Today is Saturday, March 24, 2007, & we’re at Marina San
Carlos. I can’t help but be discouraged after
spending 3 or 4 hours day before yesterday updating our blog only to have it
go…somewhere in the ether. The internet
service, to which we subscribe, is so intermittent & spotty that I suppose
I should have known better. Despite
criticism from all of us here in the marina, there are many who also use this
service & personal visits to boats by the staff, XPro definitely is not my
first choice; the other options are going to Barracuda Bob’s or an Internet
Café…all pleasant but I would need to take my maps, charts, binders, etc. as I
have a specific way I’d like to enter our last trip.
So I’ve decided to post to blog by entering first in Word,
then copy & past into it. I’ve done
this in the past &, as Rich points out, I have a copy in the
computer.
Here’s an overview of our trip:
We buddy-boated with Walt & Linda Wilson who are from Bay Center WA. They are sailing a Watkins 25 with their dog,
Jack, a rat terrier. Walt has sailed all
over the world; he is a wonderful teacher & mentor with a wealth of
knowledge matched only by his patience.
Linda is an RN who works at a nursing facility near Bay Center. They are wonderful people. We really enjoyed being with them &
learning from them.
SAN
CARLOS TO ENSANADA SAN
PEDRO: Excellent anchorage; 15 miles
from San Carlos;
sandy bottom
Departed Marina San Carlos 7 a.m. Wednesday, March 14th
Winds out of the NE.
We sailed on a beam reach from San Carlos
to the southern end of San Pedro Island. Wonderful sailing; cooked along at 4.5 – 5
knots, heeling nicely. We sailed into a
small pod of whales; we were so close we could see their eyes as they came up
to breathe, hear the “PHHHHHFFFFTTT!” as they blew & feel the spray. They swam with us & between us for some
distance then just slowly headed for the coast.
We’ve never been that close to whales.
Other people tell us that they frequent these waters at this time of
year.
San Pedro
Island is 17 miles from San Carlos; it is steep to, not an
anchorage. We changed tack at the island
& sailed directly into San Pedro Bay. It’s a rather large bay & can accommodate
quite a few boats. There were already 2
boats there & another came in later in the day. The beach is stony & steep; the shelling
is excellent.
We stayed here 2 nights, leaving early Friday, March 16th.
ENSANADA SAN PEDRO TO
CALETA VENECIA: Excellent anchorage; 21
miles from San Carlos, sandy bottom
Departed San Pedro 8 a.m.
Friday, March 16th
No sailing today!
Motored the whole way into this small anchorage with a large stony beach
ahead & a small beach to port as you head in. Lovely little bay, quite protected with Ensenada
Chica, a fishing port, just over the hill in another bay. We chose to anchor here not wanting to worry
over much about our dinks &/or motors disappearing overnight.
I went for a swim; it was a chilling experience even for
me! The water at this time of year is
invigorating – one could even say quite cold.
I washed off the algae that had grown on the bottom sides of the boat,
mainly to keep warm since I was already in the water & had to do something.
We stayed here 1 night, leaving early Friday, March 17th.
CALETA VENECIA TO ENSENADA LAS COCINAS:
Excellent anchorage; 27 miles from San
Carlos; sandy bottom
Departed C. Venecia 8 a.m.
Saturday, March 17th
St. Patrick’s Day! It certainly brought back memories of Dad
& other St. Patrick’s Days. This was
one of his favorite “holidays”; we always had the obligatory corned beef,
cabbage, onions, potatoes & carrots.
Las Cocinas was more what I had expected from Mexico: The water was about 12’ deep with a wonderful
sandy bottom. The beach was white sand
& not at all rocky or steep. The
water was aquamarine. Lovely! I went for a long swim. The water was warmer than C. Venecia; perhaps
because it was so shallow.
But the insect in this paradisiacal ointment were the
bees/hornets! They came visiting in the
afternoon; they appeared to be after water or anything sweet. We had a beach potluck that night to which
these intruders invited themselves & were truly pesky.
Las Cocinas appeared to be a popular beach for people from
the large city of Hermosillo. There were probably 5 families either picnicking
or camping the day we were there. They
were almost all extended families from kids to grandparents & were very
friendly & welcoming.
We stayed there 1
night & decided that we’d better head back to the marina as we were pretty
sure our water supplies were running low.
We had a third of a 2-gallon sun shower, a full 3-gallon jerry can &
what was left in our on-board bladder tank which was difficult to determine how
much water was in it.
Walt & Linda had decided to go up to the Midriff Islands & then across to northern
Baja so we were on our own from then on.
ENSANADA LAS COCINAS
TO CALETA VENECIA: 6 miles
Departed 9 a.m. Sunday, March 18th
We came around the headland that encloses Las Cocinas from
the open sea to be confronted with rough seas & wind out of the SE. In retrospect, we probably should have turned
right around & gone back into Las Cocinas but we pressed on.
