It was 23:15, two hours into my four-hour watch aboard our 1979 Cheoy Lee 41, Avocet, when I checked the chart and saw that we had crossed the imaginary line that separates California from Mexico.
Tears streamed down my face. All the stress I’d been carrying melted into the sea as the years, months and days leading up to this moment vanished into an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Almost as if on cue, dolphins were in our wake, playing in the bioluminescence. Cleo, our cat, popped her head out of the companionway and let out a single meow before hopping onto my blanketed lap and settling into a deep sleep—a good sign, since she used to get seasick and avoid anything to do with the outside world.
Later, when my husband, Chris, relieved me from my watch, he discovered me looking all too comfortable, enthralled with the night sky. Before I retired belowdecks, I was sure to point out a few constellations in addition to my watch debrief.
Chris then got to experience the magic of true offshore cruising: It was just him, the sea, the stars and the voice of Olivia, who had also just taken her first watch aboard our buddy boat, the 38-foot Hans Christian, Kessel.
But alas, while my watch had been uneventful with time to search the stars for Orion, Poseidon had saved the action for Chris.
It was around 2 a.m. off Tijuana, Mexico when Avocet came upon a fishing fleet. I was still asleep below as Chris encountered 12 boats that he had to navigate through, all trawling in various directions with 300-foot leads behind them.
Not to mention, they weren’t lighted to spec, if they were even lighted at all. And, they didn’t show up on AIS, a problem that added another level of intrigue to their course.
“Avocet, Avocet, Avocet,” Olivia called out on the VHF radio. “What do towing lights look like?”
Chris answered her question, and then she said there was a partially submerged, 200-foot barge lighted by a singular red flashing light on the outskirts of the fishing fleet.
If not for the full moon, Kessel would have made contact. If not for Olivia’s relay, we may have as well.
That was when I truly felt like we had made it over the border to a new place with new challenges. Oh, Mexico, what wonders will you hold for us?
Lesson learned: Always keep your eyes peeled, and have friends out on the water who are keeping watch and sharing information, too.
Coming next: Part 3, a 48-hour deadline we didn’t expect to encounter upon our landfall at Ensenada.
