The weather forecast was ominous! A big norther was coming our way with sustained winds of up to 35 kts. A small craft advisory had been issued by the Mexican authorities. This was unusual and cause for concern. We had been exploring the anchorages of Isla Espiritu Santo near La Paz for the past few days and were ready to move further north, but where? Our original plan had been to go to a very picturesque and popular anchorage called Isla San Francisco. It was the next logical stop except it was known to provide poor protection in a big blow from the north. We therefore decided to pass by San Francisco until better weather was forecast and headed further north to San Evaristo, an anchorage known to be a good hideout. It also had a small fishing village to explore and a small tienda (store) for provisions should we be stuck for a few days.

San Evaristo really consists of two bays. To the north is a small u-shaped anchorage that is completely surrounded by high, rocky hills. It is open only to the south and seemed like a perfect place to seek shelter. To the southwest was a second more open bay with a long sandy beach. We arrived on the afternoon of November 28 and dropped our hook in the small bay where 3 other boats with the same idea were already anchored. Shortly afterwards more boats arrived. The little northern anchorage was now full and so the others anchored in the more open bay. It was a pretty full house!

The following morning, with no wind so far, we went exploring ashore. The beach was dotted with pangas (fishing boats), a number of fishing sheds and a few homes. There was even a somewhat dilapidated restaurant. We walked along the beach and all around the big bay, eventually getting to the lighthouse on the rocky point at the south end. About that time a very large commercial fishing boat arrived and dropped anchor near Sarah Jean, obviously seeking shelter like the rest of us. Another ominous sign. We stopped at the little restaurant on the beach and Beth tried out her Spanish to get directions to the store we had heard about. They clearly understood her but we were not quite sure what to make of the directions they provided. Eventually we found the store after a few other consultations with the locals. The shelves were mostly bare but we did buy some carrots and several bags of cookies. We ate the carrots for dinner that night and had eaten all the cookies by the time the storm was over!

We continued our explorations and soon found the little school and chatted with the kids who were out on recess. They noticed our camera and were happy to line up for a photo. Past the school, further along the dusty dirt road, we came to a low, north facing bay with a huge salt production operation. The entire wetland area had been cleared and was divided into hundreds of small rectangular ponds that had been flooded with seawater. They were now drying in the sun leaving big trays of salt. We had come across a few of these salt operations but most had been abandoned years ago. This one appeared very active. As we looked north up the San Jose Channel we saw white caps building and decided it was time to get back to the boat.

Shortly after our return to the boat the norther hit very suddenly like someone had turned on a giant fan. Gusts of wind blasted over the hills and down into the anchorage quickly kicking up white caps and sending clouds of spray flying across the water like white dust devils. Each time a gust hit Sarah Jean would twist and roll and groan as if we were at sea in large swells. We set our riding sail, a delta shaped affair that is strung up at the stern of the boat to help stop the boat from swinging back and forth in the wind. This seemed to help a little but there was still a lot of motion. The wind speed continued to build during the evening. Gusts of 35 + kts became pretty routine. At one point Beth saw a gust of 43 kts. Sleep was impossible due the noise and motion, as well as concern about our anchor dragging. We had set an alarm to sound if we drifted off into deeper water and we were also monitoring our current position on the charplotter against a waypoint we had set before the big winds started. The first night we both wound up on the settees (couches) in the main cabin, reading our books, eating cookies and watching the instruments. We probably dozed off at times but did not feel too rested when the sun came up.

It blew with the same intensity all the next day and all night. A few boats moved around looking for better protection without much success. A Mexican sailboat anchored near to us was trailing his inflatable on a line behind his boat. There was no motor on it so it was pretty light. We watched in amazement as a gust of wind lifted it right out of the water. It hung on the line like a big balloon for a few minutes and then flipped upside down and fell back to the water. Our instruments indicated that we had dragged our anchor a little during the previous night. Knowing the wind would continue to blow at the same intensity for at least another 24 hours we decided to deploy our second anchor. This was the first time we had used it. The fact we have two windlasses made this operation pretty easy. We now had two anchors each with over 200 feet of scope! We hoped this extra anchor would eliminate the risk of dragging and make for some better sleep. As it turns out the second anchor was probably overkill - we didn't move an inch!

Outside the anchorage in the San Jose Channel the seas had been whipped up into a continuous south bound procession of large, steep, foaming waves. These waves are known locally as "buffalos". Looking out at the frothy, white backs of these waves galloping along it was easy to see where the name came from. Later that evening we watched the movie "Forest Gump" on our laptop with the volume cranked up loud enough to drown out the wind noise. It was a nice distraction. We took turns on anchor watch and by morning the wind was finally subsiding.

Despite the uncomfortable conditions during the height of the storm there were some very entertaining moments. For the first time since arriving in the Sea of Cortez we saw jumping rays! These small rays have a wing span of about 2 feet and are black on the top and white on the bottom. They look like small manta rays but may be a different species. Anyway, they like to jump out of the water! Somehow they launch themselves into the air like little missiles to heights of 3 or 4 feet, all the while flapping their wings like birds. They fall back into the sea with a big belly flop and then a few seconds later launch themselves again. Typically they do this several times in a row. Beth thinks they are just baby rays playing a game - they leap into the air and flap their little wings, all the while screaming "yippee" at the top of their little ray voices. At one point during the storm we saw 4 rays launch into the air simultaneously like it had been choreographed - OK guys, three, two, one, launch! Very fun to watch!

By December 1st the wind had dropped to below 20 kts and things returned to normal. Together with Alicia, from On Verne, a boat anchored nearby, we went for a good hike up the rocky hills to the north of the anchorage. From there we got great views of the San Evaristo valley area and up and down the San Jose Channel. Later in the day, Chris & Paul from Jorgia, a J Boat 37, came by for happy hour. We were all grateful for calm seas and the return of peace and quiet at anchor. We had a very good sleep that night! Early the next morning we headed south, back to Isla San Francisco, but that's another story!