In the last blog I wrote (Vinni), posted in December 2023, I proclaimed that Capri would be transported on a freighter from La Paz (Baja, Mexico) to Florida (USA).  From there we would sail her the rest of the way home.

Of course, when Vinni and Carsten make plans, you can be sure that something will go awry.  Carsten and I have heard for a number of sailors that the run from Florida to Bermuda is not particularly nice.  On top of that, many very experienced cruisers have advised us to make the passage across the North Atlantic starting from the Caribbean, not Bermuda.  Crossing from Bermuda means sailing very close to the southern edge of the ice fields (not very interesting).  Starting from the Caribbean and utilizing the Portuguese high-pressure “carrousel”, the entire passage will be warmer and we will skip getting close to the ice fields.

Of course, sailing south from Florida means the wind and swells will be right in our faces – crap!  I remember our tough sail down in January/February 2018 where we fought our way south, tacking against the Christmas winds.  That was the time, when we passed a cruise ship in the middle of the night that I wished I were on board, all dressed up, dancing with Carsten, having a sumptuous dinner and good wine, instead of sitting cold, wet, hungry and miserable in Capri’s cockpit.

With all this in mind, Carsten and I contacted Seven Stars to hear how much it cost to have Capri shipped to the Caribbean instead of Florida.  They gave us a very positive answer; “We have a ship loading in La Paz in January 2024 and stopping at St. Thomas USVI.  There is a slot available if you want it.”  Well – Wow!  Just what the doctor ordered.  We couldn’t “YES” fast enough.  Seven Stars said they would get back to us with the exact sailing date etc.

This was in the beginning of December – 2 weeks later we had heard nothing (yes dear friends, alarm bells were beginning to ring in our heads).  Trying to contact Seven Stars US representative resulted in total radio silence (another great omen). Finally, we called headquarters in the Netherlands.  Bad news (well, we pretty much knew it wasn’t going to be good news).  It hasn’t rained much in Panama this past year so there is a distinct lack of water available for use in the Panama Canal.  This has resulted in the Canal authorities limiting the number ships going through each day.  The waiting list is growing long, longer, longest and anyone wanting to go through faster has to “buy” a slot in a daily auction.  Going price- $1 million – on top of the normal million it costs to go through.

Seven Stars was busy cancelling most of their transports because while they have a clause in their contracts saying they can pass on extra charges, no one is going to cough an extra $15-20,000.  Seven Stars has previously offered to sail us from Thailand to the Med, but the cost was prohibitive ($75,000).  Of course, with the rockets being shot at ships etc., nobody in their right mind is sailing up the Red Sea anymore. 

An alternative is for us to sail around Cape Hope (South Africa), but seriously, all we would see is water, water, water and we’ve seen plenty of water.  Or we could sail to Australia and sell Capri there.

Not on – Capri is going home with us.  We want to sail her into Copenhagen harbor with all flags flying.

All the above have destroyed my sleep for the past two weeks and will continue to for the next two weeks (Carsten snores away alongside me – damn him!) because Seven Stars just gave us a new option.

1. We can be sailed for –Ensenada to St. Thomas in mid-February for the same price they quoted us before
2. In April, we can get Capri sailed from La Paz to Florida, but at an upcharge of $15,000.

Lots of discussions between Christmas and New Year’s aboard Capri.

Option two is out, we don’t want to pay that price.  Option 1 is on the table since the price is right and we off-load on St. Thomas USVI.  The problem here is that we won’t get loaded in La Paz, but in Ensenada, which is on the other side of Baja all the way up by the US border.  That means a 1000nm journey south around the tip of Baja and then up the west coast of Baja – all against the wind and swells.

Getting there is either a coastal journey (but there are only two places to stop along the way) or an off-shore passage, going out several hundred nm then cutting in towards Ensenada.  The weather patterns this time of year simply don’t encourage an off-shore passage.  Gales force winds blow out there almost all the time.

The coastal route, known as “The Baja Bash” is just one long uphill sail, beating into wind and swells.  With only two bail-outs along the way, this is only for those who really need to go this route.  The weather systems say hard to gale force winds, 2-3 meter high waves right on the beam or worse, on the nose.  If you get lucky and there is no wind, you can motor, but the waves will still be there.

Carsten is more adventuresome than I am.  He tries to convince me that we can sail the Baja Bash without problem.  The next two weeks I study the weather forecast anxiously.  Now way and I’m crying when I tell Carsten that I’m not up for a bash journey like that. So that ends that and the decision is made.  Later, in January, Carsten looks at the weather forecast and say, “Probably a good idea we didn’t opt for the bash – the weather is nasty out there).

We’ve written to the agent we used when we went through the canal last time and he says the waiting time for leisure boats going through from west to east is about 1 week.  Prices have gone up – where it cost us about $2000 to go through in 2018, it will cost $4000 this time.

So we will be sailing south from Mexico to Panama, trying to avoid the fearsome Tehauno and Papagayo winds that accelerate across the Central American peninsula as they come from the Gulf of Mexico.  Below are a couple of screenshots from Windy showing what the winds are like most days.  Statistics say they lessen as the spring comes around – but as we know; Hope for the best but prepare for the worst!

