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?!