San Francisquito to Puerto Don Juan

Sailing north from Bahia San Francisquito put us in the Canal Salsipuedes (leave if you can channel). This fourteen mile wide passage between the Baja coast and Isla San Lorenzo often creates challenges for sailors.  The tide flow from the entire northern half of the Sea of Cortez must pass through this and the other channels created by the Midriff Islands. Paying attention to the tide chart is a must. We timed our thirty five mile passage up the coast to the Animas Slot so that the current would push us the whole way.

The Animas Slot is a breathtaking anchorage tucked into a canyon in the Agua Soda Mountains. It's a tiny cove with barely enough room for two boats. Once again we had the anchorage to ourselves. The full moon tide range was an impressive nine feet. We left the next morning on a flood tide that would help carry us fifteen miles to our next stop at Puerto Don Juan. The push from the current was remarkable as Solera made over six knots over ground in a very light wind.

All was well until we entered the channel into Puerto Don Juan. With sails stowed we had motored about a mile toward the protected bay when Solera's diesel suddenly quit. We dropped anchor and quickly determined that the repair would not be a simple one. The work would have to be done back in San Carlos one hundred seventy miles away. Thank goodness we are on a sailboat! Cyn and I changed our mindset a bit and started getting psyched up for a long passage under sail back to home port.

We stayed at the anchorage a few days waiting for the tides to moderate. It was fun hanging out with the crews from the two other boats anchored there, Pochteca and Siempre Sabado. Eventually they all moved on and we had Puerto Don Juan to ourselves.  

San Carlos to Bahia San Francisquito

This was a two leg trip with a stop 26 miles up the Sonoran coast at Las Cocinas. Then a long crossing just south of the Midriff Islands to Bahia San Francisquito on the Baja peninsula. The run up the coast was an easy one with light wind and several hours under spinnaker. We shared the anchorage with a trawler the first night then had the small bay to ourselves on the second night.

Our eighty nautical mile overnight crossing to Baja was a bit of a rough one. The forecast was for eighteen knots of wind in the afternoon then a calm evening. We got twelve in the afternoon and a peak wind of twenty three at two in the morning. Also, we were sailing over an underwater shelf that kicked up the wave height a bit. I'd say there were a few steep six footers out there that night. Fortunately we had the waves on the beam so the ride was kind of wild but we were still able to make good progress. We sailed under a double reefed main and stay'sl.  Solera was very well balanced and the autopilot handled the boat just fine.

There is a small isolated island called San Pedro Martir that was in our path about half way across. I wanted to sail south of the island in deeper and hopefully smoother water but the wind and waves just would not permit it. Solera skirted just north of the island in waves much bigger than normal for the wind we had. Approaching Baja the next morning had us in the remnants of an Elefante. This is another Baja localized wind phenomenon that's unique to this area. It's kind of like a Chinook along the front range of the Rockies. This down slope wind can get quite strong along the coast. It's name comes from the cloud formation that's associated with it. The lenticular clouds roll off the ridge tops in a formation that looks like an elephants trunk. The wind clocked around to our bow and the seas soon followed suit. We motored the last five miles.

We arrived at San Francisquito mid morning to a calm, quiet anchorage. I dropped the hook in fifteen feet of crystal clear water off a beautiful white sand beach. We stayed three days and enjoyed every minute!

One afternoon I took the dinghy across the bay to a small cobblestone beach. This was the site where eight years ago Dan Heidenreich and I had landed our sea kayaks marking the end of a four day, seventy five mile crossing of the sea. It was a clear day so I could see our entire route. Quite a feat... what were we thinking?!

San Pedro and Las Cocinas

Here are some pictures from a five day trip up the coast from San Carlos. The idea was to go out for a few days to be sure everything is working properly before heading into the more remote areas north of the Midriff Islands. We left with light wind coming over the stern so out came the spinnaker. We ghosted along at 3 kts for about three hours to our first stop Bahia San Pedro. Approaching the bay, I doused the spinnaker then began motoring the last mile into the bay. We had a little scare when the engine suddenly began straining and vibrating. It turned out to be just a wad of stringy seaweed wrapped around the prop shaft. Thankfully, it was easily removed by hand the next morning. We enjoyed two calm comfortable days at San Pedro.

