Puerto Ballandra, cont., Dec. 17
Boy, last night was an experience! We survived, though at times we were doubtful (grin). The winds really howled and the swells abeam (sideways) rocked and rolled all night long. The swells were created by the large seas just outside the cove. We heard new squeaks, groans and things going bump in the night from the boat. At times I thought the cabin top was going to fall on my head as I tried to sleep. Chris was up every 2 hours checking the anchors and our depth and position. The winds were gusting to 35 knots. There wasn’t much fetch so there weren’t any real wind waves.
I must confess I woke up in the morning really concerned about the noises and what they may have meant about our 30 year old boat. But Chris calmed me down with concern, but also with logical, scientific explanations about sound conduction from the mast, rigging, hull and interior structures into areas I’ve never heard them before. As the day progressed, my confidence in our tiny Enosis was restored.
I must confess I woke up in the morning really concerned about the noises and what they may have meant about our 30 year old boat. But Chris calmed me down with concern, but also with logical, scientific explanations about sound conduction from the mast, rigging, hull and interior structures into areas I’ve never heard them before. As the day progressed, my confidence in our tiny Enosis was restored.
Chris with a case of cabin fever, went ashore to further investigate the mangrove lagoon for a possible anchorage for tonight. It would mean taking the boat over a sandbar, something I wasn’t excited about. Chris tied the dinghy above the high water mark to a stout bush and walked down the beach and inland.
I popped up my head and didn’t see the dinghy. I assumed he had returned and taken the dinghy into the lagoon. Later on, he hailed me from shore asking where the dinghy was. The wind gusts were so strong that they picked up the dinghy along with the bush and its roots and blew them upside down and into the lagoon! We said the winds were strong. It took a few minutes find and retrieve the dinghy. He then rowed the dinghy to the entrance to the lagoon and took soundings. Following the channel, he went up into an arroyo about 300 yards inland, a very strange environment. Returning to the boat, Chris tried to convince me that we should move the boat, but on further analysis he realized the tide was falling, hence we would risk grounding. (Sigh of relief.)
Anchored with us from the first day was a steel-hulled, 50’ Ketch from Alaska. From the very first, he had problems anchoring the boat where it wouldn’t be exposed to the swells, and finding holding ground for his anchor. Over the days that we have been here, he has had to re-anchor 5 times because the anchor kept dragging in the strong winds. We got some cool pictures of it with the setting sun as a backdrop.
After lunch and a siesta, the winds really picked up and we played around with the wind meter, a clever device that snaps into his iPhone, to take measurements of the wind gusts. Chris got really excited and decided to go ashore, climb one of the hills and take measurements of the winds from there. He also wanted to video the waves in the channel. (Click here for video) Promising to be back soon, off he went. Two ½ hours later, after some unsuccessful attempts of hailing him on the VHF (which he had forgotten in his haste to get ashore) he returned. The video of the waves is impressive, however, it turns out that the gusts in our cove are stronger than the winds out in the channel. Chris thought this might be the case because the shape of the hills around the cove funnel the wind and intensify the force into the cove. We would rather deal with the stronger winds (about 25% stronger) than the ugly seas in the channel. He did discover the remnants of an old trail. Chris being Chris did some stonework on the more dangerous portions. I didn’t think he would find a way to build stone walls while he was sailing but he did. We had a lovely dinner and some of John and Sue Kline’s nice Tempernillo wine and watched a beautiful sunset.
We split the wins in Shanghai that night.
We split the wins in Shanghai that night.