Voyage of the Sea Bear

A pod of six black dolphins swam between us and the shore this morning just after dawn. We could hear them breathing as they broke water, and it  was pretty cool. JC has seen whale sharks here, and we’ve both seen the old-timer turtle that hangs around this tiny cove. Under the boat is a school of tiny, one inch, gold and black striped fish, hanging around the rudder.

I stop each time I get ready to climb the swim ladder and watch them for a few minutes. Most just look back, but there is one, the same one
each time (I think) that swims out to the ladder and checks me out. It’s a sign of fishy curiosity, and a little bravery (stupidity?) that
impresses me. This guy swims to within an inch of my chest, hangs around for a minute or  two, then returns to the crowd back at the rudder. He’s been growing the past few days, he started well under an inch long, now he may be an inch and a half. I hope he finds a good home when we finally haul up the anchor and go back to the village.

I think I’m going to assist one of the town stores in becomming the “gringo’s friend”. I have an old marine band radio I can give the owner, and we’ve discussed a possible business model. I’m not really doing this out of charity, but more to take business away from the store across the street.

A few days ago, I talked to the taxi driver who hangs out at the restaraunt where we beach our dingy. I asked him if he could arrange to have ten of the 20 liter (5 gallon) pure water jugs delivered to the beach, so I could carry them to the boat and refill my tanks. He quoted
200 peso and we agreed to do it the next morning at 9AM. Bottled water usually sells for 12 to 15 peso a bottle, so this should net the taxi
driver 50 peso or so for his time, a fair deal all the way around.

The next morning, at 9AM the taxi driver shows up with a largish man in the front seat. We carry the bottles to my dingy and I shuttled them to the boat, and poured them into my tanks. When I returned with the empty jugs I tried to pay the taxi driver. He said to pay the big guy,  it was his water. When I tried to do so, I found the water was now 30 peso each, for a total of 300 peso. I disagreed, but paid. Then the
driver let me know that he expected 50 peso for his time, as the 300 was just for the water. Ouch!

Well, I did some asking around, and the big guy is known as “The Whale” (Ballena), and has a reputation for short changing, and over charging, us gringos.  He owns (runs?) the only hardware store in town, and sells groceries, water, and misc. hardware.

Anyway, across the street from him is this nice, family owned grocery store / Internet lounge / restaurant. I’ve been trying to talk the young man running the show, Juan, into providing services to the cruisers here. If he could partner up with a local fisherman who has a panga (one of those big fiberglass fishing boats), then he could take orders over the net, or over the radio, from us gringos and deliver goods directly to our boat. I’m sure most of us would be happy to pay a premium to have ice, water, food, INTERNET!, and possibly fuel delivered right to the boat.

As a happy side affect, this would take business away from the Whale, and reduce the chance of other cruiser being cheated as I was. Maybe this is a bit mean-spirited, but I guess I’m just pushing back a bit. I never was good at face-to-face confrontation. This is more my style. We’ll see if it works, and how it all turns out.

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First, a comment to our loyal readers. I do occasionally go back and fill in a day or two (or three), when I get time. Don’t feel like you’re missing out or not keeping up. It’s ME who isn’t keeping current, although I DO try. So if you check the page and see three new postings, dated a few days  ago, that means I had the time to go back and fill in some of the blank spots. Thanks for reading all this stuff!

Whale shark off the bow

So JC and I arrived for the full moon party a week ago, and I’ll post an article and pix on that later.  The village of LA is small, a few stores, 550 good people (and a few scoundrels), INTERNET access, and a fairly well protected harbor. However, it is open to the SE, and that’s where the winds are supposed to come from this weekend, so we’re going to putt-putt across the bay and see what the other (more protected side) looks like. Google earth shows a pretty nice beach (La Mona beach at  28° 54.834′N,   113° 28.323′W so we’ll go anchor there for the night. This place is supposed to have whale sharks, and I may even get in the water with one. Here’s a picture of one. The orange thing is a plastic bottle we use as an anchor float.

Whale shark off the stern

The Sea Bear is holding up well, I might have fixed the windlass, at least temporarily. I’ll know more in a few hours.

The weather is HOT and muggy. 98 degrees F and 80% R.H. isn’t uncommon. Even the nights are too warm to sleep comfortably. I’m looking forward to the cooler nights of winter.

Hurricane Frank is hovering south of us. I don’t expect a problem there, but it’s not unusual for one or two to make it this far north. We’ll be watchful, and prepare the best we can. One of the things I want to do is to go look at the harbor called Don Juan and get some GPS readings so that we can get there in a storm if need be. Don Juan is supposed to be the best natural hurricane hole in this area.

