The Middle Sea - August & September 1998

Thursday 23 July

Monday we returned our guests PJ and Loretta to their car in Santa Rosalia and on Tuesday we drove back south to Puerto Escondido. When we passed through Mulejé we stopped at the new bakery there and picked up some great sweet rolls and croissants. Back on the boat with just the two of us we have started doing the few projects that we feel need doing. Yesterday we removed the head and most of its plumbing from the forward closet and installed the new 2-speed fan over our aft bunk. We also started to work on the shade tarp for the bow of the boat which is our favorite area to sit and read.

Wednesday 29 July

Gee it is almost a week since I have written anything! Sunday we drove over to Lopez Mateos to visit with Patrick and Alicia and to check out the progress on the home that they are building there. They are house-sitting the Pesos restaurant owned by a Canadian couple (Carol, Danny and daughter Catalina) while the Canadians are making their annual trek to Canada. Since there was a phone there Bill got our e-mail set up to use the credit card and then downloaded 52 messages. I sent out a quick note to many friends to let them know that the mail had been received. We now hope to have access to our mailbox through local Hotels that for a fee will allow you connect your computers to their phone lines.

The drive across the peninsula was pleasant as it cooled down when we reached the upper plateau. The desert was very green on top the plateau, as the thunder showers that we have been seeing in the mountains each nigh for the last month have dropped lots of rain there. All the trees and shrubs that are usually brown twigs were covered in nice green leaves and grass was even growing on the roadsides where some cows were grazing.

It was pleasantly cooler on the Pacific coast with the afternoon offshore winds blowing off the cool ocean. Glen and Marge from "Scuba Doo" joined us on our trip and we all had a enjoyable visit, and a great nights sleep. We left here about 9:30 AM and arrived at the restaurant in Lopez Mateos before noon.We spent the next morning taking advantage of the phone and enjoying the cool and the great company; we left mid afternoon and explored Ciudad Constitution until early evening arriving back in Puerto Escondido about 30 minutes after sunset, when things were already cooling down.

The day before we headed to the coast we tried to turn on the diesel battery charger and it refused to run more than 10 minutes before the fuel filter was full of air. Bill spent an entire day in the hot engine room trying to track down the problem. He had just installed a new fuel lift pump in Santa Rosalia, and although it had run fine 4 times over the last two weeks it seemed to be now leaking air into the fuel lines. Bill decided to forget the pump and install a gravity feed day tank. On our way back from Lopez Mateos we drove into Ciudad Constitution to pick up groceries and to try to find a "day tank". What we found for a day tank did not work out as planned, but a empty powdered milk can did the trick. The charger is now running!!!

Yesterday we experienced our first of the summer thunder storms. One rolled through here in the mid-afternoon and in 45 minutes gave us lots of rain, some cooling wind and a few strong gusts, and then was gone leaving the air slightly cooler.

Sunday 02 August

The last few days have been spent enjoying the warm water and making a few trips into Loreto, where we enjoyed dinner out at Chile Willies, our favorite restaurant in town. We picked up some fresh vegies and topped up the water tank and are off to Agua Verde today.

Later:

We arrived at Agua Verde after a windless dee-sail south. Their were 3 other boats already here so we anchored among them. A potluck had been organized for this evening on the beach and we were invited to join them. The food was great and the company superb. The water here is cooler here than in Puerto Escondido (but only slightly) but the air has the same heat and humidity. A nice breeze in the late afternoon cooled things off for the potluck and we only encountered a few of the biting kind of bugs.

More boat repairs for tomorrow as the engine oil leak seems to have increased, probably a loose fitting, and the newly installed GPS antenna seems to be flakey, also probably a loose connection. The small antenna from the hand held GPS attached to the back of the larger unit worked for the trip to Agua Verde.

Wednesday 05 August

In preparation of the annual "Crab Drags", we moved out to Isla Monserrate yesterday afternoon in an increasing southeasterly wind, anchoring at the north end of the island. The wind continued to blow through the anchorage most of the night but the swells were not too bad until the wind died. We then started to pick up a NE swell and with no wind we laid in the troughs and rocked and rolled. There were large breakers rolling into the beach which would make a beach landing to look for hermit crabs impossible. Many of the boats anchored here decided to up-anchor and find a safer harbor as a "thunder bumper" storm passed through that made this bay a lee shore, in the late morning. They discovered that there was a lee shore all the way around the island (!!) and ended up back here as things calmed down; we just stayed put.

