The weather was back to cold and windy again. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we mostly laid low in the marina. Eric finally completed a project that he’d started in San Diego: creating a system to better secure the anchor. Back in San Diego, Eric had bought a piece of 3/4″ starboard and had cut some slots in it to hold the anchor in place so it wouldn’t rattle around when the boat was in motion. He secured the board in place with some dyeema line that has an anti-chaffing sleeve cover over it and a clip. He strapped the line to the cleat on the deck.
Sunday and Monday (February 5 and 6) were more chores days. The weather was sunny and warm, with it reaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 celsius) both days. Eric:
Changed the on-engine fuel filter and flushed it with Stanadyne
Re-organized the spare parts and supplies that we kept in the engine room
He put extra sealant on the lift pump on the main engine.
Put away more things in the engine room.
Tightened a loose fitting on the freshwater spigot at the anchor chain.
Christi and Keith finally got around to washing the boat. They were dismayed to see that it wasn’t mud all over the boat, it was some sort of water-resistant residue. It was similar, but not quite like the jet fuel residue that we used to get on our first boat, which we’d kept next to the San Diego Airport. It was less similar to, but not totally different from, the container ship exhaust that was all over Kosmos when we briefly had her in the Port of Los Angeles (In 2010, while the blog was on hiatus). We’re guessing the residue must have come from the nearby power plant, or maybe the container ships that we’ve noticed anchored in the area, or some combination of both.
On Wednesday (February 1), we awoke to a sunny, beautiful morning. However, we were dismayed to see that the rain had left the boat covered in mud, just as been the case in Santa Rosalia. What the heck was going on with the rain in Baja?
Instead of washing Kosmos, we decided to take care of the dinghy first. Eric got the dinghy down and gave it a good wash down, including eliminating the copious amount of sand that had accumulated inside. He also cleaned the dinghy motor.
After mulling it over overnight, Eric decided that he was not going to try to adjust the belt. on the dive compressor, so he put dive compressor back together.
On Monday (January 30), the wind shifted again. We knew that the rolling in anchorage would increase and soon it would become comfortable. It was time to move again. We also knew that there was a storm coming. We’d decided that we wanted to ride the storm out in a marina. We were excited to be able to procure a “real” slip at Costa Baja, complete with water, power and pump out!
We pulled up anchor at about 0830, right after One World did, and followed them towards the La Paz area. It was a 6.5 hour ride to Costa Baja. We were in small 1 – 2 foot (.3 – .6 meters) head seas, so it was mildy uncomfortable. The day started out mostly sunny with some clouds, but as the day wore on, the clouds steadily increased. By the time we arrived, it was mostly cloudy. The temperatures were cool, but not cold, in the high 60s Fahrenheit (about 16-ish Celsius). Thanks to the wind, we did need our heavy jackets to sit outside when the boat moving. Eric saw two whales while he was on watch, but he didn’t get a close enough look to tell which species they were.
At the turn off into the channel to Costa Baja, we saw that the world’s biggest sloop was on the fuel dock. When we’d booked the reservation, we’d asked about getting fuel on the way in, and the marina had told us the fuel dock was booked for the day. Now we knew why.
In the morning, Eric was sore from the inverter project. We added bleach to our water tanks before we topped them off, which is something that needs to be done every few months when consistently making your own water. We also turned our big freezer back on, which had been off since well before we’d left for San Diego.
