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Wednesday February 3, 2010

The night is not good. John is up most of the night checking dock lines. The wind is constantly strong; we turned off all our electronic equipment including the wind speed instrument in case we are struck by lightning. Thus, we do not know how strong the wind is blowing. It is clear we will not be sailing today.

Everyone is feeling like they have a hangover; no one got a really good night's sleep. We do breakfast and coffee while listening to the conversations on the VHF radio. Several vessels are returning from the sea; you can hear the near panic in their voices as they describe the sea and wind conditions. On the net there are reports of constant wind up to 50 knots and gusts up to 70 knots. Lightning strikes are many but very widely spread. Our theory is the high mountains just behind our dock helped shield us. We are considering tying a line to the mountain and towing it to sea with us.

Most of the sailors who have been coming here for 5 years or more say the squalls and rain have never hit this time of year. Some are blaming el nin~o. The warm ocean water could be fueling the convection thunder storms in the winter that are usually seen only in the summer during the hurricane season.

As the clock ticks the day repeats like yesterday minus the high winds. It rains, rains and rains some more. We sail south

God Bless Bella Donna