Boat Bound By The Wind

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

In sitting down to write a quick note, I asked Ann; “what did we do today?” and she just shook her head; “Nothing honey, we were boat bound by the wind”. Some days are like that. A front is passing through. It’s been windy (and a little chilly) all day. There’s even been some rain this evening along with continued gusty wind. Good thing we’re tucked into a nice little bay with protection from the waves and a good sand bottom. The anchor holds pretty well as it digs nicely into the sand when the wind gusts. Other than just sitting around and reading our books (OK, I sat around-Ann did laundry), we did have a visit from our new friend Reno. He rowed over with a present. A conch shell that he had trimmed so it would blow as a horn (all these years I thought the Polynesians just blew them. Turns out you have to trim one end to make a mouthpiece). And it works! It’s got kind of a haunting but beautiful tone floating out over the water. Quite loud too. So this evening at sunset we blew our conch shell horn and Reno and his wife Cathy blew theirs in return. Fun! We could hear both horns echo from the cliffs. I’m now a conch shell musician. All those years of trombone lessons served me well. The conch shell they gave us is also a wonderful souvenir because they painted a yellow star on the inside face of the shell in a replica of their boat name; “Star”. Something to remember them by. Tomorrow, no matter the weather we’re going to sail South back to Partida. If it’s still blowing hardc, we’ll just unfurl a little bit of jib and take it easy, but it’s time to get moving toward Mazatlan. We’ll spend a day or two on Partida hiking and if the weather cooperates maybe get to do some diving as well. We’re also now officially out of fresh food, so we’ll set the fishing line in the hopes of catching something for dinner. After Partida, a two day sail over to Mazatlan and a whole different experience in mainland Mexico. Adios for now.

Blowing the Conch horn at sunset

A Day With Reno

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

Each day cruising has some kind of surprise. Sometimes the surprise is not so fun, such as when the head (that’s “toilet” to you lubbers) is broken, and sometimes it’s the kind of delightful surprise we had today when we had the privilege to go for a hike on Isla San Francisco with Reno (“my first name’s Rex and I don’t like it, so I go by Reno, which is may last name”) and Mark Richardson who we met because we anchored next to his boat when we got here yesterday.

We had been hearing about Reno for a few weeks now from a number of other cruisers. Apparently he’s a bit of a legend in the area for the amount of knowledge he has about the people, plant and animal life and geology of Baja. Turns out he and his wife Cathy (hope I spelled it right, she was on the boat working on a book about their cruising adventures so we didn’t get the opportunity to meet her) have been cruising for at least 30 years. They have been to the South Seas several times and now spend winters here in Baja and their other months in a cabin up in Montana. Anyway, we have been hearing; “you should have been here yesterday when Reno was here”, for some weeks now. Finally we were in the same place at the same time on Isla San Francisco and were introduced by another cruiser we met (Mark) who was anchored next to us. He was a fun character in his own right. He’s been cruising some years now in the Sea of Cortez and had a wealth of information to share. As he motored past us last night in his dinghy (he had been fishing), Ann asked him if he caught anything. He came closer so they could talk a bit and one thing led to another and Ann invited him aboard for a beer as we were sitting watching the sunset. We had a nice chat getting to know him and as one thing led to another, it turned out he was going hiking the next day with Reno and invited us to go along. We jumped at the chance. The other bonus from the whole serendipitous meeting was that Mark also makes the best looking hammocks we’ve ever seen. We are now the owners of a extremely well made and great looking “Deckhand Hammock” (check them out on www.deckhandman.com I haven’t seen the website, so don’t know if it will do them justice, but the actual hammock is gorgeous and extremely well made.)

