Our first couple of nights after leaving La Paz we had strong coromuel winds, but after getting just another twenty miles or so north the nights have been silent. No swell—the beauty of the east coast of Baja—and not a ripple on the water. You can’t sleep better than that.
Today we motored an hour north to Puerto Escondido—it is time to fill up the water tanks, do some laundry, and stock up some fresh fruit.
We pulled up to the fuel/water dock and while I filled the tanks and gave the boat a quick rinse Ali and the kids went ashore to play. When I finished up I got my first chance to pull the boat off a lee shore single-handed. Like a pro I wrapped a stern line around a dock cleat and back up to myself, threw off the bow line, backed the boat up to get the front of the boat to swing out into the wind, and pulled away with a smug sense of satisfaction.
From there I motored out into the bay to pick up a mooring. I swung out around the mooring and let the wind drift me back into it. On the first swipe I picked up the line, got my line through, and tied her off. I glanced around discreetly but couldn’t spot one person who had witnessed my amazing accomplishments. If a tree falls in the forest but nobody is around to hear it does it still make a noise? Granted, in the catamaran I would have thought nothing of pulling off these tricks in a twenty knot wind, but I tell you what, these monohulls take some skills to maneuver.
One of the best things about our catamaran was the ability to lay down on the front trampolines, reach down and pick up a mooring line without a boat hook then hold the boat perfectly steady while the lines are tied off. With this boat we’re standing like eight feet above the mooring ball and there is no maneuvering—you get one shot—and in a breeze you have to be quick about it.
After getting settle in I headed to shore to join the gang and spend the afternoon in the much less appealing—but no less exciting to the kids—pool.