We are going to hang around here for a month or so. I’m getting certified as a Amateur Radio Volunteer Examiner (VE) so I can help other folks get or upgrade their ham radio license. We’ll do a testing session at the next full moon party in September. Then Sea Bear will probably head south to San Francisquito, and Santa Rosalia. It’ll be nice after a month or more to have fresh water showers in the marina. It’s funny how life’s priorities change!

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It’s been a nice week. JC has caught up to the Sea Bear, and most of the projects I wanted to do have been completed.

Today we head out to Marina Real, 10 miles or so up the coast. It’s more of a symbolic move, from one marina to another, but I need to get back into “sailing mode”. This is the beginning of our journey back up the coast to San Francisquito and the Bay of LA. I truly hope that all that wind I fought against will still be there, blowing us northwest and making the trip back pleasant.

The trip out of Guaymas was sooo sweet. We had good wind, and were making 7.5 knots. Even with the engines shut down we were averaging over 6 knots. The waves made the ride a bit rolly, but nothing like the bash down. By the time we pulled into Marina Real I was feeling pretty good.

We’ll spend a couple of days here, and refill all the empty fuel jugs and tanks. We’re also going to check the batteries on board the Blue Dolphin, and probably make one more trip into San Carlos for last minute supplies. Then it’s off to San Pedro,  Kino Bay, Tiburon and San Francisquito bay.

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Today I should reach Guaymas, and hot showers.

Last night the wind picked up a little, but overall it was restful. At 0600 I weighed anchor, and headed out on the last leg to Guaymas. First I would pass San Carlos, and could stop there if things got rough.

Motor sailing almost directly into the wind. It is a bit calmer before 10AM and after 4PM. In any case, today is clear, and not too windy. The seas are a light to moderate (2-4 ft waves) coming from the starbord quarter.  By the time I reach the Guaymas marina, I will have used almost 60 gallons of diesel fuel.

Passing San Carlos arounjd 1100. The shore seems covered with condos. It’s good to see signs of  humanity again.

Rounding the cape (Cabo Haro) I now have wind that I can sail with. The waves are hitting me from the aft quarter, so they don’t slow me down as much. The GPS coordinates provided by my trusty “Sea of Cortez Cruiser Guide” put me right in the middle of the approach into the entrance channel. Bouys, channel markers, little lighht houses, range markers, all signs of marine civilization. Woot!

1305 -  nobody answers the radio at the marina, but I DID make contact with Wally on Stella Blue. He’s almost at San Francisquito, 90 miles away on the other side of the sea. VHF is supposed to be line of sight communications, but it seems I’m getting a very good bounce off of the ionosphere. We chat for a minute before I go back to figuring out how I’m going to approach the dock and tie up by myself.

Ahh, a security guard noticed the Sea Bear and waved me to an empty slip. I did a quick  180 turn, and rigged the fenders and dock lines on the port side. Then I did another 180 turn (not sure if the security guard thinks I’m crazy or not) and headed to the designated slip. I pulled in, slowed down, and then jumped forward and tossed the docking line to the guard. Back to the wheel, reversed to a dead stop, then jumped aft and tossed over the other line.

Secured to the dock. Home (for a bit). Sweet lack of boat-motion. Showers. Pool. Meals cooked by someone else. Cold beer. And soon, JC will return and the Sea Bear will again be complete.

In the meantime, I have several important projects to start. I’ll need a carpenter to make a new meditation seat, a machinist to do some work on the wildcat (windlass part that grabs the chain), make me a new pin for the lifelines, perhaps fabricate a nerw hatch handle,  and maybe I’ll get someone to look at the Engle cooler and find out why it only gets down to about 25 degrees F.

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Several pangas pulled into the little cove at Caleta Moreno and rafted together. Looks like I picked the “lunch spot” to rest in. After an hour, they untied from each other and went back to their fishing offshore.

By 1645 the wind and waves had calmed down some, so I (again) headed out to the Southeast. No sails this time, I had the motor running, and I stayed within a mile or two of the coastline. I really wanted to make some “forward progress”. The charts showed a nice, secure looking  bay called San Pedro at N28 02.8 W111 15.3 with good protection from both North and South winds.

I managed to pull into the bay just as darkness fell. This really was a sweet looking place. When I head back northward with JC, I’m going to try to stop here. I dropped anchor in 18ft of water, onto good holding sand.  Took a short  dip before crashing for the night. I was the only boat in here. The charts said I was only about 15 miles from San Carlos.

