We got up, had breakfast, listened to the morning Net, then proceeded to get ready to leave. Things that we had to do include taking out the trash, filling the holding tank (to rinse the inside) and turning in our keys for the marina.
We finally got out around 10 am. The downsides to leaving that late, is the wind had come up by then, and it meant that our arrival would be that much later. As we were leaving we checked out with the Port Captain by radio, then a few minutes later the Port Captain came on the radio and put out the weather, we were to expect winds up to 25 knots from the North East with pretty good waves as well. This caused us to change out plans, we had originally planned to go to Playa Bonanza, which is on the South West side of the island, and is not very protected from North winds.
We went out 3 miles from La Paz, to dump the holding tank. Then turned north to go to the island Espiritu Santo. On our way north, the wind was right on the nose, and pretty strong. We don’t know exactly, as our wind instrument, (which has been flaky for some time) decided today would be a day where it would not work at all. We also had some pretty strong waves, I would estimate that they were 4-6 feet. In any case we motored on, and discussed going back to La Paz if we needed to. Not a great option, as the route into La Paz is kind of tricky, but an option none the less.
We anchored In Ensenada de la Raza in about 25 feet of water. When we got here there was a motor yacht, a catamaran and a smaller sailboat. By about 4:30, the sailboat pulled their anchor and sailed off, leaving just the three of us. In this anchorage, there are periods of no wind, and gusts of 10 – 15 knots, the water is relatively calm and flat, and the anchor appears to be holding well. So, we are staying here.
We had heard from Mike and Paula on Monarch (who we met in Ensenada and had dinner and drinks with the other day) that there were no-see-ums to worry about here. So, Renee’ got out the screens for the cockpit and we put them up. This is the first time we have done this since we got the boat. When we bought it three panels were up, which was enough to show what it looked like. In any case we put it up. The screens are in great shape, and Renee’ put some Vaseline on the snaps so that they would work better. She had previously lubricated the zippers. All in all, they went up very easily.
After the sun went down, the wind went away, and we have a pretty calm quiet anchorage.
As a reminder, you can see where we are physically at, and what our track has been since we left San Diego October 30, 2019 here:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Make_Me_Laugh_Again
