SV Gallant Fox

Kia Ora Comes to Cazadero

[Photo by Darlene Topilko.] Kia Ora arrived at the Cazadero anchorage on December 11, 2016, ahead of a third boat unknown to either of us. The next morning the crews of The Fox and Kia Ora hiked up the arroyo that spills into the sea a short distance to the east of the anchorage. The hike to the head of the arroyo is about a shade-dappled mile or two. A small herd of goats is known to spend time there, and it's a good place to see birds and practice your identification of native desert plants. In years past, monarch butterflies rested there on their southbound migration.

Agua Verde to Cazadero

The fleet anchored at Agua Verde awoke on December 10, 2016, to a forecast of good weather for the next three days. Several sailboats - including The Fox and Kia Ora - took the opportunity to move along. We heard on the VHF radio that at least three of the other departing fleet were aiming for the anchorage at Puerto Los Gatos. It's certainly a lovely place, but three sailboats in there would tend to make things a bit crowded, especially if other boats were already anchored there. Which the VHF soon informed us there were.

Five Days in Agua Verde - Part III

December 8, 2016, was a fine day to stay aboard and regroup. The SSB forecasts from the AmigoNet and the Sonrisa Net, plus some spot forecasts I took from Saildocs, all called for stronger weather. We saw increasing rolliness and whitecaps outside Agua Verde's bay but the NW lobe remained significantly calmer than all the forecasts had warned. The Fox's anemometer showed a single gust to 19 knots. Otherwise the breeze remained steady from the NNW in the 10-12 knot range. GB and I did the usual boat-maintenance chores. Baked cookies. Made Christmas ornaments just to liven up the place a bit for the holidays. Kept an eye on the surrounding fleet.

We got to party a couple more hours with the crew of Kia Ora on December 9, pressing our mighty Pfaff sewing machine into service to patch up part of Kia Ora's Sunbrella life raft cover while GB demonstrated how to make tortillas and pupusas the Propane Chef way. We four had big fun while there were now a total of nine sailboats sheltering tightly in that wee NW lobe. Two of them looked dangerously near a rocky reef and a cliff face, but the steady breeze kept them safe from swinging into danger.

[Upper right photo by Darlene Topilko.]

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Five Days in Agua Verde - Part II

December 7, 2016: The wee hours saw some breezes from the SSW of about 12-17 knots that quickly decreased to the 10-12 knot range. By sunrise the bay was calm. Conditions were much lighter throughout Agua Verde than had been forecast for the region, which was lucky for the anchored fleet. One less-than-cool sailboat arrived, anchored unsafely, and refused to reanchor when asked, forcing two other sailboats to relocate and a third boat - The Fox - to shorten scope significantly.

This is generally not the way to go about cruising, because if there is any one thing that is certain, it is that no matter how near or far you travel, you will encounter the same boats over and over and over again. So, protip: please not to be a jackwagon, thanks ever so much!

Five Days in Agua Verde - Part I

There are reasons why Agua Verde is such a popular cruising destination. Opportunities abound for swimming, snorkeling, paddling, and fishing. The seashell enthusiast has a selection of beaches with good collecting potential. The fishing village of Agua Verde welcomes you to look around; maybe you could bring some basic supplies for their school while you explore. There are plenty of roads and trails outside the village on which to hike.

From One Popular Destination to the Next

The weather on December 5, 2016, was once again calm, making an easy 23-mile southbound passage from Puerto Escondido to the ever-popular anchorage of Agua Verde. It is very common to enter Agua Verde and find boats of all sizes anchored in the bay's SW lobe, along its broad southern shore, and especially in its highly-preferred NW lobe. [That pic over there is the typical view from the NW lobe across the bay to the SW lobe; the southern shore is to the right out of view.]

We chugged in at 1130 to find one 100' mini-cruise ship anchored off the southern shore. Proceeding into the NW lobe, we found that it was empty except for the tiny sailboat that had been permanently moored in the shallows since at least 2007 when we first started cruising around here. What great luck! We had our choice of prime anchoring spots!

Moored in Puerto Escondido

December 3, 2016, was calm in Puerto Escondido despite the presence of sombreros on the peaks of the Sierra Gigante range. (A general rule of mountain climbers is to skedaddle to lower elevations as soon as one sees a cloud hovering on a mountain peak like a hat because it means that gusterly weather is approaching. It's an idea worth considering wile on the water, too.)

To Puerto Escondido

[Photo on left by Darlene Topilko]

Kia Ora and The Fox temporarily parted company at Isla Coronados as we both raised anchor at 0700 on December 2, 2016. The winds were a mere 12 knots from the SW in the Coronados southern anchorage. However, only 1/4 mile offshore from the anchorage, we had the winds clock to due west and increase to an uncomfortable 26 knots.  Could this be the mysterious "Puerto Escondido Effect" we'd heard of but never before experienced in this area?

Ah, Weather

Long-term cruising ingrains some habits that normal people may find a bit odd. Like a fixation on weather forecasts. Comparing and contrasting differing meteorological opinions. Analyzing and discussing - at length - which forecast might turn out to be the correct one. Discussing them all over again.

So it was for us on the Thursday morning of December 1, 2016.