Somehow I had lost the steel pin connecting the lifeline to the pulpit. Those things were secured by circular cotter pins, I have no idea how it broke or worked loose. One more item to buy or have made in Guaymas. In the meantime, I’ll use a bolt and nut with nylon insert to keep it from working loose.

Peering through the dodger

Tomorrow should be a short day sailing to Guaymas. Guaymas is an industrial port, not a tourist/gringo town like San Carlos. It seems that JC and I both prefer the Mexican cities to the towns developed by/for the gringos. The channel is well marked, and large enough for those big cargo ships. I think the Mexican Navy has a base in there as well.

Tomorrow, with any luck at all, I should be tied up at the Singular Marina there.

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The tiny round anchorage at El Choyudo looks perfect. There is a beach with kids playing to the East, a high rock cliff to the South and West, and a narrow channel past a rock covered in pelicans and their droppings to the North. Snug was my first thought. I dropped anchor and put the dingy in the water. Rowing to the beach was easy, and I tied the Porta Bote to a big panga anchor that was above the water line.

The town of El Choyudo has one or two small stores, one restaurant (the Palapa), and no INTERNET access for us cruisers. A 35 ft fishing trawler was anchored off the restaurant. Most of the available beach space was covered with Panga’s (fishing boats), nets, awnings and such. The owner of the restaurant drove me in his truck back across town to my boat after I’d eaten lunch.  As I untied my dingy, I noticed that I had a crowd of boys hanging around in the cockpit of Sea Bear. The adults on the beach didn’t seem concerned, so I hid my dismay and rowed back out to my unlocked, open, home full of strangers.

There were six of them. They ranged from 13 to 17 and none claimed to speak English. Nothing appeared to be missing above decks, and after talking a bit, they asked for water. I dragged a big bottle of cold water out of the cooler, and they passed it around. Then they went forward and started diving off the bowsprit. This was when I noticed the meditation seat was missing with two screws  still poking through the steel tubing. I removed them as they looked like a safety hazard to me.

When the kids climbed back aboard, they asked for food. I said “No”, and they seemed OK with that. A little later they all lined up along one side of the boat, said “Good Bye” and dove in.  It was an interesting visit. I felt this might be a good place to spend an extra day, and to get some rest.

I turned in early, hoping to get a full nights sleep. That didn’t happen. Around 2330 the wind picked up, and the anchor alarm went off. Sure enough, the radar showed I was slowly dragging back onto the rocky isle.  Did I want to pull up the anchor while the wind was blowing? How was I going to keep the Sea Bear off the rocks, after I got the anchor up? It was dark enough that I couldn’t see the isle without the handheld spotlight, which was back by the steering wheel. I needed to be in three places at once, but the place I DIDN”T want to be was on those darned rocks. Ignoring the problem wasn’t going to help, I could see the Bear slipping closer and closer back towards the rocks. Arrrgh.

So I started the engine, hooked up the spot light and turned on the circuit breaker for the anchor windlass.  The wind was still blowing pretty good, and the bow of the boat was bouncing up and down. I raised the anchor, and sprinted back to the wheel. Putting the boat in gear, I grabbed the spotlight and looked for the rocks.

I was already past them. Due to no skill of my own, when the anchor came off the bottom, the Bear was blown around the island. I did a big circle, and chose a spot downwind of the island, off the panga covered beach. Dropping  the anchor was easier than raising it, and I let out plenty of chain. I could drag a mile or two now before I’d get close to anything.  After a while the adrenalin shakes subsided, and I went back to bed.

I still hoped to take a day off tomorrow.

By 1030 in the morning, I was bored. The weather looked calm, so I headed south.  Twenty minutes later I had 25 knot winds on the nose, and was bashing into 4-6 ft. waves. In the space of three hours I sailed (no motor) 6 miles out, and 6 miles back. Total forward progress was less than 4 miles.  I lost a wooden oar from the porta bote, and folded one of my new aluminium awning poles in half. I was thoroughly annoyed and exhausted.  There was a little bay named Caleta Moreno that offered some SE protection from the wind, so I pulled in and dropped anchor. The plan was to take a nap till things calmed down some, then instead of sailing, just motor like heck and make some forward progress.

That was the plan.

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It’s a beautiful morning in San Francisquito bay. I raised anchor at 0600 and motor sailed pas the south end of Tiburon Island to Kino Bay. The islands here are all part of a national reserve, controlled and managed by the indigenous people, the Seri.  Any time you go ashore, you need to have a local guide with you.  Sea Bear transited the Monument Pass, between Tiburon and Turner islands about 3PM. I had made good enough time to continue to Kino bay before dark.

