Welcome to Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico

Around 0100, the wind picked up some more. Instead of 20 26 knots, it became more like 21 27. We know that doesn’t sound like much of a difference on paper, but the gusts were now more frequently on the higher end of the spectrum than they had been before. After only an hour, it started to die down. By 0230, the wind was down to 15. Since the wind was on our side and we were so close to shore, the ride had never changed for us, so even in the worst of the winds the ride was smooth and pleasant.

In the early morning, we rolled up 29,000 nautical miles. Wow. We certainly have done a lot of miles, haven’t we? At 0800, we looked outside and noticed there were a zillion small jellyfish in the water. We made excellent time all morning. We must have a current with us for the speeds to be so good. The currents in this gulf are also notoriously strong.

Our destination was the town of Continue reading

Ensenada Recap

Ensenada is about a 2 hour drive from San Diego, and we were fools for not visiting there long before we got Kosmos. Ensenada is safe, easy, and friendly. It is a nice get-a-way with very reasonable prices compared with the USA.

We spent most of our time aboard Kosmos either underway or working on various boat projects, but we were able to venture out a few times and see things. Here are some pictures: Continue reading

Ensenada to San Diego Pictures

There is little to report from our trip from Ensenada to San Diego. But we did take a few pictures we wanted to share.

As we headed north and the sun rose we looked back and saw the loading cranes and a cruise ship heading into the harbor. You can just barely make them out as the shadows in this picture.

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There are actually two cruise ships that arrive about 1 hour apart. Here is the other one we passed. We liked the subtle reflection of the pilot house in this picture. The visability was not too great, and we saw this cruise ship on radar long before we saw her by sight. Have we yet mentioned how awesome radar is? Continue reading

Adios Ensenada, Hello San Diego

Aug 26, 2006 from Ensenada to San Diego – We had easy 10 hour trip from Ensenada to San Diego. Two to four foot swells and only about 8 knots of wind off the port bow. We ran fast at about 1900 rpm at did about 7.2 knots most of the way. For longer passage we would probably go around 1750 rpm and 6.8 knots. We ran fast because we wanted to make it with plenty of time before customs closed, which we did. Once again we are pleased with the smooth, quiet, and leisurely pace of Kosmos.

We plan to use San Diego as our base of operations as we exercise Kosmos as much as possible before we head to the South Pacific in March/April/May of 2007. Between now and then is the time to go on a trial cruise and get approved as crew for a later, more exotic location.