We departed Turtle Bay at 6pm as planned and headed out to sea under clear skies, the sun soon to set.
The first four hours were pretty bumpy, Bashing Level (BL) 2, with 20 knot headwinds and steepish 3-foot seas. When we passed Isla Navidad and turned east to head into the lead of Isla Cedros, the seas were on our beam turning the bashing into recking from side-to-side.
We’ve been in the lee of Cedros now for several hours and enjoying shelter from winds and waves. There is now slight chop on the nose as we approach the northern end of the island, so I’ll call it BL 1, barely.
However once we get past the Cedros, I expect all hell to break loose (exaggeration) as we encounter winds that accelerate around the tip of the island, accompanied by steep wind waves. I’m figuring on Bl 3 for a few hours, then receding to BL 2 for a ways, perhaps less if we’re lucky.
About 12 hours from now we’ll encounter our last gauntlet of wind and waves as we pass Punta San Antonio. That is likely to be a four hour roller coaster ride against a 0.7 knot foul current. The little Yanmars will be earning their $8.90/gallon diesel.