The seas & wind kept building; we don’t have an anemometer
onboard so don’t really know what the wind speed was (maybe that was a good
thing…); the seas we estimate at 3 – 4’, choppy & close together. This was not fun. Obviously, we motored. The SE wind decreased our speed substantially
to about 2 mph. We were bouncing,
wallowing, pitching, & cold with spray coming over the bow.
This was challenging stuff made more so by our navigating by
dead reckoning using Gerry Cunningham’s “Cruising Guide to San
Carlos on the Sea
of Cortez”. This is a wonderful guide stuffed with vital information,
pictures, & photographs of the area.
We could not have done this trip back without it. It is not easy to pick out landmarks when
you’re in these conditions.
There was a panga between us & the coast that appeared
to be heading into shore. We were about
where we thought we’d find C. Venecia but we were not certain as we were coming
down from the opposite direction from where we came in the first time. It was now about 1:30 p.m. & the wind
& seas were getting worse. We knew
that there is a nasty rocky reef at the entrance of C. Venecia so we were
absorbed in trying to identify & avoid it.
We could identify Ensenada Chica by its fishing village so
we knew that C. Venecia was but a little way south of it. The panga fishermen were headed there also so
we had somewhat of a guide to help us get into this tiny bay. We were vastly relieved as we motored in
& dropped anchor.
It had been a harrowing day!
CALETA VENECIA TO
CALETA SERIMUERTO: 3 miles
Departed 7 a.m. Monday, March 19th
We made tea & motored out of C. Venecia finding winds
again from the SE and a large bank of thick fog blanketing the coast between San Pedro
Island & the mainland. We watched it carefully &, sure enough,
it crept up the coast toward us. The sea
was getting rough even at this early hour & the wind was increasing.
We motored for about an hour then decided that the fog was
advancing much too quickly & was much too thick for our liking. We had looked at the map & the cruising
guide as soon as we saw the fog & had decided on where we would motor if it
became troublesome. We motored into C.
Serimuerto, a tiny bay with sandy bottom & steep cobble beaches. We had our breakfast, a 2nd cup of
tea & read for a couple hours until we felt it was safe to poke our bow out
& make a judgment about proceeding.
It is strange to be in total fog but see blue sky above you. It was like being in a ground blizzard.
We found that although it was foggy, it was burning off
quickly so we felt confident that we could make it down to San Pedro.
The seas were up & the wind was blowing so our progress
was slow but steady.
CALETA SERIMUERTO TO
SAN PEDRO: 4 miles
Departed about 11:30 a.m., Monday, March 19th
We were glad to drop anchor in San Pedro! Although this trip hadn’t been as challenging
as the previous day’s, there was plenty to keep us absorbed in keeping ourselves
& our boat safe.
It was really rough that day & night. The winds were WSW into the anchorage. It was a roly-poly day & night. Thank Goodness for the SS grab rails Ron
& Terrel Chappell had securely (the operational word here) mounted on the
dodger. It would have been almost
impossible to climb in/out of the dink safely without them. I personally blessed them both every time I
got in or out of a pitching plunging wallowing dingy.
It was so rough that when we looked up at the wind vane to
see where the wind was coming from, the wind vane was looking down at us! The metal arm must have fatigued during the
night from the rough sea. This would
mean another trip up the mast for Rich when we got into the marina.
SAN PEDRO BAY TO CALETA BANDITO: 6 MILES
Departed 9 a.m., Tuesday, March 20th
We awakened about 6:45 a.m. confused as to why we had
awakened so late – until we looked out over the stern of the boat: We were totally fogged in! We couldn’t even see the boat that was anchored
off our starboard about 30 yards away.
When the fog lifted enough to marginally see the shore, Rich
set off for the beach in the dink with Duke the WonderWater Dog. Five minutes after he left, the fog came in
again. He spent a little time getting
back to the boat in this dense fog. That
was really worrisome. Although we could
hear the surf on the shore, I couldn’t hear the dink motor, which is not all
that loud to begin with. I was poised
with the emergency horn thinking I would let off a blast every 10 seconds or so
but he made it back.
We waited a couple hours & the fog began to fade &
burn off.
CALETA BANDITO TO SAN CARLOS: 11 miles
Came in about 11:30 a.m.; left again about 1:00 p.m.
The fog closed in on us again; again we had looked at the
map & chart to determine where we would head if this should happen. We had chosen this tiny anchorage & were
glad we’d prepared for another foggy intermission. We did the same thing we’d done the day
before: Had breakfast, a 2nd
cup of tea & read.
By this time we were eager to get into the marina. The wind was down & the seas gentle; we
knew we could make good time if we could just avoid the fog. We poked our bow out of C. Bandito to see
thick fog south of us but decided that we would motor until we had to duck into
another anchorage.
But as luck would have it, the fog retreated down the coast
ahead of us. We were putting along at
about 5 mph, keeping a close watch on the coast, the map, the chart & the
fog.
We made it into the marina late Tuesday afternoon. Everything was salty & sandy: The boat, us, the dog. We didn’t know what to do first: Take a shower, get ice cream or have a large
iced tea.
To celebrate, we went to Tequila’s for dinner & their
huge icy margaritas. We each would
probably have had 2 of ‘em if it hadn’t been so late.
