Highlight of our voyage back to San Carlos

Some pictures from the first few days of our fall 2006 adventure follow. These were in the wrong folder so they didn’t make the first posting.

Our trip back from La Paz to our homeport of San Carlos was uneventful except for one dark moonless evening. We were anchored close to shore behind Punta Pulpito (the pulpit) all alone.

Punta Pulpito is a very isolated place on the Baja Coast. We had a long sail planed for the next day so we went 10 miles past one of our favorite anchorages (San Juanico) so we would only have 44 miles to cover the next day. The Baja generally has anchorages every few miles but this stretch is the exception, no anchorages north of this point for over 40 nautical miles. The weather forecast was favorable for the next day so we were in good shape.

Link to a Google satellite view of Punta Pulpito:

http://wikimapia.org/s/#y=26522654&x=-111452866&z=13&l=0&m=a

About 7:45 PM Rhea was reading in bed and I was at the navigation station getting ready for tomorrows voyage when I heard voices. Sometimes local fisherman will work close to us at night but they don’t usually make much noise. Going up to the cockpit for a look around I saw a strange site. Quite a few men were scurrying around the beach. Most were clearing the three or four foot high cobblestone berm that Hurricane John had built up along the beach. It looked like they were making a place for a boat to land.

Another man was almost half way up a steep jeep trail leading from the beach area to the top of the ridge, which connects to the main part of the Baja, shinning a powerful light straight out to sea on the heading we use to enter and exit this anchorage.

Others were working at the base of the jeep road while others were shinning flashlights on us as well as their work. Clearly they were not trying to mask what was taking place.

Just as clearly I was certain that they were making plans for drug drop that evening. Nobody wants the bad publicity by hurting American cruisers so in all probability if we kept our light off and didn’t use the VHF radio nothing would happen. Oddly, we had had an encounter with the other side, the Mexican Army, at this very anchorage in May of 2005. A copy of that blog entry follows this entry.

Rhea came on deck and quickly agreed that we should leave ASAP. Fifteen minutes after I first heard talking the anchor was up and were underway. Luckily this is one of the few anchorages that I am comfortable leaving in total darkness. We enter using a certain compass heading so we exit using the opposite heading.

Where to go was the only question. The moon would not rise until 11:30 PM we would be in total darkness except for starlight for almost 4 hours. San Juanico, down the coast, was not an anchorage we could enter even in moonlight. Going up the coast presents some navigation challenges. I would have to stand watch all night, then stand off the anchorage until daylight then enter an anchorage at dawn. All this without any sleep for 24 hours. We had already had a long day so that was not an attractive option.

On the other hand if we headed for our homeport across the sea we would have an easy 15-hour 85 nautical mile journey free of any unusual navigation challenges. We could stand our normal watches and we both could get some sleep. Getting home a couple of weeks before Rhea’s knee replacement operation was a good idea anyway.

So we headed for the barn. The trip was without incident except for a pod of sperm whales we encountered 15 miles out of San Carlos. I had just read an account of a sperm whale ramming and sinking a racing sailboat returning to San Francisco from Hawaii. So I was a little nervous. It must have been springtime in the whale world because they were swimming in pairs almost touching. They dove and surfaced in pairs. An awe-inspiring sight. Sorry no photos we were busy avoiding them.

We anchored in San Carlos Bay for a couple of nights before going into our marina and then putting Vagari “on the hard” for the winter.

We had a superb fall cruise and are looking ahead to our spring cruise.

As of January 20^th Rhea is making a rapid recovery from her knee surgery. We expect to be back on Vagari in March.

Copied from our May of 2005 blog entry:

The only excitement at Pulpito was an encounter with the Mexican Army. A boat circled both sailboats; Rhea and I were below sleeping and didn’t see or hear them. Military aircraft had circled us the day before and again that morning. When we went on deck to watch the sunset Tom of Persistence yelled over and told us what happen. He told us to look up on the ridge. There was an army truck and at least a half dozen soldiers walking on the ridge with guns and looking at us with binoculars. This went on for half an hour or longer. I thought they would leave when it got dark but they didn’t. So we did leave

We had planned to leave at midnight for the run for our homeport so we would minimize the night hours but we were nervous about the soldier. My theory is that they had word of a drug drop and were planning to jump them when they landed.

In any case the open calm sea looked better than that anchorage.

Our last night passage was the best yet. No problem with the boat, the seas or the winds and it was relative warm. Rhea took a four-hour shift from 2:30 AM till dawn. No moon during those hours. She did great.

