Magdalena Bay, Whales and South to Cabo San Lucas

1997 - 1998

Wednesday, Christmas Eve, 1997

After arriving in Magdalena Bay yesterday we traveled to north of the little town of San Carlos and anchored for the night. Having spent the last few weeks away from and towns our first chore was to get to town to pick up some fresh vegetables for our upcoming Christmas dinner.

We were up early but with getting all the dingys ready we did not get off to town until 9:30. Our dingy motor is still not running. Bill thought that he had it fixed and even had it running for a spin around the anchorage before I climbed in but after I jumped aboard it would not start so we again hitched rides with "Le’Zarder" and "Savili" . We had an interesting time in town and loaded up with fresh vegetables, fruit, bread and cheese. We are now set for awhile again.

Bill and I discovered that we had emptied one of our two water tanks so it was time to work on the water maker again and Bill spent some of the afternoon getting it working. It only draws about 5 amps from the battery and gives up over gallon of fresh water from the sea in an hour and, right now seems to be working. I took the frozen Thanksgiving turkey from the freezer this morning to thaw to cook tomorrow, Judith (from "Savili") has stuffing and Francie (from "Le’Zarder") has the pan, so we will all have a feast tomorrow!

The town here has quite a lot of things, with many auto parts stores and several marine supply stores for the local fisherman as well as a well stocked mini-supermercado. The bay is equally nice but has a strong tidal current several times a day. We are protected from any wind-generated swells from most directions but have little protection from winds themselves as the lands around here are not much higher than the sea.

Christmas Eve was spent aboard "Savili" enjoying wine, tea and coffee and fruitcake with cheese and great company.

Thursday Christmas Day

I was up early to get the weather fax pictures and to get mister turkey ready for the oven. We had clouds most of the day and it was not very warm but not really bad weather either. Bill and I got to smell the turkey cooking until about 2 PM when we sent the cooked bird off to "Milonga" to keep warm while I finished with the gravy and sweet potatoes. Judith brought three delicious pies and Francie brought vegetables and fruit so we all had a real feast. We were joined by crews from three other boats making us 14 and the large flat decks of the trimiran provided plenty of room for all.

Bill got the dingy engine running again, while I was cooking, so we even had a powered dingy for transportation.

Saturday 27 December

Yesterday the wind started to blow, strongly again, from the north, right down the channel and with the current half the time and against it half. When the wind is against the strong current here neither wins and the boat ends up overriding the anchor and pointing across both; very much a washing machine!! We opted to spend the day on the boat reading rather than getting wet by traveling anywhere in the dingy. About 5 AM Friday morning we gave in to the dingy and pulled it onboard to stop it from knocking on the hull, so it spent the day on the bow.

Today we got the dingy off the boat and the engine on it and ran over to check out the nearby beach. We could not get inland very far because the vegetation, although not very tall, was real thick just above the high tide line. Beyond the thick growth are sand dunes containing cacti.

Sunday 28 December

Today the wind died back for a large part of the late morning and afternoon. Although the current was swift with the spring tides, the bay became flat and glassy. We went ashore again, in the early afternoon with "Savili" and "Le’Zarder" . We took the opportunity to burn trash and use the fire to heat water for tea which we enjoyed with cookies. Today was a minus tide so we explored the sand flats and visited with some locals that were digging clams in the shallows. The wind picked up, again from the north, as we left the beach and by evening it was up to 20 mph again against the tidal current so forcing us broadside to the swells.

Monday 29 December

Gee, the wind finally died sometime in the night and we woke to calm seas and a boat pointing into the current. With these conditions it was time to go to town. We gathered up the laundry and took off; it was much further than we thought (about 2 miles) but we got there at high water and beached the dingy with no trouble. We found a laundaria to wash the clothing to be picked up tomorrow morning and a great restaurant for a late breakfast before we headed off for the shopping. San Carlos is a very small town to support the nearby fish camps but we found all that we needed including some great pan dulce at the panderia and great tortillas at the tortilla factory, which was somewhat mechanized with a assembly line type process. We met an exceptionally nice couple who are trailer camping on the beach just south of town. Since "Savili" was hauling water, they drove us back to the dingy landing with our many purchases. Of course, when we got there the tide had gone out and we had about ½ mile to carry the dingys to reach the water.