Anyway, back to Reno and our hike. I could go on and on about how much information he imparted today, but two examples will make the point. The first is that he showed us some of the Mexican Indian artifacts on the island. There are large rocks up on top of the hills that the Indians used to grind seeds into a paste. We would have never “seen” them for other than just rocks if he hadn’t shown us where they were worn smooth. As we progressed up to the top of the hill and now inspired from my newfound knowledge that there were Indians on these islands, I found several arrowheads on the ground carved from the local equivalent of obsidian. Treasure! The second thing I would pass on about Reno was Mark’s comment that; “he doesn’t just go fishing, he gets fish!” Sure enough, Reno and wife Cathy go dive for fish with their spear-guns (judging by when they started cruising and such, I would hazard a guess that they are in their early 70’s, although you’d never know it be the spring in his step or his looks for that matter). Reno’s spear is one a native Polynesian in the Marquesas made for him when he was there!

So, on a day where we thought we were likely going to just sit on the boat and read books, we instead left at 1000 and didn’t get back till 1530, and found treasure along the way in both the company we were honored to be able to keep in the persons of Reno and Mark, as well as artifacts and stories collected along the way.

Serendipity is a way of life down here and it’s really, really fun! (A big P.S. to Stephanie: Your Mom and I wish you a very happy birthday this coming 13th of January. Have a great one!)

The start of the hike across Isla San Francisco. You can see "The Hook", our little bay in the background

"The Hook"

Leaving The Hook behind for the other side.

Reno, Mark and Ann

The view North from the other side

View from the top of Isla San FranciscoAnn at the top of the island

Less than two minutes

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

(Notes from Ann) I’m writing this blog after watching the full moon plus one day, rise over Isla San Jose. Truly, we watched as the glow brightened behind the island top and then stood and enjoyed a glorious orange orb – much like a harvest moon – clear the island. It took less than two minutes. Amazing!

Moonrise from Evaristo

Some days are boat days and include a lot of work, others are not. Today was a book day! Both of us have been deep into our books and loving it! In California the rain keeps you inside. In Baja it is the wind. As of this evening the wind has died down now in San Evaristo but it was howling again today, encouraging us to stay aboard.

We did go ashore to collect a full zip lock bag of sea salt (which I used when I made the old tortillas into chips at lunch!). And we stopped at the local “bar” for a cerveza with our Canadian friends. Great thing about this beer (it is always an adventure) was that when Bob reached into the ice box to get us one he found a leg of goat on ice. Yep, the mama goat apparently sat on a baby and now there is leg of goat in the ice box. You gotta love Mexico! So a slow easy day. Tomorrow we hope to head to Isla San Francisco in search of a calmer bay to try out the new kayaks. There is a small island between our current location and Isla San Francisco (yes, we have commented on the irony of two islands named San Jose and San Francisco being so close to each other) that we hope to stop at for a quick look. Soon we will be aiming across the Sea to Mazatlan. Stay tuned!

PS -we’d like to thank our most ardent followers, especially Jerry and Cliff for their fun comments on our blog. We are pleased to know you are enjoying it as much as we are enjoying sharing with all of you.

Howling at the moon

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

We have just returned from a great spaghetti dinner and lovely howl at the moon with our new Canadian friends. Life can be so simple sometimes, but more about that later. Let me tell you about our day. We heard from a nearby boat that there was a nice hike into the arroyo over the road, so off we went. We packed a lunch and dinghied to shore. Following the dirt road out of town we hiked over two ridges. As promised, at the bottom of the second ridge there is a dusty arroyo. Follow it, we were told. The arroyo is a dried river bed. You can imagine the flash flood that created this area. The path is obvious. And so we trudged onward. We were told there was a canyon called Crystal Canyon to look for. I was looking for “ducks” – three rocks (or more) set as a marker to find your way home. Imagine our surprise when I found “ducks” already there! We were on the right track! But it got better. As Bob and I picked up green rocks and wondered what they might look like polished we suddenly saw rocks set out that had been cracked open to show the crystals! All along “our friend” had left markers of beautiful crystals – showing us the potential this canyon held. We left the arroyo and climbed the mountains following the crystals. We ended up on a plateau full of rocks the showed various lines of color. Perhaps amber, maybe turquoise. If only we knew anything about geology. We loaded the back pack with potential jewels. Each rock looked more promising than the next. Bob was like a kid in a candy store. I, of course, needed to get to the highest point – I wanted to see Charisma from the mountains. Alas – it was always at least another ridge away. After three hours of discovery we decided to make our way back down to the arroyo. I am so glad that Bob is such a great trekker. I followed him down to the arroyo. As we arrived back at the dinghy we ran into cruisers from two other boats checking out my bottom. I mean the bottom of our dinghy that I had painted with a special black paint to resist the build-up of marine life on the bottom. A friend from the dock in La Paz, Jerry, gave me his left over paint – just enough for one coat and it works great! After cervezas on the beach with the other cruisers we were invited to a spaghetti dinner at one of the other boats in the anchorage. These Canadians are the best. We had dinner aboard “Way She Goes II” with Wayne and Sheila joined by Dale and JoJo from” La Pura Vida” and Deb and Andy from” Swan”. We were exhausted by the hike and almost didn’t go. So glad we did. As the full moon rose over the anchorage at San Evaristo we all went out and howled at the moon. It just doesn’t get much better than that. Thanks to our new Canadian cruising friends for a delightful evening.

