Heading North to San Carlos
11 April 2013 | Puerto Escondido, Loreto
Tamberlyn
We finally cut the La Paz bungee cord and headed North up into the sea. Thankfully nothing broke in the first 24 hrs so we headed for Mushroom Rock with the auto helm working. We spent one night at Mushroom Rock and then headed up North into the Sea of Cortez. While crossing over to the Isla Espiritu Santo the auto helm started making large turns back to La Paz. It seemed Auto had a mind of its own. It was determined to return to La Paz. We were not having any of that, so we turned Auto helm off and corrected our coarse. Lew said “Auto needs to be reprogrammed or rebooted. I had enough of Auto and wanted to get back to cruising, so we decided to hold off on the fix and headed for our next stop, Ensenada de la Ballena.
The winds were calm so the Bo Bo’s were on their way to our boat as soon as we dropped anchor. Bo Bo’s are little tinny nats that think your face is a landing zone. They are very annoying! Lew was ready with his fly swatter and so our cock pit looked like the killing fields. I was not going to have Bo Bo’s land on me so I went below deck and waited for dusk. That night the Bo Bo’s went home and the killing field was cleaned up. The stars were out and shinning so brightly it was just about perfect with the cool spring breeze.
The next day we pulled anchor and headed for Isla San Francisco, it is always a favorite stop. The water in its crescent shaped bay is clear with its torques waters. The water was inviting and starting to warm up. We all jumped in for a swim. After a nice swim we all loaded up in the dingy and headed for shore. The girls meet a nice family with their twin teen age boys; the family was vacationing on a charter boat. They were from New York so they were enjoying the nice warm waters Mexico has to offer. The girls went for a hike and climbed up the hills to look down on the bay. Unfortunately they forgot the camera so I don’t have any photos to share of their hike. That night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. The rugged Sierra le la Gigantas on the Baja peninsula were silhouetted with the red and pink glow of the setting sun. Because we were in no hurry to go any were, we decided to stay another night and enjoy the beauty around us.
Our next stop was San Evaristo. San Evaristo is a very protected bay located on the Peninsula just 9nm north of Isla San Francisco. Just as we dropped anchor the family that the girls meet on the beach at our last stop, pulled into the bay. Gabby’s and Rosie’s eyes lit up with excitement. The boy’s were 15 years old so the girls were happy to have kids their age to hang with. Well at least Rosie thinks she is 15. The kids all went for kayak rides and hiking the trails of the nearby hills. Lew and I went to the small tienda and picked up some fresh fruit and vegetables. San Evaristo is a very small fishing village that supports a small school, tienda, and cantina. At the end of the day all the fishermen come home with the days catch. You can buy fresh fish right off the panga if you had no luck with fishing yourself. This seems to be the trend this season. I have had no luck with my fishing so far. We purchased some nice langosta (lobster) and a small pargo for dinner that night. After 5 nights in San Evaristo it was time to move on.
Next stop Puerto Los Gatos, this bay is famous for its red rocks rolling down to the crystal blue waters. It has always been one of our favorite stops. We dropped anchor and 3 more boats pulled into the bay for the night. One boat had 2 very pretty girls on it. They were making their way to Loreto. The brunette seemed to know all about sailing and was running the boat. The blonde was new to boating and was learning trail by error. It was funny watching the one girl tell the other how to set anchor and then operate the dingy. They were both in string bathing suits so the fish camp on the beach of local Mexicans were all stopped to watch as the girls dropped hook and then proceeded to get ready for paddle boarding. Lew was a happy camper with his new view. After watching them for awhile, Lew turned to me and said “wouldn’t it be cool if we had a paddle board.” I said “it would be nice but I don’t think we would draw as much attention as the girls were.” As I said that I thought maybe we would draw as much attention. It would be funny seeing an older couple that was overweight trying to stand and balance on a flat skinny board. All kidding aside, I know our girls would have a blast on one.
