We did not want to be off too early from San Carlos as I wanted to arrive at Topolobambo during daylight hours and I wanted to leave during daylight hours to avoid getting tangled in fishing nets. Once out in the ocean in the deep water it is less likely to hit fishing gear so I wanted to spend the hours of darkness offshore. We got off at 12:30 PM after checking out of San Carlos. Hard to believe that we were a month there all together. It was going to be a long 25 hours crossing but I needed the rest break.
I read about Topolobampo in the guidebook and it said it was a tricky bar to get into. At this point I was happy to sit and drink my coffee and relax. I was up early to get the boat back together and ship shape so sitting for 24 hours sounded fine. The air conditioning install left me battered.
The afternoon and evening led to a beautiful sunset and total darkness. This is a picture of a cruise ship with the moonrise to the right.
The night drug on and Barbara took the helm for a few hours so I could sleep. We welcomed the sunrise with coffee and we were closing into the bar crossing by noon. A large freighter was exiting as we entered and the bar pilot called to warn me that the channel was narrow and I would have to hold far right. He realized I spoke only English and he called my arrival into the port captain for me. That was nice.
We arrived at our marina and met Nelson. He spoke English perfectly and welcomed us like honored guests. We made it through the paperwork and slept.
The next morning we took a taxi to the Home Depot and picked up a few items and then we walked the town.
Took the obligatory town shot and had a fine lunch in a restaurant on the Malecon.
Back to the marina for another night of restful sleep.
I scooted out of the sip to fill up on fuel and returned before I was missed.
We had drinks with Nelson (Marina manager) and Mariaini (the receptionist at the marina) as a good bye and we had a great time visiting with them, but we had to be off at 2:00 in the morning so we cut it off early.
Mariani is not a typo. She is a twin and her sister; Mariana, arrived first. She spoke not a word of English, so I entertained her with my Spanish.
Up at 2:00 and this time, we were looking for Altata.
Technical Data:
Time: 27 h 24 m ( 12:25 to 15:50 ) Distance: 191.98 nm
Fuel: 78.25 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.85 GPH Fuel Economy: 2.45 NM/G
Avg Speed: 7.01 kn Max Speed: 8.73 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3421.05 Hours Runtime End: 3448.45 Hours Fuel: 78.25 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.85 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 7.53 GPH Avg RPM: 1258.09 Max RPM: 1500.75 Avg Oil Pressure: 52.32 Low Oil Pressure: 31.33 Avg Temperature: 187.72 Max Temperature: 194.00
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