Heavy winds from hurricane Sandra

 Nice hike to the top

 El Cardonal, a beautiful anchorage.

We were the lone boat in the anchorage

Last night was not one that provided for a good night's sleep.  The wind wasn't howling but it did stay in the 15-20 knot range and by sometime in the wee hours of the morning there was quite a refractive swell bouncing around in various directions through the anchorage.  By the time we got up around 6:30am 2 or 3 boats had already picked up anchor looking for more protection from the wind and swell.  We finally decided to move to another spot and moved around the corner to a small, one boat, anchorage but after setting the anchor in the narrow cove I knew that sleep would evade me again as I would be worried about a wind shift that could put us closer to the rock wall on the north side.

So we picked up the anchor and decided to make the short hop around the corner to El Cardonal.  It felt like we were on the Oregon coast.  The wind was howling in the mid to high 20s and it was raining sideways.  Wet and cold we went outside the cove into the larger swells and stronger winds but fortunately it is only about 3 miles so we weren't out there long.  El Cardonal is a very long cove with a shallow sand bottom and plenty of room to swing with any wind shifts.  So we dropped the anchor, let out about 150' of chain, secured the snubber and went below to warm up.  

All afternoon the wind was pretty boisterous blowing around 10-15 knots but with sudden gusts into the low 30s.  Because the anchorage is well protected the sea state was and is pretty mild with very small, white capping swells but not large enough to make it uncomfortable.  However, with the strong gusts blowing through it leans the boat over and straightens out the anchor chain and when it hits the end of the chain it turns and heads the other way.  We call it "sailing on the anchor".  Not really fun but there is really nothing we can do about it.

The good thing is that we are securely anchored and we don't have to deal with rolling swell so we have just locked ourselves down below watching movies and snacking on Marne's delicious no bake cookies all day.  High winds are expected over the next several days so it looks like we are going to be on lock down for a while.  Hurricane Sandra has all but died but the effects of her weather patterns are definitely being felt.

That is about it from what is supposed to be paradise for today.  It's time to sit down to Marne's Thanksgiving leftovers.  Last night she cooked up a doosy post Thanksgiving feast with chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and green beans with ham (bacon was not in the fridge but the ham did just dandy).  Until next time.

The windblown SV Liahona
Bret and Marne