17th December
We made an early start, weighing anchor at 0320 to make the 78 mile crossing to San Carlos, Sonora on the mainland. Although tempted to stay longer in Santa Rosalia, we decided to make the most of the settled weather to make the crossing. We had to be in San Carlos in time for our haul out date, based on the tide being high enough for our draught and couldn't afford to be delayed by bad weather. We had quite a straightforward crossing but with the swell on our beam it was pretty rolly. As usual the wind was unhelpful and after an excellent start it moved around to our stern leaving me on gibe watch while we rocked and rolled along. On our watch change I was glad to get back to bed to catch up on a bit of sleep only to be woken by cups crashing around in their cupboard - a sign that Stuart had made himself a cup of coffee, with all cups present and correct they are a tight fit!
I was disappointed to be off watch when the first and only sighting of a shark during the whole trip was made. We made good progress, sailing most of the way and arriving in the beautiful and very sheltered harbour at San Carlos by late afternoon.
It was with a tinge of sadness though when we let the anchor down once more, for this would be journey's end for us. Our trip north from La Paz has brought us back up to latitude 27 degrees and the temperatures are much cooler, we are busy putting our summer clothes into deep storage and digging out our jeans and fleeces. We have to prepare Fantasia to be hauled out and stored ashore until we can come out again next autumn. Sails, sheets and halyards need to be removed and stored, the engine serviced, watermaker pickled, the list of preparations in readiness to store a boat for 9 months, where temperatures would be in excess of 120 degrees, is seemingly endless. We will be busy for the next couple of weeks but with Christmas in just a few days we hope to enjoy ourselves as well and are already filling our diary with exciting Christmas events starting with the San Carlos Yacht Club Christmas dinner tomorrow night!
February 7th 2009 post script
We soon became attached to San Carlos, again making wonderful friends. We spent many hours at Baracuda Bob's using their wifi to make contact with the outside world and attend to important Commodore yachting e-mails. The owner, Jan, yet another commodore welcomed us to the San Carlos Yacht Club where we were introduced as (lapsed) members of the Hardway Yacht Club, a tiny sailing club high up in Portsmouth harbour whose members - allegedly - sail around the world 'the hard way'! Well it did sound impressive! We took part in the San Carlos parade of lights, third in the procession of boats around the bay on Christmas Eve. Susan and Wayne from DAYDREAM came along with us on Fantasia and shared their homemade pumkin pie as we motored slowly around the bay in the pitch dark hoping that the lead boat would remember we drew 6 feet as we wound our way through the rocks. After the parade we were invited back to DAYDREAM where Stuart was plied with rum and sadly has no further recollections of the evening!
Christmas day was another warm sunny day and we began it as we had in Mission Bay a year ago with steak and eggs sitting up on Fantasia's beautiful deck. We had decided to go to the Yacht Club for lunch which was wonderful and again we were amongst fantastic new friends. We spend Christmas evening on Daydream and this time Stuart stayed away from the rum and so we both have wonderful memories of the evening as we talked to Susan and Wayne about their plans for their forthcoming voyage to the South Pacific. As I write this 'catch up' log in February back in freezing Gosport we have just heard that DAYDREAM has left San Carlos and is on her way to Puerto Vallerta vis La Paz, we are so envious but will make our own plans for fantasia's next voyage!
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Comments [2]
c u @ boat show
Ray
14th December
We awoke, slightly jaded this morning after a night broken by several alerts by our anchor alarm. We had been uncertain about the holding here and our CQR anchor was definitely unsuited to the muddy bottom. Eventually we got up and reset it completely after finding we had drifted back 100 yards or so.
Santa Rosalia is an extraordinary town built in the French colonial style, the wooden houses date back to 1885 when the French mining company El Boleo began mining copper here. Eiffel's church, Inglesia Santa Barbara, displayed at the Paris Exposition in 1889, was shipped here and reassembled in 1897. Very much a working town and untouched by tourism we felt we had stepped back to the 1870s. Our first shopping trip to top up Fantasia's fridges and fruit and veg stores was not very successful, shelves in the towns shops were sparsely stocked and the fresh produce we saw had been around for some time. It would seem that our now somewhat depleted cruising kitty would be pretty safe in Santa Rosalita. Eventually we managed to buy what we needed but it did require dedication and a visit to almost every Mercado in the town.
Mexico highway 1 runs along the waterfront, the equivalent to our M1 back in the UK and far from it being the dangerous freeway we had expected, the cars and lorries actually stop to let pedestrians cross! In fact as we wandered around the town, looking at the buildings, we had to be careful not to stop as this would bring the traffic to a halt, waving us across the road. Here in Santa Rosalia, as in all the villages and towns we have visited since leaving Puerto Salina, the Mexican people have been utterly charming, always smiling and greeting us with a cheery 'hola'. We feel sad, as they do, that the reputation of places such as Tijuana have made people suspicious and mistrustful of Mexicans.
There are two small marinas in the harbour, the government funded and very smart Singular Marina and tiny Marina Santa Rosalia with its dilapidated marina office wherein we found a warm welcome from staff and cruisers. We had read that cruisers at anchor can use Marina Santa Rosalia's dingy dock for a small fee and we were surprised to find that this included use of showers and the marina's beer fridge which is operated on an honour system whereby payment is made at the end of your stay. Apart from the marinas, the harbour is also home to the Baja ferry, crossing to the mainland twice a week and carrying fresh produce back with it. Dozens of pangas are also berthed here, streaming out to their fishing grounds each afternoon, where they fish with hand lines for Humboldt Squid which is exported all over the world. We had seen many tiny lights around us as we came into the harbour but were surprised at the number of fishermen to arrive at the fish dock during the evening.
We would have loved to have spent more time exploring this fascinating town but we made good use of the two short days that we had, visiting the wonderful mining museum and Eiffel's church, strolling along the Malecon overlooking the harbour and wandering through the maze of narrow streets. With Christmas only a week or so away an evening walk was especially colourful with many of the shops and houses lit up with brightly coloured lights. It still seems strange to me to see snowmen and sleighs here in a country where it never snows!
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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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