That’s OK, we’re getting water in our tanks thanks to our
great water catching system. Rainwater is sweet, much nicer to drink than the
dock water we normally use to fill our tanks. That water is supposedly safe,
and we did drink it for a few years, now we avoid it because it has a bad
taste; we buy bottled water. But rain water…that is Sooo nice. Since August 1 when we got back to La
Cruz we’ve collected about 700 gallons of sweet rain water and still counting!
We have not had to buy water at all!
Yes, the season has been wet. We’ve had daily rains, often
an inch or more. And we’ve had a near miss by a hurricane, which brought several
inches.
But Hurricane Nora brought more than rain. It brought winds
and waves. We were safe here in the marina but some boats had decided to
weather the hurricane out in the anchorage. Two were lost.
La Cruz anchorage is not protected and not safe. Out of four
boats out there three dragged their anchors. Two went aground and were wrecked.
One was just dragged close to shore but in the end his anchor held. A fourth
boat did not drag and held OK during the hurricane. We are glad we are not in
the anchorage.
These boats were permitted to come into the marina for free but
they declined. We don’t know why they choose that. Now two boat owners who
lived on their boats are homeless. It is sad.
I am going to say this: In the last several years about
seven boats have dragged ashore in this anchorage, onto the rocks, and all but
one were total losses. Now here is the weird part, all were owned by single
men, mostly men without much in the way of financial means. Guys without much
money get boats on the cheap, they come to Mexico, and then they can’t afford to
really take care of their boats, and too often, they lose them. I become
disgusted when I think about that.
Other than hurricanes, rain, and boat wrecks, things are pretty normal here. We’ve been
doing boat projects, and gym workouts, not much else.
I think I’ll make some coffee and look outside and see how
much rain is happening.
At least the rain from hurricane Enrique has filled our water tanks.
That and being able to spend some time with our friends Kirk and Heidi from Due West are about the best things we can say about being socked in by a hurricane. At least we had fun with Kirk and Heidi (and their two super cool boat cats).
Otherwise it’s been a bit of a drag. We were planning on being out in one of the anchorages around here soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the clear waters of Mexico’s Gold Coast. Instead when we saw Enrique coming we scurried into the marina where we knew we’d be safe from it. Maybe we could get back out in a day or two, but no it’s been four days now and no let up from the solid rain. The winds are gone but who wants to get underway in solid rain?
This year’s cruise has been filled with interruptions.
When we were up north we had to return to La Cruz three times when we thought we’d be out kicking back. Those times were caused by things like doctor’s appointments, car appointments (yes, even while cruising our car, sitting under a cover back at our marina there, made demands on us) and boat repairs.
The boat repairs were shocking in themselves. For nearly a month we had breakdowns and failures every day, many times more than one. So even when we were not interrupting our cruise to go back to port we were working on the boat. Well, that’s boats I guess and finally it’s all sorted out, for now, thankfully (but stay tuned, there WILL be more! we’re sure of it). Most of our problems we were able to solve ourselves, and with spare parts we already had on board.
And, we’ve been subject to some shocking weather. Besides hurricane Enrique, we’ve had nighttime squalls which got us up and out of bed, usually at 3:30 AM. It’s like this, you’re sound asleep when all of a sudden a powerful wind hits your boat followed by pouring rain. And of course that wind is from a direction which you’re not prepared for. Like you’re in a bay with good protection from southerly winds and the squall comes from the North! So you get up, throw on some clothes (after turning on the instruments and the navigation computer) and hurry on deck to monitor the anchor. That’s because if the wind came in from the opposite direction than you expected now you have to worry that it will drive you ashore. If you are lucky the anchor holds and the squall blows over in an hour and you go back to bed.
The next day you decide to move to the other side of the island so you’ll be protected from northern squalls, AND THEN THEY BLOW FROM THE SOUTH!
But, weather, boat problems, etc, that’s cruising. We’ve been doing it for 35 years. I guess by now we should know what to expect when we leave the dock.
Still, we’re out here and even with all these challenges we’re relaxed and enjoying life, and still cruising after all these years.
