It may seem a little strange but a few days after we tied up in La Paz, Rhea and I both wanted to get back to our Saddlebrooke home and friends quickly. We have been cruising for almost six months, except for a five-week medical/IRS break in February. We are getting to know more of our fellow cruisers and learning more cruising skills so we are enjoying ourselves more and more. Rhea has had trouble with her knees for a long time. She has gotten to the point where she wants them fixed ASAP and we can’t start that process until we get home. Also, our grandchildren are growing up and we miss our friends and the activities back in Saddlebrooke. We decided to leave on a high note; after all, the next cruising season starts in just seven months.
We arrived in La Paz on Monday Morning and left Friday morning. Our intention is dayhop up the east coast of the Baja Peninsula to Punta Chivato then cross over to our home Port of San Carlos. Punta Chivato is 200 miles north west of La Paz. The crossing is only 74 miles from Punta Chivato. We can probably do that in daylight this time of year.
Our first hop was a short quick 25 miles to Isla Partida’s Partida Cove. This cove is in an extinct volcano. There are several coves in this area that are extinct volcanoes. We walked the beach with the crew from Persistence (http://sailwithpersistence.com/). Their dog digs for crabs. He can get half his body in one of his crab digs in a minute. The highlight was when he jumped out of a hole squeaking with a crab on his nose. He had the last laugh, after shaking the crab off he promptly had a crab snack. I had to spend the night in the cockpit because a strong wind came up after dark. The first night at anchor I’m always a little anxious anyway.
Next we had an easy 35 jump over to a nice cove on the Baja Peninsula. The strong west wind started at dusk again but I had anchored with lots of extra chain and lots of room east of Vagari so I caught up on my sleep.
The next leg was a 45-mile up wind slug with the seas against us. The last few hours we were going into a 25 knot wind and the corresponding waves. Lots of spray was flying.
Near the end of this passage a series of dolphin groups paid us a visit. They came in large groups some had at least 50 members. They were moving with us. They seemed to be jumping just for the joy of being alive. Some jumped straight up in the air and just fell back in the water. Some jumped in perfect unison, as many as 10 across all jumping at the same time and the same distance. Some just jumped over large waves. They kept us amused for about 45 minutes.
We got a late start and dropped our anchor just a few minutes after sunset in Agua Verde. Agua Verde is one of the prettiest anchorages we have seen. However it does not offer good protection from north winds. We spent the most rolling night of this cruise. I took a walk on the beach the next day with the skipper of Persistence, Tom Hoffman. I got some good shots of the two boats at anchor, which I will post when I get an Internet connection.
After a lay day in Agua Verde we planned an early start for the next 35-mile leg. That trip was uneventful. We were in the beautiful anchorage on Isla Carmen by 1:30 PM. The seas were flat. The wind built up to 20 kts the last 90 minutes. The wind is no problem if the seas are flat. We left at 6:45AM, 15 minutes before sunrise. So we are going to make that a regular practice. The next leg is only 27 miles. We hope to leave even earlier tomorrow. As long as the weather holds we don’t mind moving every day.
The run to San Juanico Bay was easy; no wind no waves but hundreds of dolphin. We left by 6:30 AM; the anchor was down at 11:15AM. We had a great day swimming, shell collecting and exploring this bay. We have lots of pictures, which we will post when we can.
We spent the next day in San Juanico until the afternoon. We walked over to a neat beach on the north side of the point. With the Hoffman’s we collected some glassy black Obsidian rocks and went swimming. Then we moved 10 miles up the coast to Punta Pulpito.
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 solders 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 solders. 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.
Once back in San Carlos on the same dock we left we met several boats that were there in the fall with us.
The trip back to our home was the fastest ever. We had Thomas from Persistence with us. He was great company.
