On this first "boat" leg of the journey, I motored from Puerto Salina to Ensenada Mexico. The storm from the previous day produced auspiciously large seas. This morning I was not sure if I'd be making the trip as scheduled.

Many times I have heard the good advice, "If you don't have to be on a schedule, then weather should never be a problem - just wait until wind and waves calm down". It's easy advice to take - but not so easy to follow. I've got all sorts of dates scheduled already. So yesterday, as I listened to the wind howl all day and all night, I considered the possibility that I would not depart today. And if I had not departed today, I'm sure everything would work out - but it could mean a few lost days before all the work would be completed (They don't work on weekends here at Baja Naval)

So I now I see myself falling into the schedule trap. Considering that we are just barely into spring, there most likely are a few more nasty weather days in my near future. Soooo, I am introducing "Plan B" a new concept that allows for departing behind schedule. More on this in a later log entry.

So this morning I made a to-go cup of coffee and walked out onto the marina break water jetty to get a look at what was going on out there. The first thing I noticed was very light wind - good sign. Upon closer examination I saw the tide was high and so channel depth would be no issue. Then there were the waves. Well two out of three ain't bad - let's get cracking!

Once I motored out there I could see that when the sets lined-up then the wave height could reach maybe 25 feet. Ordinarily this would be quite scary - the first big one instantly reminded me of Tom Hanks on his raft trying to get to sea. It towered above me and it looked steep!

But looks are deceiving and in fact these old solders were well spaced. So as the waves passed beneath me there was no abrupt shock. Instead the entire boat would (relatively) gently rise and fall. There certainly was a lot of rock and rolling. But I've had much rougher days with 5 foot waves.