Agua Verde & Los Gatos

I’m going to write about today May 22,2010 and work backward for a change. Mostly because we were tested with our first strong winds of the trip. We left Agua Verde at 0845 planning to have light and variable winds for the twenty two mile passage to Puerto Escondido. We usually get morning forecasts on single side band radio from Gary broadcasting from Conception Bay. Today we listened to a different net with Don Anderson doing weather out of Southern California. His forecast was for gale force winds on the Pacific side of Baja but “calm, calm ,calm” in the Sea of Cortez. Well, the wind steadily built up as we sailed North along a coastline flanked by the impressive Sierra de la Giganta mountain range. As we sailed past a high mountain pass the wind went from a comfortable twelve knots to a less comfortable twenty five knots. My usual uneasiness with weather like this comes from wondering how strong the wind will get. I reefed the main down and furled the genoa two times as the wind increased. After putting in the second reef I told Cyn that I could easily handle the reefing even in much stronger wind. I had a harness on while out on deck and was clipped to the mast while reefing the main. Solera is well set up for reducing sail.




The fun part was ripping along at over seven knots on a beam reach with such beautiful desert scenery going by. With the wind out of the west there was no lee shore to worry about. As a matter of fact if we wanted less wind, we could work our way toward shore and get in the wind shadow of the cliffs. After a couple of hours of this I noticed what looked like flat calm seas on the horizon. At the time, I couldn’t imagine it going from the mid 20’s to 0 that quickly but that’s exactly what happened. We sailed into the calm and fired up the diesel.





Agua Verde, the anchorage we had just left, is a beautiful bay with a small village adjacent to it. The area is remote with the only land access being a 25 mile dirt road to highway 1. There are twenty or so dwellings, two tiendas, a restaurant, a very small church, a one room school, and a ranch that sells fresh goat cheese. Walking around there is like going back in time a hundred years or so. You get the feeling that the population of less than one hundred is just barely able to keep the community going. Even so, the people were friendly and helpful. For instance, during my last trip in I motored up to the beach in the dinghy and was immediately greeted by two young boys. They grabbed the painter and helped me get the boat out of the surf. I arranged for them to watch the dinghy while I went out in search of the ranch selling goat cheese and a tienda with produce. Later, as I was returning from up the beach I could see in the distance a group of boys making a bee line for the dinghy. When they got to the inflatable they started bouncing on it and banging on it with sticks. Just as things were starting to get pretty rambunctious, the two boys I had “hired” ran over and put an end to it. When I walked up I could tell they were pretty proud of the work they had done. The smiles on their faces were unforgettable as I paid them off with some fresh apples I had just bought.




As we approached Agua Verde the day before, the reflection of the turquoise water made it look like all the boats anchored in the bay had their hulls painted pastel green. There are a few rocky islets doting the bay with the impressive, Roca Solitaria, standing watch at the entrance. It’s a unmistakable landmark with it’s huge rock tower. Our cruising guide has a picture of this anchorage on it’s cover. There’s a long beach in the center of the bay and two smaller beaches on either side of it. We had puffer fish around the boat, eagle rays cruising by, and while snorkeling Cyn and I saw a four foot Reef Cornetfish. Interestingly, it was long but only about four inches in diameter. The fish has the ability to change it’s color and pattern as it hunts for small prey.



Before Agua Verde we anchored eighteen miles down the coast at Puerto Los Gatos. This was as far south as we made it. The forecast was for southerlies, and since we go where the wind takes us, it was time go North. First thing that happened as we were anchoring at Los Gatos was that Cindy got a bee up her skirt. Not figuratively but literally! Soon there were swarms of bees around the boat seeking fresh water. We put the screens up and managed ok. Cyn was stung twice and I got one in the foot. The evening was pleasant, no bees, but the swell built up overnight rocking us around a bit. Beautiful banded sandstone rock formations surround Los Gatos. It looks a lot like the Utah desert. The only access is from the water so there are no buildings, there’s not even a fishermans camp. With the bees and the lack of protection from the weather I can see why.



Earlier as we were sailing south I was able to give Solera a true test of her pointing ability. If you are not into sailing you may want to skip this part. While on the way to Agua Verde the first time the wind shifted to the south east. That forced us off course a bit and had us sailing into the wind as much as possible. Here are the numbers Solera was able to generate. Under full sail we were pointing 30 to 35 degrees with 12 kts of apparent wind. We had just under a knot of adverse current and were beating into two foot chop. All this going against her and Solera was ticking away at four and one half knots. Needless to say I was impressed. On another note, I think you might find this interesting. We have now sailed 241 nautical miles and have yet to make our first tack! So much for being concerned about tacking a cutter rig.