Moonrise from Evaristo

This is San Evaristo-That's almost the whole town in the background

View of Evaristo Bay as we hike toward Crystal Canyon

The begining of the arroyo up Crystal Canyon

View from the top of the canyon

Riding the South Wind

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

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January 7th-(Happy Birthday to my sister Sue!) What a nice day we had today. Since we have no schedule to meet, we were able to wait a few days for a nice South wind that allowed us to go North almost 40 miles today, up to San Evaristo without using the engine. Finally, we were able to just “follow the wind”. We left Partida (an island about 15 miles off of La Paz where we spent the night anchored in a lovely little cove) around 0930 and sailed on a nice broad reach with just the 130% jib. Ten knots of wind gave us around 4-5 knots boatspeed for most of a gloriously sunny and warm day. Large fish jumped all over the sea during the mid-morning-we’re not sure, but think they might have been Marlin or Sailfish. You’d see a huge flash of white water, then silver and blue shinning skin and another splash. One jumped right in front of us, but since I wasn’t looking in that direction when it leapt, all I saw was the subsequent splash of something very large. Wilson the wind vane steered the whole day, so we were able to lounge and just enjoy the trip (well, I did-Ann did some boat cleaning, did the laundry and took a sun shower). We arrived in San Evaristo at 1730, and anchored just in time to watch the sunset and an almost full moon come up over Isla San Jose about 5 miles to the East. We’ll probably spend a few days here to wait out some rambunctious “Northers” that are forecast for tomorrow and Monday (25 or so knots out of the North), then the more normal 10-15 knot North winds will fill back in and we’ll use them to start working our way South toward an eventual “jump” to Mazatlan-likely mid to late next week. By the way, for those of you who read Lattitude 38, your challenge is to find pictures of Ann and I in the January edition. We sent something in and while they didn’t pick up the blurb we sent, they did post our pictures eating at The Shack, in La Paz. Tomorrow we hope to be able to try out our new inflatable kayaks for the first time! Cross fingers and yes, I’ll take video.

Leaving La Paz

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

So sad to leave La Paz, but exciting to move forward on our adventure.

