Whales in the Water: 15 January 2018
20 January 2018
We headed south from Three Point Bank enroute to Bahia de Tortugas about halfway down the Baja Peninsula. A capitalist by the name of Enrique there sells diesel fuel to boats heading north or south. With very little wind, we have had to run the engine more than we would have wished. There are rumors of price gouging there. We shall see.
We had an extraordinarily clear and magical night. We could see many stars. When I came on watch porpoises were checking out the boat. Without really trying, I saw six shooting stars during my midnight to 2 watch. It was a good omen that portended an amazing day.
Looking at the chart we decided to pass over Banco Ranger, another seamount. It was not far out of our way and was noted as a good fishing spot. After a breakfasting on hot cereal with fresh mango the sun rose and we had what felt like our first really tropical day. We all shed a layer or two and sat around on deck conversing.
Mid morning, as we approached the bank, we could see whales breaching and blowing ahead. They looked like humpbacks and possibly two adults and a baby. We changed course slightly to come closer. John asked if I minded if he went into the water if we got close enough. We got within a couple of hundred yards and shut off the engine. By this time we had seen several spectacular breaches with one of the adults coming about two thirds out of the water and then making a big splash.
The whales, which we had now clearly identified as humpbacks, seemed to disappear. John got into the water and Andrew and I both remarked about the "white whale". After a period of about two minutes and very suddenly, the big one breached out of the water about 60 yards from the boat. We were astounded. Luckily Andrew caught part of the breach on video and a screen shot of the whale out of the water accompanies this blog. After this, the whales disappeared.
Did I mention that we eat well on this voyage? At some risk to himself, Andrew fried up some guajillo chiles while shirtless and made an incredible presentation of lunch. Each plate started with a thin layer of egg omelet, then tortillas with chipotle salsa, and then the chiles, which had been opened up and stuffed with a wonderful Mexican cheese we found in Ensenada. Dinner was polenta topped with marinara and prawns with a bit of parmesan.
A bit later we crossed over Ranger Bank. Once again, the fish were not cooperating. We have been dragging those handlines since Ensenada and figure that eventually something might hit one of our lures.
Just past the bank, we saw activity on the water that looked like fish. As we got closer, we found ourselves in a large school of porpoises. Standing on the bow, the water was exceptionally clear, and I could see about 15 of them at once under the boat. They seemed to come over and check out the boat, and then as if by signal, that whole group turned and headed back to join their friends.
Fog started to pour over the top of Los Benitos, a small group of islands to starboard and west of Isla Cedros, to port. With that the wind came up a bit and we were able to sail on starboard tack, just making Cabo San Augustin, the western tip of Cedros. The wind eventually backed and we were sailing downwind in about 8-10 knots of true wind making about four and a half knots through the water. We began to talk about timing our approach to Bahia de Tortugas so that we would arrive in the daylight hours to enter a strange harbor. At around 2200 we jibed over and headed directly for Turtle Bay.
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