Ascension Fleet

By 1st Mate Tamera

On March 24, 2018 we slipped the lines from the Isla Puerto Isla Mujeres Marina and headed out to sea again.  Along with our three buddy boats Sea Mist, Rainbow’s End and Arawa we headed south to Bahia de la Ascension which is 110 miles south so it was going to be an overnight passage and what a passage it was……

Cancun Mexico in the distance as we left Isla Mujeres

 

SV Arawa sailing south

You might ask why we were doing an overnight passage when we are not that fond of overnight passages.  Our buddy boat friends did not want to do any overnighters but the weather window we had and not wanting to pay for a marina we could get stuck at for a week due to weather with few option led the Captain to suggest to the fleet that we do an overnighter to Bahia Ascension.  The Captain presented the reason why and even though he was worried it would not be received well it went remarkably well.  His reason were the forecasted bad weather and the fact we could hold up in Ascension for as long as needed without incurring any cost and it could be a cool place to explore.

Since we were going to be in VHF radio contact all night we decided our group needed a name so we became THE ACENSION FLEET and from this point forward that is how we called each other on the radio. 
When we left the wind were out of the east and were behind the island of Isla Mujeres.   The winds and waves were manageable but then we passed the southern point and the ride became rough.  We all thought once we got past the initial wave action you see when coming out of the lee of an island things would calm down.  Wellllllll that did not happen.
Winds were 20-25 knots and the waves grew to 7-12 feet but nobody wanted to turn back and lose the miles we had gained, so we continued south.  We did hourly check-in’s to make sure everyone was doing OK.  Most of us were fighting sea sickness at some level, some worse than others.  I had my Meclazine in my system and only had a few dizzy spells but never got sick.  That is huge for me who has spent many good sailing days sick as a dog.  We did not get a lot of radio chatter from Rainbow’s End and at the time we blamed in on a weak radio signal.  Turns out it was a little more serious than a bad antenna connection.
As it got dark Pam on Rainbow’s end announced she was at wits end.  Don (her husband) was so sea sick he was completely debilitated.  She was sailing single handed and was falling farther and farther behind the rest of the fleet.  It was now dark and as we were getting close to Playa De Carmen the shore lights and other boat traffic made trying to pick out Rainbow’s End wee little navigation light very difficult.  Sea Mist was unable to pick them up on Radar but Kooky Dance could and they were about 7 miles behind us and sailing too far off shore.  The Captain was concerned for Pam and ran through various scenarios with Pam that included sailing over to Cozumel and anchoring down until daylight.  Pam did not think she could even anchor down by herself safely so decided to sail on with the fleet.   The significance of Rainbow’s End being too far off shore was the north bound Yucatan current that runs at 2 knots and in the wrong direction for those boats heading south.  With all the other things Pam  was fighting on Rainbow's End by also sailing too far off shore she was slowing her progress and a major contributor to why they were falling farther and farther behind.  The Captain explained this to Pam to encourage her to work her way towards shore and shallower water but it was a difficult sell.  What sailor wants to take their boat towards a reef strewn shore, at night, alone.   But Pam knew the Captain was right and summoned up her courage and worked her tiny vessel towards the reef and the certain destruction they could bring.
The captain pointed out that we had made exceptional time during the day and had banked up some extra miles that we could now spend by slowing way down and waiting for Rainbow’s End to catch up.  We all did that with Kooky Dance doing most of the slowing and going from the front of the fleet to the rear of the fleet waiting for Rainbow’s end to catch up.  It was starting to work.  The Captain reported they were now 5 miles back but Rainbow’s end was not able to see us.  The light from the shore were too bright and numerous to discern which were boats and which were not.  The Captain used the spot light to help identify Kooky Dance’s location relative to Rainbow’s End.  This worked well and soon Rainbow’s End was within 1 mile of Kooky Dance.  So now Arawa, Rainbow’s End and Kooky Dance were close together and SV Sea Mist had carried on and was about 6 or 7 mile ahead.  This proximity would become very crucial in the next hour or so.  
We passed through Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen around 10:30 PM but the ship and ferry traffic traffic was still busy.   Both the shore of Playa de Carmen and the shore of Cozumel was awash with lights making other vessels and us difficult to see at night.  The AIS system on board Kooky Dance shows imminent collision with every vessel in the area.   Scott spent a good bit of time communicating via VHF radio negotiating with other vessels to keep all three boats in our Ascension fleet safe.
We sailed on thru the night and passed Mahahual at around 4 AM.  It was difficult to make out much in the dark.  This location is also known as Costa Maya and is a brand new cruise ship terminal.  While is make a good location for cruise ships to tie for the day it is not so hospitable to anchored sail boats because it is open to the sea.   The port of Mahahual lays about 2.5 nm south of the cruise ship terminal and while it is technically a port there is only about 4 ft of depth in this port thus making it also inhospitable to  sail boats.  So we sailed on into the night.

SV Rainbow's End

Rene and Michael from SV Sea Mist

Greg and Candy from SV Arawa

Don and Pam from SV Rainbow's End

First anchorage in Bahia Ascension

Our second anchorage farther south in Bahia Ascension

On Sunday, March 25th 11:30 am we arrived at Bahia de le Ascension.  We anchored in 10 feet of muddy bottom near the beach.  The water was a little murky and later became lumpy sea state so we all decided with the bad weather heading our way perhaps we should move further south in the Bahia to Wilson Point to get better protection.  The weather forecast was the next 5 days of strong SE winds and would make our trip south very uncomfortable so we decided to stick it out here.  We moved 5 miles south for better protection.  Bahia de le Ascension is very remote and there was only one small village but we all opted to stay on our boats and when weather permitted we would explore.  We did explore.
Saturday March 31, 2018 – we finally have a break in the weather and we pulled up anchor and was now heading to Bahia Del Esperito Santos 40 miles away.  We left at 0630 am and had a great little sail south.  Scott caught 3 fish but we did not keep any due to the fear of ciguatera poisoning and they were not too big.  It was still fun to catch fish.  At 14:30 we dropped anchor in a beautiful spot behind the reef.  It was beautiful and bouncy.  Scott went snorkeling and said it was a really awesome reef.   Scott said he saw the biggest moray eel he has ever seen anywhere.  The plan was to stay here overnight and get up early and head more to the south BUT mother nature had her own plan.
We woke up to squalls which brought high winds and rain.  The rain part was OK but the high winds also brought high waves.

Our Anchorage in Bahia Espirito Santo

Since we were protected behind the reef The Ascension Fleet decided to wait out the squalls and leave later in the day & make it another overnight passage to Xcalak Mexico.  Xcalak at one time was the last check out point in Mexico for sailors heading south but that has changed to a place called Mahahal (a cruise port).  But our plan was to sail to Xcalak and when it was time to leave Mexico we would take a Taxi to Mahahal and check out that way.  Of course that did not work out either, but that will have to wait until the next blog post.
We arrived in Xcalak on Monday April 2, 2018 at 10:00 am…..Captain Scott will tell the story of this place, checking out of Mexico and tell of the great place Xcalak Mexico.