Cruiser's Stories - Volume 22

Welcome to the SaltySailors.com cruiser's story pages.  Many cruiser's are sharing their adventures.... 

Making the Crossing to isla mujeres

...the beginning of a journey

Editors Note:  We met Lyla & Aaron shortly after their crossing while they we were in Placencia, Belize.  We spent many, many happy hours & times regaling each other with our adventures (and creating some of our own). 

by Lyla Ralston, sailing vessel, Blow Me Away

On Saturday, April 15, 2006, we finally dropped the dock lines from the marina in Madeira Beach, Florida and after waving goodbye to Frank, our consultant. He had come to bid us farewell and helped in the last minute preparations. Like helping me get the groceries to the boat when I had gone for a few things and ended up with a lot. As I was pushing my cart down the road aka "bag lady", he graciously provided excellent taxi service. We had sold the Pontiac Parisienne, our land yacht, that morning to a 17 year old kid who was ecstatic about owning his first car of luxury. At 12:45, we made it thru John's Pass and out, into the Gulf. We made last minute phone calls to family and friends, and as we listened to Van Morrison's song, "Into the Mystic", we watched the land sink into the horizon behind us. Our long awaited, hard-earned, grand sailing adventure had begun. And with our good friend Wayne, who flew in from Frisco earlier that week, we tipped the bottle of Captain Morgan into the Sea to give a toast to King Neptune, The God of the Sea, to wish us a safe and smooth crossing.

 We had waited for a good weather window and were rewarded with smooth seas and a light westerly breeze. The forecast called for the winds to shift to the southwest by morning and then settle into the trade winds that blow southeast the further south we sail. We hoisted the sails, main and jib. and since there wasn't enough winds, we kept the engine running. Over the next 3 days we switched from motor sailing to sailing according to the wind speed. Making passages is very much like truck driving, in the sense that you fall into a routine and your body adapts to this lifestyle. The only difference is you are living on a slant where all normal activity like cooking, and moving about becomes quite challenging. Being together 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is nothing new for us. We've been together working side by side for the last 17 years driving a truck, and amazingly love each other more, know each others strengths and weaknesses, make each other laugh, still. As the stress fell away with each passing wave, all the frustrations and hard work involved in preparing Blow Me Away and ourselves for this journey, faded away. The smiles of success fell upon our faces. As the sun set, we all watched for the green flash, but last minute haze of clouds obscured this rare phenomenon. The green flash is when the sun meets the horizon and the sky is clear at that very last moment, there will be a flash of green upwards. Don't know why it happens, it just does.

 The fishing tournament between Aaron and Wayne began immediately. Both of them avid fishermen, their lucky lures trailed behind in our wake. Wayne caught the first fish, while Aaron and I worked on the inverter. After waking from a nap, Wayne pulled in his line and sure enough a nice size mackerel was on board. Capt. Aaron puts this first catch in dispute because all Wayne did was reel it in. We will let the judges make a ruling later. Wayne says he was teaching Aaron how to fish. "If you dream about fish, they will come." We each had our watch schedule, Wayne first, then Aaron, then me. I love watching the sunrise, my favorite time of day, the dawning of a new day and we began celebrating this day, Easter, out on the sea. Wayne woke about 7 and immediately put out his line, Aaron still asleep. I wondered who would catch Easter dinner. For Jesus said, "Teach a man to fish and he keeps hoping to catch the Big One." I didn't have long to wait. About an hour later, Wayne reeled in another King Mackerel, about 3 1/2 feet long. But it was catch and release as we waited for a big Wahoo or Mahi Mahi. Aaron determined to catch a fish, he pulled out his secret weapons, a bigger pole, different lure, and the ultimate secret, "FISHING NAKED". He says, "You know fish are naked, so one must be like the fish in order to catch a fish."

While fishing, a little bird landed on the aft line. We are 175 miles from land, and Aaron names this bird, "Scout". He gives it bread and water, talked to it for quite a while. Aaron says he is one with nature, a true Dr. Doolittle. After Aaron persuaded Scout to go find the big one, Scout left, but returned with his mate. So far, the Big One has eluded our 'Naturalist"                                         

On the 18th, we sailed into the Yucatan current, a northerly flow of 3 knots which set us off course 20 degrees. The southeast trade winds increased to 15-20 knots on our port bow, and the seas kicked up to 4 to 6 feet. We beat the rest of the way, at times heeling 45 degrees or more. Every muscle in our bodies was being used to maintain a sitting or standing position. And sleeping was impossible. The best spot to sleep was the salon settee in the middle of the boat. We reefed the sails and slogged it out. We made it through and decided to anchor off the Isla Contoy sine we north of our intended destination of Isla Mujeres and night was approaching. Aaron still determined to catch the big one, had his 200 # test line snapped. So the big one got a way. We spotted land and I said, "Captain, land is thalweg!" (Thanks to Trusty Cabin Boy for that new word of the day.) We anchored, showered, dinner of filet mignon, wine and celebrated our crossing in 3 days, 9 1/2 hours and 452 miles.

The next morning we met Senor Park Ranger who had come out to check us out. No English and no fishing. Shortly after, two hombres came out to greet us and in our poco Spanish kept saying pescado, fish,  we kept saying no fishing. Being persistent we realized they had fish for us to buy. No buy, but barter. 3 nice grouper for a 6 pack of Bud. NAFTA is in full swing. Making it to Isla Mujeres, Wayne, with many thanks, has flown home to Frisco. Along with him the 1st place fishing tournament trophy. Now it is just the 2 of us. "TOTO, I DON'T BELIEVE WE'RE IN KANSAS ANYMORE!" We are living our dream!