Sad because of leaving all the great people we’ve made friends with over the past month or so. Adios, to our dock-mates; Terry and Heidi, Jim and Dianne, Rod and Jane, Bill and Katy, Gerry and Marilee, Ben and Ellie, Joe and Sharon, Kirk, Vicky, Don and Kathi, Lloyd and Colleen and Mike and Robin (who made us a great send-off dinner on their boat-many thanks). It is not easy to explain how a place (dock 3) can feel like home in such a short period – it’s got to be the people. Our apologies to all the others who we have met and have neglected to mention during our great time in La Paz. (Oh, and a special call out to Marina Palmira. Great job!) And what a great town. Wonderful, friendly people and unique experiences that we’ll remember forever. But, we’re also excited to move forward. We’re heading into new territory…well, in a little while. For the next week or so, we’re going back out to the islands to explore some more before making the crossing in about a week, over to Mazatlan and mainland Mexico. For the next week or so, we’re going back out to Partida/Isla Espiritu Santos, Isla San Francisco and San Evaristo, but this time without a schedule of having to “be” anywhere, anytime. We’re also going to try out our new inflatable kayaks 😉 So for now, it’s great to be back out at anchor with adventure waiting right around the corner. Today, we sailed around all day in La Paz Bay looking for Whale Sharks. No joy,; but saw a couple whales and some dolphins. For now (at 2000), we’re happily anchored over a sand bottom, in about 19 feet of water at Balendra Bay; a nice little cove with some beautiful white sand beaches. Just finished dinner of Sierra Mackerel that we bought on our last trip to Bravo Mercado yesterday (how I’m going to miss that place; you have to see it to believe it) with broccoli and rice which followed Charismas at sunset-of course. Now we’re just sitting and enjoying the gentle rocking motion at anchor. The moon is up and sparkling on the water. It will be full in just a few days. We have no more words to describe how happy we are.

Whales, Dolphins and Manta Ray Madness

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

Saturday, 12th.

Wow, what a great five days! Left La Paz Tuesday at noon after dropping Cliff and Leslynn at the bus station. Sailed back out to Espiritu Santo and anchored in Bahia Partida. Had a delightful “catch up” with Dave and Stephanie from Camanoe, who we anchored next to and had not seen for several weeks.

Left Partida the next morning for Isla San Francisco. What a beautiful spot! We’ll download a bunch of pictures in a few days when we have the bandwidth. For now, I’ll just say we were anchored in a half moon shaped bay, about a half mile across, ringed by pure white sand. Around the top of the island was a steep ridge about 500 feet high. We scrambled up the ridge and then hiked the knife edge ridge about half way around the island, enjoying stunning views.

Next day we got up early and moved about 15 miles North to San Evaristo. It was a “bash” to get here against a Norther. Twenty knots and three to four foot waves right on the nose. A little more than half way, after getting smashed around for about three hours, I looked at Ann and said; “I think we’re going to need to turn back”. Her response was two-fold. She said: “No way!” At the same time her eyes also added; “you big sissy!” Wow, the Admiral has come a long way. Needless to say, we kept going and were so glad we did!

Evaristo is a simple fishing village of about 20 families, where they also make sea salt and herd goats. We anchored in a little bay a stone’s throw off the village and took the dinghy ashore. Went for an all day hike across the desert, past the salt ponds (we swiped some fresh sea salt right off the pond) and around the bay on the other side. About a four hour round trip. Back in time to get on the boat and clean up a bit before heading back to the beach for dinner at the little shack where they sell the catch of the day for 100 pesos (or about $8). Not really even a shack, more like a thatched roof palapa and sand floor. You get what they make, and they make whatever they catch. This day it was breaded, fried reef fish they caught that morning with beans, rice, fresh made tortillas, macaroni salad, salsa and a couple of cold cervezas. Just sitting on the beach, toes in the sand, watching the sunset and eating a meal like this makes it all worthwhile.

We hated to leave this spot and will likely come back after the New Year, but we had to go in order to get back in time to clean up Charisma so we can leave on Monday to fly back for ten days at Christmas with friends and family. We’re leaving on Monday. Taking a bus out of La Paz for Cabo, were we’ll catch our flight back.

So, about the whales and such. On our trip from Isla San Francisco to Evaristo, we had the good fortune to spot a mother whale and her calf slowly cruising up the Sea. They were paralleling our course, so we edged a little closer-still respecting mother and calf-for a better look. They were completely unconcerned and for about twenty minutes, we had a whale of a show. They would swim along, then quietly and gently dive-showing their flukes-and a little later come up again to blow a few times, then show their tail flukes again, etc, etc. A wonderous show just for us. Makes you feel very humble to see something like this.

Today, we were anchor up at 0700 and saw a sunset that can only be imagined-well, until we get to post the pictures. An incredible orange/red slash below the clouds made a dramatic exit from our comfortable spot in the cove. We easily could have stayed here for many days, but we had to get back for the aforementioned plane flight. To ease the way back, we were treated to a “dance” along the way by the local dolphin pod. They were feeding, but a dozen or so darted over to Charisma to say; “hi” to Ann who was up on the bow waiting to do the dolphin dance.

