As dawn broke we were once again just off Isla San Francisco (The Hook) - our last log has a great photo of this anchorage. As the wind was picking up to 20kn+ we decided to pull into The Hook for a rest. Mike hit the sack and Catharine took the dog ashore by kayak. Within the next 2 hours we met cruising friends from Bonne Idee and  DreamCatcher -we had last seen these guys 300 mls south in Tenacatita. As the wind grew during the day we decided to wait until the evening before we left. The wind often drops at night, but not this night. We ended up spending 2 nights and were forced to relax. What a change after the rush of the last 2 weeks. We met new friends from a boat called La Soghia from Nice, France. We ended up buddy boating with Jean-Luc and Guylaine all the way to San Carlos.

When we did finally leave, the wind had dropped overnight to less that 5 kn from the north, we motored up the San Juan Channel, starting with no wind and getting to the top with 15 kn on the nose. It was almost impossible to sail out of the channel due to the current and wind so we slugged it out. As soon as we left the north end of the channel the wind disappeared. We kept motoring all day in less than 5 kn out of the north and finally dropped the hook in Agua Verde. Agua Verde means green water, and it is. We managed to work through a fairly crowded anchorage to the prime spot in the north bay. Finally we had gotten back into warm swimming water. We caught up with other boats we had met from our earliest cruising days. As it was the prime time for boats to make the crossing from Mazatlan and head north into the Sea of Cortez, we were sure to run into others.

The great part about moving north into the Sea of Cortez is there are far less places to spend money, there are not as many beach palapas serving cold beer and great seafood, and finally we could see how some people can live for less than $400/month in Mexico. Up to now we had been spending in excess of $1400/month. Catharine has kept a good log of our spending and will break down our expenditures after a year of being away. We’ll include a budgeting section in future episodes.

After just one night in Agua Verde we motored on again to Puerto Ballandra, a small bay opposite Loreto, which is on the Baja mainland. We had decided not go to the LoretoFest as it was almost over, and to do so we would have to check in and out again with the Port Captain of Loreto. This is tough to do as the LoretoFest is actually held in Puerto Escondido about 8 miles south of Loreto. To get to Loreto is a 13-mile taxi ride (or hitch-hike). This current system of checking in and out in Mexico is absolutely stupid. When we first started this trip we wondered what everybody was complaining about. At first we kind of enjoyed it as it gave us an opportunity to meet and talk to Mexicans, now we understand. It is not only ridiculously time consuming; it is very expensive. Luckily as you move north into the Sea of Cortez there are not as many Ports that have Port Captains.

The land behind the beach at Puerto Ballandra is considered an ecological reserve and you are required to pay a fee if you want to go ashore. Mexico is learning quickly how to get the dollar out of your pocket.

We spent two days there catching up with friends Jay and Susan from Indra, as well as crews from La Soghia and Cappuccino. Photo of cockpit party.  I actually got to break out the hammock and use it to finish a book I had started before we decided to paint the decks. Photo of the view from my office. As we had arranged for a haul out on May 17^th in San Carlos, we decided to move on after two nights, since we wanted to spend as much time as possible in the anchorages around Bahia Concepcion. After a great day’s sail from Puerto Ballandra, we spent two nights in a secluded bay just north of San Juanico. The wind had turned to the south so now we were looking for anchorages protected from that quadrant. After flying the drifter we had borrowed from Indra, we realized we had lost another spinnaker bag; it was our fault for not fastening the bottom of the bag to the cleat. Ocean: two bags, us: zero… We really enjoyed this quiet anchorage; Mike scouted for clams while Catharine painted a parrot on Indra’s windvane, completing a commission she and Jay had discussed for over a month. Photo of completed painting

The last leg of the trip up to Bahia Concepcion was another nice sail to start with, but then the wind dropped, we motored, then it came back, we sailed, then it stopped again. The land along this section was very interesting, we were getting into land that has been affected greatly by volcanic activity. The rocks and outcroppings are every color imaginable, some have huge black scars of obsidian across them. One interesting point we passed was called Octopus Point. You can see why from the photo; it looks like an octopus crawling across the ocean floor.

