I have photographed a couple of maps of Baja to help locate where we are. The first is an overview and the others are more localized.
March 28 Puerto Mangles
Well the wind blew all night and we expected to stay put at Isla Coronado, but around 8 am it seemed as if the wind had gone down, so we pulled anchor and headed north. It was not bad to start with, but by the time we had gone 15 miles to the next possible anchorage it was howling again, with gusts over 30. We pulled into Puerto Mangles which did not look like much on the map, but is a remarkably satisfactory anchorage. There is no one here, either at anchor or on the shore. Someone tried to build a hotel some years ago and apparently ran into trouble, so it sits, partially completed and abandoned. The beach is known for having lots of shells, so if the wind drops a little we will get dingy down and go explore.
On the way up, we did get see some sea life. First a good sized whale cruised along side us, apparently feeding on the surface. It did not seem in the least bothered by us. Then Earl saw the fin of a shark. Finally, the big excitement, Earl saw a large fish chase a small one. The weather was such that there was no question of putting out fishing gear, but it did get him excited. Our fishing atlas confirmed that this area is good for fishing, so if the weather is better tomorrow, he wants to try it.
March 30, leaving Calita Juanico
After a quiet night at Puerto Mangles, the morning weather looked reasonable, so we left early and headed north under blue skies with moderate winds. Our target was Caleta Juanico which has wonderful reviews in the guidebooks. It did not disappoint. It is a large bay, with anchorage possible both for north and south wind conditions. The northern shore of the bay is a mixture of sandy beaches and flat rock ledges. It is dotted with rock formations with adequate water and space between for anchoring. One of the most spectacular formations are the Spires which are quite wonderful. There were probably 10 boats anchored there, but there was easily room for another 50.
The water looked wonderful for snorkeling and the sun was out. Unfortunately, the water temperature has dropped about 5 degrees since we left La Paz. It is now 68, certainly swimmable, but less inviting. We settled for exploring the beach instead. The geology is extraordinary – not that I know anything about geology- but I have not often seen such a mixture of rock types.
We were anchored off to the east of the anchorage between two sailboats. One, call Pyxis, was about 33 feet. Its owner, a young man named James, came by and chatted. He has spent a lot of time in the Sea, most of it leading sea kayaking groups. He is an avid spear fisherman and was full of information about the fish in the area. The sailboat on the other side, Anon, was considerably larger, 48 feet and from Victoria. We invited James, and the young couple from the Anon over for drinks. They were all delightful. Once again, it was wonderful seeing younger people out enjoying the sea. They are busy hiking and spear fishing and seeing a whole dimension of the area that we don’t see. The two boats have been running together for some time. On the way into Juanico they had seen a large group of whales. Keith on Anon, retired very young after making some money in the software business, has been seriously studying whales for the past few years. The whales were apparently friendly although toothed, so they tied the two boats together and Keith and James swam with the whales for an hour.
The night was beautiful, with a lovely full moon. We were both awake around 2 am and went up on deck to enjoy the night. This morning Earl went fishing, with no success. It was glassy calm and we decided to take advantage of the weather to run north. I am hoping that we will have internet service as we go by Mulege so that I can post this. In the meantime we are enjoying the ride, seeing numerous whales and porpoises, many different types that we have not learned to distinguish from one another. The only problem is the occasional bobos that are flying around us, survivors of Earl’s fumigation of the pilot house with OFF.
While still underway, we saw a large bunch of porpoises ahead. They were aligned along one side of a rip and clearly busy fishing. It made me think of drifting in Cook Inlet and the way the fish could often be found along the rips. Obviously that was happening here. We stopped at drifted among them. We will get into Santa Rosalia later today.
No comments:
Post a Comment