Guenevere's Position Reports October 10, 2005

Hi all, Well, we felt a bit bad about letting you hang at the end of that last Position Report. So, about hurricane Otis; Have you ever been all dressed up, with no place to go? That is sort of what it was like waiting at the mooring for Otis. Almost all of the boats that normally anchor out in the Escondido area moved in and picked up a mooring ball. These balls have a huge concrete block on the bottom with a large chain through it to secure your boat to. We had a bit of rain, and took advantage of the fresh water! Then, all the boats that had anyone aboard, prepared by removing as much canvas from each boat as they could. Anyone who had roller furling removed their headsails. Some people remove the solar panels also. Then we all waited. And waited, and waited. We watched, we actually listened on the HAM and single sideband radio (SSB) and plotted Otis on a chart we keep each morning and evening. We kept track all the way until it went by us, and died out. About the most wind we had was 25 knots. One boat report 30, but were not sure about that. So, I guess you could say Otis was a no-show. After Otis was gone, Greg pulled out the hookah gear and we cleaned the bottom. It took almost 2 hours and needed it badly! We can't tell you how happy we were NOT to have a 40-foot boat!! I expect we gained a full knot of boat speed without the underwater forest on the hull. The next day the weather was fine and we heard on the SSB that we were going to have "fine, clear weather" in the Sea of Cortez for a few days. So we headed out to Agua Verde. That was one of the places we liked a lot on the trip up. We pulled in and dropped anchor about where we were last time. BUT, unlike last time, the waves were coming into the anchorage at a different angle, and it was not as comfortable as it was the last time. So, the next morning, we pulled up the anchor and set off for Everisto. Another place we enjoyed. We got in after an almost 9 hour sail/motor. We dropped the hook in a very nice corner of the small harbor and settled in. As the next day was a Friday, and we have a rule about departing on a Friday, we were thinking of spending a few days. Then, on the evening SSB weather report, we were warned that gale force (35 Knot+) winds were predicted for that area of the sea by Saturday! WOW! NOW WHAT? After some discussion, we decided to break a rule and head out early AM for the safety of La Paz. Our plan was to listen to the 8:15 AM weather report, and if the weather was not going to be bad, we could divert to one of the very nice anchorages along the way. The next morning, we pulled anchor at 0700 AM, just as the sun was coming up. There was another boat in the anchorage, Seascape, and we made a pass by them to ask if they had heard anything about the weather. They had not and thanked us for the info! After we were out about 5 minutes, we saw them behind us. Caution is good! At 8:15, we were intent on the radio weather! AND, Don came on and said that his Internet had been down for at least 8 hours!!! NOW WHAT? We decided to act on the last report we had and headed for La Paz. About this time the seas started to build, and the wind was on our nose. So, we motored into it. It was a long hard trip that was almost as rough as some of the ones we did on the outside coming down the Baja! We did not expect that. At times the waves on our bow were over 9 foot and our bowsprit was underwater. But Guenevere came through it like the trooper she is. We were comfortable most of the time. We later learned other larger boats diverted to anchorages due to the conditions. The Nor'Sea is one GREAT boat. We got into Marina de La Paz; into our slip just as the sun was setting! It was a wonderful ending to our Sea of Cortez summer cruises as friends met us to take our dock lines.. We are now safe and sound and cleaning up. The boat AND us got a wonderful LONG fresh water shower. By the way, we are planning to do an update/addendum to our "Gear Report". It seems we forgot to add some of the items, AND, we have had a couple of possible failures this last week. As to our future, we are now getting ready for a vacation. We are going to make a one-week trip to Cancun. Then we will be going to the USA to visit family and some dear friends. We will be taking a train trip, sleeper car and all, across the US. We will be letting you know how things are going. We will be returning to the boat, and continuing to cruise soon. Greg & Jill