Our next leg took us 13 miles further to the Las Cocinas anchorage. It was flat calm all day and we motored the whole way without incident. We thought about anchoring in the tiny cove of Julio Villa. Tom and I had been there in 2008 on Solstice, my Cal 2-27 (see some of the earliest posts). It was a tight fit for a 27 footer and as we motored through on Solera, Cyn and I agreed that we needed more room. Las Cocinas was just around the corner and is highly recommended by other cruisers. The guidebook claims "gin clear waters". This time of year there is just a little green to it. I’d call it a "dirty martini". The anchorage’s western orientation provided spectacular sunsets. We had the whole place to ourselves.

 We broke up the 27 mile return trip with another stop at San Pedro. A strong NW swell had us anchoring on the well protected north side of the bay.  After a comfortable night at anchor we left early to avoid the predicted strong afternoon winds. We monitor the Sonrisa net on sideband radio for daily weather reports.  It’s comforting to know when something big is coming our way. Solera rode an eighteen knot wind over the stern all the way back to San Carlos. We made a steady five knots under genoa only. I rarely use this sail configuration but wind direction and swell dictated the using the headsail only. It's off to Bahia Los Angeles in a few days.

San Carlos 2012

Cyn and I have been back in San Carlos for about a month now. We completed several maintenance and improvement projects on the boat over the last few weeks. Solera is in the bay and ready to cruise. We went out for a sea trial on Easter with Oscar and Pilar. It was a nice reward for the labor we put into the boat. The sailing was just about perfect. We beam reached on flat seas back to SC under full sail with the wind in the mid teens. Solera kept her speed around seven knots. Like I said, perfect.

Earlier, we took some time off from "work" to climb the west peak of the Tetas. What an  impressive trail with a lot of scrambling and exposure. It proved to be too difficult for Morgan. Even though she scrambles up rock like a goat, several sections would have required me to carry her over sketchy terrain. Cyn and Morgan waited in a cool alcove while I climbed the last 300 feet. The view from the top of the 1400 foot peak included the summit spire of the twin peak, San Carlos Bay and marina, Marina Real and Algodones Beach, and a distant view across the sea to the Baja coast. I highly recommend this non technical climb.

This has nothing to do with sailing but was very special for Speedway, Indiana natives Cyn and I. Not long after we arrived in San Carlos, we went to the Marina Cantina for a beer and wifi access. I noticed an older fellow who was just sitting down at the table next to ours. He looked like Bobby Unser the famous race driver and three time winner of the Indy 500. I was almost sure when I heard his voice so I walked over and said " Hi... Bobby? ". He said with a big smile "Yes, and what's your name!" We began talking and soon he insisted that Cyn join us at his table. What I thought would be a quick hello ended up being a two hour conversation with one of the friendliest and most interesting people I've met. It surprised me that little was said about racing. He did talk about family, friends and various other adventures on land, sea, and in the air (he is also a pilot).

Currently we're waiting for an approaching weather window to head North up the Sea. Tentative itinerary is to sail sixty miles up the Sonoran coast to the Midriff Islands. We'll cross to Baja along the seventy mile island chain then continue North to Bahia Los Angeles and it's surrounding Islands and anchorages.

2011 Trip Summary and Pictures

These photos show our route in pretty good detail. Solera logged 618 nautical miles and completed a 102 mile nonstop passage back to San Carlos. We stopped at fifteen different anchorages on our trip to La Paz.

Here are a few more pictures from this trip. If you click on a photo you like you'll get an enlarged view.

San Evaristo

                                Isla San Francisco

Morgan

                                 Pacific White Sided Dolphin

                                       Puerto Los Gatos

                                      Isla Danzante

                                     Isla Coronados

                                 Martini Cove Bahia San Carlos

                                     Puerto Escondido

Solera

Here are links to a couple of short videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bavaXERr494

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOAxikbHnT8

Isla Danzante to San Carlos

After a short motor over to Puerto Escondido to top up fuel and water we set sail for Isla Coronados. For the most part, the wind gods have not been kind to us. Not that there has been too much, it’s just that it has not been coming from the direction I would prefer. I wanted North wind while going South and vice versa. This was another day with a comfortable breeze on the nose. Solera sails really well to weather so we hauled in the sheets and had a nice 20 mile trip up the channel. A big Catalina left Escondido a few minutes behind us and since they were motoring I expected to be quickly passed. But no, Solera drove through the short chop and kept well ahead all the way to Coronados cruising at around five and a half knots.

