did lots of shopping: new anchor, dinghy oars, digital camera, bigger disk for the laptop..... We worked on the boat: sewed a sun awning, fitted new exhaust mix nipple, fixed the water heater (for our trip into the tropics), replaced some plumbing and fitted a drinking-water filter, installed a wash down pump.... We met several other cruisers and made new friends and socialised. We spent 2 week ends rafted at anchor to Lady Meg sailed by another couple from Calgary. We anchored most of the time, which is free but limited to 3 day stays at the nicest spots, so we were constantly on the move. Twice we took advantage of the hospitality of the San Diego Yacht Club and used their guest moorage to come into dock for 50cents per ft per night. We also borrowed the truck which Downwind Marine lends out to its customers for running around town. Mostly we traveled on land with our folding bicycles.

We went to the museums in Balboa Park and listened to one of the free outdoor organ concerts. Bought Mexican fishing licenses, and got visas at the consulate, where we returned for a street party to celebrate Mexican independance day. (Local dancing, playing, & singing). Yes we visited The Scripps Institute of Oceanography where the library staff were very helpful showing us where to find statistics and web pages on tropical storms.

Dave got exit papers from US customs and wrote our next port as Cedros Island, Mexico. Then we partially emptied the local Vons supermarket, and Costco, and filled all Harmonica's tanks & did a final oil change. Dived under the boat to remove a colony of small snails which was blocking the impeller on our log. We left on Thursday and had to dig under the stern berth to Otto the autopilot, which had grown absent-minded in port and needed reprogramming. The setup finished with the slow 360 degree turns, which we realised that we were doing right on the US/Mexico border as a navy helicopter circled over us.

Now back to 24 hour watches, and no people (only radios!) We had a couple of great days sailing in 15 knot N to NW winds realisng too late that we would arrive in Cedros on Saturday. I called on the HAM radio net (Chubasco Net from which we also get an excellent weather forecasts) to ask what the procedure was, and was told that the Capitan del Puerto will check you in on weekends, but ask you to pay his overtime (fair enough I suppose). I was also told that it would not matter to anybody if we went further down before checking in so we sailed past Cedros & plan to check in at La Paz towards the end of next week. We'll sail it non-stop unless there is nasty weather. Since then the wind got lighter, and the sun got hotter, and we finally dropped the spinaker, and started motoring an hour ago.

We try not to use the "iron horse" if we can avoid it, and have 4 big solar panels to keep batteries charged. We use the radio for the net in the morning and evening calls to Victoria BC, plus weather FAX and email when possible. Add in the 12 volt frig, lights, radar, computer etc. and we need to keep charging. For 2 days the weather was fine, but we were wing-on-wing heading south so no sun got to our panels. Somewhere off Turtle Bay, the turtle bag (with its its spinnaker inside) sensed the proximity and jumped up on deck. The spinnaker took us along at a good speed with very little shading of the panels, but insisted on a quick dip in the sea the first time it came down!

One morning, we came on deck to find a small squid had come on board. Unfortunately, it was too small to eat for breakfast. Another morning, we found a small bird (? finch) dead on the head (toilet) floor. It must have flown in the port hole. We have not seen as much sea life as in California. The odd albatross and flying fish pass by. The usual gulls appear at regular intervals. One seemed very interested in the spinnaker and looked as if it wanted to land on top!

The charts have many little circles marking things such as "9 metres reported 1982" surrounded by water several hundred metres deep. Did a volcanoe come and go? Did the other mariners who found them never return to report? We'll never know.

Janet, Dave & Harmonica