Ensenada South to Magdalena Bay

1997

1 December 1997, Monday

Our boat went back into the water on Saturday and we spent the next day getting everything back together. Today we checked out with the Port Captain and Immigration, said our good-byes to our new friends, picked up last minute supplies and got ready to head further south.

Tuesday, 2 December

By 08:30 we had the anchor up and were motoring out of the harbor. We had to motor past Todos Santos Island and south before we had enough wind to even think about sailing. By mid afternoon the wind indicator was showing 10 mph of wind and the main was staying full, so we pulled up the jib and shut off the engine and sailed slowly south. We made about 3 to 3.5 knots until about midnight, when the wind shut down again and we had to resort to the engine.

Wednesday, 3 December

We passed San Martin Island just after sunrise and made radio contact with the German couple on "Milonga". We gave them another weather report and then continued in to Bahia San Quintin. It was a beautiful sunny day and we continued motoring slowly along the coast and anchored for the night behind Punta Baja. It was a somewhat rolly anchorage but in the calm weather, not too bad. We had a great view of the sky at night with no light interference as the fishing village there did not have any lights except car headlights. We picked out some of the constellations and, finally, picked out the 5 planets in a row in the west just after sunset: Mercury, Uranus, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

Thursday, 4 December

Another beautiful day for motoring along slowly. We passed Guadeloupe Reef and then passed out of sight of land. It was a beautiful night and we plan to anchor off the north end of Cedros Island in the morning so that we can get some rest and an early start for the last hop to Turtle Bay.

Friday, 5 December

The sun comes up just as we are approaching Cedros Island. We again talk to "Milonga" and headed toward a anchor spot about half way down the island. I then picked up the weather fax pictures and the Chubasco net weather report. They did not look good (a strong northeasterly wind was predicted), so we veered off and continued south to Turtle Bay, so that we would be in a more protected harbor when the predicted bad weather hit the next day. There was little wind until late afternoon so we motored all day with just the reefed main up. The wind came up for the last few hours of the passage and increased our speed some. We entered the bay just before sunset and were greeted by many friends already anchored in the bay. We dropped our hook next to Roger on "Victory of Wight".

Saturday, 6 December

We woke up to increasing winds and swells. At first the wind was SW and the reef protected us from most of the swells but by midmorning the wind had shifted south and was blowing right in the opening at us. It increased to 40 mph and the waves to 6 feet. Many boats moved to the south end of the bay, out of the direct swells, but several of us could not even get our anchors up so we let out more chain and stayed put. Interesting to be almost burying your bow and feeling mal de mar while at anchor! I am sure that our anchor has now dug to China and will be loads of fun to get up again. We did get one benefit out of the storm as the rain that it brought rinsed off the boat. Saturday night there was little sleep as the wind changed and turned us all into the troughs. We were also up until after midnight to help "Mavourneen" find her way into the harbor. They had been beating into the messy seas all day and were quite tired.

Sunday, 7 December

We still had large swells with us in the morning but by the afternoon they were diminishing and the rest of the fleet returned to the north anchorage, off the town. Bill tried to start the diesel battery charger to charge up the batteries and it only ran a short time before dying, nothing would get it started again. By late afternoon things were calm enough that we tossed our dingy over and took it for a spin through the anchorage. We said hi to many of the folks that we have been discussing weather reports with over the VHF, and ended up on "Mavourneen". Sarah had just made a banana cream pie and we enjoyed coffee with them and then took two pieces of pie home, for after dinner. Very yummy.

Monday, 8 December

Four dingys went in to town early today and made our first stop at the "bakery" where we all ordered rolls and "pan dulce" (sweet rolls) to be picked up after four this afternoon. Then we spent several hours exploring the town. We found a tortillria and picked up some great fresh tortillas as well as picking up some more avocados and bananas at one of the many small tiendas. Later in the afternoon Sarah and I returned to town, chauffeured by Bill in our dingy. We went to the bakery and the rolls were not quite ready so we wandered the town for awhile but when the delay became 1 ½ hour we returned to "Mavourneen" and a fresh pot of coffee that we downed before returning to shore and the bakery at 5:30. We had a nice visit with the baker…actually a woman in her home, while we were waiting for the rolls to finish baking. Then when we left the beach we were just congratulating ourselves on clearing the first wave when the second hit and turned the dingy sideways, took in a little water but we kept the bread dry. We then made deliveries to the other boats in the choppy water and returned to our boat rather cold. Dry clothing solved that and we sure enjoyed the fresh bolillos (like a small loaf of French bread).

Tuesday, 9 December

We woke up to increasing wind from the NW. The Santa Ana winds are building in So. Calif. and appear to be effecting us this far south. We spent the day buttoned up and reading in the closed up cockpit as the winds were also a bit chilly. The winds died some about sunset so we took the opportunity to pull the dingy onboard with the intention of heading further south in the morning.

