Starting from Louisiana in route to San Diego California The motor vessel Texas lady is a 1980 72-foot shrimp boat. She is powered by a Detroit diesel 1271 with about 400 hp. The trip itself is about 5500 miles, with a Panama Canal crossing. She will be departing from the Gulf of Mexico traveling through the Caribbean Sea through the Panama Canal, up the Pacific coast of central America, Mexico and then United States. She will be passing by several vacation destinations such as Cozumel Mexico, Rotan Honduras, both the Caribbean and the Pacific Shores of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Acapulco, Port of IR to Cabo San Lucas and then on into San Diego. All is well with the departure time until we end up with a minor leak in the port fuel tank. After heading back to the shipyard and letting the good folks at Hard Rock Marine Services take care of us. She is now due to depart just after the first of the year. The brave crew of Mark, Rick and John depart the Mississippi River. We should have known the trip was going to be interesting as they began the trip in very dense fog and requested to pull over until the fog dissipated. 1645 8 January: Passing Southwest Pass Sea buoy. So the journey begins. Smooth seas, all is well, happy crew. The freshly rebuilt Detroit 1271 is purring like a kitten. Only burning 15 gallons an hour and making a good estimated 8 knots. Next landmark Yucatán channel! 06:00 12 January: Just passing through the channel. The sea is being kind to us at only 3 to 4 foot swells. Next stop Panama Canal on the Caribbean side. One small footnote: 13 January nice Mahi-Mahi and nice Barracuda for dinner. Caught fresh from the back of Motor Vessel Texas Lady. 17 January: Northside Panama Canal. Great trip from Louisiana to the Panama Canal. Set anchor in the Bay Colone Panama at 0300. After picking up our agent and checking out the boat, a few minor adjustments were made and now it is time to get underway again. A normal crossing on the canal is about five days. 22 January: Underway again and heading north to San Diego. We are now in the big beautiful Pacific Ocean. The seas will be a little bit rougher than the previous part of the trip. 25 January: The ride starts getting a little bumpy. We are starting to see 6 to 8 foot seas and they are building. We are now just offshore of Managua Nicaragua. 28 January: The seas are starting to get rough 12 to 15 foot. Autopilot starting to earn its money and work very hard. Got a bit of air in the hydraulics for the steering rudder and it got stuck hard over. Not a good feeling in rough seas. We are off of the Gulf of Tehuantepec and getting a good butt kicking. Starting to think it may be a good idea to stop at Acapulco to see if there's any repairs that we could do to make the trip a little better. Instead of dealing with any customs house, we decide to move on. The seas are settling down and are only in 6 to 8 foot. Which is a far cry from the over 20 foot seas we were in a day ago. 31 January: Off the Central Mexico coast, Manzanillo. Now feeling like we have a very good chance of having smooth seas for the rest of the journey. Side note: When delivering a vessel on the Pacific side, you must always make sure that you have heavy enough tackle for the Jurassic style tunas that live offshore. Yes, we got our ass handed to us a couple of times by some big tuna. Just offshore of a Puerto Vallarta, getting ready to cross the mouth of the Sea of Cortez. The seas started getting rough again. Not much fun in a 75-foot boat and seas that are one third the size. After surviving the crossing, we did stop into Cabo to inspect and make sure no problems 4 February: We pull into Cabo to pick up some oil, clean off the deck and inspect for any damage. Going to spend two nights here to wait out little weather that is holding just not shore. As soon as it departs we will depart. 7 February: Underway again with just under 700 miles to go. Seas are smooth, life is good! 11 February: Approaching sea buoy. Picking up outriggers and the trip is done. This has been a very challenging delivery, but most deliveries have a challenge or two. Tune in again for our next delivery from Captains Ocean Adventures!! Brought to you by Ocean Marine Brokerage. For all your brokerage services.
