January 19, 2017. The morning was calm and clear with temps in the 70s. The forecast looked good for northerly and/or westerly breezes, depending upon which forecast one preferred. We decided to travel just 7 miles north from Isla San Francisco to explore once again the ruins at Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose. We dropped anchor off Punta Salinas at about 1040 with only two other boats for company - a small single-hander, and one very large catamaran. The only remarkable feature of the anchorage was that thirsty bees were buzzing about looking for any drop of fresh water that might be around.
GB hiked around the ruins while I gathered seashells on the beach. Unfortunately, within an hour the breeze turned to the SE - the only direction that had not been forecast - and increased to the point that all us sailboats skedaddled off what was now a dangerous-looking lee shore. The Fox and the small singlehander beam-reached across the channel for 4 miles into the anchorage of San Evaristo where we snuggled in amongst a dozen other boats already sheltering there.
At 1830 exactly the 15-knot breeze suddenly changed direction from the SE to the NW. About 12 hours later conditions calmed down and we went ashore for groceries, garbage disposal and a look around the village. En route in the dinghy we spotted a private mooring buoy in the anchorage that was submerged about a foot below the water's surface. (This may have been one of the several private mooring buoys we'd seen a gentleman tending to the last time we anchored here.) Protip: if you approach San Evaristo, go slowly and keep a very sharp lookout for one or more small mooring buoys bobbing - or partially submerged - in random spots in not just the main anchorage off the village but also in the anchorage of the north lobe of the bay. Wouldn't want to foul your propeller on one of them, now would you?
The following day the weather resumed its SE flow, then blew from the SSW to due W. Velocities were all over the place: flat-calm at some moments; blowing in the 20s and gusting to 28 knots at other times. The breeze lightened a bit overnight, gusting only to the high teens from the SSW to W by sunrise. This pattern repeated itself for the better part of the next 2 days. It certainly wasn't ideal for fishing or snorkeling, but we got lucky in another way: an old cruising friend, Mark S. on s/v Wendaway, happened by and we had big fun getting reacquainted with him...after not having seen him for NINE YEARS. Sailing is like that sometimes.
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