After sunrise we saw lots of dolphin and schools of baitfish. Dozens of pelicans dove on the small fish. Meantime the dolphins were feasting on the small fish and the larger fish that were eating the baitfish. Moral, don’t come back in your next life as a small fish. Persistence saw several marlins and a whale. The sea off San Carlos was teaming with life

Leaving the Yard

Launch

We don’t need no stinking crane

First Sunrise - One hour into our Adventure

FIN WHALE CROSSING OUR BOW

Difficult to judge the size from these pictures but I think this whale was twice our length and five times our weight.

He dove about 30 feet in front of Vagari.

DOLPHINS PLAYING IN OUR BOW WAKE

Underway

Sunrise in Los Pilares Anchorage

  

Vagari's 06-07 Cruise

For this years adventure I decided to post our log for the first few weeks. Hopefully this will portray our life on Vagari reasonably. We also have lots of pictures.

A little background on this years cruise. Rhea’s right knee has been giving her a problem so she decided to have another total knee replacement. She is schedule for December 5, 2006. We have to be home by the 1st of December and don’t expect her to be ready for sea until late March or early April.

We found out this week that our daughter is expecting her third child in April. We want to be there for that event.

All this means that we will restrict our cruise to the fall and spring and stay in the Sea of Cortez.

We left Saddlebrooke early this year, on Wednesday October 4th. We put Vagari in the water that Friday. Tuesday October 10 we left the dock to start this winters adventure. It was hot in San Carlos; we worked hard getting the boat ready for sea again but we spent the evenings catching up with cruisers from previous seasons so we enjoyed ourselves.
We also had our teeth cleaned and checked by a local dentist ($60 for both of us).

This link will take you to a Google satellite view of San Carlos. We were in the marina on the left. Vagari spent the summer in the dry storage area just above the marina. You might enjoy zooming in and out or clicking on the map and draging it around:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=27947554&x=-111073408&z=14&l=0&m=a

We started the 74 kt. mi. crossing to Santa Rosalia the next morning at 4 AM. We traveled with our good friends Steve and Linda on s/v (sailing vessel) Linda. They have a 42 foot sailboat build in 1957, which they have essentially rebuilt except for the fiberglass hull. She is a beautiful boat scaled down from an early 50’s Americas Cup boat.

Light winds on the crossing, we had both sails up most of the day which helped make this the fastest of the 4 times we have made this trip.

Highlights: warm but not hot until we got to the Baja side; beautiful sunrise; almost hit a large fin whale (I was spotting on the front of the boat (bow) because we saw about 6 of them at the same time. Fin whales get up to 75 tons and 85 feet long vs. our 12 1/2 tons and 41 feet.) Rhea was driving; she experienced the same scary feeling that I do when driving in these situations. You realize that the whale is in control and you are just a spectator. Rhea backed off the throttle just as the whale did a shallow dive 30 feet in front of us.

To continue with the highlights; later, s/v Linda changed course 90 degrees and radioed us that they had spotted a “long line” fishing line just below the surface. We tried to find the end but couldn’t so s/v Linda crossed it with the engine in neutral. We did the same but got snagged. I had my diving knife in hand on the back of the boat when the pressure from the sails finally broke us free.

We had half a dozen strikes on the fishing line but no catches, that’s why they call it fishing not catching. Next, a school of dolphin visited and played in our bow wake. I’ll post some pictures. Dolphins are kind of creepy. As they play in our bow wake they always turn sideways and look at me when I bend over the bow rail to take their picture. What is really weird is that they are always smiling in the pictures.

We arrived in Santa Rosalia at 4:30 PM, plenty of time to clean up before going out to dinner.

Link to Santa Rosalia Zoom out to see this unique town:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=27340064&x=-112264159&z=18&l=0&m=a

At the end of the 19th century this was a large mining town owned by a French firm. We had breakfast in a 120-year-old hotel followed by a visit to the mining company office of the same age. The first floor of the office is a museum. This was our second visit and we would go again. Dinner the next night was at the hot dog stand. I’ve written about it before. They open at 7 PM and are open most of the night. Their bacon wrapped hotdogs have without a doubt the most cholesterol that can be put in bun.


The small harbor is home to fishing of about 75 to 100 twenty-foot open fishing boats (called panga’s). They fish for giant squid; they get up to 100 lbs. We saw some being caught as we came into the harbor.

Friday the 13th we headed south to the Island of San Marcos. We sailed most of the way. If you live on the west coast this island may surround you. Your drywall walls, which are made from gypsum, almost certainly came from San Marcos. When sailing nearby we usually see a cloud of gypsum dust that comes from the ship loading operation.

We anchored between two reefs off the south end of the island near the company town. Steve and I walked into town. The pictures tell the story. As we walked out of town a group of kids followed us skipping and jabbering. Americans seldom stop here partly because it’s a challenging anchorage and partly because it’s a remote island. So I think the kids were just gawking at us. Look at the picture of the main church; it’s made from solid gypsum! The other one may also be gypsum. I didn’t climb the steps.