The waves decreased enough in the late afternoon so that we could land and set up the crab race tracks but by pot luck time they had again increased. The pot luck was therefore moved to the more easterly beach. No racing tonight but we all gathered hermit crabs for dressing up in costumes tomorrow.

Friday 7 August

Last night was the first of the crab races. After a super pot luck the costumed hermit crabs made their appearance. Many were brightly painted and some were dressed up in elaborate costumes. The winner was two crabs that were wearing a costume to make them look like a dog, very cute. They were all dumped into the center of a circle to see who would escape first; Bill’s crab (painted yellow and named "Pissed-Off Crab") won the honors here. Then, as it had gotten dark, it was time to hunt for the ghost crabs to race in the track. We spent much time hunting at the tide line for crabs not finding many so a group went to the longer more western beach and returned with a bucket full of the animals. With generator running and lights aglow, including a set of Christmas lights on the tracks, it was time to race! Two crabs raced against each other at a time, with each coach using a feather to keep him moving in the right direction and there were two catchers at the end to nab the crabs at the finish. After several hours of racing, a few crabs decided it would be better to bury themselves in the sand of the track, we finally came up with a winner. Great fun was had by all but the crabs.

We got a few rain showers this afternoon and a little wind but nothing too bad and the rain quit in time for the evening pot luck and races. I even raced a crab tonight (the second night) and ended up coming in first for the night but when my poor tired crab raced the fresh winner from Thursday night he lost so I gained the honor of second place for the races. After the awards we returned to our boat just before the rains started again.

Saturday 8 August

We are back in Puerto Escondido after a great E-ticket ride from Isla Monserrate. It seems that tropical storm Frank has stirred up some weather for us. About 0200 this morning we were woken up by strong winds and lots of rain. The storm cell passed in about 30 minutes and then we had calm for about an hour before we got hit by a second thunder cell. This continued until about 0630 when the storm that arrived stuck with us all morning with gusts to 45 mph and lots of rain. The wind finally cut back to 20mph at about 1100 and we pulled up the hook, pulled up the small jib and crossed the rough channel to the south end of Danzante. There the wind picked up to 45 and the waves reached 8 feet as we approached and passed between two of the islets. Once we passed the candles (as the mid channel islets are called), things started to calm down some. We anchored in Puerto Escondido about 2PM with the wind down to 20mph again. We continued to have occasional gusts to 30 all afternoon but in the bay the water stayed relatively calm.

Sunday 9 August

The wind shifted more westerly late in the evening and then, after we went to sleep, the wind died completely so we got a very good nights sleep. Today was very calm but cooler than it has been. We made a late afternoon trip to the tienda in preparation for heading north in the morning.

Monday 10 August

After another calm night. This morning we raised the anchor and headed off to La Ramada in very light northerly wind. Just enough wind to keep the main full while we motored north. When we made the turn to more northwesterly direction at Isla Coronados we pulled up the jib and tried sailing for a while but gave up with the boat only making 2.5 knots and not even in the right direction.

The anchor was dropped in San Juanico with only a slight swell rounding the point into the bay. The water here is not as clear as it was on our last visit here and we saw a few small stinging jellyfish float by, no night swimming here!

Thursday 13 August

Back in Santa Rosalia, we arrived here late yesterday afternoon from Santo Domingo.

Tuesday we made a late afternoon-night run from San Juanico to Santo Domingo at the north end of Bahia Conception, in very calm weather with beautiful sunset followed by a starlight sky. The hook was set in the bay shortly after midnight. Earlier in the day, before leaving San Juanico, we did a one pass snorkel around our favorite reef. The water was not as clear as our last visit but visibility was still about 15 feet and the water felt great.

Here in Santa Rosalia, last night, we each ate two of the famous dogs at the hot dog stand and then picked up some breakfast rolls at the bakery. The docks here are almost empty as most of the boaters have either headed to San Carlos to leave their boats for the hot time or have moved north further into the sea.

Sunday 16 August

Still in Santa Rosalia enjoying the availability of restaurants, we plan on getting underway toward Bahia de Los Angeles tomorrow evening. The plan is to make an overnight hop to San Francisqito, about 80 miles north. Then we will be in another area of lots of anchorages on the of shore islands as well as nooks along the Baja shore.

This morning our friends Jerry and Dee from "Traveler" were driving by on their way back to La Paz and saw our boat in the marina. They stopped and we wandered up to the Hotel Frances and had breakfast and a nice long visit. We also went to the hotel for dinner and to send out some e-mail. Dinner was great but the phone connection was poor and the e-mail never got sent.

