Category Archives: Boat Technical

Specifics about the boat.

Continuing to Prepare for Hurricane Kay

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Here is the sunrise on Tuesday, September 6. Look at how bright the moon is despite the early morning sun.

Not long after that photo was taken, the wind picked up. We had 17-knot sustained winds with gusts to 25-knots for pretty much the entire day. Since the wind was coming from the same direction as the hurricane would be coming from, this was actually a blessing. It meant all the boats were pushed into the place that they will be during the storm, allowing each of us to more accurately judge if we are far enough away from other boats/hazards to be safe on Thursday. One boat left, deciding they’d rather ride the storm out in the Bay of LA than Don Juan. A few boats repositioned themselves into different spots here in Don Juan.

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Puerto Don Juan to La Mona Anchorage

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Thursday, September 1 — One of our neighbors in the anchorage at Don Juan was throwing herself a birthday party this evening, and she had invited us to attend. The party was taking place in a different anchorage, called La Mona, which was about an hour ride away.

On Thursday morning, we got up early and hustled through our chores. Thursday was also Keith’s first day of school, so he did his schoolwork while Eric and Christi did chores.

One of Eric’s chores was to remove one of the alternator belts. When Eric had changed the alternator belts in Puerto Escondido, he used the same size belt made by two different manufacturers. Even though the belts were supposed to be the same, they were slightly different and it was causing a vibration. Eric figured that removing one of the belts would solve this (the alternator can run with only one belt).

Once chores/schoolwork were done, we got Kosmos ready to go to sea. We pulled up anchor at around 0915. We were the last boat to leave Don Juan. In transit, we passed “the window.” After enjoying the view through “the window” for several days from inside the anchorage, It was fun to see the view from the outside looking in.

La Mona was a lovely beach on the east side of Southern Bahia de Los Angeles, protected by large hills and jutting rock formations to the north. The beach was lined with homes. Some of the homes were nice, some were mobile homes.  

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Puerto Don Juan Days 2 – 3

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Sunrise, Tuesday August 30

As the sun was rising, a fleet of little fishing pangas came roaring into the bay and stopped suddenly near our boat. They fished for maybe an hour, then roared back out as fast as they came in. We heard several conversations between Americans, so we are guessing that tourists hire the pangas to take them fishing.

Eric had spent Monday evening trying to figure out how to fix the AC water maker. He realized that there was a way to re-set the computer on the AC water maker to keep it running despite the sensor indicating that the water was too salty. On Tuesday morning, he got up early, emptied out the lazarette so he could get to the water maker, took the water maker apart, turned the setting dial behind the control panel, tested it, and then put the water maker back together. He is pleased to report that it worked, and the AC water maker is again operational!

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Bahia San Francisquito to Puerto Don Juan

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Sunday August 28 — Almost every day, Eric spends time obsessively checking the weather forecasts, poring over the cruising guides, and seeking advice on where to take Kosmos next. One of the most wonderful things about the Sea of Cortez is that it is loaded with anchorages. The problem is that most of the anchorages only protect from wind/swell from one or two directions, and in the summer, the wind shifts directions frequently. So, an anchorage may be great for the winds predicted during day, but will be terrible at night once the wind changes direction. It’s been tricky to find suitable anchorages for the weather predicted. What complicates matters it that the weather forecasts haven’t always been accurate. 

After the very rough time in Bahia San Francisquito, Eric decided to bypass many beautiful, but questionable, anchorages and head directly to an all-weather anchorage called Puerto Don Juan, seven miles east of Bahia Los Angeles. It was an eight-hour ride from San Francisquito. 

We are pleased to report that the ride was smooth. The wind was behind us and the seas were relatively calm. We had a couple of stowaways, who made a huge mess when they sat on the boat deck by the dinghy. Can anyone identify these birds? There were tons of them in Bahia San Francisquito. 

We arrived at about 1800. Here is a shot of the bay taken as we were approaching.

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