We returned on Monday, May 15th, for the final visit, provisioned her put on about 100 extra gallons of fuel for the 1100 mile trip uphill to San Diego (port of entry) and took off on Wednesday, May 17th. An absolutely beautiful day for leaving, but no wind so we motored. The only sad note was we found out quickly, that the swallows that were following us had a nest in the flaked mainsail. As we raised the main, we lost a baby bird. It happens.
The crossing to Cabo was uneventful and we arrived off the coast at about 8:30 at night ... not the desired time to round the Cape, but that's the time nonetheless. At 9:00 pm it was Diane's watch, so Ron (our other crew for the leg north) and Bill headed to bed. Sure enough, the wind really picked up, the water temperature dropped about 15 degrees and Diane had a real ride!
By 4:00 am things had settled down a great deal so we set a rhumb line for Cedros and continued on into steady 10 - 15 knot winds on the nose. By 3:00 am on the 21st we were rounding Isla Navidad to the south of Cedros. Well, we managed to pick up a few thousand pounds of kelp and came to an abrupt stop (or at least major slowdown). An hour or two of playing around got us clear and we were back under way, headed to the inside of Cedros and Bahia Vizciano.
We spent a good deal of the 21st passing Cedros and enjoying a rain shower that washed down the deck (good) and introduced a dramatic weather change; 25 - 30 knots on the nose! Get used to it.
About 2:00 am on the morning of the 24th, maybe 20 miles south of Ensenada, we spied a vessel on an intercept course with Wirewalker. Bill adjusted course and continued. It adjusted course. After several evasive maneuvers, the boat was within a 1/4 mile and closing. This was time for an "all hands" call, so Diane and Ron came topside from their deep sleep. With every light on Wirewalker on and the VHF broadcasts continuing, we finally got a response. It was the Mexican navy (normally a good thing) who wanted to see a visual of our boat I.D. Coming within 20 yards of our stern, we believe they got a good visual!
By the next morning as we approached Ensenada, we were beat and our fuel was a bit low. We made the decision to pull into Marina Coral to refuel and touch land for a short period. As we were casting off from refueling, Bill got no response from the starboard helm ... the cable had snapped! 8 hours later and many taxi miles, we had a new cable, had it installed and were ready to head to San Diego!
We hit the San Diego police docks to check into the U.S. about 3:30 in the mo
rning. The Customs and Border Patrol folks we fast, efficient and friendly. Not bad for the middle of the night!After a day of provisioning, we left San Diego at about 8:00 pm headed to Catalina Island, arriving at about 10:00 am the next morning. We had many, many of our dear friends sail over and celebrate Wirewalker's visit to the U.S. and California. Here are some pictures:
Come Monday, May 29th, we needed to leave, having recovered from the beat up the Baja coast. By 11:00 am we said 'good-bye' to our friends and set a course for the Santa Barbara channel via Santa Cruz island.
With no wind, it was a motor the whole way ... until Santa Cruz island, where we had the wind pick up to 25 - 30 knots, consistent, on the nose. To make a painful story short, it never let up for the next 300 miles ... on the nose ... until Half Moon Bay, where it went flat-calm again.
We entered the Bay at 4:18 am on Friday, June 2nd, travelling through the thickest blanket of fog we had ever seen. We were under the Golden Gate bridge before we saw the bridge! And once on the other side, it was crystal clear. Go figure!
We arrived at our temporary berthing (Marina Village, Alameda) at 6:30 am and were WAY TOO EXCITED to sleep. What a thrill. 6,000 miles after buying Wirewalker we had her in the San Francisco Bay where we had first learned to sail!
Life is good.
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