Yeah, Hurricane Patricia is big news. We've been watching it, as a tropical storm, for a few days. Then this morning we got the following warning:
POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC MAJOR HURRICANE PATRICIA WAS LOCATED NEAR 16.2N 105.1W 924 MB AT 0900 UTC OCT 23 MOVING NNW OR 340 DEG AT 10 KT. ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 880 MB. THE INTENSITY OF HURRICANE PATRICIA IS UNPRECEDENTED IN THE EASTERN PACIFIC...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVING RAPIDLY INCREASED TO 175 KT WITH GUSTS 215 KT. MAJOR HURRICANE PATRICIA MAY INTENSITY EVEN MORE THIS MORNING AS IT CONTINUES TO MOVE TOWARD THE CENTRAL COAST OF MEXICO..
They also said it was the strongest ever hurricane in western hemisphere (which includes the Caribbean and storms such as Katrina, etc.)? I can't quite deal with that concept, I'm just shaking my head in wonder. How does this happen?
Historically no hurricane has ever come into Banderas Bay. This bay is surrounded by mountains which have always protected it. We all watch the weather models and projections and listen to the forecasts hourly and wonder if this is going to be the exception. Right now there is a very high likelyhood that Patricia will miss us and hit land south of Puerto Vallarta, outside of Banderas Bay, right against the Sierra Madre Mountains, then move to the NE toward Guadalajara and then onward towards the USA (Texas). In that case we can expect stormy weather, winds and rain, and flooding, but not really dangerous conditions here. However we have all made a lot of preparations, such as taking down all awnings and anything else which is on deck, and adding double dock lines, making sure we have water. food, and fuel, just in case.
A worse outcome would be if the storm stays offshore and goes along the coast. In that event we would get higher winds and big waves. Stil, that is not thought to be unbearable for our location, and anyhow, we don't expect it. With each hour, as we watch the storm's progress, that becomes less likely.
The worst path, which nobody thinks it will take, would be to hook right and come directly into the Bay. If it does, well, that would be pretty bad.
One thing we are not doing is piling into the car and heading for the hills. With the most likely path of this thing being just to the east of us, in the hills, and with torrential rain and flash flooding expected, we don't think we would want to there.
To be honest with you we are more concerned about the Mexican people south of here who are going to be hit with devastatingly strong winds and lots of rain and lots of floods. I expect a extensive damage and high causality counts south of us in Jalisco and east of us. And with the projected landfall being Barra De Navidad, where a very low lying town, basically on a sandbar, is right on the coast, and behind that, a big marina with a lot of boats... It could be very bad for the people in Barra de Navidad tonight. I'm just glad we are not in Barra now.
But we believe we are going to be safe here, however this hurricane could be the one to break all the rules. We can't do much about it in that case, so, for the next twenty four hours, we will just wait and watch.
We will send an update tomorrow.
Click here for more images and some photos of the preparations.
It’s getting hotter here in La Cruz but we’re doing fine; we’ve lived in hotter places. Like everyone who has chosen to stay here during the summer we spend a lot of time sheltering from the heat.
Mornings and evenings are cooler however, and cloudy days are also good, and we do what we need to do outside, even on the hot days. Normally, however, we hang out where there is an air-conditioner, in Wings’ cabin, for instance.
We also know that sailing will be rare for us this summer because it is really a lot of work in this heat, but we’ll go out occasionally despite the heat if it is a perfect day and we know we’ll like it when we do.
Some days I grab the Nikon around sunset and venture out. That’s when the light gets good for photography. I am often surprised at how many people are out at that time. During the day it is a ghost town around here but in the evenings you find Mexican chicas jogging along the Malacon with their pony tails flying and Mexican families playing in the surf over at the beach. There are always the boys playing soccer. The locals know how to cope with the heat. To that extent, I guess we do too.
Meanwhile we have hurricanes to think about. This is hurricane season and they have already started brewing. Blanco went by already, and Andreas before that, and both missed us. The local experts say that the hurricanes always miss us in Banderas Bay, but Carlos, the next one, seems to be curving right towards us. People are preparing. We are watching closely. So this season will be interesting I guess.
Click here for more photos, including the projected track for Carlos!
The community of cruising sailors is surprisingly small and when a storm hits somewhere and devastates a fleet, as they too often do, not only do we hear about it though friends on the scene, but sometimes, too often really, someone we know is touched, not usually in a good way.