The wind was really fluky all day. As we rounded the point to head south down into Bahia Concepcion, the wind came out of nowhere, well from the east and blew at about 20 kn. We thought we would have a great sail down the channel. Alas as soon as we rounded the point the wind totally disappeared again. We motored about 10 mls south down the channel and we could feel the heat start to build as we headed into the anchorage at Santispac. This beach is a very popular place, not just for sailboats, but during the winter the shore is lined wall to wall with RV’s from the US and Canada. Baja’s main highway runs around the bay’s here before heading back in land so it very accessible. But the RV’s had all but gone. There were maybe a dozen scattered around the 4 bays that make up the main part of the area around Santispac. We hitched a ride with one camper into the lovely town of Mulege. There is an interesting historic prison here, where the prisoners were allowed to go to work at jobs in the town during the day, returning to the prison at night. The town is built on an oasis, so grows lovely dates, figs and oranges.

We had heard that the water was much warmer in Bahia Concepcion due to the limited tidal action. It was a lot warmer than Agua Verde and when we finally anchored down in Santa Barbara Bay midway down the Bahia, we encountered water that we would consider hot – easy to jump overboard into without any entry shock – although Catharine had been swimming regularly since The Hook.

You will no doubt have heard that the Sea of Cortez is a great place for fishing. We were a little early for good catches of finfish, although we did catch a very big half beak. This looks like a giant needlefish. As he was reeling it in, Mike thought he had finally caught a Wahoo - it was the right shape and size - but alas it wasn’t. These fish are great to look at and we take great care to make sure we do minimum damage getting the hooks out and releasing them. One of the other great things they have in the Sea is a great selection of shellfish. One of the favorites of Mexicans and Gringos alike is a clam called the “chocolata”, a clam about 2-3” across and the shell is a very shiny chocolate brown. They are eaten raw with all kinds of stuff sprinkled on them. We never tried them raw as they are very chewy - somewhat akin to chewing an inner tube! Bahia Concepcion used to be a prime place for finding chocolatas, but over fishing has wiped them out. What is left is the butter clam. For some reason the Mexicans don’t bother with them, so we found several bays just crowded with clams. Every place you put your hand in the sand you came up with 4 or 5 perfect steamers. There is evidence everywhere of huge clams up to 6” having grown here. While snorkeling around the rocky outcroppings Mike picked up what he thought was a large clam only to find a baby octopus hiding under it. The wee creature was a bit upset and inked us when we returned him to the sea.  

After a week of swimming, clamming, kayaking, snorkeling and hot spring bathing it was time to move over to the mainland to prepare for our haul out. The temperature was really starting to build on the Baja side and it would not be any better on the mainland where you have heat and humidity to contend with. We had had several days when the temperature in the cabin was in the 90’s; thankfully the water was perfect for jumping overboard anytime we got too hot.

We wanted to leave Bahia Concepcion in the late afternoon, make an overnight passage and arrive at San Carlos the following morning. We headed up the channel and found we could sail almost as soon as we left Santa Barbara Bay. We managed to sail until about 9 pm and the wind dropped to less than 5 knots. At this speed the Monitor wind vane has trouble keeping the boat on a steady course so we started the “Tokyo Topsail”, engaged the autopilot and motored into the night. As Mike went aft to lift the Monitor’s servo pendulum out of the water he noticed we were being followed by about a 7-8’ shark. We don’t know how long he had been there or why he was following us, but he was the first we had seen on the trip so far. As we pulled the pendulum up he disappeared.

At about 3 in the morning the wind returned and we started sailing again. It was a perfect beam reach, flat seas and about 12 kn and before long we were making 6-7 kn and going way to fast. Too fast because; we didn’t want to get to San Carlos before daylight. We reduced sail to the main only and still we were making 5 kn. By now we could see lots of blips on the radar, then the lights of the fishing boats out of Guaymas. Most of them see you coming (the beauty of sailing with a masthead tri-light) and maneuver away, but we needed to keep a keen eye as we couldn’t tell if they were shrimp boats dragging the bottom or boats laying out nets or long lines. When Mike saw the first strobe light blinking weakly he had many anxious minutes while he deciphered if it was a long line or a net. Long lines run from one buoy to the next buoy and generally the line is well below the surface. Nets can be either long drift nets that are close to the surface or the type that are weighted and sink 6-10’ below the surface. He couldn’t see any other lights or buoys on the water so he assumed the flashing lights were the other ends of a long line. It must have been, as we didn’t snag anything and continued uninterrupted to San Carlos.