After the dolphins, two other events made our day. The first was Fish On! We caught a Spanish Mackerel. Supposed to be good eating, so we reeled it aboard and the filets are in the fridge waiting for tomorrow’s dinner. The other was flying Manta Rays. Exuberant doesn’t quite do justice to these guys. One minute you’re looking out at the horizon and the next second, a big 4 to 5 foot wingspan Manta Ray comes flying out of the water and does a back flip! Not just once, but several times. Manta Ray Madness!

Just another day in Baja.

Another Day, Another Island

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

Wednesday, 12.14.11 Here we sit, anchored at Isla San Francisco (that’s “Son Fronceesco” or something of the sort). A lovely little island North of La Paz, we’re anchored in a little half-moon shaped bay over sand in about 22 feet of water. The half-moon part is a white sand beach and the rest of the island rises in orange and umber colored cliffs that loom a couple hundred feet above. Tomorrow we’re going to spend the day hiking, climbing and taking pictures. Friday, we’ll head for San Evaristo which friends have told us is a tiny Mexican goat herding/fishing village. There’s supposedly a single restaurant in the small town of 200. For 100 pesos (less than $10) per person, you can get dinner. The catch; no menu, it’s whatever they cook that day. We’ll look forward to reporting how that went. We’ll be back in La Paz Saturday night for the dockside “safety meeting” complete with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Then Sunday will be the ever present boat maintenance projects before leaving for the Bay Area on Monday for Christmas with the Family. Yesterday was Ann’s birthday. I think she’s 29 or so. Actually we’ve decided that this cruising stuff is actually making us younger. I’m going to be back into my 40’s in a little while if we keep this up. Anyway, we spent most of yesterday sailing out of La Paz, back to Espiritu Santo after dropping our friends Cliff and Leslynn off at the bus station for their flight home. Had a delightful five days sailing with them at the island and then a whirlwind tour of La Paz followed by birthday dinner in La Paz. Really a great time. Pictures to follow when we have a chance to get somewhere with bandwith!! But suffice to say we did some snorkeling, cocktails on the beach to watch the sunset (and moonrise) and did some climbing in the hills above one of the anchorages. So, after dropping them, we ended up in Partida Cove after a fun five or six hour sail over. Several of our boat friends (Camanoe and Klickitat II) were in the cove, so it was great catching up with them on Charisma over what else? Charismas!. The trip from Partida to Isla San Francisco was a bit of a bash into one of the Sea of Cortez’ “Northers”. The winds get up into the 20’s and waves can get into the teens. Fortunately, the conditions for us were a little more benign, but the trip wasn’t without tension. There was some strong wind and waves, but being from San Francisco (California), we’re used to that. The tension came from a persistent low oil pressure reading. I’d adjust the RPM and it would go up then gradually go down. I’d tweak the RPM again and it would jump into the green, then over time go down again. We’re not leaking oil and I’m hoping it’s a pressure sender issue and not something worse (read: “more expensive”, to fix). Tomorrow I’m going to check the oil, it was way too rough and bouncy to do that today, and maybe depending on our day, take the sender apart and try to clean it). We’re learning; it’s always something and the list(s) are huge. You divide the list of stuff you need to do into: “stuff that will cause the boat to sink or blow up” and “stuff that would be nice to do”. You then get to the latter list when you have time and inclination. OK, as an example of one of the primary list issues, I’ll leave you with this story/image. The holding tank developed a clogged vent. You might ask yourself; “what the hell is that and why is it so important it goes on the life or death list?” Well, the holding tank is where all the “poop” goes when you’re in port or an anchorage where people are swimming and such. When the vent is clogged, there’s the risk the tank will explode if you pump too much into it. Think about it. OK, so I spent two days taking the vent line apart (it’s way deep in the lazarette/bilge). I initially tried to just ram it out with a plumbing snake. No joy. So, I then poured a “mild” acid into the line in the hopes it would loosen the clog. It did initially look promising, but only opened a tiny bit. So, I could pour about a pint of acid solution about every hour or so through the clog, but it was still mostly closed. I did that all day hoping the acid would work the clog loose (it didn’t) and then finally let it sit all night. Next day, poured some more acid into the line, then tried the snake again. I was ramming the snake into the hose (which is about 8 feet long) when I heard a gurgling sound. I looked into the hose thinking; “now what?” and heard the gurgling rapidly growing. Yipes!!! Shoved the hose away from my face and over the side just in time for an explosion of acid and poop that shot about six feet across the deck and into the marina. And stink….!!!! Suffice to say, our neighbors commented; “looks like you’ve fixed the problem”. My only comeback — “I’m sooooo relieved!!” And all was well in Charisma Land.

