3-5-14
For this small 5-night adventure I am joined by my friend John, who sailed the Baja-Haha with me in November. We are hoping to do some free diving and spearfishing to go along with the sailing? So, after a day of prepping and some last minute provisioning, we dropped the dock lines about 10:15 this morning. After stopping to top the fuel tanks, we were on our way. The day was clear and calm as we made our way out of Ensenada De La Paz. As we passed into the Bay, the wind piped up from the north, so we motored for a couple of hours.
As we neared our destination on Isla Espiritu Santo, we were able to put up all three sails and give the motor a rest. Of course that didn't last long as we entered the lee of the island and the wind died.
We dropped anchor in Bahia San Gabriel, which in my limited experience has become one of my favorite spots in the La Paz area. The wind started blowing pretty hard, so even though we had put the dinghy in the water, we didn't take it anywhere.
We spotted a small pod of Humpback whales moving past our anchorage, which was really cool. Before today, I had only seen one whale in Mexico, so I am hoping to see many more.
Later in the afternoon we watched our friends on Sara M come sailing into the bay and drop anchor. The Captain, Allen, built the boat, which is almost 70', and has no engine. He and two other friends, Graval and Natalie, are getting ready to leave for the South Pacific aboard Sara M. A challenging trip for sure, but they are up to it.
John and I dinghied over to have a sundowner with them. The wind was really howling, so we didn't stay long. Back aboard Odyssey we donned some warmer clothes and settled in. The wind eventually died leaving us with a calm anchorage full of bright stars.