After a rolly night of the anchor alarm going off telling me(three times) that the anchor had dragged-it really hadn't, we had just swung at anchor, we upped the anchor and set off for San Juanico this morning. While we had been told that Porto Ballandra was supposed to be a great anchorage, we just didn't find it so. Sort of bland plus the winds and swells just rolled in from the channel making for an uncomfortable place to spend time. With that being said, off we went.

The forecast for the day, both from Geary on the Sunrisa net and the folks at Escondido were for winds in the morning out of the Southwest at 6 to 8 knots swinging around to the East in the afternoon and climbing to 10 to 12 knots. As we left Ballandra, we ran smack into 20 knot winds our of the West and 3-4 foot swells every 3-4 seconds. A powerful and bumpy ride. Once clear of the headlands, up went the main and up went the forestaysail. We even put a reef in the main(made it smaller by not putting it all up). With the waves smashing into the port side( I got a bit damp), on we went. With the reduced sail area, we were still doing 4.5 to 5.5 knots. Not too bad. Once we cleared Isla Coronados, the winds dropped to just about nothing. As the winds died, we rolled out the Genoa and while that helped, with the winds dying, we were slowly dropping to 0 knots. We slowly drifted in circles for a while. Slowly, the winds shifted out of the Northeast and off we went again. It slowly shifted to the East and then dyed all over again.

Time was passing and we really wanted to make it to San Juanico but could stop in Mangles, about 8 miles short. On we pressed, finally putting on the engine. We had it going for about an hour and suddenly, the winds returned. This time, back from the West again. With the forestaysail and main up, we took off at a good clip putting the starboard rail almost in the water. We were clicking off the miles. The winds stayed strong--back in the 30 knot range and from a good direction. Once we drew even with San Juanico, down came the sails and on came the motor and in we went and dropped the anchor(26 21.976N 111 25.909W) at 1630. I had time to bag the forestaysail as we entered the bay. While flaking the main on the boom, I found that one of the battens(long rods of fiberglass that hold the sail out) had come loose from its fitting on the sail slide. Tomorrow, I get to find out what happened and fix it. Shouldn't be hard, but has to be done as it could rip the mainsail(not good!).

We are having winds from the North tonight and we have tucked Zephyr in nicely so that there will be very little swell or wave action through the night. We should get a good night sleep for a change.

Surprisingly, there are 10 of us in the anchorage. Last time, there were only three and the first time w were here, maybe 7 so traffic here has increased. We recognize several boats we have met before. Most from Bahia Concepcion as well as Isla Pardita outside of La Paz. We will see how tomorrow shapes up for the socializing at this anchorage. Most cruisers are a friendly bunch that love to talk and party.