Sailing Valentina

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

to Kemah, Texas

May, 2013

Welcome to Isla

5/1

Today is our 11th grandchild, Evan's 1st birthday. Happy Birthday to you Evan. With scheduling on Valentina the past year, we have yet to meet this wonderful grandchild, with the exception of Skype. We have seen him many times, but are anxious to see him in person, to cover him in kisses and hugs. We are looking forward to it.

We finished sanding our four dorade scoops. We bought spray paint recently in Cancun. Sonny shook the can and took the cap off, just to find, there was no spray nozzle on the can. "I guess someone needed it in the store". So, we checked our other spray cans and the nozzle was not the same type. George on S/V Silver Sea checked and he had a nozzle that would work.

After we sprayed the dorades, we went with George and Pixy of S/V Silver Sea to town for lunch to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants, La Lomita. They have great food and rated very high in the Trip Advisor on the island. Sonny and I shared a bean soup dish....and got plenty. And, it was delicious, with a great flavor.

When we returned to Valentina, Tim and Pam of S/V Pamela Ann, came down with a question on putting pictures on their blog. Pam is doing a great job....just to the point of needing confidence, and practice.

Then, Tom on S/V Sojourn called us on the VHF to see if we wanted to go down to Bahia Tortuga at 6 p.m. for an open mike night with Joe on S/V Malachi and Bill on S/V Perfect Moment. It was a fun evening with old friends and good music.

After we returned to Valentina around 10 p.m. we noticed flickers of lightning....lighting up the sky. It began getting closer and closer and brighter and brighter....and the thunder was louder and louder. It got a bit dicey as the storm passed through and we listened to the VHF radio of boats in the anchorage dragging, attempting to re-anchor, boats getting swiped by dragging boats, and one on the hard near the mangroves. After midnight, several of the cruisers, near the boat on the hard, assisted in getting him back afloat and safely anchored. The VHF radio was very active during the wee hours of the night. Why do storms always come at night?

Again, we are so thankful to be in the marina.

And....people wonder what we do....all....day.

5/2

We are waiting for a g-o-o-d weather window to cross the Gulf of Mexico....and it is just not happening. The cold fronts continue to blast down from Texas reaking havoc in the water of the Gulf of Mexico. It is not a place we care to be. We are counting on seven days to cross the Gulf, and getting a good window of 7 days is...next to impossible. But, we are waiting. I remember a wall hanging in our grand-daughters bedroom, "Dear God, the seas are so deep and wide, and my boat is so small". We can relate.

I am lost (naked) without my camera. We have been on the beaches a lot here in Isla and it has taken its toll on our small digital cameras.

Art on S/V Samana told us that Glen on M/V Tothill was trying to reach us this morning on the Cruiseheimer's SSB net. But, we missed him. Later, around noon, four gentlemen were knocking on the bow of Valentina. It was friends of Glen's who participated in the Sol del Sol sailboat race from St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres. We went with them up to Oscar's to eat lunch. They are a very good group of guys, having fun racing on S/V Playmobile.

Here is a photo of Jay's sailboat at the dock. There is also a lady reporter giving an update on the regatta.

We went over to Roberto and Any's tonight. We laugh so much when we are with them. They are such good, life-long friends.

5/3

After being in South and Central America for over 7 years, and eating all kinds of street food, we want to take a dose of ameba medicine before we return to the US. So, this morning, we are going to walk to town to meet with a doctor to see which medicines would be best.....as we both do have symptoms of amebas.

On our way, we stopped at Chedraui, which is the local large grocery store where I bought my little Sony camera a few weeks ago. We decided to go ahead and buy another one. So, we went in to look. Of course, there are none in the case like the one we bought (with the same batteries, card, etc.). As Sonny was checking with the clerk on the availability of one to buy, I went to the service desk to see if we could do 'anything' about my broken camera. We realize, "we are in Mexico" and not expecting anything.

