Sailing Adventures of s/v Talos IV: Puerto Escondido and the BIG Blow

We are currently tied to a mooring ball in the inner harbor of Puerto Escondido. Weather reports over the last several days were predicting a strong "Norther" to kick in around mid-day on Wednesday, so we headed for Escondido, a so called "Hurricane Hole", to hide out.

As I write this blog entry winds are blowing at a steady 25 knots or so with gusts into the mid 30's. The highest we've seen is 38 knots. It's a strange feeling as the wind howls through the rigging, making the boat shudder under its force as it swings from side to side pulling against the lines. We put two rounds in the line as it passes through the chain on the under side of the ball to reduce chafe. As added precaution we rigged a second line through the loop on the top of the ball. Our only hope is that the line doesn't chafe through and set us afloat. There is another boat tied directly down wind from us that would likely be a target. We have our anchor watch set and go forward every 15 minutes or so to check it, but my guess is that if it goes, there will be no warning. That being the case, we've made ready to fire up the motor in the hopes of minimizing any fall out. Hopefully it won't come to that.

When we checked in at the harbor masters office we were told that the buoy we were tied to was "Buena", but several of the other boaters that arrived at the same time as us were told that their mooring balls were "Mal". Of the 100 or so mooring balls here, only about a third are considered good enough to use and the others, for what ever reason, are considered un-safe. You would think that they would mark the bad ones or something. I guess we lucked out, or so we thought. Apparently most of the balls have a sentinel line with a float with a heavy line attached to secure your boat. Our ball, #101, did not, which is why we took the extra precautions described above. We both agree that next time we are going to drop an anchor, relying on our own ground tackle rather than an unknown mooring ball.

We wanted to go into Loreto for the day, but have decided that it is too risky to leave the boat under these conditions. Besides, we've observed some other boaters in their dinghies and it doesn't look like a pleasant experience. It looks like a wet and wild ride to say the least. So, here we sit working on misc. boat projects and relaxing. Loreto will have to wait until this thing blows it's self out. The weather guy on the morning net says it looks like one more day.

That said, how do we spend the days tied to a mooring ball within a "hurricane hole". The following photo essay will tell the truth, or my version of it. Warning…this is not pretty.