Old enough to enjoy it all!

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

December 13, 2011 So today is my birthday. If you told me last year (when Bob was still bashing north from the Ha Ha) that this year I would be in La Paz for my birthday I would not have agreed. But boy am I glad to be here!

As my fortunes have it, friends from the Bay Area, Cliff and Leslynn, managed to come visit us just in time for my birthday (bearing gifts of chocolate!). Really they just came to relax and play and the timing was perfect!

Our friends arrived in time to witness the most spectacular (to date) sunset from the end of the dock. Magical. We took off the next morning for Isla Espiritu Santo, the bigger of the islands just out of La Paz. The weather the previous week in La Paz had been wintery ( I know, you all think I am nuts, but seriously, I pulled out my slippers!). The weather reports indicated that the winds would be dying down but they missed telling us how glorious it would be!

We spent three days snorkeling and hiking during the day, enjoying Charismas at sunset and then watching in awe as the full moon rose over the hills of this spiritual island. I never could have prepared our friends for the glorious days ahead because they were the best we had seen yet. The snorkeling around Candelero was as spectacular at Pulmo Reef but was easily reached. Instead of a three hour drive, we just jumped off the boat. Cliff and I jumped overboard – not as graceful as it sounds with fins and snorkels on (at least not for me!) and swam over to the Candelero (read Bob’s blog in the next day or so, for the nautical details) for a real treat. Sea urchins, starfish, schools of 200 colorful fish, a trumpet fish, and the ugliest fish I’d ever seen, awaited us. Bob swam over after us and reported even more incredible fish. Get out the fish book, we need to identify these!!!

The next day we went ashore and hiked into the canyon to a dried waterfall. Sounds normal but there was nothing normal about this hike. We hiked through wind-blown caves carved in the hillside, over huge boulders, up loose rocks until we couldn’t find any safe routes farther up. We thought we were a few hundred yards from the top. When we got down we looked up and saw we had been standing on top of a very cool cave that we originally teased about visiting, thinking it would be far too high and dangerous to get to. Too bad we didn’t know how close we had come. Exhausted we returned to Charisma and another gorgeous moonrise.

As we headed back to La Paz we looked back into the cove only to see that our incredible hike had only gotten us about a third the way up the hill. Way too funny. It looks so much more dramatic from down below.

We sailed back into La Paz just in time for the neighborhood “security meeting”. What an incredible neighborhood Dock Three is. Another set of cruisers were taking off the next day to start the jump to the Pacific (we will surely see them in Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta prior to taking off across the Pacific ourselves) and the neighbors were holding a going away/good luck party complete with a gift package of donated “necessary items”. (Sue, I have to confess, we gave up the marshmallow gun and a bag of marshmallows to help them defend against pirates and pelicans). All boats also included a card to be put in a bottle that was to be tossed overboard at the equator. Charisma’s card was included!

Our next day, December 12th -the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, was started with three canon shots heard early in the morning to mark the holiday. We spent the day condensing the entire tour of La Paz into one day for our friends. Hit the hand-made goods stores, the Bravo Super Mercado, the church, the French bakery, the Malecon and of course, lunch at the fish taco stand. And finally – where this whole blog was headed, we set out to celebrate my birthday. Our friends bought us dinner at a wonderful authentic Mexican restaurant named La Fonda. Bob found it last year, loved it and promised some day we would find it. We did! It was a meal none of us will soon forget with wonderful service from the waiters and the owner himself who helped us chose the best dishes and best wine. And then treated us to a pink dessert drink called Pinon. So delicious!

