I had an okay time at Ensenada Grande. There were a lot of kids. We did some D&D, but there were too many kids playing D&D to be fun. We went on a hike with some other people. Most of us kids went ahead of the parents. We got tired and turned back. I had a miserable time on the hike. After we got back, our dinghy flipped.
During the night, the wind shifted to come from west, where this anchorage had no protection. When we woke up on Monday morning (January 23), it was very uncomfortable. We got Kosmos ready to go and pulled up anchor at 0700, as the sky was starting to lighten, but before the sun came up. Moin and The Mob were right behind us, going to the same destination.
It was a 5-hour ride to San Evaristo. When we first left, the seas were rocky and uncomfortable, but it smoothed out after an hour or so. From then on, the ride wasn’t bad. As the day progressed, the winds calmed down, which probably helped. We pulled into the anchorage at about noon.
Continue readingSunday (January 22) was another rolly morning. First thing in the morning, we coordinated with the other families to go for the big hike. We encouraged everyone to meet onshore ASAP so we could all get a reprieve from the rocking.
We met on the main beach at 1030. It felt good to be on dry land! The older kids took off hiking right away. The adults and younger kids didn’t get moving until after 1100. We’d mentioned that on the day we’d arrived, there was a fourth boat in the anchorage that we didn’t know. It turned out the fourth boat was also a family, and that family joined us on the hike, too.
Probably around 1120, the kids and adults passed one another as the kids were on their way down. Keith reported that they hadn’t gotten as far as we’d gotten last time before they decided they were hot and turned around.
It wasn’t nearly as green now as it had been last time we’d hiked the trail, but there was still plenty of plant life. The first photo was looking back at the beach, and the second photo was taken at the same spot, but looking up the trail.
Here was the sunrise on Saturday, January 21
The wind picked up overnight and was screaming by the morning. The wind caused a lot of noise — the wind itself was loud, the anchor chain/bridle moved a lot, waves slapped against the boat instead of gently lapping the boat, the wind generator sounded like a motor, and there were just a lot of thumps and rattles when the boat moved a lot. In addition to the sound, it was also rocky and uncomfortable. None of us slept well and we were all up early. As soon as there was enough light outside, we put both flopper stoppers down. That helped dampen the roll, but we were still moving a lot.
Continue readingOn Thursday, January 19, the little sliver of the moon was again in the east as the sun rose underneath it.
We left for shore at noon. Our plan was to walk over to the ferry terminal to catch the 1230 bus. As we pulled up to the beach, a man walked up to us and asked how we liked the Torquedo electric motor. He and Eric chatted for a few minutes. Then Christi said “We don’t want to be rude, but we have to leave. We’re going to the ferry terminal to catch a bus into town.”
And the man said “Would you like me to give you a ride into town?” We took him up on his offer. His wife was waiting in their van. It turned out they were former cruisers. And they also went cruising with son, who was a teenager at the time. They eventually switched from traveling via boats to traveling via a camping van.
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