A great evening potluck was spent on our boat in the early evening but we all fade early now so by 9 PM it was bed time for all.

Tuesday 30 December

I discovered a real problem this morning; the turkey that Alicia (from "Nastalgia") had brought from La Paz for New Years was too big for our boat ovens! The men will just have to figure out how to cut it in half so that Judith and I can each cook half of it; it is frozen solid right now!! So we will see what can be done in the morning.

Today was a no wind, glassy water, kind of day perfect for sitting at anchor relaxing. Bill went into town with the other men to pick up the clean laundry and some fresh tortillas. It sure is nice to have the dirty clothes hamper empty again. I did some cleaning while he was away and even got the freezer defrosted; it had sure built up a lot of frost since leaving San Diego. We then spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. A large flock of birds arrived in the bay and entertained us with their activities for awhile. They swim with just their heads above water and then flew just above the surface with their feet dragging in the water. The current was so swift that when they swam hard they still lost ground.

During the evening slack, Francie ran into a school of fish and reeled lots in. We went over to spent the evening with them and help to eat up the bounty. Barbecued, the fish were delicious. Wayne and Judith from "Savili" joined the group too.

Wednesday, 31 December, 1997

The last day of the 1997 and the weather was great today with just enough clouds to keep it from getting too hot and not more than a few little breezes. Three girls went into town alone, to enjoy the weekly market and made a few purchases there. But first we enjoyed a fun leisurely, breakfast at one of the restaurants. We returned to the boats in time to cook the turkey halves and other goodies for our New Years Eve celebration, which everyone congregated on "Lanikai" for. We again enjoyed great food and great company but not a one of us made it to the midnight hour so we greeted the new year with the sunrise on January 1.

Thursday, 1 January, 1998

Another new year and we greeted it with the sunrise; it turned out the Francie and Earl did stay up until after midnight. At least one of our group gave the new year a timely welcome. Bill and I spent much of the day repairing the diesel battery charger. It had leaked diesel the last time we ran it so the first chore was to replace the cracked hose that caused the leak. Then it was discovered that its cooling water was not flowing. After several hours of blowing and trying it, Bill finally got a good flow going again. We ran it three hours to top up the batteries, while Bill played with his computer and I read in the sun. The weather was very pleasant today and about 4 PM a group of us gathered on the beach to enjoy a fire and watch the stars come out.

Saturday, 3 January

Yesterday we moved from our anchorage north of San Carlos to Man of War Cove off of the small fishing village of Puerto Magdalena. We left at noon with the out going current and had a swift trip down. We anchored right off the town and could hear all the sounds of the village including some goats bleating and kids playing.

The water here is warmer and we are out of the strong current that we experienced north of San Carlos, so both Bill and I went for a swim and took the opportunity to wash our hair. The port captain stopped by, visited for a bit and told us that he would check us in on Monday. We suggested that we would come in to his office but he said that he would come out to us in his panga. Late in the day we dropped the dingy overboard and rowed the short distance to the beach. In less than an hour we had explored the entire town. We found two stores and one restaurant, walked by the desalination plant for making their fresh water; in the evening we heard the town generator running from what sounded like the same area.

Sunday 4 January

Today our dingy motor died again and really needs a new carburetor as the metal in part of the current one is just failing. The long oars work great here and should serve us fine until we get to Cabo or La Paz where a replacement can be sent. Bill and I rowed in to the west edge of town where we left the dingy and walked west along the beach picking up some beautiful shells. We came to a road that lead past a dirt airstrip and on to the other side reaching the water at the south end of Santa Maria Bay, where waves were rolling ashore. There were many pangas parked here on the beach, although there were only two small buildings; probably pangas belonging to residents of Puerto Magdalena. A panga is a sturdily built open boat; long, narrow, with a high bow, capable of holding about 10 people. They are powered with an outboard engine of 40 to 60 horsepower. The pangas are much better cared for by the locals than are their beat-up old cars or trucks.

We had some nice rain this morning and it was cloudy much of the day but in the late afternoon the front passed bringing wind and sunshine.

Tuesday 6 January

The wind came up Sunday evening and although it was only 15 mph with some 20mph gusts it brought waves into the cove and we chose to spend Monday reading on the boat. I did swim over to "Le’Zarder" and visited for awhile, for, in spite of the wind, the water was warm.