So last week when Hurricane Odile tracked Baja like a sidewinder missile and made direct hits on Cabo San Lucas and La Paz we heard the terrible news immediately; neighbors of ours here in Marina Chiapas were in touch with cruisers from La Paz. Venus on SeaRenity gave us the first report: Twenty or more boats were on the rocks or sunk. People were missing including her friend Guenter Trebbow from the yacht Princess and his dog Fritz. His boat was sunk and Guenter had not been seen. His body was later found in the sunken boat. Venus recounted how they had walked their dogs together and how she will miss Guenter, as will many in the cruising community. Paul and Simone of the ketch Tabasco also went missing after their yacht went down too. They have not been seen. Another friend of Venus’, Tim Nobbs, lost his boat, Rock Bottom, (what a name!) on the rocks of the Mogote which bounds the anchorage of La Paz. It is holed and filled with water. Venus told us Tim had just finished paying the boat off. Now he will have to start over but at least he is alive. The likelihood of recovering Tim's boat and others is not strong. We heard that the Mexican Navy, which has been on the scene helping and even pulling boats off the rocks, will now focus on missing people and boat owners will need to organize further salvage efforts themselves. It will be a long haul for many. Boats were also lost in Puerto Escondito and across the Sea in San Carlos. All in all the news was not good. But in general, boats in the marinas were OK. Boats which had to ride out the storm on anchor got the worst of it.
Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Hurricane tracks
But we’re lucky: we are in Chiapas Marina in the far south of Mexico and hurricanes don’t generally hit here. In fact, there has been no recorded strike of a hurricane here since records have been kept. Look in the lower right corner for the red "X" in the image above (that’s where we are and that's why we have stayed here during hurricane season). So, while Baja has been through hurricane hell, we have been safe. We are thankful. Next year, when we have moved north, we might be closer to the hurricane areas. We hope our luck holds.
September is bad in the Sea for Hurricanes. We were peacefully resting up north in the islands when we saw the ITCZ start to generate a bunch of them. While other boats were talking about where to go we raised sail and made a dash for the safety of San Carlos. A beat of 140 miles which got a little rough but we made it, mostly in one piece, before any of those nasty 'canes got us.
Hurricane Linda was no problem, it took one little peek into the Sea of Cortez down by Cabo San Lucas and decided to go west young man, and never touched us. However the satellite pics we received were awesome, awesome.
Hurricane Nora, on the other hand, came up the outside, snuck over the Baja mountains and raised a little ruckus here for a couple of days, but since we been hidin' out behind a mountain called "Tits of the Goat (Tetas de Cabra)" we were protected from most of the storm, and it didn't pass that close anyhow. Now it's gone and we are watching the next one. We do consider ourselves very lucky though, because we made it in here, where we just got a little wind for 36 hours, but no problema. At least a couple of boats, one nearby and one up north, were caught in open roadsteads and wrecked by dragging onto shore in bad seas. No people injured that we know of. The rest of the fleet of boats cruising the Sea of Cortez made it to various bays and harbors, mostly on the west side of the Sea where they are holed up, hoping that no storms get too close. We are here on the east side, hanging out at the Mai Tai bar. Tonight we watched the live E.R. premier and had two for one drinks.
I am a sailor, born of a nautical tradition passed to me by my father and my Grandfather Alfred. I’ve spent most of life on my passion which is the sea and the vessels which go upon them. I have had many such vessels and now I live on and sail on the sloop WINGS.
which I acquired in 1986 with my wife Judy
who shared my passion. For ten years we lived on Wings in Seattle and sailed, including racing. Then we left the Pacific Northwest and voyaged across the world, across the seven seas, to faraway places, and made them our own.
For thirty-eight years I have lived and loved this life. I still live on Wings, in Mexico, and sail and race often. Judy passed away in June, 2023 and I miss her but you can still join us and sail the seas as we did for all those glorious years. Fred Roswold, SV Wings, Mexico
Cooking in the rain
Hurricane Patricia
Flowers and Still Water
Judy
Hurrican Blanca
Hurricane hits La Paz
Our friend Venus, Safe in Chiapas
Hurricane tracks.jpg)
