We left Santa Rosalia on 9-1 at about 10:30 am. All appeared to be well, and we even had a little wind, so we actually got to sail, instead of just drifting along, or god forbid using the engine. The seas were sort of lumpy and disorganized, but that was just sort of uncomfortable rather than actually problematic. But by two pm we got our first blow. The only good thing was that Mike thought the clouds looked like trouble, so we reefed in the sails, battened everything down, and got ready for whatever was coming. And for the rest of the day and all through the night we battled big winds, heavy seas, and generally unpleasant conditions. It came in two stages. The first part was not so bad - it just caused us to race along, bouncing on the lumpy seas. Then it seemed to calm down, so we shook one reef out of the sails (leaving two in) and sailed along nicely for a little while. The whole time we were surrounded by evil looking clouds with lightning all around us. We were sailing so fast that we knew we would have to pass up our planned anchorage because instead of arriving the next morning, we would be arriving at night, and you never enter an unfamiliar anchorage at night. When night fell, and of course there was no moon, the worst of the storm began. We immediately had to reef up again, and I tore my hands up struggling with the lines. I didn't know anything had happened until I saw the blood later. This all began at 8:55. I know this for sure because I wrote it in the log. The wind howled, the waves batted us around, and we had to run the engine for three hours to avoid being blown on the shore, even though we were at least 12 miles offshore. The autopilot kept us going in the right direction, but it couldn't handle the crabbing, which is when the boat gets pushed sideways even though you are pointed in the right direction. SO Mike had to hand steer. This went on all night. Mike thinks we might have been able to avoid the engine use if our sails had been configured differently, but I am not so sure. I stayed with Mike in the cockpit the whole time, and even managed to fall asleep, which I am sure was pure escapism. (I have noticed a tendency to get sleepy when scary things are happening.) I didn't think we'd die, but I did think we might lose our boat, because the shoreline was nothing but rocks.
We passed our anchorage about midnight - the same anchorage we planned on arriving at in the early morning. Even if it had been light, there was no way we could have anchored in those conditions. So we just kept going. Finally we entered a channel (a channel we discovered later is NOT recommended in bad weather, but our guide did not mention it until a later chapter) and almost immediately the seas calmed, and the wind finally began to die down. By morning, it was absolutely still and we were just drifting. I didn't care - it felt great not to have anything to be afraid of. Mike finally got to get in bed and get some sleep, and while I was sitting in the cockpit watching us go nowhere, I was greeted by a big pod of pilot whales. I have never seen anything so wonderful in my life. One of them came very close, and I took pictures, so I hope they came out well. It was amazing and unbelievable all at the same time.
Right now we are in a beautiful, quiet anchorage and all the drama seems very far away. WHile we were drifting along yesterday, a panga approached our boat, and traded us five huge lobsters for 8 beers, one can of coca-cola (which is what they really wanted, I am thinking about stocking up on it because it is the first thing they ask for in trade) and a bottle of chianti. Mike fixed us an awesome lobster dinner last night - I was too beat to cook. I can't remember the last time I was so physically and mentally exhausted. Mike is a real champ - he stayed up all night, hand steered, made scary decisions, and - oh yes - had to fix our anchor windlass because when we went to anchor, the thing wasn't working properly. We managed to get the anchor down, and then he had to open the thing up, which caused oil to spill all over the deck. I had to get my poor bloody hands in the oil to retrieve all the screws that he took out of the windlass that got drowned in oil. Of course that was the easy job. Mike amazingly figured out what the problem was, and now it is working better than ever, at least for now. Again, I am truly impressed by all he can do. That is why I feel guilty for not making dinner - he even had to do that. He had much more reason than I did to be tired - and after battling a nasty storm, fixing a broken windlass, and being up all night, he still managed to make a gourmet dinner.
We are planning to stay right here at least through tomorrow - and then continue north until we get to Bahia de Los Angeles (BLA in cruiser lingo). There are a number of anchorages between here and there - it is about 30 miles away, which is only a day sail - and we will likely take time and meander our way there if weather permits. We heard a rumor that there are like 50 other boats there - hopefully that is only a rumor, because if it is true, the hurricane hole seven miles away from there would be awfully crowded. In a big group there will always be a percentage of people who have no idea what they are doing, and another group who don't care and think it is everyone else's duty to stay out of their way. I have no desire to play bumper pool in a hurricane, even in the safety of a hurricane hole, so I am hoping it is just a rumor. There is another fairly good hole about 75 miles further north, so if the rumor is true, we will just keep going. Rumors fly like crazy on the cruiser's net, which is the VHF radio broadcasts between boats. Wherever you have a concentration of cruisers, you have a cruiser's net. We are close enough to pull in the one from BLA, but this morning we slept through it.
I am sending this via short wave radio, so I better wrap it up. Think of me the next time you see lightning, hear thunder, and feel strong winds. I believe the winds got up to at least 50 knots. Not my favorite time to sail. But we lived through it, made good decisions, didn't panic, and actually enjoyed some of it (with an emphasis on some of it). As usual, I wish you all a great day!
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