Pelagia back home in British Columbia... our Mexico cruising comes to an end

Pelagia flying high... unloading from MV Tiberborg

Pelagia was smoothly and efficiently unloaded from the MV Tiberborg on Wednesday June 17th. Except for a lot of salt (from heavy seas off Northern California/Oregon), she arrived in excellent shape. Kudos to the excellent crew of Raven Offshore Yacht Shipping, the master and crew of the MV Tiberborg, and, at the end, men and women of the Longshoreman's union in Chemainus.

After spending a day putting Pelagia back together, we took off for a short cruise in the Gulf Islands and Howe Sound, including a great sail across Georgia Strait. It was wonderful to be home.

Pelagia on a mooring buoy at Montague Provincial Marine Park (June, 2015)

With both sadness and excitement, our Mexico sailing adventure is now at an end. In a post (or two) down the road, we will consider why we returned, our pros and cons of cruising to/in Mexico, and thoughts on "offshore" cruising in general.

In the meantime, we are enjoying cruising our local waters and hiking around Whistler.

Cheakamus Lake hike (June 27, 2015)

MV Tiberborg in the Gulf Islands...

Pelagia is nearly home! 

MV Tiberborg arrives Chemainus this afternoon. We are scheduled to unload Wednesday morning.

MV Tiberborg (from Pender Island): Pelagia's is in the centre of the front row, with her bow sticking out farthest in front.  [Photo by Bob, of SV Sunshine (Sunshine is front boat, starboard side)]

Gales and large seas off of Northern California slowing MV Tiberborg

NOAA forecast for June 12-13, 2015 We'll never forget when we sailed south off this coast back in September 2013 -- 48 hours of gales and "hazardous" steep seas combined with steering problems. Not fun.  MV Tiberborg appears to be experiencing even worse conditions, slowing its speed to less than 9 knots.  But it is a large ship -- 172 m (L)  x 20 m (B) -- so hopefully Pelagia and the other boats on deck are not having too rough of a trip.  Arrival in Chemainus delayed until late Sunday or Monday.

MV Tiberborg reaches (and has now left) Ensenada -- no issues with hurricane Blanca

A quick update:

MV Tiberborg, with Pelagia on board, safely reached Ensenada, having stayed safely ahead and away from Hurricane Blanca.  Tiberborg has now left Ensenada, and is estimated to arrive Chemainus B.C. late on June 14th.

Hurricane Blanca is now a tropical depression midway up the Baja peninsula -- it does not appear to have caused substantial damage. La Paz appears to have not seen winds over 40-50 knots.

Pelagia loaded on freighter, on its way to and around the cape

As is hurricane Blanca....

Hurricane Blanca heading towards the Baja Loading onto the MV Tiberborg went quickly,  smoothly and ahead of schedule.  Lifting Pelagia high up on to the deck was not so scary as David was nearby to watch two boats ahead of him (including SV Sunshine) go up with all going well. Impressed with the Tiberborg and Raven Offshore Yacht Shipping crews.  Tiberborg left La Paz approximately 1030pm last night,  and is currently off the East Cape (of Baja);  it is making time to get around Cabo San Lucas and north ahead of Hurricane Blanca.  Just to keep it exciting.

Hurricane watch...

Hurricane BLANCA,  the second hurricane this season (the earliest 2nd hurricane on record)  is headed right for Cabo and La Paz.  It is a major hurricane (winds >100 knots)  but is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm when it hits later this weekend (but,  models can be wrong). David is in La Paz,  getting ready to load Pelagia on to a freighter Thursday at 5pm. This is cutting it close!  It wasn't supposed to be like this.  Our contract with Sevenstar Yacht Shipping had us out of here in May,  before the onset of hurricanes. Obviously,  that didn't happen.  (More on the whole shipping process in a later post,  when all is complete.)  It's like Deja Vu all over again... waiting for and watching a hurricane head directly at Pelagia  (as we did for Hurricane Vance last November in Mazatlan).

They're back...! Hurricane Andres is this season's first hurricane.

Hurricane ANDRES -- 1st east Pacific hurricane for 2015

ANDRES is 770 miles SSW of the tip of Baja -- very unlikely to affect La Paz.

Meanwhile, our ship (for shipping Pelagia), the MV Tiberborg,  is steaming north from Panama, due to reach La Paz next Wednesday. Can't come too soon....

Flying home...

Looking across to Isla Espiratu Santo from Playa Tecolote (Baja California Sur, Mexico)

In preparation for shipping Pelagia by freighter home to British Columbia sometime in May, we removed and stored both sails, rolled-up and stored the dinghy, removed the bimini, stored electronic equipment and, generally, prepared Pelagia for the trip home. 

When we contracted with Sevenstar Yacht Transport, we were given a 30-day window when the loading would occur ("sometime in May 2015") . We had hoped (far too optimistically, it turns out) that this might occur earlier in May. So, in late April, we prepared Pelagia for shipping. Unfortunately, doing so meant we couldn't go cruising (no sails, no canvas, no dinghy, etc), so were just sitting around in La Paz, waiting. We really like La Paz, but the wait was getting hot and tedious. Then we got a hint that the loading date would not be until the end of May (and perhaps later, based on preceding "late" shipping dates).

Rather than sit around waiting, we decided to fly home April 21 to Whistler (via Vancouver). Skiing was still awaiting (after all, we still have our season passes). 
 

Whistler Mountain from Lost Lake (April, 2015)

It had been a record low snow year, so the valley was green and warm, with good walking and biking on the valley trails.  

However, there is still lots of snow on the upper 1/3rd of the mountains, and Whistler Mountain is scheduled to stay open for skiing until June. So far, we managed to get in some good days of skiing, including one surprising day of powder skiing.

About to ski down Whistler Bowl (May 7, 2015)

And we went for a sail. Each May, our home "yacht" club, the Vancouver Rowing Club, has its annual start-of-the-sailing-season "Sailpast". As we did last year, we joined friends on their 40' Valiant SV Berkana, and enjoyed several hours of sailing in Vancouver's English Bay, with sun and warm temperatures (22-24 deg C) and 8-10 knot winds.

Sailing on SV Berkana for VRC 2015 Sailpast (May 9, 2015)

Looking back to 1st Narrows Bridge, Stanley Park & North Shore mountains

Freighter in English Bay; Vancouver in background

From Wednesday May 6 through Saturday May 9th, we "managed" to ski two days, bicycle 1 day, and sail 1 day. (We could have hiked and golfed as well.) This is why we love living up here so much.  

On top of Whistler Mountain, looking over to the Black Tusk (May 7, 2015)

When we finally get the word from Sevenstar as to our shipping date, we plan to fly back down to La Paz to load Pelagia on to the freighter, and then meet Pelagia when she arrives in Victoria, B.C. some 8-11 days later