Bahía Honda con Vitztlampaehecatl y Cihuatecayotl no son buenas.

Office cubical Bahia Honda style

Typical south side of Bahia Honda

Giant hermit crab

I spy...

Circling

Down he goes

Working it

Brain coral gives great protection

Over exposed to see better underneath

Can you find the lobster?

Let me take a few minutes to catch you up on the last few days.

Sunday:  Weather is coming Wednesday night and the best day to sail back to Marathon is tomorrow.  In the morning we will go to Marathon.  It was blowing mildly from the west around 15 knts as the sunset approached.  Two sailboats tried to anchor with one finally hooking up.  After several tries the second boat returned to Hawks channel with the first pulling their freshly set anchor and following.  The spent the night on the south side instead.  Living between bridges is not for everyone.

Sunsets, it is all about the water vapor in the sky. 

Monday:  Upon waking, while still in bed an epiphany of "It is better here!" occurs and I lay back and relax.  Tried taking the yearly photo tour with Ayrton but he was having an Ayrton day.  After that I needed some space so I took a dinghy ride all the way around the island by myself.  Recognized Tom on the beach so I made a stop to say hi.

This cloud bank rolled it's self right into our sunset

Tuesday:  Plan "A" was to re-anchor in deeper water with more sand on the bottom.  Our normal spot had been stripped barren of sand and was now just hard bottom.  We were holding but only by tooth and nail!  We were not set for a blow!  The short comings with plan "A"?  It is Bahia Honda and the holding is ALWAYS questionable.  Also there are those two bridges!

The crew of s/v Storm Song, a Morgan Out Island 41 motored by in their dinghy and we asked why the moved off the one mooring that Bahia Honda has.  Seems the non existent local NOAA uncloaked long enough just to ask them to move.  Now we had plan "B"  -   Take the mooring for the blow.  Our adventure in Nixon Bay would make this 25 knots seem like a kiddie ride.

The daily weather check shows the front has weakened but not to the point of "Safe in Bahia Honda".  We keep watching as a trend started  to show.  The duration and intensity of the SW wind was getting longer!  Not forecasting for more than 25 kts but you know how the beginning of a front can crash right on through that forecasted peak velocity.  This pretty much took plan "C" out of the options.  Anchoring on south side of Bahia Honda.  With the SW winds it would be another night in Nixon Bay type conditions.  Even the wind would be from the same direction.

Wednesday:  We woke up to calm conditions and mostly sunny with approaching impending doom.  At this point we were still going with plan "B" but had not relocated as of yet.  No one with any sense would enter Bahia Honda at this point for the night   After checking the weather (yes all you do while cruising is check the weather, at least sometimes it feels that way) plan "A" and "C" we definitely off the table.  Plan "B" was looking like a rough night but we would still be in our little paradise.

We had began talking more with the crew of Storm Song sharing info and weather sites.  Or at least trying for their English is better than my Spanish but not by much.  Originally from Venezuela Hector single handed his way to Miami a couple years ago and flew in the family.  With only room for one on the mooring and no good anchorage spots for the forecast.  I suggested the safest place would be Marathon (I know that other harbor to the west, uh no).  We could use a grocery trip and I didn't want to take the bus to Big Pine leaving Gemini Dreams tooth and nail with the wind increasing.  So here it was 1:30 pm on the day the front arrives and we decide on plan "D".  A close reach into 15 knt SE winds.

The calm before the storm

We left in such a hurry that we didn't get time to email Tom that we couldn't stay for the party this afternoon.  Maybe we can get back for a cook out or something.

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The crew of  s/v Storm Song

Hector, Laura, Juan, Leandro

Click your heels together three times...

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