Inside the Big Bay
15 February 2010 | Punta Belcher
After about three hours of whale watching, the sun's getting lower in the sky and it's time to think about finding a safe place to anchor for the night. We are both still over the moon after our close encounters with those beautiful creatures of the sea. Turning into Magdalena Bay we are taken aback by how big it is. It's almost as big as San Francisco Bay, except the only people are fisherman in pangas, or whale watching tourists in pangas. Most yatistas do this trip way earlier in the season, moving through this area in November and December. Because we're so late in the season, conditions on the outside are a little more difficult, but the big payoff is the solitude. We've left Encinada about three weeks ago and have only seen a handful of other boaters along the way. Inside the bay there's no swell and a nice breeze coming from the north-west end of the bay. We lift our mainsail and roll out the genoa and away we go. It's blowing 10-12 knots and we're flying along on smooth water at about 6 knots. Our boat, Buena Vista is in heaven. Obviously she knows where she's going, she's been here before with the previous owners, Lee and Nancy Husband when they cruised this area about two years ago. We see our night's destination ahead, Punta Belcher. Not much protection from the wind but we'll be fine huddled next to shore under the care of Mount Isabel. (That's Don's mum's name, Isabel. We'll have to take a photo and send it to her for her 85th birthday that's coming up in April).