Wednesday, 10 December

The wind increased, again, during the early morning hours. Actually it was coming in gusts up to 30 mph. We picked up weather info and decided to stay put for at least another day, wind gusts to 40 mph helped to make our final decision. One boat did venture out south and bragged to us, on the VHF, about the great sailing weather outside. We rocked all day with the wind gusts and got a few chores done around the boat, the diesel battery charger runs again and the forward head is missing its banging door. I did some baking and we both spent much time reading as it was too rough to take the dingy out exploring.

Thursday, 11 December

We finally left Turtle Bay this morning. The winds were still up but it was time to get further south, to warmer spots and the wind was from the north so it would be a great ride south. Well it was a great wild ride south!!! We had increasing seas and wind. We started the trip with a reefed main and working jib and very soon doused the main. It was not too many hours later that we realized that we were still overpowered in the 30+ mph winds and the boat speed approaching 9 knots. It took a while of procrastination before we decided that the wind wasn’t going to lessen but we finally dropped the jib and pulled up the double reefed main and fell off into a reach to approach Point Asuncion. We had a much more pleasant ride then and were all set for the tacking required to get to the head of the bay where we dropped the hook. Winds were still 20+ but they were not too gusty and the waves were down to just small swells.

Friday 12 December

We are sitting here in the washing machine again. Still anchored at Bahia Asuncion with 210 feet of chain out and hoping that the anchor holds; if it does it is again digging to China. The winds are between 30 and 40 mph now and have moved to the NE so we are being rocked by the waves being generated parallel to shore. We did get a great night sleep last night as the wind died back about sunset and did not pick up until after 9 this morning. The reports from the radio nets indicate that strong winds all along the coast are expected to continue into tomorrow. Our current plan is to get out of here in the morning, before the wind picks up and head for Bahia Santa Maria and hopefully as we travel the winds will lighten with time and southing.

Later: The winds blew all day leaving us feeling like we were in a washing machine but they seem to be dying back tonight again so, after another good nights sleep, we will be off to Bahia Santa Maria in the morning, about a 36 hour run. We have got our Columbia Gorge sails on and think that we are ready!!

Saturday, 13 December

The wind did die back for awhile and we got some sleep but about midnight it picked up again. By 02:30 we had given up on sleep and got ready to hoist the anchor. The wind was blowing 20 to 30 mph so it took about 45 minutes to raise the anchor with its 120 feet of chain. We then headed out of the bay and were soon sailing on a double reefed main. Today was a day of many sail changes. We lost the wind soon after sun rise and raised a small jib, the mizzen and shook the second reef out of the main so that we could keep our speed to 5 knots. Then the wind picked up again and the main came down and somewhat later the mizzen got her first reef. This setup lasted through the midday 40 mph winds and until late in the afternoon when the wind just died. We first raised everything again and then turned on the engine and dropped all but a single reefed mizzen. By 7 PM the waves finally dropped to a comfortable level and the two of us could enjoy the beautiful night. We also acquired a little shore bird during the height of the wind. He remained with us through the night, bravely finding a place to spend the night in the V-berth and left in the calm of the morning.

Monday, 15 December

We are anchored in a clam Bahia Santa Maria. We arrived here about 4 PM yesterday afternoon after a day of mostly motor sailing, the wind finally came up just as we were approaching the bay and for a while it looked like we were headed for another rolly anchorage. But after we got to the head of the bay, the waves calmed to ripples although the wind continued to blow up to 20 mph. We fell into bed early and had a great night sleep in the calm conditions. The water is warm here and the sun is out with a totally blue sky. We are looking forward to finally being south! This is a beautiful bay which offers great protection from northerly winds, we have sand dunes to the north and east and the two entrance mountain peaks to the west, brown and rugged looking; no obvious vegetation just many shades of brown and gray across the lovely blue-green clear water.

We spent the morning repairing things broken in the wild conditions that we had on Saturday. Two of the boom bails had come loose and were quickly repaired with through bolts, we also had a minor leak of water into a storage bin. Tightening the hose clamp on the vent hose joint in there should solve that problem too. Bill also disassembled the clutch on the windless and greased it up good so now the anchor should drop when I tell it to!

It was then time to play. We went for a swim in the 72 degree water and then took the dingy for a spin visiting our neighbors. "Milonga", "Savili" arrived in the early afternoon so we spent some time visiting on "Milonga", and then went over to visit "Traveler". All of these boats we had run into several times since leaving Ensenada and had been anchored in Turtle Bay over the same windy time that we were there. We made friends with the travelers on three other boats that have been in this bay some time and had a great evening get together on one, "Makai".

Wednesday 17 December

Yesterday we took the dingy across the bar and a little ways into the lagoon at the northwest corner of the bay. It was a pretty little channel with green plants along the edge; a real change from the barren landscape surrounding the rest of the bay. After our return the dingy engine decided to belly up on us so Bill spent most of the afternoon trying to repair it.

