Category Archives: Information

Information we discovered during our travels.

Isla Coronados Days 2 – 3

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On Wednesday morning, Eric was woken up at 0400 by some noise. He went up to check to see if all was okay, and found that we were in the middle of a quite a bit of wind and the boat had moved a lot. There was also an occasional bolt of lightning, but no thunder. In the summer, it is not uncommon for windstorms to hit the Sea of Cortez between 0300 and 0500.

On the wind gauge you can see the wind picked up speed from almost zero knots to over 20 knots in 45 minutes. Christi and Keith awoke not long after Eric did. On VHF radio Eric heard a call out to boats in the anchorage saying that it looked like one of the sailboats was dragging. Eric responded, but the sailboat that was possibly dragging did not. Eric blew a portable air horn 5 times towards the sailboats, but the other sailboat boat nearby said the wind was too loud and could not hear it. Eric turned on the radar and monitored not only our boat, but all the boats in the anchorage for dragging. Fortunately after the initial movement from the wind, no one dragged. This picture is blurry, but it shows how much and how fast we moved when the wind kicked in. Usually it is small movements around a spot after we anchor, this was a big continuous move as the wind really picked up.

The winds calmed down at dawn, but the swell caused by the winds persisted for most of the day. The swells were exacerbated by the pangas (little fishing boats) speeding past us with the tourists. We met the person on the boat who Eric talked to. He was glad we were able to monitor the boats with our radar. His name was Nick, and we decided the next day we would go do the hike up the volcano together.

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V-Cove at Isla Carmen to Isla Coronados

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Here is a photo of the area we went snorkeling in on Saturday. We were in the small, shallow strait between Isla Carmen and the tiny rock island. The anchorage is just to the right (south) of where this photo ends.

On Sunday morning, it rained again. The rain didn’t last as long as it had yesterday, but it rained harder, so Kosmos got a good wash down. Undeterred by the heavy rain, the Erics went for a hike onshore.

They literally watched the flora and fauna come to life with the rain – flowers blooming and bugs and lizards coming out of hiding. 

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Puerto Escondido to V Cove on Isla Carmen

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On Tuesday, our friends on Whirlwind (the sailboat with the kids) and Sprezzatura (the Nordhavn 40) had gone to an anchorage called V Cove on Isla Carmen. On Thursday, we joined them. We left the marina in Puerto Escondido at 0930. We were delighted to find there was no wind and the water was calm and glassy. It barely felt like the boat was moving!

We arrived at V cove at 1400 (2:00 pm), not long after the wind picked up and the sea conditions had begun to deteriorate. The anchorage was small, tucked behind some cliffs.

We dropped anchor on the outskirts. According to the charts, we were anchored on land. After waiting a little bit to make sure the anchor was secure, we got the dinghy down and went to shore. There is a small, white sand beach with a sand dune. Eric and Keith snorkeled for a bit. The cove was loaded with fish! The family from Whirlwind joined us. The kids ran on the dune for a short while, then snorkeled in and around one of the caves in the cove. 

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Puerto Escondido Days 3 – 6

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On Sunday, Dan, Liz and Drake came to the marina at lunch time. The males went to the pool. Another cruising family was also at the pool, with kids who were 9 and 11. The four kids had a blast and played all afternoon and into the evening. 

One of the tricks Christi and Eric learned while circumnavigating is that cooking can be difficult at times, so we need plenty of frozen foods onboard that can be easily re-heated. We’d eaten quite a bit of our frozen food stockpile on the passage, in Bahia Falsa and in Bahia Candeleros, so Christi spent the afternoon cooking in order to re-stock the freezer supply. Liz kept her company. 

First thing Monday morning, Eric started on the battery charger project. Eric had located and read the manual, and had psyched himself up for a major repair project. He was delighted to find that it was just a breaker that needed to be re-set. Christi spent most of Monday cooking and doing chores. The boat kids came over and played in the afternoon. In the evening, we had dinner at the marina restaurant with the boating family and our neighbor on the Nordhavn 40.

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Bahia Candeleros to Puerto Escondido

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Q: How far north are you planning to go?

A: We doubt we’ll go farther north than Bahia de Los Angeles, but we have no firm plans.

Q: Have you fished? Is the sea warm?

A: We have not fished as of yet. The sea is about 84 degrees Fahrenheit. 

On Thursday, Eric ran the generator first thing in the morning, as he normally does. But this time, the batteries weren’t charging. Eric spent some time trouble-shooting the problem. We decided that we should head to the nearest marina, where it would be easier to diagnose and fix the problem. The batteries were still charging from the wind generator and the solar panels, and we have a small back up battery charger that was working, so this wasn’t an urgent issue for us. But charging the batteries with the full-size battery charger certainly makes life easier. 

We contacted the marina at Puerto Escondido, only 6 nm away, and made a reservation for Friday. We spent the rest of the day doing chores. In the afternoon, Eric got out the SNUBA gear so Christi could tackle her most arduous chore: cleaning the bottom.

It was particularly rocky in the water that day, so swimming took a lot of effort. She pooped out pretty fast. Eric used the SNUBA to make sure all was fine under the waterline, then he used it to adjust the flopper stopper. Eric and Keith played in the water for a while before we called it a day. 

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