13th December
Bahia Concepcion
We awoke to an amazing sunrise, visible through the porthole as we lay in bed but by the time we had rushed up on deck to watch the full show, the reds and oranges had vanished leaving just a pale yellow halo around the rising sun. It was time to get going and as we weighed anchor I saw a couple of flashes from one of the beach houses, we seem to have attained celebrity status with people photographing Fantasia and stopping us to ask us all about her. Well I guess she is a bit of a stunner and she knows it!
We had a short stopover, anchoring out on the open roadstead off Mulege to take a 2 mile dingy ride up the river. It made quite a change to motor through this oasis of palms and mangroves after so much time spent in the desert. Suddenly our outboard stopped with a loud bang, it transpired the propeller pin had sheared, we must have hit something hard underwater. It was a long row back to the boat but fortunately both wind and tide were in our favour. When we arrived back on Fantasia the wind had changed, as forecast, and was now from the south west. At last we could sail!
Making in excess of 5 knots under full sail we shelved our plans to stop for the night at Punta Chivato, which professes to be a paradise for the avid shell collector, in favour of making the most of the southerly wind and heading straight for Santa Rosalia. Sadly we would also have to forego icy margaritas at the palm fringed hotel on the beach. With a night shaved off our voyage we could dig into depleted store of fresh vegetables making tonight's supper a veritable feast. We would soon have an opportunity to replenish stocks after two weeks at sea and so rationing could end at last!
As we rounded the northern tip of Isla San Marcus a bird, flagging somewhat as he flew alongside us, took the opportunity to hitch a ride. Perching high upon our mizzen and with no intention of paying his way it was clear that he was staying put until we reached Santa Rosalita, 6 miles away. Stuart feeling uncharitable towards our free rider moaned that he should have landed on our main mast with its VHF aerial, whereby he could have slowly sizzled. Our cunning capitan could then have dislodged him with a sudden gibe, holding his dinner plate complete with chilli sauce and tortillas, at the foot of the mast to break his fall. As we arrived at the entrance to the tiny harbour at Santa Rosalia our hitch hiker flew off into the darkness and we found our way to our anchorage accurately guided by Shawn's handy waypoint.
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12th December
Punta Pulpita - Bahia Concepcion
We were glad to have taken shelter under the towering rock of Punta Pulpita from the howling winds as the norther continued for a third day. An improvement had been forecast but in the event this turned out to be the worst day. Rounding this point would be tenable but unpleasant and we decided to save the wear and tear on Fantasia and ourselves by taking shelter. It was far too rough to attempt a trip ashore and so the dark vein obsidian rock above us would remain sadly unexplored. We had to be content with a another day finding jobs to do below decks and were glad that we had viewed our DVDs sparingly and enjoyed watching 'Some Like it Hot' for only the second time tucked up in our comfortable state room!
We made an early morning start under the nearly full moon and with seas much abated we made it to Playa Burro in the Bahia Concepcion by mid afternoon. With Highway 1 running alongside the beach with its RV s and beach palapas we were almost in civilisation again. An almost constant stream of juggernauts hauling goods from the States down to La Paz and to the towns in between was a novelty after two weeks without hardly seeing a vehicle. After a walk along the beach we visited 'Bertha's beach restaurant for a good shrimp supper although sadly our palates have been ruined after the fantastic Agua Verde shrimps. A sign up in the restaurant explaining that every drop of water is hauled 17 miles from Mulege put in perspective just how lucky we are to have our own watermaker on board Fantasia.
It was dark when we returned to the dingy but with a full moon and Fantasia anchored close to the shore the trip back by dingy would be quick and straightforward. As we stepped into the water to pull the dingy out to sea we were amazed to look down and see that our feet had luminescent green halos around them. We jumped up and down in the seaweed lined waters edge like children, watching the bright lights around our footprints. Our short paddle back to the boat ended up taking far longer than the few minutes it should have taken as we splashed our paddles through the water and spun the dingy around in circles watching out for the showers of shiny green stars as we did so.
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11th December
Caleta San Juanico towards Bahia Concepcion
The winds were forecast to abate this morning and so we decided to weigh anchor and continue our travels north. The early bird net confirmed yesterday's predictions of northerly winds, less than 20 knots. After a couple of hours motoring, both wind and seas were building until we had 30 knots on the nose with the seas becoming very rough as we approached Punta Pulpita. Dressed in our wet weather jackets for the first time since the first few miles down the outside of the Baja, this was more like the English Channel than Mexico. We took the opportunity of seeking shelter in the lee of this towering rock until the weather improved. With a vein of obsidian prominent on the rocky headland, maybe we would be able to seek out a small piece if the wind dies down enough to allow us to make a trip ashore.
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