Isla Carmen Rendezvous

With the mast project finished, we were eager to meet Rob's parents and do some buddy-boating in the Sea of Cortez.  Our boat projects in LaCruz went a little long so we made a plan to speed up our passage north and do a two day trip from Mazatlan to Isla Carmen.

The crossing was pretty benign, leaving Mazatlan early in the morning, and arriving 50 hours later.

Our overnight watches are now more fluid.  Rather than a set 4 hours on/off we now start watches after dinner and target 3 hour shifts at night.  If the person on watch is doing well they will extend and wake up the other person when they start to tire.   This worked well for us and as a result we averaged 5 hours for day shifts and 3.5 hours for night shifts.  We had plenty of food to eat, some prepared in advance, other meals easy to make during the passage.  

On the second day we dragged some lures though a pod of excited dolphin.  We have learned that Tuna often feed on the same bait fish that dolphin enjoy.  Sure enough we landed a nice Yellow Fin tuna. 

After two days and two nights, at 7:30 in the morning we arrived following an incredible moon set behind Isla Carmen.

It was great to see Mom and Dad and share stories of our separate travels.  We also started making plans together for our leisurely 130 mile trip back to La Paz.

Shindig sunset on our first night out

Excited dolphin spinning lead us to yellow fin tuna

Sushi anyone?

Elegante and Shindig anchored in turquoise green water of Bahia Salinas

Mom and Dad Novak on the way to collect some clams

After an hour of surface diving, we had plenty of clams

Amazing beach at Bahia Salinas

Mom and Nancy chillin' on the sun deck of Elegante

What's for dinner?

Buen Provecho!!