Both winds some from the eastern side of Central America through narrow passes in the mountains, accelerating to 3-5 times their speed as they come out into the Pacific.  There are two options for passing them – sail minimum 2-300nm off-shore or “one foot on the beach,” meaning stay very close to shore.

We hope to reach and transit the Canal at the end of April/beginning of May.  Thereafter we will need to work our way over the Caribbean Sea (1000-1500nm).  The distance all depends on how much we will need to tack since we will be sailing up against the trade winds and swells.  We’ve been told the best route is to sail eastward along the Colombian coast (here we are in the shelter of the Andes and there is no wind), then wait in Santa Marta for favorable winds. Favorable winds DO come.  A really good weather window will let us cross aiming at the Dominican Republic or, even better, Puerto Rice/USVI.  From there is a slog (but not a bad one) south along the islands until we reach Grenada where we will sail and put Capri on the hard for the hurricane season. 

There is little chance we can reach the islands by mid-May so we will not attempt the Atlantic crossing this year (the starting time for an Atlantic crossing is mid-May to end June).  This, dear friends, means that we will not arrive in Denmark this year in August, but rather next year, 2025, in August.  So we will have an extra year in the Caribbean (ok – our lives are tough, but SOMEONE has to do it).

So much for our plans.

We sailed into La Paz to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s.   Hurricane Norma, which I have written about previously, developed into a Category 3 hurricane only 200nm from the cost.  Ten hours later, it roared across La Paz.  The sailors had no time to prepare and the damage was thereafter.  Two marinas were virtually wiped out and 48 boats were either seriously damaged or sank.

Shortly after the hurricane passed a fire broke out in a third marina, this one where the Megayachts like to hang out. Four superyachts burned and sank, six others burned and are totally destroyed.

We were very anxious to see what the marinas and the anchorage looked like.  The first omen we see is on the approach.  Here we see the bow of a 125- foot superyacht that was in one of the marinas sticking up from the water. This yacht was in the marina and getting a bashing from a large catamaran lying in the next slip.  The skipper decided that he was better off going to sea rather that continuing to get smashed by the catamaran and the loose pier. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize the catamaran had already smashed a huge hole in the side of the yacht, somewhere below the waterline.  When he got out into the channel, the ship started sinking and he and the crew had to abandon ship.  Happily, the winds blew their life raft to shore and they were rescued.

Once more, we learn to our chagrin, that La Paz, while a nice city is a terrible place to lie at anchor.  We’ve just spent hundreds of dollars sanding Capri’s bottom and giving her two coats of antifouling paint.  Now after only three weeks at anchor, she has a carpet of weed on her bottom at least 6 inches thick.  All our work and $500 are wasted.  When we sail out of the lagoon, we can feel the shaking of our propeller (it is thickly coated also) and find that we can only make 5 knots.  There is some wind so we motorsail, using both the engine and the sails.  Even so, we can see our diesel being used at an alarming rate.  We wanted to sail to La Cruz but end in Mazatlan where we got her bottom cleaned.

Onward to La Cruz, only 200 nm south.  More crap, this time we once again are caught in a fishing net.  Fortunately, only the keel, but we are forced to cut the lines holding the net.  A few nautical miles further on, another obstacle looms.  We can see a fishing net stretching far out to both sides and we slow Capri down and discuss what to do.  Suddenly, a panga comes rushing across the waves.  The fishermen haul in some net and wave to us to cross the net next to their boat.  Thank You!  We sail on with a guilty conscience from having cut one of the nets.

After a few days in La Cruz, a weather window opens and we pass Cabo Corrientes, a point that is best rounded at night in calm weather.  We spend a few idyllic nights in Bahia Chamela before moving on to Tenacatita, where we expect to spend a week or so.

Tenacatita is extremely popular with cruisers, some of them spending the entire season here.  We have described Tenacatita in our previous blogs so we won’t go into detail but we had two grand experiences here, which we will talk about.

Two nights ago, I experienced something I have heard about, but never thought would happen to me.  A bright red full moon rose right after sunset, casting the entire anchorage in a mellow red hue.  Suddenly, a cacophony of howling coyotes pierced the evening.  We have seen coyotes on our travels.  Quite a few of the actually, but to hear 10 or 15 of them howling at the moon.

Wow!

As we said, many cruisers spend the entire season here, so there is a very active cruisers net on the VHF I the morning.  Yesterday the self-described “Mayor” of Tenacatita Bay announced that there would be a potluck raft-up dinner that evening.

We’ve been to several potluck dinners on the beach but a “raft-up”? 

Well, we certainly didn’t want to be left out so at 5 pm we dinghied over to the spot where the  “Mayor” and his wife had anchored their dinghy and shortly we were 18 dinghies tied up in a gigantic raft-up.  We all sent our potluck around.  The Mayor read some of his poems and then each person told a story from their childhood (several were quite interesting).  One brought a guitar, played and sang a song he had composed about Tenacatita.  A truly grand time.

Next week we have reserved a slip in Navidad Marina, where we will leave Capri to fly to Honolulu (Hawaii) to spend a week with Carsten’s daughter, her husband and their children.  We will be back on board November 18 and then we start the preparations for our long sail back to Denmark.  Both of us are looking forward to getting started and this time our bow is pointed toward Copenhagen.