The next day we pulled anchor and headed for Bahia Agua Verde. It seemed the boats what we shared our bay with us the night before were on the same trek as we were. We again pulled in first and dropped anchor in the cove just left of the main bay. Later that day the Argentina Swim team pulled in on a big charter boat. Lew was in heaven again. He had his view back. He sat in the cockpit watching the girls kayaked by to the nearby beach. They were all warring the same team gear so they all matched. Their panga support set up their tents and brought them coolers of drinks to enjoy on the beach. Some of them started jogging up and down the beach. This is all I needed, Lew was supposed to keep his blood pressure down and relax before we headed back home for more medical procedures. So far it was not working.
Later that day after the swim team went back to their boat a whale shark swam into our small cove. It was very large. It was definitely not a Juvenal. This shark was 40ft plus and dove just under our boat while it was sitting at anchor. Lew and I ran to the bow to get some pictures. Rosie and Gabby jumped in the dingy and tried to reach out and touch the large fish. Rosie got within inches of reaching out to the shark before it dove down and left our cove.
Bahia Candeleros was our next stop. There is a big hotel in the bay so it is a popular stop for cruisers who want to go ashore and enjoy the pools and the restaurant the hotel has to offer. That night the winds picked up to a howling 25knts. The next morning we were woke up by a nearby boat calling us on the VHF. It was about 6:30 AM so we were puzzled as to what they would be calling us for. It seems their dingy broke free the night before and washed up on the rocks behind our boat. Because we were the closest boat they called us to see if we could retrieve it. Lew and Gabby dropped our dingy and went over to try and retrieve their dingy. The wind was still howling and the waves were 2 ft braking on the rocks. Lew tried to pull their dingy off the rocks but it was full of water. Just as he was turning around to come back to the boat a large wave came and slammed our dingy into the rocks. Well as you can guess it broke our prop so Lew and Gabby were trying to paddle back to our boat without the dingy they were trying to retrieve. It was a struggle for them to fight the current and wind getting back to Puddle Pirate. I throw them a fender attached to a long line so it could be grabbed and then they could use it to pull their self back to our boat. After Lew made it back I called the other boat and told them the situation with their dingy. We couldn’t help them and they were on their own. They were able to get a hold of their buddy boat and retrieve the wayward dingy.
That day the winds were building to 30knots. Just as Lew and I were getting ready to go below for bed, we clocked gust of 40knts. This was a little strong for our comfort being our proximity to the rocky shore line. Lew decided to stay up and do an anchor watch. We started our engine and held our anchor as the gust climbed up to 55knts. Needles to say we didn’t get any sleep that whole night. About 4 AM as the sun came up we noticed a dingy washed up on the rocks. Lew said “that dingy looks familiar.” Sure enough it was that same dingy as the night before but this time it had no engine. We called the boat that the dingy belong to and informed them where their dingy was and they would have to retrieve it before it drifted out to sea. They came right over and retrieved their dingy while thanking us for the call. They said they had put the dingy on the deck and tied it down to the cleat. The wind was so strong it lifted their dingy and flew it airborne like a kite, ripping the cleat out of the fiberglass and off the deck. Now that is some pretty strong wind.
After all the excitement we headed for Puerto Escondido for some much needed rest. The trip was only a two hour motor north because we were so tired from the night before our sails remained in the sail bags. On the way to the protection of the Port another sailboat hailed us and asked “why did you buy a sailboat if all you are going to do is motor. This statement made me a little mad but I was too tired to hail the boat back and explain why we were motoring. Once we arrived and grabbed our mooring ball we went below for some much needed sleep. Later that afternoon we noticed the other boats in the mooring field were the same boats that we had been traveling with all along. Lew noticed the paddle board again and heard it was for sale. You guessed it we now have a paddle board on deck with our 3 kayaks and dive gear.
The next day the girls and Lew all tried to stand on the paddle board. It was funny watching Lew but I do give him props for getting out there and trying it out. He was able to stand for at least 5 minutes before taking a swim. The girls were up next and Rosie stood up then immediately fell in. She continued this cycle for at least 10 minutes before letting Gabby have a go at it. Gabby stud right up and made it look easy. She paddled around the boat and then took off. Well I guess I will have to have a go at it next but I will wait until it warms up a little more.