After talking to one girl, then another, then another....then, the manager, I explained our situation. We recently bought a Sony camera, now it is not working. I do not have my receipt, knowing we would not be in Mexico that long, and we will be leaving in a week for the US. I did not expect anything. The manager then asked me to bring him my broken camera. So, we walked back to the boat to get it. I packaged it all up, and back we went.

The clerk was able to find one in the back, identical to our little Sony.

All of the clerks and the manager examined our broken camera,. Then, the manager handed me a box with a new Sony camera. No charge, no questions asked. How surprised we were! We honestly did not expect anything, realizing we did not have the receipt. We are so thankful, and I am a happy girl again...with a camera. I hope it lasts longer than 3 weeks.

Now, we resume our walk to town. We go by the doctors office, but he is out until 2 p.m. So we head over to Bally Hoo to get some of their delicious fish tacos. When we return to the doctor, he examines Sonny and confirms our symptoms. So, off to the pharmacy we go.

We wait around town until 4 p.m. when the artist fair begins. Our friends, Tim and Pam of S/V Pamela Ann, are in the exhibit with some paintings he has done.

While we were sitting around, waiting for the fair to begin, watching people set up their tables, Sonny pointed to a lady that he said reminded him of me....from afar. I could see some resemblance, but didn't think a lot about it.

Then, when the fair began, we were walking around the different tables, and Carol of S/V Present Moment came up to me and said, "I went over to that lady over there and said, 'Kay, I didn't know you were an artist'." How weird, I had to go meet this lady.

When we were talking, it was funny, she said, she gets comments occasionally about people thinking she looks like Sally Field, but she said, "I bet you really do." I agreed, she is right, I do hear that quite frequently.

We met Roberto and Any in town and rode around the island with them on their rented golf cart.

It is a very windy day.....25-30 knots and blowing like stink....all day.

5/4

Good morning....the wind has calmed down to around 15 knots and the north wind has blown water into the lagoon, which means a very high tide. The lagoon is shallow, and we definitely need a high tide to get out. So, Sonny said, "Do you want to go out to the anchorage this morning while the tide is so high?" "Sure", I replied. So we started preparing Valentina for life on the anchor again.

We listened to Chris Parker on the SSB for weather this morning. He thinks we may have a window on Tuesday, so we will begin preparing to depart Isla on Tuesday. We will talk to him again on Monday morning for the latest weather. There is supposed to be a cold front (again) in Galveston on Saturday, so we will have to watch that.

Oscar helped with his launcha pull us out of the slip and we were off. He is such a good man; we have really enjoyed him. He does not speak any English but motioned like tears streaming down his face when we left and said, "My house is your house when you return".

We are safely anchored and the wind is 15-20 with gusts to 25. So far, our anchor has held beautifully. It is so nice to be on anchor again.

5/5

We are getting ready to depart, we checked the water in the batteries, checked our SSB connection for email while underway, oil in the engine, and all of the last minute stuff.

We went with Roberto and Any to town and then to eat lunch.

5/6

We listened to Chris Parker this morning on the SSB and he said tomorrow would be a good day to head to Texas, so we are in gear.

After the morning VHF net, we dinghied over to the Port Captain's office to get our zarpe, so we could leave. Then, we went to immigration to get our passports stamped. We dinghied down to the marina to see our friends, Roberto and Any. We used their golf cart to run our last minute errands.

When we returned to Valentina, with a full dinghy, we unloaded everything and Sonny jumped in the water to start cleaning the bottom. I put everything away and made a big batch of potato salad for our comfort food for the crossing.

We were busy trying to get everything done to leave, even today, but we just decided to wait until in the morning when, hopefully, the wind will be more out of the east and we will be a little more rested.

5/7

We are off...Anchor Up....you can follow us on the homepage at "Where is Valentina?"

Day 1 - Tuesday:

After getting everything ready yesterday, checking all of the lights and systems last night, we are ready to pull up anchor. So, at 6:20 a.m. we are up and headed out of the anchorage.