If you use the Google map link you can see the open pit mining at south end of the island. Zoom out to see the whole island. Santa Rosalia is just North of the Island.

http://wikimapia.org/#y=27190518&x=-112066040&z=13&l=0&m=a

We sailed most of the way to our next anchorage also. This year we are making a real effort to sail more and motor less. That means shorter hops, which gets us into new anchorages. It also means being satisfied with speeds as low at 2 or 3 mph. After almost three years of retirement I’m learning how to live at 3 mph and really enjoy it. Plus the sailing is as much fun as ever.

We saw one Fin whale dive but he was at least a mile away. As we neared our anchorage the wind picked up to 25 kts with higher gusts. We had a wild ride and lots of fun. We tucked into a safe anchorage. The next morning I went shelling with the crew from s/v Linda. I think I can make wind chimes from shells and driftwood. Kids you may soon have something else to hang out when your parents visit.

This Google map showes Isla San Marcos down to Concepcion Bay.

http://wikimapia.org/s/#y=26907375&x=-111957550&z=10&l=0&m=a

Then we sailed to Conception Bay. Started slow again then blew big time so we had another wild ride. This sailing is more fun than I remember.

I have been asked what do you do all day. Here is an example. I had hot cereal for breakfast. It takes an hour or so to get out of the anchorage and set the sails and compute the course for the day. Then Rhea gave me a haircut while underway. Then a shower with our solar heated water. Checking our course, trimming sails, fishing and hopefully catching then taking the sails down and getting ready to anchor is next. Oh, we spend time just enjoying the scenery and nature. The water is still in the 80’s and the air is warm so we have a lot to enjoy. A swim after we are anchored to check the anchor is never a bad idea. We had dinner with our good friends Linda and Steve. Then back to Vagari and to bed shortly after the sun goes down.

Monday October 16 was a stellar day. We went claming. I got enough for dinner for both of us. We moved to a beautiful cove, Santa Barbara, and some more claming. This cove has been “over utilized” as far as clams go but we saw lots of pin scallops so maybe tomorrow we will go after scallops. Dinner was a clam feast with fresh fruit salad and cookies for dessert. I know I have said it several time that this was the prettiest anchorage I have seen but you will add this to the top of the list.

Tuesday 10/17/06

Sailed just over 20 miles. It started with little wind but picked up as we went up the mouth of Conception Bay. We sailed “wing and wing” – the front sail was out on one side and the main sail was out on the other side. We could do this because the wind was coming from right behind us. We had another great ride.

We anchored in a very open cove. The waves came from a different direction than the wind so the waves hit us right on the side, which made us rock and roll all night.

Wednesday we sailed south about 25 miles to San Juanico Bay. We caught two small Dorado but let them go. Our buddy boat caught a large Dorado 10 miles from San Juanico. We had a FRESH fish dinner on board Vagari. We motored sailed except for the last 10 miles which we just used the sails. We spent the next day in San Juanico exploring a fresh water lagoon, swimming and hanging around the boat.

San Juanico Bay:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=26367571&x=-111428833&z=13&l=0&m=a

Friday 10/20/06

Sailed a few hours down to Isla Coronados. Steve and I hiked to the top of the volcano that formed this little island. The Saddlebrooke Hiking club would rate this as a B+ hike. Only 1500 elevation gain to top but some up and down. Well over a mile walking on uneven sharp rocks that the volcano must have blown out. The last mile is very steep with small pebbles. You slide back almost as much as you go up. Neither of us carried enough water. I should have known better.

Isla Corodados:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=26119531&x=-111276827&z=14&l=0&m=a

You will like the pictures.

Saturday we motored a few miles to Loreto and anchored just off the town. We had lunch and dinner in town and got some groceries. The forecast was for no wind so we spent the night.

Sunday 10/22/06

We motored 11 miles to Isla Carmen’s Bahia Marquer. Steve and I dove for Cholete Cams. Steve got 50 and I got 15, but I was getting pretty good at the end. That evening we had a clam bake/pot luck dinner. s/v Canace joined us and we invited a couple of kayakers camping on the beach. Doesn’t get any better. At sunset the “no see ums” feasted on Rhea so we high tailed it the boat then we moved Vagari further out to get clear of the bugs.

Monday morning we motored 8 miles to Puerto Escondido. Hurricane Paul has us concerned. If you can get the Google Maps link working you can see that this is a perfect hurricane hiding place. Started raining in the late afternoon with moderate wind. We are secured to a mooring ball so it’s no problem.

