Fantastic Trip To Holbox Island From Mujeres
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
My View From The Helm
It’s Tuesday, Dec 29th and I’m sitting at one of the main salon tables writing on my netbook. I’m trying to find a wifi signal, but will probably just take my netbook to town later and connect on a friends account there.
Well, we had a fantastic trip to Holbox Island. We left on the morning of the 26th. We had three of us aboard. Besides me and Gary, we had a local part time ex-patriot Mark with us. He’s about 60 years old and is the typical hunter fisherman type Minnesota guy who slits his time between a lakeside home near Brainard and Isla Mujeres. We had a pretty good breeze and after breaking the anchor free, were able to hoist sails and sail right out of the harbor. After a few miles, there is a pretty tricky reef section that you have to be careful of. Mark steered the boat while Gary and I stood on the front and looked for obstacles. At no time on the three day trip did the water under the 4’ keel exceed 25’. Most of the time, the water was in the 10-15’ range, and that is even when miles beyond the shore. After we cleared the reef, I took the helm and pretty much drove the boat the entire trip. The normal setup was Mark on the back of the boat continually clearing seagrass from his fishing lures. Gary would either be stretched out on the front of the boat getting sun, fishing, or coming back to work with me on trimming the sails. I drove the boat and kept watch. Gary is a pretty good teacher. He basically would tell me something, then go back and lie down and glance around every once and a while to make sure everything was under control. He knows the boat like it’s an extension of himself.
No sooner did we get going than the fist sea turtle popped up right in front of me. I actually went right over top of him. (Remember that this is a catamaran and there is about a 5’ high by 15’ wide space between the pontoons. We then saw a bunch of flying fish and dolphins started to run with the boat. At times, there were as many as dozen dolphins running alongside. I tried to take a picture, but trying to maintain a course and keep the sails full took enough effort and taking pictures at the same time was difficult. When the boat is in less than about 9’ of water, the depth finder would go wacky and there would be no display. That is just how it works. There was no display several times. When we would glide over a sand bar or something, Gary would stand up front and tell me which way to steer. Because of the winds from the North (Nortes), the water was not crystal clear, and although very blue, you could not see the bottom. This also messed up the plan to try to pick a few lobsters. When we reached Holbox Island, we rounded the point and there were a bunch of pink Flamingos on the beach. We were still a mile out, so I could not get pictures of them. We have some pretty powerful binoculars, and you could still see them pretty well. We picked a nice spot and turned in. When about 500’ from the beach, we began the process of setting the anchor. At times, it takes a lot to get the anchor to bight. Often a combination of hitting the engines in reverse, or even Gary diving down to set it himself. Setting and weighing the anchor are one of the most involved processes on the boat. Gary always makes it a point to dive on the anchor after it is set to make sure. We also have an anchor alarm on the the GPS that will tell you if the boat moves, but that does no good when there is nobody on board. We watched a boat in our Island Mujeres drag anchor the other night and hit some other boats. Not a good thing.
We finally got everything set just around Sunset. It was mostly an evening of sitting around drinking beer and eating. I think we made some sort of Tacos that night. We have quite a bit of food on board and we each have been taken turns making meals. I think I’ve made the least because I am always at the helm, so those guys cook and I eat while steering. The refrigerator I got going last week is still running like a champ and keeping the beer and everything else nice and cold. I think we were all asleep by 10:00.
The next morning, we got up and Mark and I rowed the dink to shore. Gary dove in off the back of the boat and by the time Mark and I got going, made some headway, and managed to clear the surf without swamping the boat, Gary was already 100 yards up the beach looking for shells. We all walked quite a ways down the beach that morning. There is absolutely nobody there. This is the typical Carribean beach you see in the movies. White sand beaches, smooth bottom, palm trees with dense foliage beyond, and this morning, very small waves. As a matter of fact, the water was almost glass that morning. I made it a point to take my camera, and got a few pictures. On the way back, I swung wide of the boat and had Mark take a picture of me with the boat and the beach in the background. The boat is very pretty when anchored in blue water with a sandy beach in the background. Everything around here looks like a Corona commercial.
Holbox Beach
Around 10:00, we pulled up the anchor and were able to hoist sales and get enough momentum to sail away without ever starting the engines. We did not make as good of time that day, as the winds were a little weak. It was another afternoon of watching dolphins and the guys trying to find some fish. Gary got some little something or other that I think was used for bait. We hit the small town of Holbox just a little before Sunset. We had pretty good luck setting the anchor, so it was just a short while before we were ready to go to town. Holbox is pretty small now, but people say it will be the next Cancun. It certainly has the beaches for it. There are already a few all inclusive resorts South of town that we sailed past, plus some smaller hotels in town. There are quite a few restaurants, mostly small places. There was a wedding taking place on the beach when we tied the dink up at the peer. We walked around and eventually went to a pretty popular pizza place. Gary and I each had a pretty good pizza, and Mark had a plate of three huge tacos. After dinner, we went and walked around town some more. We then went back to the boat to hang out. The three of us went to the front of the boat to stretch out and listen to the live music coming from the wedding band only about 500’ away from us. The boat has two pretty good woven trampolines where you can lay out over the water. It is a great place to just lay around. I think we were asleep by about 10:00 again.
The next morning, we woke to a nice strong breeze. Mark used his cell phone while in Holbox and found out that he had relatives in Cancun, so he wanted to get back and visit them With the wind, we decided to try to sail all the way back to Isla Mujeres in one day. We were immediately able to make 7 knots (8mph) which is pretty good speed on a sail boat. The seas were very active and the boat was really rocking and rolling. We made good speed for several hours. By afternoon, the winds died off a bit. We needed to charge the batteries anyway, so we started the engines and motorsailed for a few hours. Continuing at about 6-7 knots. By about 4:00, we had a nice storm front and after clearing the reef, turned off the engines and were able to sail the rest of the way. We were coming into the harbor at almost 10 knots. It does not sound fast, but I think most people would have found it pretty scary. But this boat, loves that kind of speed. I’m just glad I had the wheel to hang on to. Most of the time I steer the boat with one hand or even my feet, but I was standing up paying 100% attention. We had small boat traffic, car ferrys, all sorts of stuff. When we were just into the heart of the harbor, I turned to the wind, and Mark and Gary worked on dropping the sails. Well, we had a few fouled lines etc, and to make a long story short. It was a pretty exciting end to a great trip. The closest way I can describe it in a few words is to picture a hockey player skating along the ice at full speed, then makes a hard hockey stop right before he hits the wall. We were not in any danger, but it was pretty exciting. It was what Allen and I refer to has loading a snowmobile. We did not want to mess with tying up at the docks, wanting to just have Mark hop off. Because the wind was so strong, we had just a second. Mark stood on the point with a hand on the rail, Gary nosed to boat in, Mark made a successful 3’ leap, I threw his bags onto the dock, and Gary turned and we headed out to our anchorage spot. We decided to take a spot a little bit close in and it took a lot to get a bight. Gary and I layed around a while, then went to town for some food.
Mark was actually hanging around the dock when we landed and took us for some Ceviche at a hangout of his. Very good. We then met up with the local ex-pats and watched Monday night football. Actually a pretty good game, so it was fun and I was able to stay awake. We went back to the boat, went to sleep, and now It’s the next morning and I’m typing. Right now I am listening to the local harbor guys giving the weather. We are going to town in few minutes for breakfast, and I’ll mail this.
That is all.
Isla Mujeres