There is a parade of about 8 other boats getting underway this morning also. But, they are all headed to Florida rather than Texas.

We checked in on the NW Caribbean net as being underway and will talk to them again this afternoon at 6 p.m. We also have several friends that we have a radio schedule with.

We talked to some friends on Sojourn that were headed to Florida and some friends on Windancer in Belize. We will check with them each day.

Also, Sonny's radio friend, in Waxahachie, Bob Fitch, is on the SSB late at night, so we can talk to him along the way.

We talked to Chris Parker, the weather router, and he said our trip looks good, with the exception of a cold front coming off of Texas on Saturday morning with squalls up to 40 knots. Yikes! That news did not make our day. But, we will just continue to monitor it and see what develops. Just not how we planned to end our trip, but we will make the best of it.

We already caught a fish, but it was too small. We are spoiled...we threw him back. We do not want to mess with cleaning a small one right now.

We are 20 miles from Isla Mujeres with 640 more to Galveston, then on to Kemah. Valentina is performing excellent and we are behaving also.

Today, we saw one dolphin, two ships, four fishing boats, two floats marking a shallow spot for fishing, and an orange buoy marking ???? We did not stop to see.

Your eyes play jokes on you when you are at sea. There is only one view....water and you watch it constantly. You start seeing mermaids, dragons, land, boats, etc. And, we have only been out one day.

We saw some fish jumping and birds all around, way out here. We had a small yellow and black bird travel with us for a while.

At 6 p.m. we have gone 12 hours and 63 miles, similar to our one hour drive from Waxahachie to Waco. Just a tad bit slower.

We are headed more north to try to catch some positive current, rather than current against us, slowing us down.

The sunset was a brilliant, deep red. It looked like it was on fire over the water. We watched very carefully, but did not see a green flash.

We are trying to sleep and nap as much as we can. It is hard for us for the first few days, before we get into a schedule. Then, you are so tired, you can sleep anywhere, in any position, with the boat rocking and rolling.

There is...no...moon tonight and just a sliver the rest of the week., but the stars are so bright out here. It is surprising how much light they put out. God's creation is just awesome to observe and enjoy.

Without a moon, it makes such a dark, dark night to go sailing through the water. I am so thankful for radar to see oncoming ships. The night is not my favorite time while underway. I need Linda Petzold.....for those night watches.

5/8

Day 2 - Wednesday:

This morning, we watched the beautiful sunrise as we continued on our journey.

On crossings, we have never been able to sleep for the first two nights, and last night proved true to form. Not much sleep at all. While Sonny was on watch, I would lay there and try so hard to go to sleep, and just cannot, and vice versa. In a few days, we will.

We ate some oatmeal for breakfast and I sent the daily update email to the kids over the SSB radio. How wonderful it is to have communication via email while you are in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. It certainly is not high speed internet, in fact it takes about 30 minutes each time to send and receive emails. It is with a Pactor modem on the radio waves. It may be slow, but...it works and we are thankful.

We check in with the nets and have a check-in schedule at night, just for safety and security while underway.

We ate a chicken sandwich with some potato salad as "Otto" steered us onward, on our course. Then, time for a nap.

Also this morning, while we were talking and listening to the nets, our fishing line let out the loudest squeal I have ever heard. It had such force behind it and he was taking line out very quickly. By the time Sonny reeled it in, the fish was gone. He just left a very frayed steel leader. He was 'the fish that got away'.

We covered 130 miles our first day with an average speed of 5.5. That is good for us. We have had some good wind for sailing and some motor sailing in the afternoon.

We send updates to our kids every morning and evening, so they know how things are going. In our evening email tonight,, we asked for some specific prayer requests: us getting sleep, and the cold front headed off the Texas coast on Saturday.

5/9

Day 3 - Thursday:

Well, it is 7:30 a.m. and we feel like we have already put in a day's work after a good night's rest.

