By Larry McCullough

As my prior post stated, and the video showed, Independence was shipped to La Paz, Mexico through the Panama Canal and is at a very good marina as I type. But also as I type, the anxiety level has been quite high recently, as Nora is knocking on the door. No, Nora is not a relative that only shows up when they want something, Nora is a hurricane!

Let me back up a bit…

Within 10 days of meeting the Independence in La Paz (this past July) we had to get back home to California for the memorial service for my buddy Dan. If you have read prior posts you might remember that Dan passed away on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, while Jamie and I were returning the boat to Florida from Roatan, Honduras (due to COVID). We found out about Dan half way through the trip while we were off the coast of Cuba via a short text over our InReach satellite communicator.

Okay, now back to the present….

Once we made it back home from La Paz, we heard the news reports of passport delays, due to…you guessed it….COVID. Damn! Well, I hemmed and hawed but quickly sent off my soon to expire passport. I used an expediting service and also paid the U.S. State Department fees for an expedited passport. I am very happy to say I received my new passport this week, exactly one month after sending it in.

Jamie and I knew that we would not be able to make it back down to La Paz for a couple of months so we asked around our marina and made contact with a Captain of a large yacht. After doing some due diligence we gave him a tour of the boat, engine starting procedure, where extra dock lines were and how to prepare Independence in case of a large storm…Hello Nora!

Since arriving home I have been keeping an eye on the weather, at least once a day which now has changed to two or three times a day and will be increasing over the next few days. It has been an educational experience, to go along with the many other educational experiences over the last several years with Independence, some good and some bad. It is fascinating watching storms develop off the coast of Southern Mexico in the Pacific and work their way north. I have watched many storms develop over the last couple of months but as they have moved north, they have also moved west, not Nora though.

If anybody says “Let’s go to a beautiful island 370 miles off of Mexico - Isla Socorro”, check the time of year and the weather reports. It gets hammered by storms as it is positioned right in the predominant path of tropical storms from June to November. This island is supposed to be beautiful with great scuba diving and bird watching.

Nora is hugging the Pacific Coast of Mexico as she has rambles north and is anticipated to reach hurricane force as she heads North to the Sea of Cortez. On Thursday the “eye” of Nora was anticipated by some weather services to go right over Cabo San Lucas and then move straight up the Baja Peninsula to La Paz. Thankfully, the anticipated track has moved farther east, forecasting the eye to be about 20 miles east of La Paz.

Hurricanes, as you probably know, are low pressure systems which rotate winds in a counterclockwise direction. The strongest winds are east of the eye. weather services will tell you “sustained” winds and wind gusts. On Friday Nora’s forecasted sustained winds were approximately 50 knots (a knot equals 1.15 statute miles) with gusts to 70! With the eye moving east, and the anticipated strength reducing, the forecast is now (Saturday) for 25 knots sustained and gusts to 47 knots at the height of the storm.

We have done what we can. We placed extra fenders, both tied to the dock and tied to the boat, extra lines out and have arranged to now have the Bimini canvas top and all the other canvas removed from the exterior of the boat. The captain watching Independence has assured us all will be fine, he has done the preparation we discussed. We are scheduled to fly to La Paz in a couple of weeks, but in the mean time, all we can do is wait and hope that Nora calms down and acts like a lady!