We’re now in beautiful Puerto Escondido where we’ll re-provision, use the internet and have dinner out. Plans are to head North in a couple of days and seek out some more interesting anchorages.

San Juanico & Puerto Escondido

Solera made it to San Juanico in an eleven hour daylight passage. The trip brought us fifty four nautical miles down the Baja coast. We motored out of the eight mile entrance channel to Conception Bay then sailed as we picked up some light wind rounding Conception Point. The seas were very flat making the trip quite comfortable. Baja’s coastline is rugged and provided great scenery as we cruised along. The forecast was for east winds but as the day went on they shifted SE, too close to the direction we were headed, so we motored again. Not much wind anyway. One thing’s for sure, we didn’t want to arrive at night.



Caleta San Juanico is probably one of the top three most beautiful spots in the Sea of Cortez. You anchor in the mouth of a cove with a flat topped rock tower on one side and a jagged ridge of spires on the other. Rocky islets are all around. Throughout the bay the layered rock changes color from white to tan to yellow, orange, rusty red and brown. Interesting geology too. We found bands of crystallized gypsum in one area while hiking to a peninsula. Some of the rock formations reminded me of the Garden of the Gods.

I did some snorkeling around the spires. The water is a little chilly, around 75 degrees, but very clear. Lots of tropical fish, coral fans, sting rays, star fish and a few large fish I think were grouper. I didn’t take the spear gun but I was sizing them up like I had. One was so big I’m not sure who would have caught who had I speared him.



After a couple of days we decided to move on to Puerto Escondido (hidden port) thirty eight miles south. It’s a more developed spot with a marina, restaurant and store. Also has Internet. Sailed only about a quarter of the way with very light winds. Put the spinnaker up for awhile as we ran down the channel between the Loreto coast and Isla Carmen. Cyn was messing with me when she pointed out a sailboat following us. She said with a smile “ Look that guy’s catching us”. She knew I would start tweaking our trim to get every last knot of speed. That’s when we flew the spinnaker. We had to laugh when after seeing our chute flying, he put his up. They never caught us though



Cyn named our autopilot that afternoon. The Cal’s autopilot was called Pedro. Don’t really know why. Solera’s is named Spaz because that‘s what it does in light inconsistent wind. I think a derogatory name like Spaz might be bad luck. But, Spaz it is and spaz it does.

We had to time our arrival with slack tide because the entrance to the large inner bay at Escondido is only about a hundred feet wide. With a fast tidal flow we may be careening through out of control. We arrived close to high tide and made it in with no problems. Solera is now comfortably anchored in the bay with the impressive Sierra de la Giganta as a backdrop.

Bahia Conception

Hola,

As I write this we’re anchored in Bahia Concepcion on the Baja! The eighty eight mile overnight passage from San Carlos was somewhat slow, nineteen hours, but very enjoyable. Oscar also made the crossing in Bombay. We kept in sight of each other the whole way passing back and forth several times. We sailed and motored off and on sailing about two thirds of the way in winds mostly under ten knots. That kept our speed under five knots pretty much the whole time. The plus side is it was literally smooth sailing with no stress at all.




We left San Carlos at about 1530 and sailed for about three hours. The wind was out of the WNW and our destination was WSW. This scenario forced us south of our preferred track under sail. The forecast was calling for calm conditions so we figured we could make up difference when we were forced to motor. As the wind died early in the evening I fired up the diesel and reset the autopilot to get us back on track then sat back and enjoyed the sunset. It was a good one. Once again the high clouds lit up orange, red and pink. With no wind the sea surface was like undulating silk reflecting the crazy sky colors. Cyn said “It’s psychedelic.”



Then the dolphins showed up. As we were staring over the rail at the sunset we spotted literally hundreds of them out on the horizon. They were heading in the opposite direction and were far away, but we still hoped some would come up close. Eventually, just as darkness settled in, a dozen or so showed up around Solera. A couple rode the bow wake as others began jumping over on the port side. Cyn and I kept busy for about ten minutes trying not to miss any of the show. After they left we wondered why they go out of their way to check out boats. Must just be curious.

Not long after sunset the wind kicked back up and we set sail again. Cyn was going to take the 1200 to 0300 watch so she went down below for some sleep. It was really cool quietly gliding through the sea under full sail at night with the stars and the bow wake providing the only light. The wind died out at midnight and Cyn took her watch with the diesel running. That made it easy for her since there was no sail trimming to do. She said the moonrise was spectacular.



