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.        

La Paz to Isla Danzante

After a quick stop at the Marina Palmira fuel dock, we were on our way to Puerto Balandra just 12 miles to the North. Just after leaving the Canal de La Paz I stopped to check a charging problem. As Solera drifted and I sorted some wiring, Cyn said, " Hey, the marina boat is here." That was strange I thought, but she was right, everyone in the gray panga had a shirt on that said "MARINA". Turns out, in Mexico Marina equals Navy. It was a friendly visit. They were out checking boat documentation and ours was in order. The electrical problem was soon fixed and we were off again.

Puerto Balandra is a beautiful bay and home to the famous "El Hongo" or mushroom rock. Nothing against a local landmark tourist attraction but coming from Colorado, El Hongo was a disappointment. It’s a balanced rock about 12 feet tall, and like the Garden of the Gods Balanced Rock, it’s been reinforced. Cyn and I had a close look from the dinghy, shrugged, then headed over to Wave Glider for drinks and a game of dominos called Mexican Train with Barry and Sue.

We never finished the game. A coromuel wind kicked up that evening and soon we found Solera dragging anchor with nobody aboard. I hopped in the dinghy and raced to the boat. It was a struggle in the strong wind but I was able to re-anchor on the opposite side of the bay in the shelter of a large bluff. After a very wet dinghy ride all crew were back aboard. But wait, that’s not all. I tested and set the anchor alarm then tried to get some sleep as the wind howled. The coromuel finally abated a bit toward morning. Cyn woke up first and I asked her where Wave Glider was. She said, "Off our port side". "What!", sure enough, we dragged anchor again. This time about half way across the bay and no, the anchor alarm never sounded. I looked at the GPS and our track that night looked like a seismometer graph. Solera would swing and drag repeatedly through the night. On board we could not feel any of it. BIG lesson learned, get up and check the anchor often on nights like that. By the way, I estimate the winds were over thirty knots. The real problem was the bottom. By the scratches on my anchor it I would say it was a thin layer of sand over flat rock. We were lucky!

We had had enough of the coromuels so we headed North out of their reach to Isla San Francisco. This place is just beautiful. The South bay has a crescent shaped white sand beach over a half mile long. As the gulls fly overhead their white wings turn turquoise as they reflect the water color. It’s a picture perfect anchorage. To the East of the bay is a ridge of rock that looked interesting. The features were angular like basalt or rhyolite. We took the trail up the ridge to have a look and found the best bouldering area I have seen so far. Dozens of big blocks situated at all different angles and the rock is very solid. I’ll have to get Austin here at some point.

Next, we moved on to the fishing village of San Evaristo. It’s another nice, well protected bay. In the morning, the pangeros were out catching bait fish as we sipped our coffee. These guys are masters at throwing nets. I never saw one come up empty. Later, we went to shore to check out the little tienda. It was a bit of a gory scene as beef was being butchered on the front porch. Morgan got a whiff of the blood and immediately tucked her tail. Maybe she thought she was next.

The following day we were off to Puerto Los Gatos. Our last visit here was unpleasant with bee stings, hot temperatures, and a very rolly anchorage but, it’s the only stop on this stretch of coast. This visit was great, no bees, comfortable and calm. Hiking around on the sandstone formations was fun. The terrain was other worldly.

Then the plan was to sail up to Agua Verde. Weather reports were good here but farther up the sea there had been some wild wind. The trailing edge of a cold front brushed the northern sea and brought 54 kt winds to Bahia Los Angeles. We sailed through remnants of the disturbance and struggled a bit. We went through a wild range of wind speeds and directons. It was like a giant Lake Pueblo. We reefed and shook out reefs constantly. Finally, as we reached Punta San Marcial and Agua Verde, it was time to drop sail and motor around the point. Wind was on the nose and there’s not much room between the point and a reef offshore. As is typical in this situation the wind and waves built up as we continued. Then a big set of really steep waves slammed into Solera. We buried her nose and flooded the decks several times before giving up and heading back downwind to a close by anchorage. We hung out there for only a short while as the wind had quickly died out allowing us to continue on to Agua Verde. We needed a reservation when we got there! Seemed everyone came to seek shelter. Thankfully, it’s a huge bay.

Next morning we had a great sail up to Isla Danzante. The wind was light, less than ten, but very steady. The sea had just a ripple. Solera had all her canvas up and was pointing between 30 and 60 degrees apparent. Wonderful cruising at around five knots. I expected to drop sail and motor around Punta Candeleros but as we approached I could tell the wind was going to cooperate. We sailed through the narrow gap between Isla Pardo  and shore and got a "Looking Good! "as we passed a cruiser heading the other way under jib only. We continued North past several reefs then along the West shore of Isla Danzante to one of our favorite anchorages. We dropped anchor at Honeymoon Cove, cracked open a cold Pacifico and munched on smoked tuna and crackers. What a difference a day makes!