Rough landing

Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

Two days ago we left our lovely anchorage at Isla Coronados. The last night we spent there was quite a bit more rolly than it had been previously. A SE swell had found us, indicating a change in the prevailing winds. I'm pretty sure every other boat anchored there left as well, some just went around the corner to the NE side of the island and others, like us, headed for other places. We decided to fight the light SE winds and head SE for the very protected harbour of Puerto Escondido.

We left Isla Coronados at around 8:45 AM, had our sails up within a few minutes and sailed for 6 straight hours in winds of between 4 and 8 knots, close hauled on just four tacks all day, making our way southward. As we neared Escondido, the wind started freshening up and we soon found ourselves punching into heavier seas and up to 20 knots of wind, coming of course from exactly the diretion we wanted to go. We had to hurry and close all the ports down below before the spray got too boisterous. With about 5 miles to go, we took in our Genoa and started the engine and motored into the wind and waves until we rounded Punta Coyote and made our approach into the harbour. All in all, we traveled about 26 miles on this 19-mile passage.

The harbour at Puerto Escondido is entered from the SW. First is a moderate-sized anchorage area filled with quite a few private moorings and a bit exposed to southern winds, known as the "waiting room". Next is a very narrow entrance channel with only about 9 feet of water and subject to currents (about 1.5 knots going with us as we entered). There is a small, semi-circular, shallow harbour here which is always full of boats anchored in very close quarters; then you pass a breakwater and enter the main harbour - a huge, completely land-locked bay with a small marina (can handle about a dozen boats) and about 112 permanent mooring balls, plus some room around the edges for boats to anchor. These moorings are basically first-come first-served and a fee is charged at the marina. Because of the upcoming festival (Loreto Fest), I guess they are taking some reservations as well, but we just grabbed a mooring and hoped for the best. Since by the time we were moored, it was 5:00 PM and the office was closed, there was little we could do about it anyway.

The real excitement for the day was our attempt at grabbing a mooring ball. At the best of times, this has always been a challenge for us. Somehow, I have to get the boat close enough to the mooring for Susanne to use our boathook to grab the float and rope connected thereto, and keep it stationary long enough for her to get one of our lines strung through it and tied down to a cleat on deck. As we were attempting it this time, the wind was a pretty steady 17 knots and I was having very little luck putting the boat anywhere close to where I wanted it. In the end I think we were at it for almost an hour before we had some success. I'm sure we gave everyone in the harbour a lot of entertainment. To add insult to injury, as soon as we had the boat tied on securely, the wind completely died. There is no justice in this world!

Yesterday was Sunday but the office was open and we managed to pay for 10 days on the mooring, which will mean we will be here for Loreto Fest. As anticipated, they do have internet; however their big antenna has been knocked down by the wind and we cannot get any signal our where we are moored, even with our big Wi-Fi antenna. This being Mexico it is hard to say if and when this will be rectified. In case you are wondering, the cost for us staying on a mooring here is about $8.00 Cdn per day - as far as I know, the charge for anchoring in the harbour is the same. Currently the moorings are about 1/2 full. I suspect that this will change drastically as the week progresses - Loreto Fest starts on Thursday.

Last night we paid a visit, for cocktails, on a neighbor's boat - a nice big power boat with an ice-maker. We did not leave until well after dark and we had a great time trying to find our boat in the pitch-dark harbour - we neglected to turn on our anchor light as we did not think we would be gone that long. Thank you Barry for the loan of a flashlight.

Today, we shared a taxi with two other people and took a trip into the town of Loreto, where we had a walk around, a great lunch, and did some shopping for some luxury goods such as M&M's to replace our dwindling supplies of same. Tomorrow we may be off on a day-trip for some local sight-seeing. With any luck, my next post will have some pictures, as there is internet service if we lug the computer to the marina office or one of the local restaurants. We shall see...

{GMST}25|49.2|N|111|18.6|W|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico{GEND}