We were five and a half hours under way today in mostly calm, placid water. The winds kicked up from the south as we arrived, so we were left with the decision to anchor for the winds as they were or for the winds as they were forecasted to be. I opted for the latter, figuring that wind from an unforecasted direction would probably not remain long. That was the case, as it turns out.
It's usually preferable to anchor on the side of the bay from which the wind is blowing because the land dampens its velocity and because there is less distance for the waves to build. Swell from the open water outside the bay will also be bigger on the downwind side as it refracts around the point where it enters the bay.
We can tell the wind is blowing outside the anchorage because there is substantial swell rolling us about, but it must have backed from the north because the hills are offering protection and we're not feeling it. We have no wind, but a lot of swell rocking us about.
We might have a few days in this anchorage, partly because it's lovely and there is recreating to be done, and partly because the next good anchorage to the north is a good ten hours away. We'll want to do it on a calm day or a day when the wind is from the south.
Mmmm... It smells like dinner is nearly ready.
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Sunday, February 9, 2020
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Feels like home
Showers and internet today - first time in over two weeks. The shower was bliss; the Internet, not so much. At least it's free and reasonably functional as long as you confine your work to the "Mariner's Lounge".
When we were ready to return to the boat the wind was up and the seas were pitching. We had to get back though, so we headed out into it against our better judgment. I managed to get us back without capsizing the dinghy, but we were all soaked to the bone in sea water. So much for the fresh water shower.
The watermaker failed again. Same symptoms, different cause. This time the feed pump wasn't running. I traced the problem to a loose wire. I can wiggle the connector to make it work. Sigh. At lest I know what the problem is. That or I'm like the chipmunk that lifts his tail and an acorn drops in front of him, so he keeps lifting his tail expecting the same result.
We made a provisioning run into Loredo today, fourteen miles. $25 each way for a taxi, $35 to rent a car for the day. No busses. We opted for the car rental. Afternoon winds were similar to yesterday so rather than being treated to another seawater shower we paid a water taxi to ferry us back to the boat. It was $5 well spent. We were carrying too much cargo for the dinghy anyway. We are well stocked with fresh produce.
Kay talked to someone that has been getting out here every year for ages and she said they have never before seen it so cold and windy. I've been wondering about that. This just doesn't feel like Mexico.
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When we were ready to return to the boat the wind was up and the seas were pitching. We had to get back though, so we headed out into it against our better judgment. I managed to get us back without capsizing the dinghy, but we were all soaked to the bone in sea water. So much for the fresh water shower.
The watermaker failed again. Same symptoms, different cause. This time the feed pump wasn't running. I traced the problem to a loose wire. I can wiggle the connector to make it work. Sigh. At lest I know what the problem is. That or I'm like the chipmunk that lifts his tail and an acorn drops in front of him, so he keeps lifting his tail expecting the same result.
We made a provisioning run into Loredo today, fourteen miles. $25 each way for a taxi, $35 to rent a car for the day. No busses. We opted for the car rental. Afternoon winds were similar to yesterday so rather than being treated to another seawater shower we paid a water taxi to ferry us back to the boat. It was $5 well spent. We were carrying too much cargo for the dinghy anyway. We are well stocked with fresh produce.
Kay talked to someone that has been getting out here every year for ages and she said they have never before seen it so cold and windy. I've been wondering about that. This just doesn't feel like Mexico.
----------
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Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Monday, February 3, 2020
The Watermaker is working!
Yahoo! I woke this morning with the watermaker on my mind, running through strategies. With no way to flush it weekly, I needed to sacrifice three gallons of fresh water to preserve the membrane if I ever hoped to be able to make use of it again. So I returned to the manual to review the pickling procedure.
While my nose was in the manual, I re-read the section on bypassing the sensors. It was, I think, a misunderstanding that led me to believe that the section didn't apply to me or was not something that I could execute. When I re-read it, it clicked into place with a new clarity. It was exactly what I needed and thanks to some hardware I installed for sampling the product output, I would be able to follow the procedure easily. Best of all, I wouldn't need to spend any water to try it out. It would either make water or it wouldn't and I'd know right away whether the sensor or the pump was bad.
