June 18, 2022-Coromel Winds and Puerto Balandra

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Protected by Punta Diablo

The incessant Coromel winds have tired us. For the two weeks that we’ve been in the La Paz area these night time winds have howled and Wings has rocked and rolled so that we could hardly get any sleep. And that has been in the supposedly “good” anchorages which aren’t really very good.  Anchorages which are actually calm when the Coromels blow are hard to find around here.

We tried Playa Pichilingue, but the waves looped around the corner and it was rough all night. We lasted four nights there trying different spots. None worked.

We looked at Caleta Lobo but we knew it was too small to offer any good protection.

Then we considered Puerto Balandra.  It looked pretty good on the chart.  We could see that the point on the south side, Punta Diablo, would give excellent shelter from the southerly Coromels and figured it would be calm.

What about Internet? There wasn’t supposed to be any coverage in Balandra, but I thought there might be. We like anchorages that are calm and also where we can also get Internet (for weather forecasts, mostly), so we decided to go to Balandra, find a calm spot under Punta Diablo, and check out the Internet once we got there. Even without Internet we might enjoy a calm place for a few nights.

We motored the 3 miles from Playa Pichilingue to Punta Balandra, tucked up behind the point and set the anchor. The bay looked gorgeous and there wasn’t any wind at all.

In the afternoon, however, the Coromel did come up and it came right over Punta Diablo onto us. By 7:00 pm we had 20 knots and before midnight there were nearly 30. It never slacked off. There weren’t any waves to speak of, so that was good, but the wind gusts were pretty horrendous. I kept my clothes on and slept on the settee just in case I needed to run on deck for any reason during the night, which I didn’t.

It was still blowing in the morning with a cold, brisk, south wind. It was a classic Coromel but in the crystal clear morning light the place was indeed beautiful. We caught a couple of hours of Internet, surprisingly, and updated our weather information. So, except for the night time winds we were pretty happy with Puerto Balandra.

(I should point out that once we got out of La Paz town itself we have not been able to get weather other than with an Internet connection. The La Paz cruiser’s radio net forecasts have been, except for the hurricane forecasts, worthless for a sailor, the regular guy who gives it is out of town and the substitute guy’s forecast is all about how hot it’s going to be in town every afternoon or what the hurricanes are doing, but not much about the wind, and anyway we can't hear the morning net out in the islands.  Other boats have satellite set-ups to get weather but we don’t, so we need Internet.)

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Judy on the Dune

There was a French boat anchored a bit farther in and they seemed to have less wind so we thought we’d move next to them and try another night but first we explored the bay in the dingy. We took one of our computers so we could test the Internet connection in case some location was better than the others in that regard. There weren’t any but before heading back to the boat and repositioning Wings, we went ashore to look at the sand dunes, which was really fun.

That night was better. The wind was less, still no waves, and again in the morning we got a bit of Internet.

The views here are so stunning we have decided that despite the wind we really like it. Puerto Balandra is now one of our favorites; it is such a beautiful place, and with the prospect of calm nights, we are loving Puerto Balandra.

But tomorrow we need to go back to La Paz and start preparing for our return to La Cruz so well have to cut short our stay in Puerto Balandra, and we’ll see you in La Cruz soon.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Puerto Balandra

Post script:

We thought there were going to some calmer nights. Well, there wasn’t. The next night after I wrote this post we got pasted again. The Coromel wind started at 5:00PM and by 8:00PM it was in the twenties. It never slacked off all night and I saw steady to high 20’s after midnight. The gusts, however, were the worst, they hit with sudden force from many directions. This time we had damage, minor damage, but damage. At 1:30 am the dingy blew off the deck. I already taken off the motor, gas tank and oars but we’d left the dingy itself upside down on the foredeck. A racket at 1:30 AM awakened us. What in blazes was that? It repeated itself. I ran on deck wondering, “What the hell?”  I saw our Zodiac dingy over the side of the boat hanging upside down by the ropes I’d tied it with. Apparently not well enough. Judy came up and we horsed the dingy back onto the deck and this time tied it securely. Then I noticed the solar panel. It too had been caught by the wind. Instead of spreading its wings out to the side where it could catch the sun (in daytime) it was now vertical. Obviously the wind had blown that too. And our flag which we’ve flown on the backstay since we left La Cruz was flapping violently, torn to shreds, but still making a terrible noise. With the howling of the wind and the flapping of the flag sleep was going to be impossible. We took the flag down.

In the morning the wind was still blowing and we saw several boats which had ducked into the bay around us during the night. Apparently it was worse outside.

At 9:00 AM the wind shut off like someone threw a switch: 20 knots to zero instantly. Around us our new neighbors were upping anchors and heading back on their way to whereever they were going when the wind interrupted their plans the night before.

At noon we left too, we’ve had enough.