A Pause in San Pedro, and Hauling in Guaymas

After crossing to the mainland, and getting a good night’s rest, we woke up ready to get off the boat, and explore on land for a while. The beach at San Pedro is broad, curving out to the high rocky point sheltering us from swell pushed up by the northwesterly winds that blew us across the sea. This headland is at the end of a somewhat narrow isthmus, separating San Pedro from the bay just to the north — the perfect spot for a hike.

John and Marcy contemplating our previous day’s path.

We split up almost immediately. John from Rochambeau, Joanne from Fundango, and Donna were ready for a big climb, and started up the steep rocky hillside towards the top of the headland, while the rest of us followed the dirt road across to the beach on the far side, then walked along to a smaller promontory above a little bay full of feeding pelicans. Most of the pelicans were just floating on the placid surface of the water, digesting. Occasionally a bird would climb up off the surface, to join the smaller group of birds circling over the flock. Every minute or two a bird would stagger in flight, suddenly dropped bill first into the watch with an enormous splash, only to bob to the surface lips smacking, to float along, digesting.

Scott watching the pelicans dive.

Eventually, we walked back to the bottom of the main headland, to watch John, Joanne, and Donna climb back down, and walked together back to our own beach. The plan was to have a bonfire that night, so we pulled a stack of drift wood over to the fire ring that had been built from the large cobbles lining the high water line across the beach.

Donna looking down over Joanne’s shoulder, across San Pedro and our boats.

The bonfire that evening was a treat. The flames jumped high, scattering sparks into the air, as we drank and talked. We were planning to head to Guaymas shortly, and everyone would be heading in different directions, so we knew our time together was limited.

John and Donna happy to have conquered the highest headland in the bay.

The next day was another hike, this time following the road back towards the mainland, and after the hike, another lazy afternoon, with various boat chores to start preparing for our arrival in Guaymas. The evening we all had dinner aboard Fundango, and early in the morning, Salacia set off for Guaymas.

Scott and Joanne by the light of the fire.

We planned to haul the boat out of the water in Guaymas, in order to spend the summer traveling to see family and friends. Leaving the boat in a secure storage yard would be better for the boat, and much less expensive for us, as we traveled. This wasn’t our original plan — we had wanted to be much further along, intending to be in Panama for the beginning of hurricane season — but we spent months longer than we had planned in La Paz and Puerto Escondido, while we worked out schedules and then traveled for to resolve the unexpected medical issue we discovered last season.

Sunrise on the way to Guaymas.

We could have remained on the boat all summer, as long as we stayed in the northern sea, above 27º north latitude, but summers are notoriously hot and humid, especially in August and September. We also had some encouragement to take a break from the boat in the form of several invitations — but more on those later.

First, we had to prepare the boat for its four month stay in Marina Seca Guaymas, which meant removing the sails, coiling and protecting all the lines, removing many deck fittings, covering the hatches, varnishing the teak, changing the oil, and many other tasks, small and large. We took a slip in Marina Fonatur Guaymas, and spent about a week working from six in the morning until six in the evening, nonstop, to get the job done.

Donna on her phone as we waited for our lunch orders to be served.

Once we finished, we pulled around to the fuel dock to top off the diesel fuel tank (which prevents condensation from allowing water into the fuel tank during storage), and motored over to Marina Seca. Once we arrived, we had to remove the backstay in order to fit the boat onto the travel lift, and after a short lunch at a small local restaurant across the dusty street, we were hauled out and placed in the storage yard. A yard worker came by to power-wash the marine growth from the bottom of the boat, and just like that, we were no longer living on the boat, at least for the summer.

Power-washing the boat to remove marine growth.