Farewell mainland Mexico

In the fading light leaving the anchorage at Punta Allen, I was at the helm negotiating the last of the conflicting chart data whilst Ben flew the drone to capture pinky hues of sunset as Alex perched on the bow. After popping ‘Otto' the autopilot on, I caught the drone in a slick side by side recovery we were getting confident with.

Contrasting chart data

Thankfully the incorrect of the two

The strong counter current of the Gulf Stream

Our next destination

A new battery loaded, and chuffed with the last performance Ben asked if we should practice some more launches and recoveries whilst underway. “Isn't that tempting fate?”

Ben held the drone clear Argonaut’s solar arch and followed the same lift off procedure as repeated several times before. This time I watched on helplessly as the drone violently rolled on it's side and plunged into the ocean, now hundreds of metres deep. For a brief moment I felt compelled to dive off the transom, but in the dying light and seeing how quickly it sank and fell behind us in our wake, I refrained and consoled the pilot on his loss instead.

Thankfully footage from earlier on the day had been backed up but the latest high res sunset footage was taken by the ocean.

An unsettled night

Adopting the watch rota at about 7pm, I was not meant to be on watch until 0300 the next morning so attempted to get some sleep as we motored on without enough breeze to sail. My aft cabin is the primary access to the engine compartment and day tank, which at full chat with the diesel main engine running and independent generator could need refilling every 2 hours or so. This required the engine box open to see the filling gauge which would flood the cabin with a greater wave of heat.

I had grown sensitive to every change in engine note and vibration, so my sleep was sporadic at best. Podcast in to kill the drone of the engine, I still manage to hear the revs drop off and commotion on deck.

In the cockpit I find Ben in his boxers wrestling his fishing rod. It's quite the fight and subbing in to help when he becomes exhausted, I continue to slowly reel in the mystery catch until the torch light illuminates its shiny outline. I hand the rod back to Ben, this is his battle to win.

With tomorrow's dinner sorted, and adrenaline high I try to sleep again. A short while later I hear the engine falter. This was different with the RPM pitching and falling. A coiled spring, I leapt onto deck after flicking the spreader lights on and run forward to help Ben clear the partially rigged spinnaker pole as the engine coughs to a stop.

There is good reason for the urgency, we had been punching the Gulf stream counter current of up to 2 knots, and if powerless we would be dragged back to the adjacent reef which we had been hugging to minimise the effect of the current. With the jib unfurled we regained steerage and adopted a reaching course away from the shore.

Rummaging through the tool drawer we grasp the 13mm spanner, 10mm socket and filter wrench. Bleeding the fuel system. Charles had diagnosed the problem, a fuel starvation caused by an accidental switching off of the ignition panel. It was problem that should never had existed and related back go the unusual decision made by a contractor rebuilding the panel back in Florida with a push type switch which could easily pressed by standing to starboard of the helm.

Relaying commands to Alex in the cockpit to keep cranking the starter, I watched on in bemusement as Charles violently, jacked off the throttle cable in an effort to bleed the air out the system. There really isn’t a better way to describe it. Gradually the engine started firing and before long roared back into life and we could resume our course. Now in the early hours, it would not be long until I took over watch so I resorted to watching more of the downloaded Senna documentary and gave up on the hope of sleeping that night.

My watch was much less eventful, and handing over to Ben at 0600 before sunrise I filled the log book and lay on the saloon couch exhausted, finally getting a nap in before we approached our anchorage at Banco Chinchorro just a few hours later.

Cooling off after a eventful night passage

Plunging into the ocean, the clarity was astonishing, and whilst the sea bed was rather barren here, ideal for anchoring to minimise any damage, the surrounding atoll reefs had us all excited. But first, sleep, we all needed it so with the engine at last silenced we dozed for the morning to replenish energy reserves.

On the horizon I spot a grey vessel about 50ft, naval in appearance. They alter course and barrel towards us at great pace. On the bow one of the crew is dressed in full uniform camo with a submachine gun to hand.

“Buena dias!” Though broken English and Spanish we converse with the skipper of the Mexican Navy patrol vessel, who politely requests we move on, or go back to the mainland to secure a longer stay permit. Our research had indicated this would be the case, but having checked out of Mexico and within our couple of day grace period to exit the country we had only planned to visit the offshore atoll for a dive and cool off on our passage south to Belize. We had some rope round the prop to clear too.

Scuba diving time

Skirting the atoll heading south we chose a spot to don our scuba kit. Ben and I would buddy dive first with a dive plan of approximately 40mins, and maximum depth of 20m. Charles positioned Argonaut in a depth of about 10m and we plunge from the transom and start our descent.

The visibility here was even greater than within the atoll, in the region of 50m, and we descended the reef wall to about 15m. The seabed was white and sandy, but peppered with pristine coral outcrops, teaming with life. The corals here were of exceptional quality, health and variety and with only a light current we weaved between them in wonder, pausing to watch large lobster and fish life.

Passing beneath a large whip coral, enjoying my new BCD wing and surroundings

We perform our 3min safety stop at 5m, and then deploying our surface water marker buoys, we await Argonaut to come pick us up, excitingly talking about the experience we had just shared. It was a great first test of my new Scubapro Hydros BCD wing and regulators purchased in Cancun and finding good trim felt effortless. Back on board we take care to undersell what Charles and Alex are about to see as they kit up.

With Alex and Charles back on board and equally thrilled with their time sub aquatic, we lit the braai to cook last night’s catch and set course for Belize City.

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