San Juanico to Puerto Escondido

We left San Juanico after two nights and had a most incredible 18 mile spinnaker run to Isla Coronados. Seas were nearly flat and the wind stayed around 12 knots. We popped the chute as we left the bay and rode it for almost four hours at around five knots. I don’t know if sailing gets any better. The mountainous Baja coast provided great scenery. We shared this with Colorado Springs sailors Barry and Sue on Waveglider, a 34 foot cat that left just minutes before us. We talked on VHF and complimented each others spinnakers. Waveglider soon peeled off and headed to Puerto Ballandra on Isla Carmen. We continued down the coast to one of our favorite anchorages at Isla Coronados. Simply stated it’s got crystal clear turquoise water, white sand beaches, black volcanic rock, and bright green ice plant like vegetation along the shore. On our way back North we hope to climb the volcano to take in the summit view.

From Isla Coronados it’s a 20 mile run down to Puerto Escondido. The forecast was for NE winds so we had our hopes up for another day under spinnaker. Well, we got SE but still had another great sail close hauled on flat seas with the genoa, staysail, and main all drawing nicely. This run took us down the channel between Isla Carmen and the Baja coast. It’s similar in scale to the Sir Francis Drake Channel in the BVI. We joined around 150 other cruising boats for Loretofest in the large protected bay at Puerto Escondido. This well organized event has been a really good time with great food, live music, seminars, and lots of activities.

I just have to say a little about boat names. Between SSB and VHF radios we hear a lot of them. Some good, some bad, and some like one we saw today really crack us up. First though, I have to explain a little about radio protocol. When hailing another boat you repeat it’s name three times then state your boat’s name. Today, while taking Morgan to shore for a walk, we passed a nice Catalina 42 out of Santa Cruz named Neener. This afternoon I think Neener was the most often hailed boat in the bay. Seemed like everyone wanted to get on the radio to say "neener neener neener".

The forecast is for some serious wind out of the North for a couple of days. We’re hearing close to 40 knots out in the middle of the sea. We’ll wait that out safely moored here in Puerto Escondido. We may choose to participate in a race/rally later this week that’s going down to La Paz. So far it looks like a dozen or so boats are participating. We’ll see. Lately we have been in cruise mode. There will be plenty of racing when we get back to Colorado.