On Friday morning (August 5), the water was again calm and clear when we awoke. We got Kosmos ready for sea first thing in the morning. This included bringing up and securing the dinghy, bringing in and securing the flopper stopper plates/paravane poles, bringing in the snubber line (which is basically a shock absorber for the anchor chain), securing all loose items on board, etc. We weren’t leaving early; we just wanted to have everything done before the tourist pangas started roaring past us, creating wakes. Then we went for a swim around the boat and saw a lot of fish, including a pair of puffers sitting on our chain at the bow of the boat.

We set off for Puerto Escondido a little before noon and arrived around 1500. It is less stressful for us to go someplace we’ve been before. This time we were assigned to a different dock. We spent a couple of hours at the pool and had dinner at the marina restaurant. In the evening, we got to know our new neighbors. 

Here is a picture of the sunset, looking at the north end of the bay. The topography of this picture is important for the next part of the story. While there are taller mountains to the west and south, the east and north parts of the bay are protected by low hills with gaps. 

On Saturday (August 6), in the wee hours of the morning, Eric was awoken again. He saw that wind picked up to 23 knots. There was lightning, thunder and later a heavy rain. Eric was shocked to see that the waves were big enough that they were splashing over the end dock where the big boats tie up.

It only lasted a couple of hours. We were delighted that Kosmos got another wash down. 

Around 0900, the neighbors went to Loreto to stock up on groceries, and they let Christi and Keith tag along. Loreto was having a power outage caused by a damaged telephone pole, and no one in town seemed phased by it. Meanwhile, Eric stayed aboard Kosmos and got everything ready to change the secondary alternator on the main engine.

The weather forecast for Saturday afternoon was more thunderstorms with heavy rain, so we shut ourselves up in the boat for the rest of the day in anticipation of the storm. It never came. We’ve realized that weather forecasting in the general Loreto area is unreliable. None of the four storms we’ve experienced had been forecast, and the one forecasted storm didn’t materialize.

Here is a picture of the moon shortly after sunset. We can’t believe how bright the moon is, despite not being full.

On Sunday (August 7), Eric tackled the secondary alternator project first thing in the morning. It was one of projects he had not gotten to before leaving San Diego. A few days ago, Eric had noticed a bit of belt decay and decided it needed to be done soon. Here are most of the tools that he needed to use to get the pulley off the old alternator, which was by far the hardest part of the project. Not shown in the picture was the magical can of liquid wrench, which helps loosen metal to metal parts with some corrosion..

Old one vs new one. Note this is the smaller of the two alternators on the main engine. This 90-amp one chargers the engine start battery and (most importantly) runs our active fin stabilizers. It also is a backup in case the main 160 amp unit has issues.

In the afternoon, Dan and Drake came to visit and we spent the afternoon at the pool. The neighbors’ kids and grandkids arrived from the US in the afternoon, and they joined Keith and Drake at the pool. We left when ominous looking clouds rolled in, accompanied by flashes of lightning in the distance. 

We had an early dinner at the marina with Dan and Drake. 

All evening, we kept waiting for the heavy rain that the weather app said was literally above us. But it appeared that the clouds were moving around the mountains instead of over them, and thus the rain missed us.