And isn’t that enough? NO! Ends up, the only woman at the table next to us (also a cruiser just in from Australia) happens to SHARE MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Nancy was delightful and an immediate kindred spirit. They almost had to peel us apart to get me to the taxi.

And today, on the actual day, the local dock ladies hosted the Tuesday “Stitch and Bitch” (coffee) and who was there?—Nancy! She had already regaled the ladies with our chance encounter so as I arrived (after dropping our friends at the bus terminal to go home, sob, sob) I was greeted by a chorus of birthday greetings! The ladies treated us to coffee and a shared piece of cake.

Bob and I then quickly headed back to Espiritu Santo (a five hour sail out of La Paz) where we have run into old friends from the Ha Ha; Dave and Stephanie from S/V Camanoe. Another birthday treat.

So if I can get Bob to sing the Swedish Birthday song (which he did at the restaurant for both birthday girls) to me one more time, my incredibly memorable birthday will be complete. Only missing was the chance to touch base with family and friends (no cell service out here). Thank you to those who quickly wished me a great day. It came true!!! And yes, I am old enough to enjoy it all!!!

Bahia Los Muertos

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Bob Johnson - SailMail

Or Bay of the Dead. Named not after dead people, but “deadmen”:, which are big anchors buried in the bay for the working boats that used to deliver supplies here.

Nice day not only because it was sunny, blue sky, blue water, but also because we sailed the whole way! Yay. (A big event too, but you’ll have to read to the bottom to hear about it). Even though the wind was a bit on the nose, it was just off enough that we could sail up the Eastern coast of Baja doing 5-6 knots most of the way. 40 miles more or less. We left at 0730 and got in about 1900, which at this point, is after dark. I don’t enjoy entering an anchorage in the dark and this one was no better than usual as there were around 14 boats and not all had anchor lights. You have to really be aware as you are maneuvering in the dark so as not to run into someone who doesn’t have any lights on. Anyway, we’re tucked in just off the beach in about 27 feet of water.

It started to rain as we were entering the bay, so we were good and wet by the time we got the anchor set. Charisma needed a bath anyway, so the rain was welcomed. We took much needed sponge baths to clean up a bit (we’ll do the sun shower tomorrow and a swim) and then BBQ’d some sliced potatoes with a cut of beef we found in the store that looked somewhat like flank steak. It turned out delicious as were the potatoes. Mexican cuts of meat are quite different from what you find in Safeway, so it’s always an adventure when we buy meat here. You never quite know what you’ve got.

OK, so today’s excitement: Sailing down here is so interesting. One minute you’re just staring at the water and the next, anything could happen. Today, we had a whale sighting! A humpback was swimming on the surface, right in front of us. I altered course slightly and we passed a Southbound whale on our port side by a little less than 30 yards. He/she was very unconcerned by us and just stayed on top of the water blowing from his/her blowhole all the way. We were treated to very stinky whale breath, but had a glorious view of a very magnificent animal. Looked to be around 25-30 feet long.

Other sightings today; later in the day while Ann was taking a nap, I saw a Dorado chasing a bunch of flying fish. I could see the flying fish leap out of the water with the Dorado leaping out in hot pursuit. A beautiful sight, but despite having our fishing pole out we didn’t hook up. While I was taking a nap later in the day, Ann saw a whale tale about 40 yards off as the whale dove, not to be seen again. But, seeing a huge tail suddenly appear in front of the boat is excitement enough for the day.

OK, the clouds are breaking and there’s a lovely waning moon waiting to be seen. We’ll post some pictures once we reach La Paz, which should be in three or four days. Until then, fair winds to you all.

Sail Charisma

The Adventure Continues!

Author Archives: Bob Johnson - SailMail