May 11, 2020
Back in “civilization” (Puerto Escondido) once more on May 8th, we rejuvenated with another trip to the store, ice cream bars, a chance to wash sheets and towels, take out for dinner, and a social distance apart happy hour on the dock with some of our old pals. It was a real treat to be able to sit and talk to people face to face (so to speak).
Somehow our cell phones have been unable to connect with Telcel the past couple of days, so we decided it was time to head back to good ole Candeleros to take advantage of the 4G LTE! Unfortunately, a large group of power boaters had the same idea and beat us to it. We were surprised to discover 14 other boats in the anchorage, but we managed to find a spot amongst them, appreciating a tranquil evening with a beautiful, colorful sunset. It was a good thing we took advantage of it. The next day, we laid low, catching up online, peeking out the windows at the Mexican Coast Guard as they slowly circled the anchorage with blue lights flashing. There were no bullhorn announcements this time, and they didn’t stop at any boats…simply made the rounds (most likely taking pictures) and zoomed off. Mother’s Day (lots of phone calls with friends and the kids) flew by, and before we knew it, the sun was setting…and the wind came up strongly out of the west as is often the case here in the evenings. This time, however, it blew all night long, gusting at 25-30 knots, and tossing our dinghy that was propped up on the foredeck, off to one side in the middle of the night. Another lesson learned!
Finally, it seemed to blow itself out about sunrise, just in time for us to hoist anchor and set off for a long day 70 mile voyage south back down to Isla San Francisco. Despite the forecast of 10-15 knots of wind, we suddenly found ourselves in white caps and 24 knots just around the corner. Caught a bit unprepared, we quickly reefed both the main and the jib, closed the remaining portlights and hatches, eventually rolled in the jib, and mopped up down below. It was invigorating to be doing over 7 knots with the main reefed (and all that before we’d finished our morning coffee!) Good practice I suppose for the upcoming Baja Bash!
True to the conditions here, about a half hour later, the wind pretty much died altogether, and we were soon motoring along in the “lake”. Of course, around sunset, the wind chop was proving a force to be reckoned with on anchor. We managed to tuck in on the east side of Isla San Francisco this time, where we had a rolly experience, but were fairly sheltered from the now predictable west winds kicking up in the middle of the night.