When the sun came up, the wind also picked up. So we decided to first, reef the jib. So, we took the 150 jib down and used our staysail. It is much calmer...until the seas decided to change directions. Then, we heard a crash down below. A glass slid across the refrigerator and broke in slivers. Of course, I do not have shoes on. But, I got it cleaned up and hopefully, we are good (for now).

This morning the seas are lumpy, rolly, and somewhat confused. So it is not a comfortable ride. We are rocking gunnel to gunnel and this weather is expected for two more days, only with more wind. So, we are on our way, and we have a positive current of about 2 knots at times, helping to push us.

We are both sore already. Just the rocking movement back and forth continually, plus banging into everything while going down below will keep us bruised and sore.

Most people lose weight on long crossings, but we think we may gain weight. Before we left, we stocked up, of course, on avocados, mangos, and apples, but also any kind of junk food, juice and drinks we could think of to keep us hydrated. You do not have much of an appetite while underway. We are both, for I think the first time, taking 1/4 tablet of Sturgeon for sea sickness every 12 hours. We sure do not need to be sick on this trip, and it is working beautifully.

Tonight, we saw a lot of ships passing by. Right before sunset, I had to call one on the VHF, but he did not answer. He was a little to our port several miles, going very, very slow, and we thought he must be laying cable or working. I wanted to know if it is safe to go behind him. Most of the ships have stayed 3 miles away from us. Nice.

So, things are good. We are both feeling good, we both got some much needed rest last night.

One day at a time.....and one day closer.

5/10

Day 4 - Friday

Yesterday afternoon was good, fairly calm wind and seas. Then at dark, it became very bad. Then, once it became dark, we had 20 - 30 knots of wind all night out of the south, and seas too big to even want to see. Thankful for no moon.

Whew....We are doing much better. Last night was truly our worst night ever on the water. But, after the sun came up, we could access things, make decisions and continue moving onward.

Today was, thankfully calmer and finally the wind was under 20 knots. Last night is was 20-30 knots....all night. I do not like the nights on crossings, and, in total darkness.

We are much better. Still trying to rest when it is not our turn, or do things that need to be done (sail changes, adjustments, eat, shower).

We are now 241 miles from the outside sea buoy at Galveston. We are hoping by Sunday to be at the buoy (in a perfect world).

We only saw four ships today. One was too close, I hailed him on the VHF. Of course, he did not respond.

One day closer........

5/11

Day 5 - Saturday

We are doing much better. The seas last night were much lower and we were able to snooze in between watches.

Today is the day the cold front is coming down from Texas. So, we are supposed to have some squalls with that, lots of rain, but hopefully, no high winds. We will see.

This morning, we are about 180 miles from the sea buoy at Galveston. It looks like we may arrive late evening to Galveston. Possibly anchor in Galveston Bay, then head on in to Kemah on Monday. Sketchy plans....though, right?

We are currently in 390' of water. The depths are finally registering on the chart plotter. Before, when the depths were in the thousands, it would just flash. Now we have real numbers. A good sign we are nearing land.

We have had numerous birds travel along with us. Last night when I was on watch, one came into the cockpit for protection and rest, and landed on my shoulder. Kind of spooked me....he was pecking in my hair. OK....I have not washed it since before we left on Monday....Sonny took him on his finger and put him up near the dodger and he rested there for the night.

This morning, a pilot boat passed us, taking crew to an oil derrick and called us on the VHF. He asked us "How are things going?" He said he saw us and put the binoculars on us and he was concerned for us.

Then he said, "Are you aware of a bad cold front coming through shortly?" He was very nice. I told him thank you and everything was fine on board and asked if he had any updates on the cold front.

He said a very bad cold front in coming through soon with 4' to 6' seas, hail, lightning, and squalls. I said, "Hail?" Oh no!....He was concerned for us and got the vital information of our boat, color, length etc. He said he would check back with us later to see how we are doing. Kind of spooked us. So we began securing everything, snapping down all the enclosure so we would stay dry and getting ready for the bad weather approaching. About 30 minutes later, we got wind up to 29 knots, but it was not bad. We sailed right through it. "No problems, man".

