Bahia Organo: Tamed the Swell

Last night Intermezzo lay beam to the swells coming into Bahía Jicarol and rocked so badly it made for a challenging night's sleep. I say "swells" because there were two swells, one coming from the east the other from the southeast. When they combined, the boat was rocked violently for several waves at a time, then would subside into tolerable rocking, only to be shaken again in a few minutes. It was far from a peaceful night at anchor.

This morning we moved the boat to Bahía Organo, a larger, deeper bay that provides protection from the larger easterly swells. Only the smaller southeast waves make it to where we dropped anchor. To ensure our comfort, we set an additional stern anchor to keep the bows of the boat points into the swell. Much, much better.

Bahía Organo is another beautiful bay, with a steep, sandy beach at its end, rocky cliffs on each side. I swam to the beach and took a walk on a trail through the jungle that leads to the highway about a kilometer away. It is dry season, so the much of the vegetation is brown and dormant, interspersed with larger trees with green leaves, green vines and ground cover. The jungle gives of pleasant dry, spicy, almost-burnt smell as it bakes under a hot sun.

The Tehuantepecker blew hard today but is still forecast to subside on Friday. We're planning to leave early that morning. So one more day, lazing around, waiting and then we're underway again.