Rocky 2 nights and moved on Isla San Franciso
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Thu 4 Feb 2010 21:33
bad weather.
For the last 2 nights the wind has come from the west (unusual for here) and
caused an uncomfortable nights rest with the boat pitching and anchor, we
were able to go to beach yesterday with our friends from Endurance and they
joined us both nights for dinner. The kids (their 2 girls one aged same as
Sean and the other a year older) played well together both on the beach and
in the boat, and it was good to have Sean interact wth other kids. We will
see them probably as we go down through Central America as they heading the
same way, they will be stopping in Costa Rica for a bit and that looks good
to us as well, some time in the summer.
After another rolly night we both pulled anchor this morning they set sail
and headed south as they want to make the crossing to the mainland in this
week, we turned north heading for further islands, they had the wind with
them, and as you would expect we had the wind on the nose. We had 15 to 20
knots on the nose, and I continue to under estimate the effect on the Sea of
Cortez of chop it gets very short and high fast, ( I will learn it just
takes time) making the crossing for the first 10 miles unpleasant until we
got some protection from the next set of islands. Gijima set into it's
rhythm and road the waves well and the ride was not bad, we saw Manta Rays
jumping 20 feet from the boat I had not realized they jumped and sure enough
this is the second time, it was good for Tracy and boys to see so close. I
am pleased with our weather forcasting as it has been close to correct in
the models, the wind levels vary slightly and timing but close, we depend on
the grib file 9weather file from a model) plus a weather forcast email each
morning, (I will do a blog just on weather later on).
We pulled into the new island at 11 am dropping anchor in 15 feet of clear
water, on sand, I was able to see the way the anchor dug in from standing on
deck. This is a half moon bay with a long beach curving out, and salt pans
in the middle and then another beach on the other side, we have been
recommended this place by many people. We will explore latter today, we will
be here for a couple of days. In the meantime we had a visit from the
Mexican Navy on a routine paper and boat check they pulled up along side
with their main ship out of view, they were pleasant and no issues with our
paper work.
With the strong winds and rolly nights I am very pleased with our 73 ib
(33kg)Rocna anchor (something the kiwis got right!!!) it digs deep and holds
in a 360 turn, digging deep past the top of the roll bar, combined with the
3/8 chain and bridle set up we holding well and sleeping. I have in the
windy conditions started to use the anchor alarm on our chart plotter which
monitors and will alarm if we are dragging, all of this adds to my ability
to sleep at night, I would recommend people do not budget on ground tackle,
especially the type and size of the anchor you will be using it a lot.