I dropped anchor in 8ft of water, even more shallow than San Francisquito. But the threat of a Chubasco (wind storm) was real, and I wanted to tuck up as close to the cliffs as I could get.

I awoke at 0300 to 30+ kt winds gusting from the south east, and lightning flashing in the distance. The anchor seemed to be holding just fine. By 0345 the wind was over 35 knots (about 40 MPH). I checked the deck, everything looked secure. At 0415, I could feel the keel bumping in the mud. This is NOT a good feeling, and quite different than the normal rocking of the boat, and the swing around the anchor. Within a few minutes I was pretty sure we were stuck in the mud. I was concerned that a wind shift could now blow from one side, tilting the boat over, as we would no longer be swinging on the anchor, and pointing into the oncoming wind. The tide software I use said that the low tide had just passed, and high tide would arrive at 0900.

Well before 0900, the Sea Bear floated free and I yanked up the anchor and headed to deeper water. I really, really didn’t like touching bottom like that. It was rough, but at least I was sailing again. I headed South East, directly into the 25kt winds.

It was a rough passage. I lost the wood meditation seat that was part of the bowsprit, a 5 gallon plastic bucket full of fresh water that was tied to the lifeline, one oar, and down below the coffee pot shattered. It took a long time to go a few miles, but eventually I reached El Choyudo. There was this cute little cove just a few hundred meters south of the town beach, with good cliffs and protection most of the way around, and a small rocky island covered in pelicans to the north. It appeared real secure.

 Appearances can be deceiving.

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Sea Bear anchored in San Francisquito

Awake at 0530, anchor up by 0700. A short, sweet sail around the point and there is the entrance to San Francisquito! The name means “Little San Francisco” although the locals mispronounce it a little and that changes the meaning to “where Saint Francis quit”. The water inside this tiny bay is 10 to 14 feet deep, shallow for most boats, and enough to keep me on my toes as I find a  spot to drop anchor. There is already one boat here, right in the middle, but there appears to be room on either side of her. By 0815 the anchor is down, and I’m ready to explore.

Looking at SanFrancisquito from the boat

From the boat, town looks like 3 to 4 buildings. I know there is an airstrip over the hill, and a few other buildings that were visible from last nights anchorage off the beach.

Before I could get the dingy into the water, Karen and her wonder dog row over in their boat and welcome me to the bay. Karen, her husband Mike, and the terrier have been here doing “boat projects” and she says that this can be a difficult place to leave. The wind and weather are so nice that there always seems to be a reason to hang around for another day or two. Well, I know I have to be in Guaymas in time to meet JC, so that shouldn’t be an issue with me, but I am looking forward to coming back. We did make a plan to meet on the Sea Bear at sundown for a drink.

I drop the dingy into the water, and row to the beach. The plan is to hike over the hill to the resort / airstrip and maybe grab some fruits and veggies. The trip to the beach is a short one, and it appears that there is a small Mexican Army camp just outside of town. The guys play soccer in the evening when it cools off. I have no idea what they are guarding here.

The airstrip

It’s about a two mile hike to the airstrip. It overlooks the beach I was anchored off of last night, Santa Teresa. There is one small store here (I saw a stand up soda cooler with a glass front, no shelves, no goods.) The local family was friendly, and implied that later the Resaruante would have food.

I bought a water, and and an Orange Fanta soda, and hung around for an hour. In a bit, three soldiers in tan camo outfits walked in, bought a few cartons of milk, and stood around chatting.  With nothing else happening, I figured it was time to return to the boat. The temperature was climbing, and I wanted a swim.

The walk back was uneventful, and the miles quickly passed.  This was desert, dunes, sand, cactus and barbed wire fences. The water was beautiful, but I have no idea why somone would fly down here to spend a week if they didn’t have access to a boat.

One of the toys we brought back from Oregon was a Hummingbird depth finder. I rigged the transducer to a pole, and dug out a few 6 volt sealed batteries to use as “portable power”. I hope to be able to use it on the Sea Bear, and from the  dingy, if I have to scout out an unknown anchorage. The batteries were old, and I’ve been charging / discharging them via the 12 vold plug in the main companionway. When I hooked up the wires this afternoon, I must of reversed them, because in a minute or so, I had major smoke, and the hot wire had melted several holes in the mosquito screen that was draped across the hatch. I yanked the socket out, and the smoke had just cleared when my guests arrived.  Good timing, but I’d have to check things out later on to see if there was any other damage.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs.