The next day, Wednesday, March 21st, I did the
laundry while Rich cleaned the boat.
Some observations:
Although Rich & I have been together for almost 15 years
& have hiked, biked, kayaked, backpacked, skied together, we’ve each always
been on our own bike, in our own kayak, carried our own backpack, etc. This was the first time we had to work
together because we were on one boat. We
had to communicate clearly, not get impatient with our partner because he/she
didn’t understand (probably because the communicator was not being clear enough
to the communicatee), and not yell when he/she was frightened or anxious. We had our moments & lapses but we did
this together & are very grateful to have survived. Maybe we didn’t exactly flourish this time
but we made a huge first step &, most important, we’ll do it again.
Anchoring we found to be a challenge enough without having
to cope with a shaley bottom, mud or rock.
Because No Mas is so small and to date we’ve anchored only in shallow
water with a sandy bottom, I’m the anchorer while Rich is at the helm. We reverse the process when we’re raising the
anchor. We’re very careful to back down
on the anchor when we drop it & to let out the correct amount of rode
depending on the bottom & the wind conditions. We’ve never had an anchor drag. Also because No Mas is only 23’, we can
communicate verbally (See Below for additional comments on communication) but
we also rely on hand signals per Nigel Calder’s suggestions. This is good
practice for the possibility of our buying a larger boat.
We had blown up our dingy before we left & found that it
fits perfectly on the foredeck. Its 6’
so we’re like 3 mice in a teacup but, as you can imagine, if you don’t have a
dink, the only way you’re going to get into shore is by swimming (See Above for
comments on water temps). The little
Motor That Could just chugged away, started every time. Landing a dink in rough water on a steep
cobble beach is something else again. (I
managed to fall out of the dink with an almighty splash & much arm waving
in 2’ of water on a gentle sandy beach in front of a beach bar crowded with
people.) If you’re a sailor, dinks are a
vital park of your life & you’re bound to get wet, especially if you’re
sailing with a dog.
Interestingly enough, most of the beaches &/or public
areas in Mexico
are just filled with trash. One picnicking
family at Las Cocinas carefully put their trash in a cardboard box - & then
left it on the beach. We’re wondering if
there is not regular trash pickup or any trash pickup where they live so they
just leave stuff behind when they go.
It’s amazing that so many sailors have so many pets; most of
the sailors in the marina have dogs of all shapes, sizes, breeds, ages &
temperaments. We have 3 dogs on our dock
alone; we did have 2 more but their boat left day before yesterday. Chica is still boarding with the vet as she
was never able to accept the marina environment or the boat. Duke is a Golden Retriever, about a year
& a half, who wandered into our house, skinny, cold, hungry, fur matted
& tangled. We tried to find his
owners but to no avail. He is a
wonderful sailing partner. Even in the
roughest seas, he will generally fall asleep or go below into the
forepeak. He is accepting of his PFD
which has a handle on the top so if necessary we can help him in/out of the
dink on trips to shore. Duke loves the
dink to the point that he wants to jump into any dink that happens to come
alongside. When Rich gets into our dink,
Duke knows it means a trip to shore; he patiently waits while I put on his PFD,
sits in the dink until we get it onshore then steps onto the beach with immense
dignity. He loves the water & will
retrieve endlessly plastic bottles thrown into the water for him. His athleticism is amazing: He can launch himself from the dink onto the
boat with one leap. If we had to write a
description of what a good boat dog would be, Duke would exemplify it.
He & Rich are best buds.
When they go for walks around the marina, Duke is “date bait” – everyone
wants to stop & pet him. I never
know how long they’ll be gone. This
morning, for example, one of the charter boat companies was shooting a
commercial so they commandeered Duke to walk across the set which, according to
Rich, he did with great aplomb (Duke, not Rich).
After trying 3 different times with 3 different systems,
Rich got to the top of the mast this morning to get down the broken wind
vane. Unfortunately, although he was
able to get a piece of aluminum stock to mend it, he can’t get it back up as
there is a screw that is under the backstay that he can get to. We’ll finish our sailing here with telltales
& complete the wind vane repair when we step the mast. I was just as happy that the first 2 tries
yesterday were unsuccessful because it has been blowing hard & cold the
past couple days. Today the wind has
moderated & it’s a little warmer.
Going up the mast is not for the faint-hearted. It’s amazing how strong you have to be to do
this; it’s equally amazing how strong you have to be when you’re the one on the
boat belaying. I’d like to take a firm
stand & say that I’m not going to participate in this but I know that a day
may come when I don’t have that option so I’d better learn now in “safe”
conditions.
We’d like to share this with you because this is how we feel
about our sturdy little boat: No Mas
“…our tough little home that has so patiently protected us from the vagaries of
chaos and our own inexperience…was bringing us safely home…”. “Log of the Ithaka”
Cruising World July 2004.
I’ll stop now as we’d like to get in a sail today. We wish you all could be with us enjoying the
water, the boat & the area.
Adios then, for now,
amigos!