Puerto Escondido, the perfect natural harbor:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=25820290&x=-111310043&z=13&l=0&m=a

Tuesday 10/24/06

Rain and some wind last night. I washed Vagari with soap and salt water then let the rain rinse her. I took on 30 gallons on fresh water. It’s a story in itself how we get the water but the 12 volt pump setup I made this summer to transfer the water from the dinghy to our tanks worked as planned.

From Monday afternoon to sunset Tuesday we had light and some heavy rain, all from Hurricane Paul. We left the boat late Tuesday afternoon to get our laundry. It wasn’t ready so we had dinner at the nearby trailer park. It poured during dinner but slowed to a drizzle as we walked the mile to the dinghy dock. We got a ride most of the way from a fellow cruiser but it rained on the dinghy ride back to Vagari. Cruising is an adventure.

Wednesday 10/25/06
>
I got another load of water in the morning. I took some silicone tape and fixed the leaky hose. A moderate surf was running outside the harbor, from hurricane Paul I assume. I finished a book I started yesterday. That says it all about the type of day we had.

Thursday 10/26/06

A strong north wind (30 kts) is forecast for Friday so we left Escondido at dawn to go 24 miles to a popular anchorage (Agua Verde) that is protected from the winter “northerlies”. It’s a small community that raises goats and has less than a dozen small fishing boats (pangas). We arrived at noon and tucked in tight to an east-west beach so we are ready for the big blow. Had three fish hit my fishing lure. Landed one but it as a skipjack tuna and the Admiral does NOT grant skipjack permission to board. We went swimming after the s/v Linda’s crew floated over we jumped in and floated around with them on floats Joe gave us.

Friday 10/27/06

The wind blew all night. After breakfast our anchor started to drag. We were dragging toward another cruiser that wasn’t dragging. We raised the anchor, moved away and re-anchored. Done this many times before but not in these winds. Rhea drove Vagari like a pro in the strong winds.

After lunch we walked a couple of miles into town. The surf was too big for us to take the dinghy. Agua Verde is 13 miles from a paved road, its only access to the rest of the world. It has a small school, two churches and a very small store in somebody’s house.

Two years ago Agua Verde had a dozen or so fishing pangas. A man came by in a panga selling shell jewelry. I ask him about the fishing he said the fish are “very small, very very small”. Perhaps they have fished Agua Verde out. How can they compete with the long lines and factory ships?

Agua Verde:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=25521375&x=-111068001&z=15&l=0&m=a

As the sunsets the northerly is dying. We will leave at first light for a long run south.

Saturday 10/28/06

We left Agua Verde hoping to ride the dying northerly south. We could hear the surf pounding the beach outside the anchorage but the forecast for the next day was light to moderate winds from the southeast, just where we were heading. It was a wild ride. Vagari was covered with spray after two miles. We made the fastest passage ever, 55 kt. miles averaging 6.6kts/hr. We surfed down some large waves at 9 kts. I hand steered because we didn’t have the right sail combination up. Changing sails in those winds and waves was not something we wanted to do.

We anchored in beautiful Isla San Francisco, went swimming and s/v Linda over to eat the Dorado they caught a couple of hours before.

Isla San Francisco:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=24828806&x=-110572586&z=14&l=0&m=a

This was the clearest water I have seen in Mexico. Vagari looked like she was floating in air above a sand beach with our anchor buried in the sand.

Sunday

The insects came out a sunset and again at dawn so three boats decided to head south to Isla Partida. Reports on the radio said insects were not a problem there. Partida is only 25 miles from our turnaround point of La Paz. Beautiful sail, light winds so we had the motor on also. We think we saw a bale of what must have been cotton in the water about 5 miles into the trip. One rule we learned very early is, “don’t see – don’t tell” so we didn’t see that bale of cotton. The wind picked up in the middle of the voyage so could sail for a while.

Monday we spent the morning hiking in Partida Island but the bugs forced us back to the boat after and hour or so. We then motor sailed down to an anchorage just 7 miles from La Paz.

Isla San Francisco to La Paz with the Isla Partida anchorage in the center:

http://wikimapia.org/#y=24494647&x=-110445557&z=10&l=0&m=a

Tuesday we arrived in La Paz, our turn around point. This is really a charming city and we will be here for the Day of the Dead celebration.

The Day of the Dead holiday has no equal in our culture. It is a celebration and a family day spent at the family cemetery plot. This link explains this custom better than I can.

http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/muertos.html

We are leaving La Paz Saturday 11/4/06 to start the trip back to San Carlos.

Sunrise at San Juanico Cove

  

Rock formation on the Baja Coast

  

Isla Coronados anchorage. The two dots in the lower left are our boats.

  

Steve on top of the world

  

FRESH clams for dinner

  

FRESH Doradro for dinner. thanks to s/v Linda

  

Open pit gypsum mine with mens baseball field in foreground

  

Smaller church on the island

  

Company town

  

One of two schools in the company town