Isla San Francisco to San Evaristo
24° 54.790'N, 110° 42.410'W


On Wednesday, May11 we started off with the intention of making the 52 nm mile run from Isla San Francisco to Bahia Aqua Verde. The weather reports were good, but we hadn't counted on the effect of the Canal de San Jose, which is an about a nine mile long slot between Isla San Jose and the Baja Peninsula. This channel is about a mile wide and with the wind effect funneling through this restricted slot and current against us we had sailed, yes sailed two long tacks making about 4 nm of northing in three hours. Not good. We tried motoring into it but that was worse with the short wave period constantly slamming and slowing the boat. We were getting no where. We opted for ducking into the scenic little bay behind Punta San Evaristo anchoring in 18 feet in the northeastern most notch or anchorage that had the best north wind protection. This turned out to be a good thing. For one this was one of the better stops we have made with a good, calm anchorage and snorkeling, swimming and paddle boarding in protected waters from everything, but a direct southerly, which was not likely and we are out of reach of the La Paz coromuel winds here. There is a fishing village of the same name that even had a small tienda or store and friendly fishermen who were willing to sell us a nice red snapper or "huachanalgo". We weren't having any luck at catching our own so this was a good option.


The village had a small water desalination facility and they make ice to keep their fish and for village water, although we didn't drink any of it. The tienda was primitive by our standards, someone's home and the front room was converted to shelving, but had enough dry goods and decent produce to get us through a few days. When we found it there were a couple of saddled mules tethered out front; check out the photos, not something we encounter at home. They run cattle in these areas and without roads I guess there's no other way to go about it. The riders or cowboys were resting on the porch of the store. Not an easy life.


We had happy hour and boat tour of Endorfin with Dan, Lisa and their daughter Savannah who are from Oxnard, California and are living aboard their 55 foot heavy cutter full time. They filled our reserve scuba tank that I keep aboard Pacifico for emergencies from their dive compressor, which was greatly appreciated. It would be nice to have the room for all that equipment; ah the dilemma of a bigger boat!


San Evaristo was a good find and we were joined there by Swift Current and Blue Rodeo, but it was time to move north again; we are beginning to feel the crunch of time!