Q: What is the difference between paravanes and flopper-stoppers? You guys seem to use the words interchangeably in your blog posts.

A: Paravanes are a stabilization system designed to be used while the boat is in motion. It involves lowering weights into the water to add more resistance to the motion of the waves. Our “fish” (weights) are 45-lbs on each side. More details can me found here and here. Unlike active-fin stabilizers, the paravane poles/fish can also be deployed at anchor to help dampen the roll in anchorages.

Flopper-stoppers are light-weight (2-lbs) flat, rectangular plates that can be hooked to the end of the paravane polls (instead of the “fish”). They are meant to be used only at anchor. They can be pushed down by a wave pretty easily, but they are resistant to coming back up, which dampens the motion. At anchor, flopper-stoppers work better than the “fish.” Since they only weigh 2-lbs each, flopper-stoppers are significantly easier to deploy and retrieve than the “fish.”

We didn’t buy real flopper stoppers until after the blog went inactive. In our old posts, we did talk about deploying the flopper-stoppers, but we had been mistakenly using the word incorrectly. What we’d meant in those old posts was “utilizing the paravane ‘fish’ while at anchor.” Sorry for the confusion.

In the recent posts from the Sea of Cortez, we’ve been careful to use the two terms accurately. When we first arrived in the Sea of Cortez, we were using flopper-stoppers at anchor. But after two failures (first, second) we’ve given up on flopper-stoppers and are back to using paravanes at anchor.

Sunrise on Thursday November 3

After we finished our morning chores, we went snorkeling along the rocks behind the boat again. Eric and Keith also donned wetsuits for extra jellyfish protection. The spot was still nice and we got to enjoy it more fully this time.

In the afternoon, the swell picked up and the anchorage became rolly and uncomfortable. Eric put out one of the paravanes, which helped. In the early evening, we went to the big sandbar to enjoy dry land. As we were getting ready to go, we noticed the birds swarming in a particular spot.

The swarm just kept moving from spot to spot. We suppose they were finding schools of fish to eat. Here’s a picture taken from shore of the birds flying past Kosmos as they moved to a new swarming location. Note how bright the moon was in the sky, despite the sun not having set yet.

Here is another photo of the sunset/moon over the anchorage that was taken from shore.

While we were onshore, we talked to a couple of the cruisers and the campers. We found out that the sandbar and rock islets were recently sold to a developer. The person who lived in the house was a caretaker for the current owners. The caretaker was allowing people to camp. According to the satellite photos, there used to be another building on the sandbar. We don’t know if the hurricane took it out or the new owners had it demolished. Here’s the sunset looking south.