There are squalls forecast until midnight tonight, but this afternoon, after the front blew through, it has been very calm. We are motoring on....we will wait and see what tonight brings.

I saw a light on our port side that looked different and was not moving. So, I started to hail him on the VHF to see what his intentions were. Sure glad I did not....as we got closer to him. It was a oil derrick and he did not move.

Oil derricks have played a number with us on this trip. There are lots of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and are not all marked on the charts. Our Thursday night escapade was very close to one, it seemed what ever we did, we were still at the oil derrick. We were trying to work on sails, etc. and would still be too close to it for our comfort.

As I am typing this update, we are passing two oil rigs on the port side. Maybe driving down Highway I-35 may not be so bad, but can we go at 5 knots? Not sure I am ready for a speed of 70 mph.

One thankful thought of many: Sonny's Ham Radio friend, Bob Fitch, has been monitoring 14.300 on the SSB radio. That is the emergency frequency you call on your SSB radio on the boat if you have any problems at sea. The ham operators who monitor the Maritime Mobile Net will get the necessary information and call the coast guard, or do whatever they can to help or rescue you. Also, Bob, along with Roger and Bill are on the SSB each evening, so if we needed anything at night, we could just call them. Also, numerous cruising friends in the Caribbean are checking on us each morning on the SSB nets to make sure we are OK.

We have also been thankful for Ken and Karen Kruse on S/V Watermark in Alabama who check on us each morning after we talk to Chris Parker for our daily weather. So, you really are not out here....all by yourself. We are thankful to have so many people tracking us, praying for a safe voyage, and fair winds.

One day closer....

5/12

Day 6 - Sunday


 Exciting news.....We both saw the green flash last night!   It is only the second

 time we have ever seen it.   The  first time  we  were crossing from Colombia to

Honduras.  You can watch for it on a cloudless horizon, when the very last sliver

of the sun sets.   Last night, after it completely set,  there  appeared  a  bright

lime-colored  light  that  went  from  left  to  right,  just  where the sun set.   I

videoed it,   but  not sure if it will come out on our camera.    Really, we are not

losing it, we really did see it.
 
Yesterday did not go as planned for us.   We planned  being  farther along,  but

last night, there were two oil rigs  amidst  many  others  on our route that were

too close, so we turned to get away from them.   Then, it started getting worse

and worse.

There  were oil rigs  all  around.   We  are  calling  this  our  'oil  rig tour in  the

prohibited area'. Our friend Karen says, going through the oil rigs in the Gulf of

Mexico is like driving in downtown Dallas at night, with no lights.

We agree.

With it being so very dark, we did not feel comfortable  with this route,  so we

back-tracked out, following our tracks, headed to a different route in deeper

open water. Our tour took much more time than we anticipated and we didn't

get much sleep again last night.

Our plan for today is to get some rest.
 
There is little wind today and we have 1½ knots counter current, so it is slow.

Our 30 hp Yanmar diesel engine usually pushes us through the water at

5 or 6 knots, but today....only 4.

We are on the homestretch.  It  is the '7th inning  stretch' and we are ready to

make  a  "HOME  RUN".  We  currently  are  about 85 miles from Galveston, so

averaging 5 knots, it should take 17 hours to get to Galveston, then about 4 or 5

more to Kemah.  So,  we  can  finally see  the light at the end of this Gulf Tunnel.

We  were  wondering  yesterday if we would ever make it to  Kemah  as  we  were

wandering through the oil platforms.

It is much more open now,  with the  derricks farther apart.   Night-time  should

not be an issue.


We do have north east wind now 15-20 knots,  and  are  hoping it will settle down

and turn SE, or anything but north.   It  looks  like  a line of clouds with blue sky

behind it, so we are looking for calm, settled weather.
 
We, so far, on this trip, have gone 682 miles.   We  will be talking to  our friends,

Ken and Karen, in the morning on the SSB after  Chris  does his weather on 8104.