I took back over at 0300. Once again the wind filled in and I unfurled the genoa and hoisted the staysail. We were keeping the mainsail up when motoring. It helps steady the motion of the boat and provides a little bit of extra power. First light was at 0430 and the air temp was at dew point. Everything outside the cockpit was dripping wet and fog was beginning to form. I radioed Oscar that I would tuck in behind and follow him through the entrance to Bahia Concepcion. My chart plotter has waypoints I could follow all the way to the Santispac anchorage but Oscar’s radar was the only way to pick up other boats. At times the visibility was only a hundred yards. Thankfully we broke out of the fog just as we entered the long channel into the bay.




So here we are, hanging out in Conception Bay. So far, Cyn and I have done a couple of hikes, checked out some petroglyphs, and went to a couple of nice beach restaurants. It’s just an unbelievably beautiful place with nice protected anchorages. Oscar left for San Carlos yesterday. We plan to head fifty four miles down the coast to San Juanico tomorrow or the next day.

Hola,

We arrived in San Carlos on April 28 following a pleasant and uneventful trip down. After lunch at JJ’s we hijacked Oscar’s dinghy and went straight out to Solera. She had been sitting on her mooring for eight weeks pretty much unattended and I was anxious to see how she looked. Well, it’s amazing what a few seagulls, pelicans and herons can do in just a few weeks. Thankfully I had strung lines over the boom, solar panels, bow pulpit and a couple of other areas to discourage the birds. They did manage to get to the foredeck, stern rail and the aft part of the boom. The pelicans are the worst of the culprits. Their grey poop over time turns essentially to concrete. Cyn and I decided to hire some locals to do the clean-up. Jimmy and Tony did a fantastic job cleaning up Solera. They also waxed the entire boat and polished all the stainless. Both of them spent two full days cleaning and shining her up. She has never looked better. Well worth the pesos.



The weather was perfect so we decided to go for an afternoon sail to check Solera out. We did two laps of Bahia San Francisco for a total of about sixteen miles of sailing. The wind was out of the south so we broad reached back and forth across the bay at over five knots in less than ten knots of wind. Hard to believe but the wind laid down mid afternoon so we headed in.



Cyn and I then spent a couple of days preparing for the trip to Baja. We filled fuel, water and propane tanks, then provisioned at Ley (like a Mexican version of Target}. I went through all the boat systems. Everything was working fine so we planned to depart on Wednesday the fifth, Cinco de Mayo. We decided to leave at 3 pm for the estimated 17 hour overnight passage.

We thought about doing a two day trip to San Pedro Bay to shake down the boat but instead just focused on getting over to Conception Bay on the Baja. So, there we were all set to go. I reach down turn the key and push the starter button…. nothing. Tried it again and ... nothing. Not even a click. I checked the engine compartment for any obvious problems but everything looked ok. Next try she fired right up! Just to be sure I stopped and restarted the diesel several times just to be sure it was ok. No problems so off we went.





The weather was mild with only about a five knot breeze and temps in the mid eighties. We wanted to average about five knots for the passage so it looked like we would be motoring until some wind filled in. The diesel ran great. Fuel consumption was less than two liters per hour at 2200 rpm. At around dusk the wind picked up and we decided to set sail. It was beautiful out there. The sky was full of high altitude mares tails and as the sun set they turned into brilliant red and orange whisps of fire. Solera heeled to the breeze and with a comfortable motion carried us toward Baja.

With a moonless night darkness slowly creeped in and at the same time the wind steadily built up. The bow wake was sending out it’s now familiar shower of bioluminescent sparks. I told Cyn when the apparent wind reaches fifteen we’ll put the first reef in. About an hour later it was time. We’ll just fire up the diesel point her into the wind, take in the reef, shut the diesel down and off we’ll go. Engine wouldn’t start. Tried everything but nothing. So, we hove to and put in the reef. Next, I went and got a screwdriver and started the diesel just like, years ago, I started my 1967 Triumph GT6 when it’s solenoid went bad. We were about 25 miles out but decided to turn back to San Carlos where parts would be available if needed.



Found the problem the next day. I traced the ignition wires and found a plug connection below the engine that was filled with oil and partially unplugged. A quick cleaning and reconnecting was all it took. In more serious circumstances, this could have been done at sea. But, we have plenty of time and are not on any schedule so no big deal. We are going to leave on May 8 in the afternoon for an overnight crossing. Oscar will be crossing also on Bombay. I’ve written this before but the next post should be from Baja.