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.