Cyn and I climbed the volcano during this visit. The trail is good, when you find it, and takes you to the 1000 foot summit. It’s about a four mile round trip. The view was spectacular with Isla Carmen and the town of Loreto in the distance.

The trip up to San Juanico provided the best sailing yet. Finally, we had wind aft of the beam at 10 to 15 knots apparent. Solera raised her skirt and took off running. The helm was light and the autopilot worked perfectly. We sat back and enjoyed an afternoon of sailing at six and a half knots.

With the wind out of the South East, our planned anchorage would be very uncomfortable. So, we dropped the hook for the first time on the other side of the bay. It was tricky locating a submerged reef but once spotted, we were able to avoid it and anchor in 12 feet with a good sand bottom. It was windy but a rocky point and the reef blocked the swell. We slept like beach dogs.

The next morning we listened to the weather on SSB radio. The forecast  was for mild South East winds so we decided to make our crossing over to San Carlos.  Our heading would be zero degrees, due North, and our route would cover 102 miles. Expecting to average about five knots, the trip would take about 20 hours.
Once again we had wind on the nose, and this time not enough to sail. The forecast was off by 180 degrees. We motored virtually the whole way but the trip still had it’s moments. Late in the afternoon we were about 30 miles out when I noticed what I thought was a large dolphin approaching on our port side. When it got closer I could tell it was a very small whale, maybe only 12 feet or so. Also, it appeared to be a sperm whale, pretty rare in this area. They are recognizable by their blunt heads. It was swimming along side of us, raising it’s head completely out of the water like it was looking for something or at us. Then it did a quick u-turn. That’s when we saw it’s mother coming from our starboard side to meet up with the baby behind us. The two whales joined and stayed on the surface together for a long time. It was unusual how rapid their breathing was. I could not help but think about the possibility of this encounter playing out much differently. What if the mother had decided to take aggressive action! It’s not common but it does happen. Looking back, I feel bad that we interfered with the mother and baby and put them in that stressful situation.

There was a nice sunset that evening and in the twilight a once in a lifetime event occurred. I had just left the cockpit and gone down below when, in a voice I’ve never heard before, Cyn called out "Ric come up here!". When I got to the companion way I looked over and saw a giant ring of waves, foam, and boiling turbulent water about two boat lengths off the port side. Cindy’s voice was shaking as she told me that she had just seen a humpback breach completely out of the water, it’s huge body laid out horizontally, even the flukes were in the air, then it came crashing back into the sea. The giant was much larger than Solera and less than 100 feet away. She said if it was any closer she would have been drenched! I pulled the throttle back and looked around. The whale came up for another breath about 150 feet behind us then disappeared. How incredible to be so close, too close really, to an animal that size demonstrating it’s phenomenal strength and agility. I’m pretty sure it knew we were there. Maybe I should do some reading about whales and their behavior so I can be more certain.

The rest of the trip across, thankfully, was uneventful. We had a beautiful orange sunrise about 10 miles out from San Carlos. There was a short period of strong wind and rough seas as we approached but all was calm in the bay. We anchored then headed in to Barracuda Bob’s for breakfast and a latte.

 This was a great trip, full of memorable places, people and events. Cyn and I are getting even more comfortable out there as we gain experience sailing a fairly large boat at sea and living aboard. Even Morgan has adapted well to life on board. I’m pretty sure it sounds like we’re doing something that’s out of the ordinary and at some level it’s true. But, I think cruising is attainable to anyone who has a strong enough desire to pursue it. We met all different kinds of sailors, everything from single handers on bare bones 27 footers to giant crewed catamarans that were like floating condos. Like society in general, the cruising community is a diverse group but it's one with a common bond. The love of adventure, sailing, and the sea.

 I’ll put out one more post after we get back to Colorado with a summary of this years trip and a link to more pictures and video clips.