Another Day at Puerto Balandra

The wind started to veer late in the afternoon yesterday from the north to the east and to the SSE picking up strength as it clocked around to settle at about 20 knots for most of the night.  Fortunately we had just enough cover from Punta Diablo to enjoy a relatively peaceful night.

We looked at the predicted path of TC Frank and it was supposed to swing to the NNE on Sunday, losing strength.  We made plans for moving to Ensenada Gallina on the west side of Isla Espiritu Santo where there was just enough cover from Punta Catedral on the south side to give us similar protection to what we had enjoyed in Balandra. 

But then I heard on the VHF radio that the local weather guy had stated that the storm would definitely veer to the NE and hit La Paz on Monday or Tuesday.  That was about the time that we expected to return to La Paz so that Brenda could make preparations for her return to Oz and I didn't relish the thought of fighting our way back through thunderstorms and associated winds.  We decided to wait another day in Balandra.

We made the most of our extra day.  In the late morning when the wind had died down I prepared the Zodiac (e.g. inflated it, threw it over the side, lowered the outboard motor, loaded the paddles and air pump) and then we zoomed off to the beach with Mushroom Rock at one end.  The water was crystal clear and the beach and bottom were of white sand.  The water lapped onto the shore as though we were in a lake.

After a long swim that included a visit to Mushroom Rock we did a tour of the head of the bay then returned to the boat in time for lunch.  By then the wind had died down but at about 2PM it started coming in from the north and picking up strength and it started to look like a rerun of the previous evening.