We slipped Mazatlan at 0800 hrs on Sunday morning as planned, along with friends Dick and Anne on Full and Bye. Both boats decided (well actually their people did) to forgo trying to stop at Isla Isabel this time as the weather forecasts were too flukey. So, instead, we decided to run down the west side of Isabel, staying off about 8 miles so as to avoid the dastardly fish nets. Yes the Mexican "long lines" are the stuff of nightmares, I kid you not.
We did well. Unfortunately the winds were on the nose so sailing had to wait as we motored sedately all day long and into the night. The night run was peaceful as well... designed it turned out, to lull us into a sense of security for, as the dark skies paled and the rose coloured clouds announced the imminent arrival of the morning sun, it turned out ours was a false sense of security... sigh.
Shortly after 0700, while we were quietly motoring along having safely passed Isla Isabel without hitting any nets, I saw something large and black in the distance. At first I thought it was a whales tail, but then I realized he'd have to be standing on his head to have his tail up for so long.... I called Kathy up and we both agreed it had to be a black flag. This was fairly upsetting... as we were about 30 miles south of Isabel and should have been clear of all nets.
These nets are set by the Mexican fishermen. They set them day and night wherever they please. They're not supposed to as they are terribly destructive to the environment (never mind passing ships who get caught up in them). Anyway, without going on too long about it, suffice to say we think we must have set some kind of record for the number of long lines one boat should have to deal with. We came upon no less that EIGHT.
Even on a perfect day, with calmish seas, they are hard to see. One must stare at the water constantly... in all directions... looking for flags or floats or coke bottles or pale green plastic bottles (some are yellow and some are even clear)... and they're all connected by thin, yellow propylene line... AND they can be hundreds of feet long... or miles and miles long. There are no rules. Once you see one of these 'floats' you must then look for the next one and the one after that and so on. We've given up trying to follow the line to the end... they are way too long. Once, while trying to do that, we actually came to a corner!
Anyway, seems there are two main ways to get through these things. The first (and kindest) is to find the fisherman in his panga. If you can find him, he will help you through. Unfortunately many fishermen don't tend their nets. They just lay them out (day or night) and then take off until the next day when they come back to check them.
We did pretty well. We managed to find three pangas and three times we were escorted through the lines. The others? Well, we were forced to cut our way through. This required sharp eyes, quick work with a boat hook on the bow and some challenging skills at the helm. It was 1430 hrs. in the afternoon before we were through our eighth, and last, net of the day. We arrived at La Cruze just over two hours later.... exasperated with Mexican fishing methods, sun burned, exhausted, dehydrated, and 15 minutes later than our predicted time of 33 hours :-)
And here we are, the next day... rested, showered, meeting up with old friends and enjoying beautiful La Cruz. A small price to pay for the opportunities to be enjoyed... wouldn't you agree?
Hope your lines are shorter than ours, and your fishermen friendly. Take good care and enjoy every day. Adios for now... CJ
Oh yes, the photo looks a little cluttered but it's really not. It's a beautiful marina.. I'll send more photos later.
Posted by: Carolyn (via Kathy's Google mail profile)