At 6 am we were still about 5 mls from San Carlos and could see the loom of the mountain peaks behind the harbor - Tetas de Cabra (Goat tits).   But we still could not see anything on the water as it was quite dark. Mike reached for the binoculars to try and scan the horizon; as he did so he saw a panga with 3 fishermen in it about 20’ off our stb beam - no lights, just sitting there jigging for fish. The binoculars revealed about 20 pangas all around us, not one of them lit. We can only assume that they got out of our way as we had no idea they were there. We finally had to drop down below one that we were sure we were going to T-bone.

Approaching a coast like that behind San Carlos is very scary if you have not been there before. The landscape looks only vaguely like the chart in the dark. Thank God for that Brit guy in World War II who invented radar. All is revealed on that little 7” screen (except those darn pangas). We sailed straight into the bay outside the marina just as the sun came up. We could not go into the marina as the channel into Marina Real is shoal and since we draw nearly 7’ we had to wait until the tide was high at 1 pm before we could enter. So we put the dinghy in the water and went into the marina to get our car out of the storage yard and arrange a slip while we got the boat ready for the haul out. As we entered the marina we saw La Soghia tied up waiting for their haul out. In typical French fashion, they invited us aboard for a celebratory pastis. The car was exactly as we had left it; we pulled the tarp off, opened it up, turned the key and off we went. Apart from a layer of red dust it was in perfect condition.

The next 2 days were very hot and we had to decommission the boat prior to getting hauled out. Hauling out and leaving your boat on the hard here is not the same as it is in the Northwest. In the winter in the Northwest we worry about freezing. Here you worry about the exact opposite, baking. The temp and humidity both are at or above 100. This is very hard on a boat, particularly those with teak decks or dark hulls (not us). The choice is leave the boat in the water or haul out. Either has its pluses or minuses, if a hurricane was to hit San Carlos (they got the tail end of one last year) we think we would be better off on land, that’s were most boats left in the water end up anyway. The crew at Marina Real took great care setting the boat up for hauling and then propping it up in the storage yard. They use stands just like the yards up north and make sure you are well supported and the stands are all chained together to prevent movement. We are assured that they make regular inspections of every boat in the yard and during high winds they are there all the time.

Preparation for storage was a lengthy affair, pickling the water maker, fresh water system, flushing the engine, changing the oil, closing all thru hulls against entry by critters, not only closing them but filling the void from the hull to the valve with 3M scotch pad so insects don’t nest and then get driven in by water as we are splashed later in the year. All electrical instruments have to be removed, all antennae removed and anything with propane propellants such as WD40 removed from the boat. All hatches and cockpit openings have to be sealed against critters as well, as the cockroaches love to live on yachts as well as we do. Lastly we sprinkled boric acid all over the horizontal surfaces, just in case we do get invaders. We also left the sinks in the head and galley full of fresh water together with 3 full buckets on the cabin sole. It may be humid at times, but we are told that boats leaving water like this come back to dry sinks and buckets and woodwork that hasn’t shrunk at all. We’ll let you know what the results are when we return in the fall.

So we finally got it all finished on Saturday about 1 pm and prepared to head back to the states. After a late lunch of steamed chocolatas provided by the local divers and perfectly cooked by Guylaine of La Soghia we headed north out of San Carlos bound for Portland. And here ends our sailing adventures so far, but getting home was also fun. We decided to take the scenic route and spent 4 days visiting Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Lassen Volcanic National Park and a very cool ghost town. It was fun to go from 100+F to snow in the mountains of Northern California in less than 72 hrs. We will spend the summer in Portland while Mike completes arbitration for work, and catch up with family and friends.  Then it’s back to Breila in the fall for more cruising fun!

 Photo Album for Leg 9