Tuesday 18 August

We finally got the e-mail out. It just took the regular weekday receptionist in the hotel that knew how to do it for success. At 6 in the evening we finally untied the dock lines and headed off north.

Thursday 20 August

After and overnight motor sail we arrived in San Francisquito about 10 yesterday morning. The sun is still hot here but the water is only 73F and last night was very comfortable. We had a pleasant cooling swim after the hook was down and then slept and relaxed the rest of the day.

Today we decided to stay here and explore the canyon beyond the beach. The rock formations are fantastic! The canyon seems to be a wash and rain has carved interesting caves in the lower part of the yellow sandstone cliffs surrounding the canyon. Above the sandstone cliffs are fields of large smooth boulders that seem to be just growing out of the ground. The desert plants are green and flowering, probably a gift of the rain that we experienced while at the crab drags. This summer the Baja desert has been much greener than I ever remember it being. After our trip up the canyon we took off to explore the little bay within a bay here and the outboard decided to make lots of noise and quite pushing us along. Bill spent the rest of the day rebuilding the outboard’s lower unit. He did get it all working again and we took our spin to the bay just at sunset. We hope that his repair holds for the next month. When we make a quick trip to San Diego in late September we will pick up parts to replace those that are worn.

Sunday August 23

We are now in Puerto Don Juan, a very protected anchorage just south of Bahia de Los Angeles. Yesterday we made the trip over from Isla Partida where we had spent one night after our Friday run north from San Francisquito. Friday’s trip was in flat calm seas with occasional weak tide rips but no wind. It was so calm that we never even pulled the main sail up! Yesterday we had just enough wind to keep the sail full and it was a good thing, as the wind against the current made for beam seas that would otherwise have been rolly.

Isla Partida was an interesting anchorage but we rushed over here for the Turtle Talk lecture given by a scientist studying the turtles here in Baja.

Monday August 24

The turtle talk was very interesting and the pot luck was great. Jeff from the turtle station came out in his dinghy with 3 of his current helpers. We ate the great food and then Jeff sat on his pop box and talked for about an hour. He told us about the islands around here, which have all been incorporated into a preserve. They even have acquired funds from Mexico City to print signs and do some clean up on the islands. The signs are placed in sensitive ecological areas restricting access over parts or the entire year so that nesting animals will not be disturbed. The locals are beginning to realize that their future depends on preserving their unique ecology for tourism. He informed us that the turtles are migratory and the area is a feeding area for 4 species of turtles with the egg laying occurring as far away as Japan. Turtles were very abundant here until about 40 years ago when they were hunted and shipped out in large quantities until this fishery too collapsed due to over fishing.

Bill and I spent part of the day visiting other cruisers here, there are 11 boats anchored here, and we made a few excursions to the shore. This is interesting bay with a zig zag entrance; it is well protected from all directions. There is a window here similar to the two at Puerto Escondido. It seems to be an old opening that overtime has filled in with large water smoothed rocks forming a low barrier. This one seemed to be filled in with two very different types of stones one forming the eastern part and another for the west part. Those on the west were flat and would make great paving stones, those on the east were much rounder. We also paid a visit to the bathtub bar the forms the zag part of the entrance and the little shallow bay just behind it. Actually this was a very similar structure to that at the window being composed of large rocks and stones all rounded by water action.

Thursday August 27

We moved the 6 miles to anchor off the village of Bahia de Los Angeles in the morning yesterday. We then explored the town which has grown to support the sport fisherman from the north. This is their slow time of the year so us boaters were almost the only foreigners in town. There are several small but well stocked grocery stores and a few open restaurants and very friendly locals. Eleven boats have congregated here for shopping and a night on the town.

We hiked to the Turtle camp late this morning and saw the turtles that they had there. They were turtles that had been taken from poachers and they were there recovering from their ordeal waiting to be released again. Late in the evening a whale shark was lazily swimming between the boats and shore. We took the dinghy out to see it and it was over twice as long as the dinghy. He was just swimming back and forth straining water through its very wide mouth eating.

Dinner again was in town with friends. The end of another very nice day.

Saturday August 29

We are now anchored at Isla Coronado or Smith Island as it appears to have two names. Yesterday it got hot and humid and that has held today. It was a pleasant two hour motor sail to this anchorage but once we got anchored the heat and humidity overcame us and we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, sleeping and swimming. The water here is not very clear as we could only see about 10 feet down but it was cool and refreshing. The weather got very pleasant in the early evening when the evening breeze picked up but it did not last all night and we slept under fans again. This is a pleasant little nook that we anchored in with some nearby rocks to snorkel around.

