Cabo Wabo and Hurricane Sandra

Cabo was lovely when we woke up, the arches were glowing in the sunrise and the beaches and hotels were quiet. This quickly deteriorated into more and more chaos. Out came the jetskis and the pangas loaded with tourists, then the party cruises ad the music blaring from the beachfront restaurants. The Bay turned into a mess of waves and chop, and by the time the cruiseship had dropped anchor beside us Cabo and turned into a weird mix of college frat party and luxury goods.

Mmmm pizza

That night the tropical depression off the southern coast of Mexico officially became Hurricane Sandra, the lastest hurricane on record since 1949. It’s projected path had it heading north, brushing the tip of the Baja and turning inland. We were anchored on the tip of the Baja… and had 4 days before Sandra was due to arrive.

Ominous sunset

This was all new to us. We had never been in a situation where we had to make these kinds of decisions before. Where should be go? Where would be feel safest if Sandra hit as predicted, which was winds 39-70knots on the southern tip of Baja and 10-30 further north by La Paz. Our first decision was to head the 15nm to San Jose de Cabo where Dennis was on Ultregra. Dennis is also from our marina in Vancouver and we had travelled much of the Baja more or less together. This reunion in the overpriced marina at San Jose de Cabo proved very helpful. It was great to discuss options and pros and cons with someone else. We also found it interesting that other boaters in the marina were completely unconcerned with the weather forecast. However they were all experienced hurricane boats and this wasn’t their first rodeo. Regardless, you can only ever make the best decision for yourself and your situation. We decided to make the 130nm trek to Marina Fortune in La Paz. This would put us out of the high wind zone while still being were we want to be.

In the end Hurricane Sandra dissipated over sea and we never had so much as a wisp of wind. It was good practice though for us to go through the motions and make the decisions.

Some facts on Hurricane Sandra

• On Thursday morning, Nov. 26, Sandra became the latest Category 4 hurricane of record in either the eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins.
• The previous latest Category 4+ tropical cyclone in either the eastern Pacific or Atlantic basins was Hurricane Kenneth on Nov. 22, 2011.
• Sandra also became the strongest hurricane so late in the season.
• Only three other eastern Pacific storms have formed later in the calendar than Sandra in records dating to 1949.
• Hurricane Sandra became the second-latest-forming hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Winnie in 1983.
• Sandra failed to break the record for latest landfalling Eastern Pacific tropical cyclone on record. According to hurricane specialist Michael Lowry, the latest eastern Pacific landfall on record was (and remains) Tara on Nov. 12, 1961.
• The previous latest major hurricane in either the central-eastern Pacific or Atlantic was an unnamed storm in 1934 that remained a major hurricane into Nov. 23.
• Sandra became the 30th Category 3+ tropical cyclone of 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere, far exceeding the previous record of 23 such storms in 1997 and 2004.