Giant Sqid , Whale Sharks and Elefantes!
18 May 2010 | Puerto Don Juan, Bay of Los Angeles
The Northern Sea of Cortez offers some unusual sights and we've experienced two of them in the last couple days: the giant Humbolt Squid and Elefantes. Now the Whale Sharks aren't just up here in the north -- they even have them by La Paz -- but we have yet to see the giant, harmless creatures. They habitate the Bay of LA, so we are bound to see them before the summer is through.
While we were anchored off Bay of LA Village, we would watch the fisherman leave every evening in their pangas with large lights to go out to catch the giant squid. They'd return in the morning and off load their catch into the waiting 40 foot trailers packed with ice. It was amazing to see the huge number of squid the 20 or so fisherman would bring in each day.
Now the Elefantes are another thing we'd read about that are found here in the Bay of LA -- but they aren't animals, its wind. It got it's name because sometimes a long cloud resembling an Elephant's trunk appears before the otherwise unpredicted event. They occur when the cold air of the Pacific is drawn across the low Baja peninsula to the warm Sea of Cortez and usually happens during times of calm winds in the Sea. creating a strong -- up to 40 knot -- west wind.
So we weren't completely taken by surprise yesterday when the nasty Elefante came charging in and luckily we recognized what was happening quickly enough to get out of our western exposed anchorage. We'd gone in the morning to a beautiful island in the heart of the Bay of LA called Isla La Venrana. Winds were predicted to be light from the SE -- a perfect place to be. We did a great hike across the island, did some beachcombing and went for a swim happy to find the water a bit warmer than it had been in San Francisquito where we could only dip in for a minute.
Right after we showered off we felt a small gust of wind from a different direction -- WEST. Could this be the dreaded Elefante? We started getting the boat ready to move, just in case, and the wind just kept building so we hurried to get out of there as quick as we could. In the 15 minutes it took us to start hauling up the anchor the gusts were in the 30's and the short choppy waves were building. By the time we got out of the pass between the islands we were heading into 5 to 6 foot breaking waves and had gusts to 40! So we followed our track back to the anchorage off the village where, though you'd still have wind, you wouldn't have the waves.
So about an hour and a half later we were tucked happily in the same spot we'd left that morning comfortable riding out our 1st Elefante very thankful that it came during daylight hours and while we were on the boat and able to move quickly because it would have been a long uncomfortable night had we had to stay in that exposed anchorage.
Always an adventure!