Aaron's Shipwreck Story

by Aaron Ralston, sailing vessel, Blow Me Away

Editor's Note:  This is not a story for the faint of heart.  We heard this story one evening while having rum & cokes aboard Blow Me Away.  Aaron spins a good yarn ... if only it weren't true. 

NO…Blow Me Away has not sunk. This is a story Lyla wants me to put in text. I know many friends have heard this story before, but some might find it of interest. Many Years Ago I had a dream to travel more, so I bought a backpack and along with my girlfriend, Trenna, headed south to Mexico and further south with the hope of a year or two of laying on the beach swimming and emerging ourselves into the locale culture. When we reached Belize, we had found a little touch of heaven. The year was 1981 and Belize had just received their independence from Britain, so locals were hopeful in their future. The island towns where small and simple in comparison to today. We spent about two months in Belize and figured it was time to move south to Honduras, but that was not possible. The rebels had just pulled 2 nuns off a bus and shot them in the ditch so Americans where discouraged from traveling in Honduras. The cost of flying to Costa Rica would of put some hurt on our budget. While we were trying to figure out what to do next, a 57 ft Chris craft powerboat arrived at the dock. While talking to the Captain, we discovered the boat was headed to Columbia and they would be happy to take us with them, so we signed on as crew. The boat was planning to stop at a couple of islands, so we had options to get off if we didn’t like it. The Captain’s name was George and he had been an officer in the Columbian navy and spoke broken English. The crew were two, Johnny, a 19 year old kid who was the general deckhand and Oriano, a 30 year old diesel mechanic who spent all his time in the engine room working the two large engines prior to leaving port.

We dropped the lines off the dock on April 22, 1981 at 3.30 pm on a clear day. We motored out of the cut into 4 to 6 ft seas. Shortly after dark, we ran into a squall with winds building to the point where we were looking up to the crest while standing on the top deck about 8ft above the water. To say the least, everybody started to get seasick, except the captain. We had all done a one hour go at the wheel to get used to how the boat handles, since all of us would be hand steering during our shifts. The boat didn’t have an autopilot.  At about 8pm while I was at the wheel, Oriano went down to the aft cabin to get some seasickness pills. He started screaming in Spanish and even though I understand very little Spanish, I had this gut feeling that we were sinking. George and Johnny ran down to inspect the problem and pulled the engine covers off . They saw that water was gushing in on the starboard side. We were sinking fast from a split in the seam in the wood planks which made up the hull.  Captain George took over the wheel and I went down to help with the big hand pump and told Trenna to get my small backpack and gather our stuff

and fill it with what ever water or juice she could find to get ready to abandon ship. George had turned the boat around and had gunned the engines which made it scary working around the roaring engines. It was quite obvious that the water was coming in faster than we could pump it out. Looking out the window, I could see that the water was about to cover the deck.  It was time to prepare to abandon ship. We didn’t want to get caught in the engine room when the boat sunk. Now standing on the deck, I had time to reflect on what was happening and what lay ahead. We were about 20 miles offshore on a moonless night and I was getting ready to step off the deck of the first boat I had ever been on in the ocean.  When I stepped off that boat, I new we had a slim to no chance of surviving.  Even if the current was flowing in, our chance of hitting one of the small islands, which are behind the second longest barrier reef in the world was bleak. The jagged coral that reaches the surface would cut us to pieces if we ever got that close and then the sharks that cruised the reef would finish us off before we could make it to any land for protection.

The captain wanted to tie us all together so we would stay in a group. I wanted no part of that and told Trenna as she stepped off the boat, to swim away quickly from the boat so as to not get caught in the undertow. I was given a large, old life jacket and Trenna a child size one. Johnny and Oriano had jackets like mine, but Captain George had two life jackets on plus he had tied two white boat fenders on himself as well. He wouldn’t give Trenna the other large lifejacket.  He tied Johnny and Oriano to him with a long line. Oriano was on the very end. They stepped off the boat and started swimming towards us.  I rolled on my back to watch the boat go down as the aft went under, the bow rose up into the sky. It only took seconds for the boat to sink. Then the night was filled with screams of panic which I hope never to hear the likes of again.  As I looked toward where the screams were from, I could see Oriano swimming toward us in a panic. Johnny was not in sight and Captain George was struggling as he was being pulled under. They had left the rope on the boat and it had snagged on something as the boat went down.  Oriano swam right between us scared to death. After what seemed like a long time, George and Johnny popped back up, due to all the flotation that Captain George had on. We could hear them screaming, but by this time we were out of sight, so we worked for 20 minutes to get back together. Once we were back together, we came across some debris floating in the water which were parts of the boat.  It was an engine cover board about 4ft X 2Ft. So, we hung on to it to give us some minor protection. We could just see a glow of lights far off in the distance. We surmised it was San Pedro and Cay Caulker and started swimming in that direction.  We did not know if we were going in with the tide or out until about 1AM, when we spotted our first light bulb. That gave us a sense of hope and relief knowing we were going in with the tide. Captain George sent Johnny and Oriano, continued....

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