March 10, 2016. No photos. Day was too busy. Cold front still blowing in Puerto Escondido but forecast calls for gradual clearing.
Motored from mooring buoy to fuel dock. Landed without incident in broadside gusts to 20 knots with 2-foot fetch. This is when a 40-foot boat feels like a battleship. About 100 more fenders would have been nice. Fuel dock scheduled to open at 0900; we got there at 0830 to beat the traffic. Fuel Guy finally showed up at 0945.
Meanwhile, WiFi was steady enough that I could hop on Mr. Internet & pay some bills while being slopped up & down by the fetch. Eventually did our business with Fuel Guy & got lucky: a brief drop in the wind to about 10 knots allowed us to get off the fuel dock and out to sea. In the channel between Puerto Escondido and Isla Carmen, wind increased again to 15-19 knots and stayed there. Whitecaps all over.
Bounced in to Puerto Balandra, a mere 15 miles from Puerto Escondido. Which took us over 4 hours in those conditions.
Inside Balandra's cove, seas flattened a bit and we anchored without incident in about 33 feet among 2 other sailboats, with 2 more arriving soon after for the fine shelter. The wind backed, dropped, and was less than 2 knots by the time a beautiful sunset was enjoyed by all vessels and numerous land- and shore-birds. Who were also there for the fine shelter.
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