We cross the Gulf of Mexico

We spent 2 plus weeks at Turner Marine Supply in Mobile, AL.  The marina is on Dog River and very low key.  The staff will facilitate owner self maintenance projects or do the work for you.  We had the Diesel Mechanic, Brent go over the engine one more time and he said that the engine mounts were loose and the engine was badly out of allignment.  He fixed this and looked at the generator which had been acting up.  He found a leak in the head gasket and we decided it needed to be fixed.  He uninstalled the generator took it to his shop and replaced the head gasket, reground the valve seats, replaced the valve cover and exhaust gaskets, cleaned the heat exchanger and did an oil and filter change.  Meanwhile Liz and I removed all the deteriorated sound proofing on the inside of the enclosure and replaced it.  After it all went back together it was quieter, smoother and no more diesel exhaust found its way into the boat.  The main engine also sounded and felt better.

We enjoyed the other boaters we met at Turner.  Most of them were headed south and east to FL and the Bahamas, some sooner than others.  We developed a pattern of sundowners and snacks with the othe boaters which sometimes took the place of dinner.

Ida was in the Carribean and threatening to become a Hurricane, and so we delayed our projected crossing.  Eventually it came up the Gulf and passed just east of us in Mobile Bay.  The winds in the Bay were in the 40 knt range but in the harbor it was limited to about 25 knts. 

We got lots of advice about how to get from Mobile to Isla Mujeres, mostly that you did not want to be in the middle of the Gulf when bad weather came up.  Most people suggested port hopping down the FL coast and then jumping off from the Keys accross to Mexico.  Others said that we should just go for it and cross directly.  After Ida things in the Gulf were very settled so we elected to take the direct route. 

Patrick Moore joined us for the crossing after changing his flight arrangements a couple of times do to Ida.  Also there was another boat leaving the same day for Rio Dulce in Guatemala which is just south of Belize.  We felt better about going straight accross the Gulf because the other boat would be there if we got into trouble.  In reality, the next time we saw them was in Isla Mujeres the morning after we arrived as they were leaving.

As far as the crossing went, the winds were generally light, in fact, were motored for 2 days.  There were an amazing number of Oil Drilling Rigs on the way and a fair number of ships.  The drill rigs were pretty widely dispersed throughout the Gulf, the ships were mostly near Mobile and New Orleans and then as we got to Mexico.  It was harder than I thought it would be to ID the targets, what we thought was a rig turned into a ship and vice versa.

We did 3 on and 6 off shifts from Sundown to Sunup and mostly shared the duties during the day.  IT was enjoyable to be up in the pitch black hurtling through the night watching the stars, except when an unidentified object was being approached.

It seemed like Liz was always at the helm when things went light and the wind shifted so that the sails were slatting and needed to be furled or tended to.  We had one night with a following sea and strong winds where we surfed the waves in the 6.5 to 7.5 knot range for hours.  It was great fun for the helmsman but nobody slept very well due to the motion.  For most of 2 days there was almost no wind and the Gulf was almost mirror smooth.  Liz has some pictures which she will post.

I got concerned that we were running out of fuel after so much motoring and our fuel guage is a little suspect, so we decided that we would have to sail the rest of the way.  Winds were light but we managed to keep going and arived in Isla Mujeres at 10 pm, 4.5 days after leaving Mobile.

Since arriving we have been enjoying the tropical weather and swimming and snorkeling we have anchored out a couple of nights and stayed in marinas a few nights also.  A cold front with strong north winds, know as a Norte here, is due on Thanksgiving and we are staying in a marina and having Thanksgiving Potluck with the cruisers here.

We have had many discussions about where to go from here, several of the boats are headed for Belize.  We will probably start moving south along the Mexican coast next week and reach Belize the second week of December.

Communications are not as freely available as I expected and probably will get worse so if you are trying to get ahold of us be patient we will try to update the blog as often as we can.

Later.