Change of plans: early arrival at San Carlos.

Nancy and Herman on Sea Tern quickly matched our adventure with our motor. In fact, they saw our bid and raised it a couple: their propeller shaft fell out...fortunately, only part way. It caught on the rudder as they were backing up, trying to set the anchor. When a propeller shaft falls ALL the way out, the boat sinks.

Nancy dove on the shaft, hammering it in with a mallet (she's 81, guys, you try that!); Marv took his turn and then they tied it off to prevent it from moving. Sea Tern was truly without a motor at all.

The next day, we were able to sail off the anchor with good early morning winds in the Bay, but when we got out into Salsipuedes Channel, the wind died and the currents took over. So Herman threw us a line and we pulled them out far enough to get away from shore; we were headed for San Carlos. In the first 12 hours we made all of 17 miles, but the fin whales were feeding in the tidal currents and put on quite a show!! Easily entertained!

We also saw our first whale sleeping on the surface. It reminded me of the tractors in the Pixar film "Cars," snoring softly, a spout coming up rhythmically, and then a little snort as it realized we were nearby, woke up and dived.




Later in the night, the winds picked up (contrary to popular weather forecasting!) and we lost sight of Sea Tern as they reefed sails and we had greater boat speed. We arrived in San Carlos, Sonora, mid-day the next day, about a week earlier than originally planned. So we decided to visit the Copper Canyon, a trip we had put off in January because of the cold weather.

Sea Tern spent another night off shore, sailing slowly and in circles before being towed into the San Carlos Bay.