On to Puerto Escondido

October 12, 2012

We arise in the morning around seven. After coffee and listening  to morning net out of Loreto, we pull up anchor and  leave the AguaVerde, knowing it’s a place we will want to come back to. But business calls and we need internet and/or phone service and the closest place is Loreto, or the port 14 miles to the south, Escondido (hidden port). We expect a breezy but uneventful sail north but within an hour of our destination both winds and seas pick up reaching 20-25 knots and 8-10 feet. It is a best an uncomfortable ride as we are heading straight into the wind and it feels like catching a ride on a giant rocking horse.

But it gets worse. As we make the turn to go into to Escondido the wind is now blowing directly across the beam and we are heeling more than thirty degrees.  I can tell that Larry, who always handles situations with calm, is concerned as he stands down in the cockpit to steer from a safer position.  Buddi’s cage has been taken down from its hanger and moved below after bouncing across the pilothouse during one large wave. I go below too, quite frankly scared we will breach. We were woefully unprepared for this weather and items are careening and crashing below. Books bouncing out of book cases, boxes of medicine and extra shower supplies flying out into the galley, wine glasses crashing together: I try to grab things between rolls and stuff them into safe places. My biggest problem is one of our very heavy swivel chairs which had not been tied down and now crashes from side to side.Each roll is followed by a brief moment of calm before the next one hits us. My heart beats like crazy and my imagination goes wild.

It seems like an eternity but is probably no more than 45 minutes before we make a final turn, the seas calm dramatically and we glide into the port and begin looking for a place to anchor.