Going Remote - Remote For Us Anyway
28 January 2010 | San Benito Islands
Left San Quintin on 1/27 at 9am and had a glorious day sailing with perfect 12-15 knots and minimal swell, sunny and warm. When the sun went down, the wind died and the swell seemed to pick up so we dropped the sails and motored all night with the big full moon lighting the way. We got as far as 75 miles offshore, that's our furthest ever. Having radar, well, it takes all the fear out of it. Anyway, there's nobody out here and we're inside the track of where cruise ships would go (we think). We decided on the way to go to the San Benitos Islands and go to Cedros Island tomorrow. The weather was forecast to be fine and there is supposed to be good diving, snorkeling and fishing there. We arrived at about 9am on 1/28. Three islands, very small, in a semi-circle which provides protection from the west swell and some wind protection. One island has a tiny fishing village, the middle one lies very low and you can hardly see it until you're pretty close, it's covered with elephant seals, and the third is rugged and wild, uninhabited. We anchored in front of the village next to the panga moorings. In just a few minutes some fishermen came out and asked us if we had any tequila and said they'd trade for langosta (yep, lobster). We said sure. We asked if they had some bait and they gave us a nice piece of 'calamar' (a small slab of giant squid body). Don and I each then had a hot shower. We have hot water after running the engine so we always time showers that way. Then some bacon and eggs for breki and Don put the dinghy in the water to go fishing. It's hell out here, really :)