January 20, 2018
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| Puerto Escondido in the Morning |
We awoke to a beautiful, warm morning and sat in the
cockpit for a couple of hours, drinking coffee and enjoying the sun, before I
made eggs and tortillas for breakfast.
Winds were light and the seas flat, so we decided it was the perfect
time to inaugurate the stand-up paddleboard.
Don attached the fin and leash and then I took it for a little spin
around the neighboring boats. Flat as it
was, I managed to complete my tour without falling in. Don, who was a complete novice at SUPs, was
not so fortunate, but he persevered and started to get the hang of it.
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| Don on the SUP |
The radio net had advertised a farmers’ market in the
parking lot so, after Don got warm and dry again, we loaded my laundry in the
dinghy and headed for shore. Don made me
drive, since I have an aversion to outboard motors, but it went fine until we
got to the dock and had a bit of trouble finding a place to tie up. The marina workers had part of the dock
deconstructed and other cruisers had tied their dinghies with short
tethers. Eventually, the workers took
pity on us and offered us a clear spot further down the dock.
The new docks at Puerto Escondido are interesting in that
they have no pilings. Instead, they are
tethered to massive blocks of concrete with giant bungee cords that allow them
to move up and down. We later talked to some people who had been there in 58 knot winds. They said that cleats were pulling out of the docks and it was a mess. They held fine in the high winds we would see the next day.
The farmers’ market turned out to be one guy with an SUV
full of goat cheese and kale. We bought
some goat cheese. I needed to do some
laundry, so repaired to the laundry room to wait for a washer while Don sat out
at one of the tables in front of the marina to use the WiFi. I quickly nabbed a washer and started the
laundry. My computer needed charging and
there was fortunately a free electrical outlet.
I managed to upload photos from my phone but, unfortunately, there was
no WiFi signal in the laundry room, so I was unable to work on posting my
blog. Instead, I spent the time chatting
with other cruisers, catching up on gossip about Marina Chiapas, and learning
about South Africa where I would be heading in the late spring.
Laundry finally completed, I rendezvoused with Don. The wind was starting to pick up a little
bit. I went to the new marina market and
did my best to provision. They had a
reasonable selection of produce, but nothing in the was of fresh meat except
bacon and some lunchmeat. I did my best
to fill our larder from the limited selection, resorting to canned goods
clearly purchased from Costco. Knowing
we might be trapped in the boat for the next few days while the wind blew, I
cleaned out their supply of Diet Coke and Don bought a bottle of rum.
By this time, the sun had dipped below the mountains and the
wind was rising. It was chilly. Still, we decided to conserve our limited
supply of fresh food and have burgers ashore before heading back to the
boat. The cheeseburgers at Pepegina’s
were excellent, but we didn’t linger any longer than necessary. We had a long, cold dinghy ride ahead of
us. While it was windy, the seas weren’t
too terrible and we managed to get back to the boat without getting my laundry
wet. It wasn’t blowing more than 15
knots at the time, but the wind was expected to come up in the night. Don
fastened everything securely in anticipation.
We sat in the cockpit, sipping drinks and admiring the
stars, until it got too cold for my tastes and I ducked below. I tried to read, but ended up taking a
pre-bed nap on the settee before finally retiring about midnight.
January 21, 2018
The norther hit at 2:00 AM, just as predicted. I woke up, checked the wind speed, decided it
wasn’t serious, and went back to sleep.
At 6:00, something was thumping, so I went on deck to try to quiet
it. I couldn’t find the problem and
decided it was something to do with the mooring lines, so returned to my warm
bed.
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| Windy Afternoon in Puerto Escondido |
I was awakened by the radio net at 8:00 but, having nothing
pressing to do, stayed in my bunk, reading, until Don got up at 9:00. We passed the entire morning sipping coffee
and eventually eating some oatmeal (I had forgotten to buy eggs.) It was windy, but not too cold behind the
dodger.
Gradually, the windspeeds
increased until gusts reached 30 knots.
The predictions were not for more than the low 20s, so we hoped this
wind event would blow itself out as the afternoon progressed and we saw wind
speeds climb to 38 knots. The harbor was
full of white caps and boats curvetted about their moorings, but the seas
stayed fairly small due to the depth and lack of fetch in the caldera.
The wind increased as the day progressed, finally topping
out at 38 knots. We stayed in the boat all afternoon,
reading. When dinnertime
rolled around, I made pasta from all the things left in our fridge, including
bacon, goat cheese, and vegetables. The
wind was still howling when we went to bed, but we slept comfortably enough.