Today we raised the anchor after breakfast and headed up the channel toward San Carlos. We did not take the zigzag that would have lead us to town but continued north up Hull Channel. The charts do not show the depths in this area but we entered with a low tide and could see most of the shallows. We threaded our way about 8 miles in where we anchored on a little side lagoon with "Milonga" and "Le’Zarder". We had a very protected anchorage and although the wind was just as strong the waves had no fetch and were just little ripplets on the water.

Thursday 8 January

We are in a very protected anchorage in a great area for exploration. Yesterday we unfolded the porta-boat and I rowed it around the mangrove islands just south of our anchorage. They ended in large white sand dunes. Today Bill got the outboard engine running again (lots of JB Weld to hold carburetor pieces together), we dropped it onto the dingy and explored further distances. In the morning we ran to the west end of the inlet and climbed around on the sand dunes there. We walked quite a ways and got on top of some dunes that had a view down the channel we had come up on Tuesday. High up on the dunes we came upon interesting patches of shells and some areas that had flowers but mostly it was just white soft sand.

Just across the shallow channels from the dunes were dense mangroves. In the afternoon, in the dingy, we continued around the bend from where we had met the dunes ; paralleled the dunes north, with dunes on one side and mangroves on the other until the channel turned into the mangroves then we followed the channel until it became to shallow for even the porta-boat. The channel never met the main channel but contained many mangrove islands and shallow side passages.

Friday 9 January

We spent the morning doing boat chores. By afternoon the whole group of 4 boats decided that with the afternoon low tide we would head further up Hull Channel and find a new anchorage. We all raised our anchors at 3 PM and headed out, trying to keep in the deepest water on the outside of the bends but there were times when we had only 8 feet of water so we moved quite slowly. By 5 PM, having found no suitable side channel to anchor, in we pulled to the side of the main channel and dropped our hooks with the intention of exploring the nearby side channel, with the dingys, in the morning. Although not too many boats traverse this area, Bill felt uncomfortable with our anchorage; but since the sun was setting we seemed to have no choice.

Saturday, 10 January

We explored the nearby sand dunes in the morning with their soft sand. They seemed to go for miles on the west side of the channel. On the east side of the channel were the mangroves. We upped anchor about 2:30 and continued up the main channel with a still outgoing current but a rising tide. We managed to go a few miles before we hit bottom, the current pushed us off but we soon were stuck again as we could not find the cross-over part of the channel. The channel followed the outside of the bends and this was a twisty area with first a bend to one side then a bend to the other. We tossed the dingy over and I found where the deep water was. Since it was not more than a boat length away, we decided to wait for the incoming tide and not haul an anchor out. In less than half an hour we were free and on our way. The next bend was buoyed with white oil drums and Styrofoam blocks. These channel markers continued through the next lagoon that was full of sandbars and even though the tide was still low we had no trouble keeping in at least12 feet of water. Where the buoys ended the water deepened out to 30 feet and we had no trouble following the outside bends to our current anchorage between several mangrove islands. We anchored after sunset but before dark and before turning in behind the islands we saw whale spouts in the distance. "Milonga", being the first boat to anchor, saw a whale up close as it passed through our anchorage area.

Sunday, 11 January

The prevailing northwesterly winds picked up last night and blew most of the day bringing whitecaps to the main channel as they opposed the outgoing current. We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise and two whales that slowly moved through our anchorage. In the late afternoon 5 of us took a dingy to the main channel to see if we could see any whales and there were many spouts. Two large whales passed fairly close to the dingy and we encountered two pairs of mother and calf. The first pair that we met looked like just one large whale until it came closer and then we could see that it was really two; the baby seemed to be riding on the tail of its mother part of the time and real close to her the rest. We beached the dingy on the western shore to find a passage through the mangroves to the sand flats beyond. The ocean is less than half a mile across the sand here and we would all like to walk to its shore but the mangroves in the area where we landed were too dense for passage.

Monday, 12 January

Today was a sunny warm day with little wind. We dingyed up the channel several miles to where we could land on sand dunes instead of mangroves, beached the dingys and hiked to the ocean on the other side. The water was warmer there than in the lagoons so we went for a swim.

From the high dunes about halfway back, we could see many whales in the channel but when we got in our dingys to get a closer look few could be seen. We did see one on the way home and again the baby was riding on the mothers back when they came up for air.

