Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

March 23, 2023 Over the next six days we worked hard to get the boat ready for us to leave it in the long-term storage yard for the summer.   We removed both sails, removed the solar panels and the metal that they mounted to, we removed our full enclosure, all possible lines and blocks, pretty much anything that we could remove that would potentially deteriorate in the sun.   We let out our anchor and all of our rode, and washed everything in fresh water before putting it back inside.   We covered everything remaining on the outside of the boat in tin foil and put tin foil on the inside of all of the windows so as to keep the UV rays out of the inside of the boat.   We wiped the entire inside of the boat with water and vinegar and sorted through all of our drawers and cubbies.    It was very weird living aboard on land.   Although on a calm day at anchor we may not notice the motion of the boat, it is always moving some, and on windy days it is of cour...

March 16, 2023  On March 16th, just as the sun rose over the hills, we motored into the industrial port of Guaymas.   Twenty minutes before our scheduled haul-out time of 08:00 we arrived just out from the Marina Seca Guaymas, which was the “dry marina” where we were going to be hauled out and then would be leaving the boat for the summer.   We dropped anchor and waited until we saw that the marina guys were ready for us to come in.   We had read that the channel in to the lift was quite narrow, and that there were shallows on either side.   The marina staff had also told us that the channel itself was shallow, but that it would be deep enough for our shallow keel at 08:00; our haul-out time had been booked around the tides and the depth in the channel.    We lined ourselves up with the lift and motored slowly towards shore.   There were three things that looked like garbage floating on the surface of the water in front of us, and it was not until...

March 15, 2023    On March 14th we motored the 13 nautical miles southwards to Catalina Cove.   We wanted to be close enough to the Guaymas harbour in order to feel comfortable about starting to prepare certain aspects of our boat for haul out and storage.   We went up the mast and removed everything that was removable, like our radar and wind metre.   Everything that did not easily unplug and come off we covered up in tin foil so as to protect if from the destructive UV rays of the sunshine over the summer.   We cleaned our entire rigging with a water and vinegar solution, and did a full rigging inspection. We also began preparing the boat at deck level and below.   We removed our SSB antenna and began wrapping any block or winch that would remain exposed on the boat in tin foil.   We also took some time to enjoy the cove, and went ashore to explore the beach a bit.   We reminisced about our whole journey since leaving Ocean Falls in August...