SV Gallant Fox

Notes from Underway - Still No Photos

March 23-March 25, 2016.We're just doing basic provisioning in San Carlos, so why take pictures of the laundromat or the grocery store?

Remember that forecast we got? Yeah, it was accurate. Hit us in San Carlos at about 1100. Almost exactly 48 hours after we'd left Bahía Concepción. Too bad laundry onshore took until 1200 to finish. It was a wet, sloppy, slow dinghy ride back to The Fox in 15 knots increasing to 22 knots as we left the marina and slogged through the mooring balls to what was left of the transient anchorage. GB did his best to avoid breaking waves, but I was at the bow protecting the laundry and groceries, so I was...refreshed.

Notes from Underway - Too Fast For Fotos

Criminy. The most time we've spent at anchor in any one place lately, ended up being in the anchorage at San Carlos, where we intended to (eventually) to get hauled.

We left Bahía Algodones at a leisurely 0840 on March 22, 2016, after we had a chance to gape at all the buildings large and small onshore and remarking to each other that there seemed to be many more than memory served. We survived well the 4.1 miles from Algodones into the anchorage at Bahía San Carlos; the last 24 hours of that 48-hour weather window remained calm as predicted.

Notes from Underway: Best-Laid Plans

March 21, 2016: We really do try to hang out in places for a while. We'd planned to slack around Bahía Concepción for several days with all our new-found friends. However, both the USB forecast on the AmigoNet at 0730 and the LSB forecast on the Sonrisa Net at 0745 called for good weather for just 48 hours more, then winds increasing throughout the Sea of Cortez for the foreseeable future. Our friends all opted to drift over to the anchorages further south in Bahía Concepción, assuming they would be more protected when the weather turned foul.* Being the contrarians we are, we decided to cross the Sea immediately, intending to make landfall on the mainland in Bahía Algodones, 87 miles away. We had listened to two weather forecasts, so our 0915 departure would put us in Algodones at about midnight.

I do not recommend arriving in any anchorage after dark, no matter how experienced a boater is nor how confident they are with their electronics. Darkness alone places one at greater risk. Reliance on electronics to keep you safe is a good plan...right up until one or more of them fail. I am continually amused by people who are not surprised by crashes on their laptops and tablets, and connectivity issues with their SmartPhones, but have no concern whatsoever that their boat's chart plotters and the tracks they have made electronically, will never-ever fail them. So, kids: never make a habit of approaching an anchorage at night.

Rescue at Santispac

March 20, 2016: There we were, minding our own cruiser business. The morning had been the typical lazy cruiser day of dinghying to a restaurant for a nice meal, chatting amiably with fellow cruisers, and returning to The Fox in the afternoon when the typical offshore breezes began to pick up.

I heard screams, and not screams of beach-party delight.

Notes from Underway - Bahía Santo Domingo to Santispac to Posada Concepción

Saturday, March 19, 2016: Raised anchor at Bahía Santo Domingo and putted an uneventful 9 miles into Santispac, a favorite spot of ours near the entrance to Bahía Concepción. As we arrived, we saw just one power boat and two other sailboats at anchor here; but the beach had lots of new (to us) structures, an additional restaurant, and wall-to-wall RV campers and tents. I do not exaggerate when I say that the tents were pitched so tightly on the beach that there was only about a molecule of air between them. If one were in the mood for an all-day/all-night/all week party, Santispac was definitely The Place To Be.

The nice folks on s/v KIA ORA and s/v SEA DANCER hipped us to the fact that Semana Santa (Eater holy week) was just getting underway, hence the crowds. Meaning, that all-day/all-night/all week party was just barely getting started.

I have mentioned before that Mexico is a very loud country. By 4PM the beachside revelry plus the heavy traffic on the highway going past Santispac convinced us to relocate to Posada Concepción, a few dozen yards just around Santispac's western bluff. It took us all of 20 minutes, start to finish.

The Posada is a small cove but we comfortably anchored behind 2 other sailboats just off of the warm spring at the base of the orange-and-green painted house. (Trust these directions - the house hadn't changed its color scheme in 8 years.) Amazingly, this short distance was enough to reduce the highway noise to tolerable levels, and the bluff shielded the Posada from much of Santispac's beach sound. We intended to hang around for a while. #foreshadowing

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Notes from Underway - Punta Chivato to Bahía Santo Domingo

March 17, 2016, was intended to be a leisurely passage of a big ol' 14 miles so we didn't raise anchor until almost lunch time. The forecasts on the two different cruisers' single-sideband frequencies were completely incompatible with each other ("SE to SW" versus "NE"). As it happened our actual weather conditions were completely incompatible with both of them. We saw due-east breeze less than 15 knots, which we'll just call an "inconsistent, localized weather pattern." That way, nobody's wrong.

Seas were calm and Bahía Santo Domingo is protected to the east, so our choice of it as an anchorage worked out very well in our conditions. One of the two sailboats we'd spent the night with at Punta Chivato was already anchored here, as was another small trimaran. About 10 commercial shrimpers were holding station further out in the bay without having their nets deployed. We guessed that they were waiting for nightfall to start work offshore, and we later learned we'd guessed correctly.

At about 0300 we heard a small pod of dolphin moving past The Fox. We never get tired of hearing sounds like those.

We spent two calm days and nights here. I can tell you that the Santo Domingo beach was thoroughly combed for seashells. And no Africanized bees this time!

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Notes from Underway - Caleta San Juanico to Punta Chivato

March 16, 2016: the forecast called for continued light winds, north-northwest 9 to 12 knots, and that is exactly what we got. Seas were flat with at most only a low chop, and we enjoyed a fair current for most of the day. We motorsailed with inner foresail only and made the 58 miles to Punta Chivato in 9 hours and 45 minutes.

Laying-over in San Juanico

Caleta San Juanico is a favorite anchorage of the Baja cruising community. It has a selection of scenic anchoring spots all around the bay that can accommodate a large number of boats - depending upon the weather. Sea and shore birds frequent the area; three or four permanent osprey nests can be seen atop rocky islets from wherever your boat happens to be anchored. A variety of beaches are available for combing and seashelling opportunities are good.

It is typical to see cruisers and onshore car-campers enjoying reef fishing, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, hiking, and even the occasional get-together on the beach.  Because it is such a popular cruising destination you are likely to find boats here that you already know well from all around the Sea of Cortez. Sundowners and dinners on one another's boats are very common events. And so it was for us. We enjoyed four calm days and nights there, yukking it up with friends old and new, among a total of 16 boats anchored in the bay.

Caleta San Juanico is a must-see destination in the Sea of Cortez. Plan to spend several days here...and plan at least one return trip to explore the areas you missed the first time!

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