Later in the evening we went out with the video camera to capture some whale photos. We succeeded in finding a large barnacle incrusted whale that surfaced right in front of us as we were heading out into the main channel. We got some great photos of her as she lazily swam in a big circle. Then Bill got some pictures of the moonrise as we headed back to the boats.

Tuesday, 13 January

We are alone in the anchorage as the three boats with us continued on to Lopez Mateos. It sure is pleasant and quiet with no other signs of civilization around. We spent most of the day on boat projects but took time out to watch four nearby whales. A mother and her calf stopped in the entrance to our bay and the mother just floated on the surface for quite some time while the calf seemed to come up behind her quite often for air. We also saw one very active whale in the main channel spy-hop twice. It is quiet enough here that we can hear the flap of the pelicans as they pass by skimming just above the surface of the water fishing. Last night one whale surfaced close enough to the rock the boat.

Thursday, 15 January

Today we moved another 5 miles north in the channel, and anchored just off the dunes on the west side of the channel. We saw many whales with the depth sounder but very few on the surface. Bill did get some video of two that surfaced near to the boat, but our best look at whales was in the anchorage, just before we raised the hook to head north. Three whale passed right by the boat on their way into the inlet, two adults and a baby. We heard from a tour boat skipper (from the "Sea Bird") that the whales are just starting to arrive and in a week or two the lagoons will fill up with lots more whales and as the babies get older the mothers will not be so secretive with them.

Sunday, 18 January

We have spent the last two days climbing on the sand dunes that we had anchored near, and watching whales from the anchored boat. It was not too long a walk across the dunes to the ocean on the other side so we made the trek two times and both times saw interesting life on the dunes. One of the coyotes, whose paw marks we could see in the sand, ran by on the next dune. It was warm enough that we went for a swim in the lagoon side on both days. The ocean had a funny dark rust color in patches on them and so we decided not to swim in that water. The whales are becoming much less visible as they are staying under water longer and only coming up for quick breaths but many have surfaced once near to the boat on their way past and all seem to have a calf with them.

Today we moved even further north to just south of Boca de Soledad, an opening to the ocean. We took the dingy into an inner lagoon just inside the entrance to the sea and walked across the small dune to look out at the entrance. There were breakers clear across it!!! It appears to be a whales only entrance! As we were dingying passed the mangroves we met a fisherman who gave us three nice fish. We returned to Lanikai and cleaned the fish before starting out in the dingy again. This time we just beached the dingy west of the boat on the dunes there and hiked across to overlook the west side of the entrance. It still appeared to be breakers most of the way across but a "sort-of channel" could be seen though the south side of the entrance and south along the ocean shore. On our hike over the dunes we saw a very large jack rabbit and an area where the sand dunes are extending into the mangroves covering them with sand. There were also many flat damp low areas among the dunes, whose dampness seems to come up from under rather than flooding in at high tide. We then hiked along the beach which has to be one of the worlds greatest shell collecting beaches. It also contained lots of other flotsam along the high tide line as this area catches the prevailing northwesterly winds. I gathered up some unique shells for Emily. Her shell collection seems to be growing rapidly while we are in this bay. We finished the circuit by crossing the peninsula back to the beach where our dingy was left high and dry by the receding tide.

Monday, 19 January

We were up early and moved the boat to just south of the dock at Lopez Mateos. We then found the port captain and checked in with him. He properly stamped our paperwork and we set out to explore the town. We ran into a great restaurant run by a Canadian couple and had real hamburgers for lunch. Returning to the restaurant for dinner we all chose a Mexican dish and then watched a video of whales that had been shot here several years ago. It was 45 minutes long and showed the pangas full of tourists actually petting the whales as well as many great shots of the whales breaching, spy hopping and flipping their flukes.

Tuesday, 20 January

It was to town early today for me, as the girls went into Constitution grocery shopping with Carol, the owner of the restaurant. We had a super shopping trip as she knew all the right places to buy the various groceries. The packaged items came from a wholesale store and we got some meat from a meat market and the vegetables and fruit from her favorite produce stand. We finished the shopping in record time and were back in Lopez Mateos before noon so that Carol could start cooking for her restaurant. The men joined us and we all enjoyed a lunch before returning to the boats.