We sure are thankful they are there for us. As cruisers, they know what it really

 is like out here.
 
We are so thankful for all of you.  We are blessed.
 
We are doing good, feeling good, and ready to be in Texas.
 
One day closer.....

Happy Birthday Chase

Our 11 year old Grandson

And, Happy Mother's Day.....thank you for the emails, I did not even know it was Mother's Day.

5/13

Day 7

Good, good, good morning,
 
We are very good!  We had a pretty good night last night, just rolly,  but no wind

over 20 knots.  We were  able  to get  some  rest in between watching out for oil

drilling platforms and traffic.
 
But, now we are in the Fairway for the ship's headed into Galveston.  We are still

15 miles from Galveston, but so thankful to be here.
 
After a good shower, breakfast, and checking in...we feel very good that this Gulf

Crossing is soon coming to an end.
 

6:00 p.m.

Howdy ~ y'all.....
 
So very thankful and exhausted, but we are safe, secure, and Valentina is tied up

in Portofino Harbour Marina in Kemah.
 
We are so glad to be here.  We thought when we got in the fairway for the

Galveston/Houston Ship Channel, we would never get to Galveston. Galveston was

still  30  miles  away,  or  six  hours.   But,  we made  it, then  in the Houston Ship

Channel  and  past  many  huge  ships,  up  close and  personal.   But,  no  problems

whatsoever.
 
We arrived at Kemah at 4:30 p.m. and went directly into our friend's slip for a day

or two.  Then, we walked to T-Bone Tom's Restaurant and ordered and shared one

Chicken Fried Steak dinner, with mashed potatoes, onion rings,  and  a  Texas size

glass of sweet tea  with lemon (we  have  not  had  lemons in  years, only limes  in

Central America).  We even brought home a to-go box. We will probably be sick...
 
We think everything we have is aching and we are preparing to go to bed.
 
Our total trip was 804 miles in 155 hours or 6 1/2 actual days.
 
We want to thank you for watching out for us.  We know we were being watched

 over and are blessed to have you in our lives.
 
Good night,

5/14

We called Galveston Homeland Security this morning to let them know we have arrived in Kemah. They told us we have to stay on the boat and they will send someone down to the boat to check us into the country. He said it may be 3 p.m. before they can get there.

We washed a couple of loads of clothes while we waited and went to the marina office to check into the marina. We do not have any insurance on Valentina, we have been self-insured the past 8 years. But, to be in a marina, you have to at least have liability insurance. The lady said, "You do not have insurance?" "No...."

But, before you can get boat insurance, you have to have a boat survey done, similar to an appraisal on your home .

And, now, our goal for today was to get checked into the country and get a telephone. When we were at the AT&T office, they said, "What kind of phone do you have now?......You do not have a phone?" "No...."

We realized, we do not fit into this mold....it may take an adjustment curve.

5/23

We are off, seeing and loving on our grandkids...

See you later...

8/30

After spending time with our much missed family and friends, we returned to Valentina to complete our project list before putting her up for 'adoption' to someone who will love and enjoy her as much as we have. (Sounds much nicer, than For Sale).

Valentina is currently at the sales dock #2 at Watergate Marina, in Kemah. Sea Lake Brokerage is the company we bought her from over 12 years ago, so we took her back to them to resale. Their number is 281 334-1993. It will also be listed on Yacht World.

She has truthfully been the best 'go anywhere sailboat', live-a-board home and has taken great care of us over thousands of miles the past 7 1/2 years. It is sad to think she will not be a vital part in our lives, but we are ready for a new adventure, living on land again, and sleeping in a square bed, and having grand-kids spending the night frequently.

Cruising has changed our lives, for the better. We have become extremely close, un-separate able, trusting each other's judgment, realizing that life is truly short, we must set and reach goals together, and....have a dream.

We are blessed that we were able to complete our dream, and now begin a new one.

Thanks for sharing our dream with us.

5/25

5/26

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"If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else."
Yogi Berra

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Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

to Kemah, Texas

May, 2013