A couple of weeks ago, here I sat on the porch all fat and sassy Tecate in hand thinking about how I can't any longer be remiss in performing my moral duty and obligation of keeping ZOSHAS WAKE up to date..........honestly that is what I was thinking and, oh yes, if I needed any more limes for the Tecate's.
While down at the marina a local asked me what I was going to do about the storm..... "storm, what storm ?" I responded. "Hurricane Norbert" he said. "Never heard of it...whats the deal?" He explained that the storm is down south of us and is making its way up the Baja and should be near here tomorrow. "Oh"......!! My house is on top of a big hill and is constructed of solid concrete so my only hurricane prep was to get 3 five gallon jugs of purified water and some more beer. We had plenty of food and other stuff we might need. The day that Norbert was supposed to rip and roar around here turned out to actually be nice weather. Evidently during the night the storm veered away from us. So the result was no rain, no real wind, no rough seas hit the beaches. Whew!! What we did get though was some awe inspiring cloud formations that spun off the storm and encircled us before making there way off to .......wherever they went.
Take a look.........................................
Pretty awesome ! .....don't you agree. Norbert was very kind to us here in our little piece of paradise.......wish the same could be said for storm #2..........Odile!!!!
A few days after Norbert came and gone, again while down at the marina I ran into some cruising friends. They asked...."are you ready for the storm?"..... "Storm what storm?" was my reply....."major Dejavu going on here " I thought. "Odile" they replied in harmony. "Devastated Cabo San Lucas and the whole east cape.....blew thru at 125 mph....cat 3 storm.....first one to hit the Baja ever......blew down hotels.....the airport is ruined....boats on the beach....and its heading right for us!" the spurt out all in one breath. "Oh crap" crossed my mind...... So once again ....down to get some beer, water, and a little food this time. Checked our propane tank and it was 30% full so we're OK. We secured the outside patio stuff and popped a Tecate and waited.
The first thing we noticed was there was no real wind but the seas were building. Our house is on a hill overlooking the town and the Sea of Cortez so we have a perfect view of the sea state and it was slowly and systematically getting bigger. In front of our house about a mile out into the Sea is a small island with a point break over a small reef on the southern end. Normally the waves breaking over the reef are either inches high or totally non existent. This morning they were about 2 feet. "It's coming!" was my remark to myself. Couple hours later still no major wind or wave action but you could watch the swell building.....you could see the enormous masses of water below the surface building, gorging themselves on the power of the storm...getting bigger ever bigger....waiting to let loose their wrath.
Got up the next morning and looked at the little island out front and at the tiny point break which was now breaking at about 5 or 6 feet! Perfect curls sliding off to the lefts..... a little while later the engorged swell started to release its stored fury....at first it was 4 or 5 foot beach break cresting about 30 or 40 yards out and closing out before hitting the beach.....that's good news. The bad news was that it was still building! Still no rain or real wind.
Like so many things in life, the bad stuff comes during the night. The rain woke us up in the wee hours....it was still dark and you couldn't see anything but the sound of roaring crashing surf was unmistakable. The ground vibrated from the Sea's pounding. As soon as it got light I looked at the little island out front....it was breaking 10 feet over the little point. The beach break was now easily 10-15 feet and crashing against houses and businesses and washing away everything in its path including the beautiful beaches.
Most of the boats out in the anchorage/mooring field high tailed it for one of the two local marinas. Both have floating docks and are totally protected. Some owners decided to ride it out and stay anchored or moored. By this time the wind had come around and was funneling through the canyon that led into the anchorage making it a big time lee shore. Two boats lost the battle and ended up on the rocks! Here are some pics.......
My pictures here were taken after the worst part of the storm was over....
If you want....you can google hurricane Odile at San Carlos Sonora Mexico. I tried to post the videos but couldn't do it...sorry. There is some spectacular video out there about the storm here in San Carlos.
The sustained winds were 50 mph or less with a gust or two up in the low 70 mph. Any damages are catastrophic to the persons who experience them so its not for me to say that damage was minimal because it isn't to those who suffered losses. It could have been a lot worse. Today, Wednesday September 17th the sun is trying to come out. The wind is a nice breeze. The waves are breaking at about 6-8 inches over the little reef on the south end of the island that is not far from my house.
Some of you might be wondering how I could be so lame as to not know that a couple of hurricanes were heading my way? Simple.
NO TV!!...... maybe I should get one??.....Naaa...I'll just keep hanging around the marina.
Take care my friends.....until next time
