Yesterday afternoon, I took Puff ashore and went for a walk along the sandy/rocky beach for a while and to get a bit of exercise. A few more boats came to the anchorage with them dropping their hooks all over the place. Some on the Northwest side with us and some on the Southeast side. One even dropped his out in the middle of the bay in relatively deep water(don't have a cue as to why). A tour boat full of Chinese showed up late in the afternoon and several boat loads of them went snorkeling along the South side of the cove. I'd say at least 10 tourists and 3 Mexican guides were on board. I can't imagine where they all slept as the boat wasn't that big and didn't look to have that kind of accommodations. They dropped their anchor right in front of us. As they pulled up their anchor(an Danforth type) this morning, it was hopelessly gammed up upon it self and its chain. There was no way it would have held the boat in any serious wind.

This morning dawned cold and cloudy with some wind from the North. The forecast was for winds building through the day and hitting into the mid 20 knot range from the North to Northwest. We upped the anchor and headed out for Ensenada Grande, a large bay on Isla Partida . Out we went, raising the sails shortly after leaving. We pulled up the main sail and rolled out the Genoa and headed South. We had to go with the wind off our Starboard stern quarter(right side rear of the boat) since we didn't have our spinnaker up. The forecast was for too much wind. We were zipping right along hitting into the mid 7 knot range and having a great time. About an hour later, two more boats left the anchorage and were following us. They were headed for La Paz for a while. It's quite a bit farther to go than what we needed to do. About 8 miles out, we gibbed(moved the sails to the opposite side taking the stern of the boat through the eye of the wind). In 20 knot wind, not the easiest thing to do. We needed to correct our course so we would hit the cove at the right side. We needed to head Southeast. Tracy spun the wheel while I took care of the lines and over came the boom. Not the most graceful gibe, but we corrected our course and set off again. Cutting across the swells make for an interesting ride. The waves just slam into the side of the boat over and over as you plow through them. It can get quite rocky as we saw another sailboat headed out in the opposite direction. Some times it's fun and sometimes, it can be downright painful. During one slam, one of our folding seats in the cockpit fell over and hit poor Blue. She freaked out and ran out on deck heading for the bow. Not the best place to run to as waves broke against the side. I took off after her and managed to get her back in the cockpit. She took off for below decks as fast as her legs would carry her. She wasn't coming back out until it got better and certainly calmer. These swells will either slam into your side or go right under the hull and pop up on the opposite side with a gush of foam. It makes for an interesting ride. The two boats behind us just kept on going. As we headed toward the bay, we were cutting across the swells that had kept building during the morning. About 1130, a "rogue wave" slammed into our port(left)side and water sprayed into the cockpit all over Tracy. Out came the towels and eventually she was a bit dryer but not much. On we pressed. We rolled in most of the Genoa and were still making over 8 knots. As we rounded up to take in some more sail, we topped out at 9 knots. The winds had crested at 39 knots and we still had our full mainsail up and part of the genoa out. We were lucky enough to be heading up when it hit or we could have been in a world of hurt. That kind of wind will take a boat over. We had much to much sail up but we sure were having fun(insert Stupid here). These waves aren't you average waves. These babies just kept building and be came almost blockish with squared off fronts. You don't roll over them, they just keep hitting you. It took us 22.8 miles to cover the distance of 19 the cruise book state.

Just outside the bay, a large whale(about the size of our boat) surfaced right in front of us. Tracy cried out "WHALE", but I never saw him(curse of the blind I guess). Supposedly, he came up twice and sprayed and then went down. Dropping the sails, we entered the bay shortly after 1200. We chose to anchor in the North cove so as to avoid the up coming wind and swells that have been forecast. Once to the anchorage, I went forward to drop the anchor and chain. Tracy got us all into position and down went the anchor and out came the chain, at least the first 45 feet or so. It suddenly stopped in mid drop! Ok, stomp on the chain to make it come out--nope. Reel in some of the chain and start over--nope. OK, time to rip stuff out of the locker and get down to what was causing the stoppage. Out came line and tarps and carts and fenders just to look into the anchor locker. Hey, you have to store this stuff some where. I stuck in the boat hook and pulled on the chain. OK, try and let it out again--nope. OK, reel in a bunch more so you can get your hands on it. A BIG knot had developed in the chain. There was no way it was going to come out of the small little pipe through the deck. Once I had the chain, it took me a minute or so to get it untied. During that time, we had drifted back out into the bay as what we had out was no where near enough to catch and hold Zephyr. Tracy kept us in place like the fine skipper she is. Up came the anchor and chain and in we went again. There was only one other boat in the cove so no problem. In we went again and this time, the chain came out just fine. In 25 feet of water, I let out over 100 feet of chain to make sure it would bite in the sand. She dug in just fine and we were set(24 33.953N 110 24.436W). We've now covered 3,381 miles since we left Port Townsend on August 15th. Not bad! That puts us over 6,000 since we left for Alaska in early April.

It was blowing in the low 20 knot range right through the anchorage off the tall bluffs at it's point. I set up the DuoGen as soon as we were set so it could grab as much wind as possible and make the amps we need to get us through the day. As I stowed the lines, Tracy made lunch. We stowed the rest once we were done and then watched as pangas(small boats) full of snorkelers came into the bay for lunch on the beach. A big ship from Cruise West.com is anchored in the middle cove and the beach is covered in tents, chairs and umbrellas for their enjoyment. They even have set up a barbecue for them. I'm not sure I would want to eat my lunch ashore unprotected from the wind with sand in my food, but hey, I'm not on their boat. Ours was just fine in the protection of our dodger over the cockpit.

The forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same. Wind in the mid 20 knot range but the swells are supposed to be in the 6 to 9 foot range every 6 seconds or so. Yow, that is going to make for some stiff sailing or motoring for that matter to any one that goes out in it. I think we will stay here for at least the next week or so. Time to enjoy the area. Then over to La Paz to get more provisions and chores done. Once we finish there, it is over to the mainland. Another adventure will be starting soon, but boy, what a fun sail we had today.