A Late Start

Now trying to enlist help from the locals to recover the sunken outboard. Self-rescue attempts so far have been hampered by a number of factors, including help from the locals. The fallback plan is to abandon the motor and continue.

After several hours of trying, we abandoned the sunken motor.  Hopefully we can find a replacement in Cabo.

Diving for Outboards

Returning to the boat from our last night ashore in Bahia Santa Maria, we were about to pull the dinghy up on deck to get ready for the 7am start. The dinghy is too heavy to lift onto the boat with the outboard attached, so the first step in this process is to disconnect the gas tank and the motor and lift those aboard first. Getting the motor aboard, once detached from the dinghy, involves about two precarious steps to turn around and lift the motor onto the deck while standing on the slippery floor of an 8-foot inflatable dinghy. In one of those instants where bad goes quickly to worse, Paul slipped and set the motor down quickly on the side of the dink to regain his balance. With the heavy part of the motor being more over the side than on it, it slipped over, taking Paul with it. After a few seconds of anxious deliberation, Paul wisely chose to let go of the quickly-sinking forty-pound chunk of metal and return to the surface. The motor, now not attached to anything, sits at the bottom of the bay 15-20 feet below us.

It is absolutely invisible in the dark, so there is no point in trying to recover it tonight. We decided to try in the morning, even though it will mean missing the 7am start.