After disconnecting some tubes and reconfiguring the system, I flipped a switch on the control box and the pumps fired up: no water and the Clark pump wasn't cycling. That suggested to me that either the Clark pump wasn't working properly or it wasn't getting the water it needed. If the latter was the case... then I looked at the service valve. The yellow handle was in the middle position covering the label that said OFF. I turned that handle down, fired up the pumps and immediately began generating water!
It was all a procedural error on my part after pickling the system several months ago, I didn't put the handle back in the right position. Dang! But Yahoo!
I celebrated by running the watermaker for an hour, making six gallons of water and spending three to flush the membrane - just what it needed. I ran the engine for that hour so we'd be charging, rather than discharging the batteries. Tomorrow I'll run it again while we're motoring to the next anchorage.
The desalinator is back in business!
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While my nose was in the manual, I re-read the section on bypassing the sensors. It was, I think, a misunderstanding that led me to believe that the section didn't apply to me or was not something that I could execute. When I re-read it, it clicked into place with a new clarity. It was exactly what I needed and thanks to some hardware I installed for sampling the product output, I would be able to follow the procedure easily. Best of all, I wouldn't need to spend any water to try it out. It would either make water or it wouldn't and I'd know right away whether the sensor or the pump was bad.
After disconnecting some tubes and reconfiguring the system, I flipped a switch on the control box and the pumps fired up: no water and the Clark pump wasn't cycling. That suggested to me that either the Clark pump wasn't working properly or it wasn't getting the water it needed. If the latter was the case... then I looked at the service valve. The yellow handle was in the middle position covering the label that said OFF. I turned that handle down, fired up the pumps and immediately began generating water!
It was all a procedural error on my part after pickling the system several months ago, I didn't put the handle back in the right position. Dang! But Yahoo!
I celebrated by running the watermaker for an hour, making six gallons of water and spending three to flush the membrane - just what it needed. I ran the engine for that hour so we'd be charging, rather than discharging the batteries. Tomorrow I'll run it again while we're motoring to the next anchorage.
The desalinator is back in business!
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Saturday, February 1, 2020
Noon Sights
We're on day three at the Puerto Los Gatos (The Cats) anchorage waiting for the winds to die down before we proceed northward. Tucked in behind a prominent point of land and protected from the north winds, we can peer out into the open water and be thankful we have a place to hide. The whitecaps look intimidating out there.
While we wait I thought I'd practice some celestial navigation and take a few noon sights with my sextant. The sun lifts itself from the horizon every morning and settles back down again every night. Somewhere in between those events, it passes the meridian, a point where it's at its maximum point above the horizon. It's the actual time of noon for that point on the planet. The time of the meridian tells you your longitude and the height at the meridian can tell you your latitude.
I used tables in the Nautical Almanac to predict the time of the meridian passage (12:38), then used my sextant to observe that the height of the sun above the horizon slowly increased before 12:38 and then decreased thereafter. I used the height measured at exactly 12:38 to calculate (with more tables and some arithmetic) our latitude: 25 deg 13' N. The GPS says our actual latitude is 25 deg 18' N, a difference of 5 minutes or about 5 miles. I'm happy with that, especially considering my horizon is actually a distant shoreline. Five miles is close enough to find an island in the Pacific if we lose our GPS. Next up: sighting stars and planets.
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While we wait I thought I'd practice some celestial navigation and take a few noon sights with my sextant. The sun lifts itself from the horizon every morning and settles back down again every night. Somewhere in between those events, it passes the meridian, a point where it's at its maximum point above the horizon. It's the actual time of noon for that point on the planet. The time of the meridian tells you your longitude and the height at the meridian can tell you your latitude.
I used tables in the Nautical Almanac to predict the time of the meridian passage (12:38), then used my sextant to observe that the height of the sun above the horizon slowly increased before 12:38 and then decreased thereafter. I used the height measured at exactly 12:38 to calculate (with more tables and some arithmetic) our latitude: 25 deg 13' N. The GPS says our actual latitude is 25 deg 18' N, a difference of 5 minutes or about 5 miles. I'm happy with that, especially considering my horizon is actually a distant shoreline. Five miles is close enough to find an island in the Pacific if we lose our GPS. Next up: sighting stars and planets.
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