 We chatted. I agreed to take the Amature Radio Examiners (VE) test when I returned in a few weeks. That way, I could help proctor tests for other cruisers who wanted to upgrade their “ticket”.  Mike and Karen are both active in the radio nets here in the north end of the Sea, and it sounds like it will be fun to help out. There will be a “Full Moon Party” on the 21st, and I hope to be back up this way by then. Overall we had a wonderful chat.

Afterwards, I went below to see if there was any other damage done by my “stupid battery trick”. I noticed one of the breakers had tripped, and when I tried to reset it, it kept re-tripping. Darn! My guess was that the hot wires had melted their insulation, and shorted together. I pulled the electrical panel off, and after three hours, discovered that the problem was a bad 12v plug, on a different circuit. The two items (smoke test and breaker tripping) were not related. What are the odds of that?

Well, it was after 10PM now, and I hope to depart early in the morning for the mainland, or at least for the south end of Tiburon Island. So I put the tools away, tucked the wires back into their cubbys, bolted the panels back in place and went to bed.

Another exciting day in paradise.

Hooks to hang your fish on

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Up at daylight. Almost. Well anchor was up by 7AM, so it was close.  I wished I had more sleep, but what the heck. The seas were flat, but once I got around the cape (Cabo) the wind picked up 8 to 10 kts. I sailed at 3.5 kts, and then fired up the motor, and motor-sailed over 5 kts. I was making pretty good time, but burning up a little fuel. I was actually going to pass my planned overnight spot, so I decided to head as far as I could before darkness forced me to halt. I REALLY don’t like pulling into a new anchorage when it’s dark, my vision isn’t good enough to check out a new place if the lighting is poor.

   I wasn’t going to make it all the way to San Francisquito, but just south of there was a beach (Santa Teresa) that should offer good protection from the prevailing North and West winds. And if the anchor dragged, I would be moving away from the beach, not towards it.

Just as the sun was setting, I approached the beach. It looked pretty good. The bottom looked like sand, and was 20 ft down, what I consider the perfect depth. I’d anchored in as little as 12 ft, but that made me nervous. The boat needed 6 ft to float in, and the tides at this end of the Sea could be as much as 22 feet at the northern tip of the Sea of Cortez. I had no idea what they were locally, but 20 feet sounded pretty good to me. And it was just fine. Dropping the anchor at 19:20 was cutting it pretty close. But I dove in, checked to make sure it looked like the anchor was set, and had a beer. Next item on the agenda was to watch the sun set.

Well, I could get used to this. It’s lonely by my self, but I do get lots of time to think.

And I got to sleep the whole night through.

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I’m too cheap to pay for more slip time here at Santa Rosalia. With JC in Michigan, and her not planning to return for two or more weeks,  I’ve decided to head out alone. The Sea Bear and I know each other pretty well, and I don’t think I’ll have to do any “overnighters”. The first stop is only a few miles up the coast, and if something weird happens, I can always sail back here.

Wally, off the Stella Blue, loaned me a thermometer for the new Engle. It seems to take a long time to freeze bottles of water, especially it it really is 0 degrees F. inside. An overnight test shows 28 degrees F. as the coolest it is getting. One more thing to add to my “to-do” list. What is the coldest this box should get, and what do I do if it’s not performing up to par?

12:30PM – Cast off and head out.  The wind is almost non-existent, seas flat, water temp about 85 degrees F. and air temp 94 degrees. Hot and boring.  Good for a first solo trip.

Gypsum mine at Caleta Santa Maria

The destination for my first night is the industrial harbor located at the Caleta Santa Maria Gypsum mine. If the mining operations are not running, it should be quiet and secure. If they are running, it will be dusty and noisy.

Looks quiet.  At 15:25 the anchor went down and I have the little harbor to myself. After a swim and a beer, I fixed a little dinner and went to sleep. I hope to take off early in the morning and see how far I can make it towards San Francisquito bay.

23:45 – The anchor alarm went off. The wind is blowing 12 to 15 knots. The anchor is slowly dragging through the sandy bottom. I stay up until 2AM, then the wind calms down. It takes a bit longer for me to calm down, but eventually I get back to sleep. Why does this seem more stressful when I’m alone? I’m sure JC would be an asset, but she’d also be at least as nervous as I am. Ah well, in the end it was only the loss of a few hours of sleep.  And surely this kind of thing only happens once in a great while, right?

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