Day 4
In the very early morning, not too long before dawn, we encountered 7 pangas within a 10 mile range. Eric was on watch and had to do some evasive maneuvering to stay clear of them. Some had lights on and were easy to see, others didn’t bother to turn their lights on until we were almost on top of them. Thank goodness for radar!
This morning the seas are better. We are still bouncing up and down, but the rapidity of the swells has slowed down, which helps the ride immensely. Interestingly, the wind chop has picked up, going from 6 inches to 1 2 feet, yet the ride is still better. It is so true that wave intervals trumps wave height in the comfort meter.
When the sun came up, we peeked out and saw our bird was still in the cockpit. We started to worry that he may be dying. Yesterday, he would run away from us and try to hide by the little step leading to the starboard side walkway. Today he just sits sadly in the middle of the cockpit when we come out, making no effort to hide. Eric gave him a flying fish that had landed aboard, but the bird didn’t eat it. Eric gave him some sugar, but the bird didn’t eat that, either. Later in the day, Eric realized the bird probably was trapped and couldn’t get out. The wind was coming from the front, so there was no wind in the cockpit to give him momentum to fly away. Ah ha! So, Eric opened one of the side doors and encouraged the bird to go to the door and fly away. Eric scared the bird enough that the bird again tried to hide from Eric. Eric went inside and watched the bird through the window. When the bird was sure he was safe from Eric, the bird waddled over to the threshold and looked at the water hesitantly for a while. Finally, he launched himself, successfully catching air and gaining altitude. He flew around the boat for a long time before finally leaving us behind. But he kindly left us some mementos in the cockpit so that we won’t forget he was there.
The scenery along the coast has changed some. It is still dry, but the hills have turned into enormous mountains and we can see them clearly. They are dramatic. There is one especially gigantic volcano along the border of Guatemala and Mexico that is awesome to look at. And on, that note, this afternoon we officially crossed into Mexico’s dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec, infamous for its violent winds and nasty seas. About 200 days a year the winds are gale force or greater, and the gale force winds often come out of nowhere. The wind was only 6 9 knots apparent at the time, and we were braced for the wind to suddenly jump up to the 40’s, but it didn’t.
With it being so calm out, it was tempting to cut across the bay to reduce the mileage, but we decided not to. We have heard horror story after horror story of boats getting in trouble when the wind suddenly jumps up. We decided we should follow conventional wisdom and “keep one foot on the shore”, meaning stay as close to shore as possible. We don’t like being so close to land, but it is supposedly much safer this way. We are pleased to report that conditions stayed stable, and after dark, it calmed down even more, becoming an overall pleasant ride.
Day 5
This morning, after the sun came up, we could see what had caused the ride to become so much better. The swells were still 2 3 feet at the same intervals, but the direction had shifted. Now they are coming from our starboard beam, which makes all the difference in the world in terms of comfort. From this direction, we barely feel the waves.
It was cloudy out and we actually got just a touch of rain. But it wasn’t enough to wash away the mud that is caked on. We need a hard rain to give Kosmos a good rinse off. We also saw a few dolphins this morning, which is always fun.
Around noon, the wind died altogether. We can’t believe how lucky we are! We are in a heinous wind tunnel, but have zero wind! Woo hoo! The wind waves went away completely, and the only motion was the small swell from the starboard side. The only downside is that with no wind, it is really hot. We saw a bunch more dolphins, but it looks like a different species to us that the pan-tropical ones we have been seeing lately.
Of course, it couldn’t last. In the late afternoon, the wind picked up to 20 26 knots from our starboard side. We were getting smacked with big waves from the same direction, which was not fun. We had been running about 5 miles from shore, so we moved closer in to 2 miles from shore, knowing the waves would be much smaller from lack of fetch. Once closer in, the ride was pretty good. But, we were only in 70 feet of water, which made Eric nervous. We hope that our charts are on about the location of rocks and other potential hazards.
Tonight there was a small crescent moon, but it set not too long after sunset, so it was yet another black night. It is partly cloudy out, so the stars aren’t as amazing as they have been the last few nights. As of this writing at just before midnight, we can see the city lights looming large up ahead, which only adds to the nervousness… shallow water on a pitch black night next a city where there are probably lots of fisherman out is just not a good combination.
And some blog questions:
Q: Are you able to launch your tender off the back off Kosmos?
A: No, just off the sides.
Q: Are you glad you did this journey now or do you think you should have waited until retirement?
A: There is no promise that you will live long enough to retire or be in good enough health to travel as you get older. We don’t believe in postponing dreams.
Q: Are you guys working as you cruise? Do you think working while cruising is viable?
A: When we first left, Christi was doing some work, trying to wrap up and shut down her business. Doing it from the boat was a nightmare. Eric has been consistently doing a little bit of work, mostly involving defending patents that he had applied for before we left. Doing that from the boat is fine, but we are moving at such a fast pace that we feel any time spent working has detracted from our journey. Whether working is viable or not really depends on the nature of the work and your pace.