January 22, 2018
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| Sunrise in Puerto Escondido |
We both woke up at 3:30 AM when the wind increased, but
there was no serious problem and we went back to sleep. I turned on the radio to listen to the net at
8:00, but there seemed no reason to get up since we were unlikely to go
anywhere. We didn’t get up until after 9:00.
We were out of eggs and almost out of oatmeal, so I made grilled cheese
and bacon sandwiches for breakfast.
The wind wasn’t too strong in the morning, so we decided to
take the dinghy to shore for showers, water, and internet. It was probably half a mile from our mooring
to the dinghy dock. We got there without
getting wet, even though I was wearing long pants and shoes. We filled the water bottle and then took
showers. The WiFi wasn’t working outside,
so we spent the afternoon in the marina office, using the internet. I uploaded photos for a blog post, which took
hours.
By the time we finished with the internet and bought a few
groceries it was nearly 4:30. The wind had grown much stronger and the basin
was filled with whitecaps. We still had
to cross the entire mooring field to get back to Comet. We knew it would be a
wet ride, so I exchanged my jeans for a pair of shorts and put on my waterproof
jacket.
It was a wild ride.
While no waves broke over the bow of the dinghy, splashes were
constant. We were drenched and water was
sloshing around in the bottom of the dinghy.
My backpack was waterproof, so my belongings stayed dry. Don’s pack got soaked. His iPad, despite being in a water-resistant
case, got wet. It stopped working. Don put it in a bag of rice and hoped for the
best, but it was beyond salvaging.
The wind continued to howl.
We dried out and warmed up. I
heated up cans of chili for dinner, which we ate with crackers and goat cheese. We spent the evening listening to
podcasts. At least one more day of wind was
anticipated before we could move on.
January 23, 2018
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| Our Mooring in Puerto Escondido |
Tuesday morning was windy and we made no attempt to leave
the boat all day, having learned our lesson on the previous day’s dinghy
ride. I got up early and tried to get
Gary’s weather report on the SSB receiver, but couldn’t make out his words
through the static. I stayed up,
listened to the net, drank coffee and lounged until Don got up. Then I made pancakes.
There was nothing much to do, so I occupied myself by
dusting and scrubbing the galley floor.
We did a lot of reading and, after a dinner of tostadas, spent the evening listening to podcasts. We were
more than ready to get moving again and decided that the following day’s wind
forecast didn’t preclude our departure.
We were, after all, a sailboat and sailboats need wind.
January 24, 2018
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| Electrical Improvements for New Marina in Puerto Escondido |
A large passenger ship hailing another vessel on channel 16
woke me at 6:50. I got up and started
the water for coffee. Don got up in time
to listen to Gary’s weather report at 7:45, which was audible after he strung an
antenna half the length of the boat. The
wind was predicted to be 16 to 19 knots, but lighter as we went south. We decided to go for it. About 8:30, we dropped the mooring ball and
motored over to the fuel dock to take on water.
We offloaded our garbage and visited the store for last minute
supplies. Carmen, the proprietress, had
just added a freezer, so we were able to buy enough meat to see us as far as La
Paz. By 9:45, we pulled away from the
dock and headed out of Puerto Escondido.
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| Fast Sailing on a Windy Day |
The seas were small in the morning, but the wind was
constant and they did build as the day went on.
We saw winds as high as 20 knots, but nothing serious. We made good time. We contemplated stopping at Agua Verde, but
decided to pass it by, since it was only 1:00 when we passed it. This was somewhat disappointing, since Agua
Verde is my favorite anchorage, but we wanted to get to La Paz before the high
winds started again on Saturday.
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| Misty Mountains Near Punta San Telmo |
We had a nice sail and reached speeds of up to 8 knots, even
with a reefed main. We contemplated
stopping at Punta San Telmo, but ultimately decided to continue another couple
of miles to Puerto Los Gatos. We arrived
at 5:00, just in time for happy hour.
While it had been warm enough to sail in shorts earlier in the day, I
had all my layers on again by the time we dropped anchor. I declined a beer and had a shot of tequila
instead. Thus fortified, I washed the
breakfast dishes and then made steak, salad, and mashed yams for dinner. We were alone in the anchorage, so felt free to enjoy our
music.
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| Pulling into Puerto Los Gatos |
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