By today the outboard engine was still not functional so first I swam and then we pulled out the long oars and rowed over to the boat anchored nearest to us ("Savili") to do some visiting. We had a great afternoon doing nothing, but planned on another trip into the lagoon in the morning. Bill and I will each ride with one of our neighbors as our dingy motor is still under repair. We hope to get further into the lagoon as yesterday we had to turn around before we got very far in because we had no extra fuel with us.

Thursday, 18 December

We had a great time exploring the lagoon. It contains two fishing camps on the west shore that were quite picturesque and wandered quite a ways inland. We also found an abandoned ketch up one of the arms, how it got there is a big question, as the bar crossing to get into the lagoon is quite shallow. By the time we returned from our exploring the wind had picked up and we all felt that it was too cool for a swim. Bill got the dingy outboard engine working again and I picked up some weather fax pictures that showed not much coming our way. Torsten from "Milonga" brought us some fresh caught fish which we enjoyed for dinner.

We then had after dinner popcorn, tea and coffee in our cockpit, for the couples from 3 other boats. It was crowded but we all fit and had a nice evening. All the boaters in the anchorage are becoming like an extended family, especially as we meet again and again in new anchorages.

Friday 19 December

Today we woke up to clouds and rain started to fall soon after. The rain was great as it washed salt off of things. We had a day of sun breaks followed by squalls. The wind picked up during the short-lived squalls so we all moved closer to the west edge of the anchorage to get out of the worst of the wind driven swells. "Scuba Doo" gave us all an evening show of Christmas lights that they had strung in their rigging. It was great, as most of the rest of us did not even have Christmas lights with us!

Saturday 20 December

The wind sure picked up last night and we got very little sleep with all the racket that it created in the rigging as well as trying to keep some sort of watch on the anchor. The anchor held even through the 50 mph gusts and we both got some sleep in the early morning when the wind cut back for awhile. Today the wind blew just enough all day to make dingy travel uninviting until after dinner. The local fisherman came by with a nice 15+ pound tuna that they traded to us for a box of wine. They were leaving the fish camp for town to celebrate Christmas with their families. They were happy to receive the wine and us the fish so it was a great deal all around. Bill filleted out the meat from the fish and it produced enough for two weeks of eating for us. We did freeze one larger piece to use for Christmas dinner which will probably be a potluck affair with our boating family.

After our dinner we rowed over and spent an enjoyable evening on the nearest boat to us, "Le’Zarder". They make a great cup of coffee and we played with their weather fax program some to try to help them out with it. The picture that we picked up showed much clear air around us so we are looking forward to great weather tomorrow.

Sunday 21 December

We woke up this morning to what looked like another storm coming. There were clouds to the north and west of us but we were in sunshine so we took advantage of it and went for a swim, with soap to get clean as well. Bill and I then made an attempt to get to shore by rowing the dingy; it went well until we realized that the sandy landing spot that we had picked out was full of rocks just off shore. We got the boat in and I jumped off but then could not find a sandy spot to pull the dingy to before the next wave came and knocked me down with the boat. We gave up and rowed back out to await lower tide when more sand would be uncovered for the landing. We returned later in the day in the dingys from "Le’Zarder" and "Savili" and made a very wet landing and a wetter departure through the surf; all to burn our month’s accumulation of trash.

In the morning, thanks to the wonderful hams on the Baja net, I got a message passed to family in San Diego that we were going to spend longer here than planned. No reason to leave them worrying needlessly. The whales will be returning to the bays here soon for calving, too good an opportunity to miss and in the process we will also explore some of channels north of Magdalena Bay.

Monday, 22 December

Well, the front and wind arrived finally, at about 2 AM in the morning. I continued to sleep as the wind was nothing like two nights ago but Bill was kept up by the clanky noises. The wind never got over 30 mph but continued much of the day when clouds passed over with calm times between. We also got some rain and used it to rinse some of the salt out of our dingy landing clothing from yesterday. The day was spent mostly reading and the day for moving to Magdalene Bay is still manana.

Tuesday, 23 December

Today was a lovely day. We were up early and had the anchor up by 8 AM; then headed out of the bay in light wind. We hoisted the main then the working jib and by then the wind had increased to a great sailing wind of 15-20 mph. We shut down the engine and had a very pleasant sail to the mouth of Magdalena Bay where we were confronted with "noserlys" and a contrary current so we had to restart the engine and drop the jib to make any progress. We did get a glimpse of one whale here which spouted then dove about ¼ mile away. Progress was a slow 3-4 knots until we closed in on Man of War cove where we made the decision to go all the way to San Carlos. It was a nice motor up a well marked zigzag channel then on past town to where "Milonga" was anchored in a peaceful arm of the lagoon. "Savili" and "Le’Zarder" arrived at the anchorage slightly before us and we all enjoyed wine and fruitcake on "Milonga" before settling in on our own boats for the night.