South from Honeymoon Cove

 Tuesday April 9 after a leasurely breakfast in Honeymoon Cove we started to prep the boat for departure.  I had an old container that I was rinsing out and I left it with some fresh water on the lid out in the cockpit.  Going back out to prep the deck we were faced with hundreds of bees having a bee party with our precious bit of fresh water.  Out here in the desert and salt water environment, fresh water is hard to come by for those poor bees.  Clearly we weren't going anywhere with a hundred bees on board. 

Like many situations, the best course of action is to wait and see.  Sure enough, when all that couple of ounces of fresh water was gone, the bees flew away to the other anchored boats to harass them for some elusive fresh water.

Up anchor and away from the anchorage, bee-less, we rolled out the jib and headed south.  Out in deep water, away from everything, I reluctantly turned on the bilge pump and got rid of most of the water/diesel mixture that was aboard.  We poured  soap into the bilge, added more water, let is slosh around for a while, then pumped it out again. 

We sailed by Bahia Candeleros and around the corner, found Candeloros Chico where we dropped anchor and had lunch.  The wind was very slight. The swell was from the east and building.  After lunch we continued south.  3.5 hours later we pulled into the anchorage at Agua Verde after motoring through rough seas with a southeast wind right on the nose.  We wonder when we'll catch a break and get wind in the direction that we actually want to go. 

Agua Verde has a western nook that is protected from swell.  Everyone knows that, so everyone piles into that little nook.  We tried to find a spot but were forced to retreat.  I almost squeezed us into a space but the skipper of the next boat over stood with hands on hips glaring at us until we left.  It rocked and rolled all night.

The next morning I was paying attention.  Sure enough, somebody would be leaving, and they did.  Connie got the anchor up toot suite and we hustled into the nook to snag the very best spot in the whole bay.  We were to remain there for another two days, rewarding ourselves with a fantastic anchorage, a long hike in the desert, a few visits to the little store in the tiny village, and a few visits to Briesa del Mar restaurant, a thatched roof, sand floor, plastic chair establishment that had Elon Musk's Starlink internet service.

Safari Explorer

We watched the huge Safari Explorer ship come in for the day to disgorge it's passengers to the beach where the crew had set up 54 folding chairs for them to sit in.  Brightly colored plastic kayaks appeared and a dozen sleepy horses arrived and the group of "explorers" took turns paddling and riding and hiking, being ferried back and forth from the mother ship in large black Zodiacs piloted by blue shirted crew.  The ship arrived at 6 AM and departed at 6 PM.


    

  

As I said, we visited the tienda for supplies but found that the delivery of fresh food was tomorrow.  Tomorrow came and we went back but was told the delivery would be later, maybe by 5:00 PM.  At 5:30 we arrived to find fresh tomatoes, avocados, bacon, eggs, and frozen chicken thighs.   How delightful!

After spending time in the well sheltered anchorage of Agua Verde we wern't expecting much wind and waves but again, the swell came up from the south and we were forced to motor down to Puerto Los Gatos where we tucked ourselves between a couple of rock reefs and found a sweet spot to spend the night.  We took the dinghy ashore and hiked the wonderful red rock formations, gathering sea shells and enjoying the beach.  A lovely spot.

 
    

Butt Crack Rock Formation at Los Gatos

 

Having learned our lesson on how the south wind comes up mid day, we left Los Gatos at 6 AM and had a pleasant but windless passage south to Bahia Amortajada making 32 nautical miles south in 6 hours.   We were last in Bahia Amortajada way back in 2010 when Connie and I got a few friends together to rent a Morgan OutIsland named SeaScape out of LaPaz for a week.  Remembering that time, we took the dinghy up the little river into the estuary to see the mangroves and the birds.  It was different than we remembered.  Not so very special at all.  I think that back in 2010 we were all very excited to be in this exotic place and see this strange and beautiful landscape.  Good memories then and good memories now.  Just different.

    


We followed a panga with two fisherment out of the estuary.  They were fishing with throw nets, something it is always a delight to witness.  Later, back on board, dinner in the cockpit, sun dipping below the horizon, the no-see-ems arrived.  We put up the screens, did some reading and at bedtime our millions of little friends decided it was time for their dinner.

 

 

Smack, curse, smack, dive under the covers, get too hot, come out of the covers.  The almost invisible little bugs swarmed us all night.  Sleepless and bleary, we pulled up the anchor at sunrise and headed out into the sea with all the hatches open and the fans on high.  We went through the boat flapping towels, trying to chase the little buggers off the boat.

By 9:00 AM we were down around the corner dropping anchor at the beautiful Isla San Francisco.  There we spied a familiar boat named Gaia: Deseree and Damon from Colorado.  

Gaia

After catching some sleep and shaking off the bug attack nightmare, we invited some folks over for sundowners.  Deseree and Damon.  John and Donna on Camanarah.  David and Eileen on Striker.  Eight people in the cockpit, the most yet and plenty of room.  We told stories, caught up on the latest gossip about marinas and anchorages, and just plain enjoyed being with like minded people living this crazy life on the waters of pacific Mexico.

It seems like everyone but us has a Starlink antennae aboard.  When I pull up our internet connections I see all the boat names around us.  This is so very different that it was ten years ago when people used HAM radios and checked into the net each morning to get their weather reports.  We have a little Garmin InReach gizmo that I can get rudementary weather on and we've been making do with that little bit of information.  I suppose we'll have to join the Starlink club next season.  Having multiple wind and wave prediction models available sure would make our daily route planning easier and safer.  But then again, we'd be exposed to endless Netflix, YouTube, and news sites.  One of the benefits of cruising down here is getting away from all that noise.

After consulting our neighbors who had been viewing WindyTY online, we decided it was best to head south in the morning before another two day norther arrived.  Monday, April 15 we left under power but had the sails up when the wind filled one hour later.  Wind and waves built as we sailed dead down wind, arriving four hours later off Isla Partida doing six knots in three foot seas.  Yahoo!
Anchored securely in the blue waters of Caleta Partida we let the norther build and blow, staying two nights.  Connie got the paddle board out and noodled around the shoreline.  I spent the day making lists and documenting things I want to remember next year.