Monday, 31 August

Today was another hot day but we stayed busy and in the water much of the day. Yesterday we snorkeled around the rock reef in the east west corner of the anchorage but the water was cloudy and the visibility was only abut 15 feet. Today we set off for the little lagoon just south of here and the water seemed much clearer. We ended up passing the lagoon entrance to snorkel in the interesting cove just south then returned to the lagoon. We entered the lagoon in the dinghy and motored to the east side where we beached the dinghy and walked the few feet across a sand spit to the eastern shore of Isla Coronado. Another dinghy of boater friends (Bob and Jean from "Cadre") had joined us so we sat in the water visiting for about an hour. On the way back to the boat we stopped at the first reef where we had noted the clarity of the water and spent another hour watching and chasing fish. It was sufficiently hot that after a quick lunch we were back in the dinghy and found a little nook just north of our bay where we again spent a few hours watching fish and keeping cool. We ended dinghying all the way to "Irie" who were anchored in the next anchorage north of Lanikai where we spent some time resting and visiting with Dick and Karen and their two German shepherds Naly and Soda before motoring home.

Thursday September 3

We moved back to Puerto Don Juan yesterday morning because Hurricane Isis had started up the sea. By late afternoon all 20 of the boats in the north sea were anchored in the bay here and prepared for wind and rain. About noon today we got the report that Isis was no more. After she picked up speed yesterday afternoon Isis was declared a hurricane but by this morning she had been downgraded to a tropical storm. This morning she headed inland near Los Moches on the Mexican mainland and stayed over land losing strength. By the noon report today she was dissipating. All that we got out of Isis was a few scattered showers today, lots of clouds, and a little cooling.

Saturday September 5

I tried my hand at clam gathering just off the beach yesterday. There are so many clams that all you need to do is scrape your hand across the bottom and it comes up full of nice clams. I steamed some of the clams and diced them into our rice stroganoff for dinner, very yummy. Bill does not "do" shellfish but with the clams chopped up fine, he thought that they were ok.

Monday September 7

Hot and windless yesterday. We had a clam cook off on the beach after the nearby hill produced shade on the beach last night. There were many very good clam dishes including some pasta ones that Bill enjoyed. Karen from "Irie" made a clam pot pie that was very good. There was lots of variety as we had all had fun exploring our recipe files for interesting clam recipes after the clams were gathered at the morning low tide. Clams are very plentiful on the beach here and are easily gotten by the handfuls while sitting in the shallows at low tide.

Today we took the dinghies out to the nearby islands to do some snorkeling. The water was not very clear but it was a beautiful day for a dinghy ride, calm and clear.

Wednesday 9 September

We never made it into town yesterday as Bill got involved with his computer while I handled my radio schedule, and we just never got the hook up. So early this morning we moved and are now anchored off the village. We got into town early enough to enjoy the museum and picked up some groceries at the Yellow store before joining some other boaters for lunch on the upstairs balcony of one of the few open restaurants in town.

There is lots of sea life around here. Most nights we have seals fishing around the boat and quite often there are dolphins that swim by our bow as we travel. Yesterday we could see two large whales in the south end of the bay while we were moving to town. There are also lots of pelicans, boobies and other birds, which are fun to watch as they dive for fish.

Saturday September 11

We are just approaching Puerto Refugio. We left Bahia de Los Angeles Thursday morning and anchored in Ensenada Alcatraz, a beautiful bay with a long white sand beach. Yesterday we snorkeled off the southern point and the little islet there. The water is cooler here and real pleasant. We spend about 3 hours in the water looking at more fish than we have seen since snorkeling at Isla Danzante. Dick from "Irie" got a nice golden grouper. We took a potluck meal to the beach and built a beach fire and barbecued the fish. It was delicious and so was the rest of the food. We then spent the rest of the evening enjoying the fire and visiting.

Today is a blue sky kind of day with little wind so we are motor sailing. The earth tones of the islands are varied and form a pretty site next to the darker blue of the sea and the light blue of the sky. Three large whales passed nearby the boat as they were lazily feeding near the surface, one was so close that Bill turned the boat slightly to make sure that we did not hit it. He was at least as long as Lanikai. We also passed many pods of dolphins and a few came to ride our bow for awhile.

