Tsunami warning…in Mexico?! 2.27.10

What could top the crazy weather we have had all season?! We shouldn’t have asked that question! Michael was up and at ‘em early and received a phone call on his cell phone from his Dad back in California. I was still in bed but could hear Michael’s end of the conversation and it didn’t sound good. I tumbled out of bed as he was finishing his call and he told me about it – a massive earthquake in Chile had generated a tsunami warning all the way up the coast. Oh GREAT!!

As we were sitting in 12 ft of water and Mantanchen Bay was a very shallow bay, we decided along with everyone else to get out – now! Who knew what would happen but we didn’t want to find out! We took off at 7:00am and headed out – to deeper water.

After 3 hours, we were still only in 50ft of water. By then we had compiled all of the data coming in from the SSB nets, from notes e-mailed to us, and two of our boats have the 3G network aircard and could check the internet for into. We knew that the swell/surge/wave whatever you want to call it was only predicted to be about 2ft or so and we probably wouldn’t even feel it – and we didn’t! Not even a hint of it actually!

So we were FINE - no problems at all - we didn't even feel it as it passed us by...



By leaving the bay 3 hours ahead of time meant we would arrive in Mazatlan 3 hours ahead of time too – in the dark. Great….(said with the greatest amount of sarcasm possible)

We had a great motorsail up the coast. It was a spectacular day – only 10-15 knots of wind and 3-5ft swells that were spread out far enough to be comfortable. We saw very little wildlife other than whales and even saw some breaching completely out of the water. Once night fell, we had an incredible full moon that light up the night. The wind fell to only 10 knots and the swells settled and the water had an eerie, oily look to it. Around midnight or so there were low clouds that settled in that were very much like fog, but never hit the surface of the water. It was a surreal feeling – an undulating oily sea and clouds low in the air where you couldn’t even tell where the sea stopped and the clouds started. Creepy!



As expected, we made it into Mazatlan early – 4am or so. We ducked behind Deer Island, an hour or so outside the harbor entrance, and threw the hook for a couple hours until the sun was rising and we could see where we were going! We hit the harbor entrance around 6:30 or so, dodged some power boats leaving, called the marina security to alert them we were coming in, and were finally docked around 7am. Woohoo!!! We’re HOME!!!

Mike from Lady Hawke, our buddy boat all last year, met us on the dock and it was a great reunion. About 15 minutes later, Slacker pulled into their slip, caddy corner from us on Dock 6. Merry & BJ from Willow stumbled out to say hi and the boat we were tied up beside. Ahhh….reunions are so much FUN!! We finally made our way back to the boat for the important stuff – a celebratory beer (first things first!), plug in so we can use as MUCH energy as possible, turn on the internet, fix breakfast, shower, check on the van, and finally….a nice long nap. It’s great to be back.

The everyday, 4pm, dock 6 party was a necessity with a group of about 20 people showing up to help celebrate. The mosquitoes began to come out around 7:15 and the party quickly broke up which was perfect for us – time for dinner and a show….and bed! Tomorrow starts the WORK!! Getting projects done, getting the boat put to bed for summer, and preparing for our trip up to California in about 3 weeks!

It’s great to be back….
Rene