7:00 AM PDT October 2, 2005
Puerto Don Juan (PDJ)
While John's running the Amigo net this morning I'll take a moment to update our Otis status. Yesterday morning after the radio nets (Sonrisa and Amigo) we moved to PDJ from La Gringa, in NoBLA (northern Bahia de Los Angeles). We had removed the staysail after our crossing from San Carlos since we don't need it for the coastal day trips, and we make a habit of removing our headsail from the furler to prevent UV damage. So the only remaining sail to take off the boom was the main, which we did while motoring to PDJ since it was calm. Most of the boats here have removed their head sails and lashed their mains, but our sail cover is cut so big that it's more effective (and not that difficult) for us to just completely remove it. Yes, this leaves us without backup in case the engine fails, but we wouldn't be able to sail upwind under mail alone anyway. And if the wind is that strong, we should be able to move in any other direction under bare poles. That's the theory and we're hoping we don't have to test it.
There are currently 14 boats in the anchorage with #15 due to arrive later this morning. This is a very low number compared to past years when there have been anywhere from 25-30 boats in this hurricane hole. Hard to imagine trying to fit half again our number in here because it's not that big, and everyone has 225-300' of anchor chain out! But we're pretty well spaced out, and today some of the people who SCUBA dive are going to check the set of our anchors.
This morning is calm and mostly clear with high humidity (our decks were wet this morning). It's sounding as if Otis is diminishing somewhat which is good news to all of us. This morning's report has the wind arriving here tomorrow morning at 35-55 knots. We'll try to make regular updates, but keep in mind that we may be very busy once the storm arrives!
Linda and John