Lanikai was moved across the channel to be closer to the dunes on the west side and more protected from the northwest winds which had picked up some over the night. We had a mostly cloudy day; probably the result of a storm hitting southern California, but got only a few sprinkles of rain from them.

Thursday, 22 January

Yesterday we moved back south about another 5 miles and anchored on the west side of the channel again in hopes of seeing more whales. The wind picked up Monday night and was still blowing when we anchored creating rough enough water in the channel that the whales were hard to see. This morning the wind was down and we saw one whale and her young one circling in the channel just east of our anchored boats. The whales that we saw off of Lopez Mateos and north were all on the move south and only surfaced for a breath or two as they swam past. Just this much further south they seem to be traveling slower and in large circles up and down the channel so are visible for a longer time and they also stay on the surface for longer periods of time and more frequently come up. We also saw a whale pair come up to one of the Mexican pangas to be patted on their backs.

Today we all went to shore and lazed on the sand while we burned our burnable trash. The sky was blue for the first time in several days and we all enjoyed the sun’s warmth.

Sunday, 25 January

Yesterday we returned through Devils Bend to our first anchorage in the lagoons. We have left the whales behind but not before we got some great shows in the last two days. On Friday we anchored just west of the channel opposite our fist anchorage among the whales and got some more close up views of them. Several pairs of mother and calf swam in the channel close to the boats, Friday afternoon, and one pair came very close. We got in the dingys and followed her for awhile. She and the calf gave us quite a show, staying fairly close to the dingy and surfacing often; the calf even stuck his whole head out of the water and checked us out.

Saturday morning we awoke to three pairs of whales that swam by and one mother, not far off in the channel, jumped completely out of the water three times for us. We moved another mile down the channel and stopped off of Colina Coyote where we climbed the low hill and had a great view over some on the lagoons. By mid day we were headed out through the shallows and, with the chart we formed as we entered, we had an uneventful trip back out. We passed another group of four sailboats anchored at the side of the channel that were headed also headed north thru the barely-charted lagoons. Last year, the port Captain in Lopez Mateos had only seen one sailboat; this year there have already been six, plus four more on the way.

It sure was a quiet night last night without the whales and dolphins breathing nearby but the pelicans are still with us with their crazy dive bomb fishing technique. The weather is still warm and sunny with northwest winds picking up in the afternoons.

Monday, 26 January

We are back at Puerto Magdalena (Man of War Cove) anchored off the rock pile that once was a wharf, listening to the goats, dogs and roosters. Our trip the rest of the way out of the lagoons was uneventful but slow as we fought the incoming current. We are still travelling with "Savili" and "Le’Zarder" and have left "Milonga", "Nastalgia", and "Sun Chaser II" in Lopez Mateos. Today we clear in with the Port Captain here and then tomorrow, hopefully, will head off to Cabo San Lucas. We have folded up the porta-boat and have restowed things for the trip.

We sure enjoyed our time in the lagoons and were there about the right time. We saw the young calves when we first arrived, sticking close to their mothers and even riding on their backs some of the time. By the time we left the calves were much larger and traveled further from their mothers even exploring some on their own. Now is time to head off for a new adventure!!

Friday 30 January

We are in Cabo San Lucas!! We arrived mid-afternoon on Wednesday and tied up at the docks just inside the harbor entrance that are not completed and so are mostly empty. We headed off for town and ended up at the Broken Surfboard for a early dinner. Thursday morning early "Le'Zarder" and "Savili" arrived and after they got tied up we returned to the Broken Surfboard for breakfast. I took my large sack of dirty laundry in, to be picked up clean later today. The men then ran off to the migracion and the port captain offices to clear in, while us ladies went shopping. This town is a real tourist town with all the glitter to go with it. The cruise ship was in for the day so the streets were full of gringos and the usual beggars that arrive for the occasion. We did manage to find some great purchases, but I will wait until La Paz (less touristy and better prices) to do most of my purchases.

We had an uneventful motor-sail down from Mag Bay with very light wind and long swells. We did see a pair of whales that put on a good show for us as we passed. They jumped completely out of the water and we saw lots of tail and flippers out of the water. We passed within 50 feet of them while they seemed to be rolling in the water as flippers came out and their bodies could be seen on the surface many times.

We plan on staying here until next Wednesday and then head off to La Paz in three daytrips. With time at the various anchorages it will take us a week or two to get there.