Refugio is a must-see kind of spot. The water is quite warm here and the anchorage is in a no wind kind of place and we did get some good rolly swells coming in from the north last night but the scenery is beautiful and the snorkeling looks to be great with good water clarity. The land is sculptured by the sea and wind into castle like forms with caves and pillars of red stone. Higher on the hills are gray and yellow overlays and the forests of large cordon cacti stand out against the red hills.

Monday September 14

Yesterday we spent the entire day out snorkeling. We checked out the reef nearby to the anchorage first. The west side was great, like a water fairyland, with lots of fish and the rocks underwater were just as fanciful as those on the hills above. We then dinghied out to Isla Granita with a large seal contingent on the shoreline. We got in quite close and anchored near to the shore. The seal pups were very curious and checked us out from the rocks and the water where they looked like prairie dogs sticking their heads above the surface. We did not swim here as we were not interested in swimming with the seals. We then moved over to Fang Rock to snorkel and checked out the undersea formations and life there. Again the rock formations were fanciful and the schools of fish plentiful. We even watched an octopus slinking away from a large grouper that was intent on having it for dinner. Even though we were tired we had one more reef to explore. It was the large one in the east nook where we found, in addition to the rock formations and fish, there were bright green coral trees on its outer edge.

Today we wore ourselves out in the morning by cleaning barnacles off the bottom of Lanikai and especially the prop but we gathered enough energy by mid-afternoon to play on the nearby reef around Isla de las Cuevas. We actually saw and followed a turtle swimming below us for awhile until he swam too deep for us to keep him in sight.

Wednesday 16 September

After another hot day spending four hot hours in the hot water exploring more reefs we decided to head back to Ensenada Alcatraz where at least the water was cooler. We were getting tired and the 92F water did not do much to refresh, it only kept you sort-of comfortable while in it. This morning we upped the anchor and headed back south the 25 miles to the bay with the long white sand beach. On the way south we passed through a large pod of dolphins and caught a small dorado. The dorado was cut up to four meals one of which we cooked for dinner, very yummy. After we got the anchor set, we spent the rest of the afternoon hiding from the sun in the now comfortable cabin, 95F, and read.

Saturday 19 September

The weather seems to be turning. Last night the five boats in Ensenada Alcatraz enjoyed a bonfire on the beach and sometime in the evening the wind switched and became quite cool. The coolness lasted the entire night and even today the wind has cool streaks in it. We moved to off the village of Bahia de Los Angeles today and are still getting cooler streaks in the wind. Last night this area had very hot dry desert winds all night long so we will see what tonight brings. We only plan to be here one night and then move south to Quemado for a few days before continuing our trek back to Santa Rosalia.

Monday 21 September

We are anchored in Alacran Bay. Yesterday we left Bahia de Los Angeles for Quemado but the NW winds made that bay look too uncomfortable so we continued south to the north end of Bahia de las Animas and found a nice little nook with a white sand beach. It was quite pleasant although rather rolly so we will probably move on today to the south end of Los Animas. The weather is still cooler, down below 80F this morning.

Tuesday 22 September

We are now back in San Francisquito waiting for a weather window to jump off south to Santa Rosalia. We made a 40 mile passage to here today in interesting weather. The wind was mostly from the stern but could not make up its mind from which side to blow or whether to even blow at all. It was a fun day anyhow and we saw lots of dolphins. They seemed to be in small groups and once one group would leave us another would appear in the distance. The weather is still cool and we have a fairly strong wind from the west in the anchorage tonight. I took out a blanket for the bed tonight too. Last night a sheet blanket was enough but it is even cooler tonight. Three days ago it was still too hot to sleep with any covering at all!!!

Thursday 24 September

After a rowdy sail last night we are back in Santa Rosalia ready to start a new phase of our journey. We left San Francisquito in calm conditions but soon we had light sailing wind, and since the current was in our favor we were making great time. Then about 8:30 PM we received word from boats 2 hours ahead that they had strong wind and increasingly large seas. We downsized the jib and were ready for the winds when they hit. It was great to shut off the engine and really sail. We arrived in Santa Rosalia in the dark about 3 hours ahead of schedule but were met at the docks by some great boaters with flashlights that guided us in. In the next week Bill will return to Puerto Escondido for the car and we will make the trek to San Diego. Then it is back to Lanikai to unload all our stateside purchases before we take the car on the ferry to the mainland. The car will then be left in Mazatlan for our arrival later on Lanikai.