The thing about full time sailing as a lifestyle that no one tells you about, is that each sail and every port has a lesson to teach you. Some lessons are definitely harder than others and some have more to do with ourselves than specific technical skills. I think our passage across the Gulf of Mexico was a technical lesson in the importance of understanding that currents and sea state are as much, if not more important than wind strength and direction when choosing a weather window. It also taught the lesson that sometimes a window that sounds worrisome is actually comfortable and some that you think will be a piece of cake can be nerve wracking.
Isla Mujeres also taught me about the beauty of meeting interesting and kind humans and appreciating them. I met and became friends with so many, many wonderful people in Isla. I would list them all but A. Its a long list and B. I never want to invade someone’s privacy and C. They know who they are. 😉 . We were able to spend a long weekend in Cozumel with longtime dear friends and what a treat it was to do absolutely nothing other than hang out on the beach and enjoy the company and surroundings. Mark, I think learned that it’s okay to slow down a little and enjoy the view.
Isla Mujeres also taught us that getting supplies in a foreign country to repair your broken yacht can be daunting. In Mexico, it can be down right impossible. What we needed most was stainless steel wire for Mark to rerig the fore and back stays on Ceol Mor. That was not going to happen.
Thanks to some weird NAFTA loophole, Mexico forbade the importation of stainless steel to protect its steel industry. I know what you are thinking. “Just buy the Mexican steel version of it”. We thought that as well until we learned that they do not make a Mexican steel version of the size cable wire we needed. A local rigger suggested using left over rigging from a job he had done because yes, it was impossible to get new wire in unless you had a friend coming in with a boat. Huh.
We did manage to get a suitable size of wire to splice the backstay thanks to a certain Expat who had a certain American customer flying in and she being a kind sailor agreed to smuggle in a length of wire in her luggage for us. I am not naming them for obvious reasons but suffice to say, we are eternally grateful. A splice might not be ideal, but it would at least give us a fighting chance to sail back to Florida, lthe and of many beautiful things- Including new steel rigging.
Our time in Mexico was coming to a close. I am so grateful for the kindness of the sailing community, the warmth of the Mexican people and the beauty of the island itself. Most of all, I am grateful to Mark for allowing me to share this with him. None of this would be possible without the years of hard work he put in to achieve this. Thanks Pal.
And so it was time to find a suitable weather window, lift anchor and head for Key West. We would sail up the channel, past the tip of Mexico and hope to arrive safely and quickly in Florida.
So let me tell you how that went…
(coming soon- passage to Key West)