Predictably, when we woke to a beautiful morning Sunday, Earl had the motor warming up and the lines untied before breakfast. We left on glassy seas and headed to Caleta Partida, one of our favorite anchorages. Shortly after we anchored, the wind came up from the north and gusted for the rest of the day up to 30 mph. One by one, we were joined by others, and we all enjoyed our beautiful and snug position.
The next morning, once again we were off before breakfast. Earl clearly thinking fish and wanting to test out his new fishing lures. We were sitting in the pilot house with our first cups of coffee when we heard the line screaming through a reel. Earl was off in no time, after turning off the stabilizer and autopilot. The next thing I knew, we were rolling in the swell and everything was hitting the floor, while Earl yelled instructions. I never caught up. While I was trying to mop up the salon, Earl was trying to deal with the dorado he had pulled in. It was bleeding, but lively, and in no time the back deck looked like a slaughter house. By now, I was feeling not well! Not one of my better mornings.
Fortunately, the Hook at San Francisco was beautiful. We spent the afternoon in a most lazy fashion, reading on top deck. We were joined by the National Geographic Cruise Ship. It is larger than our normal company, but much quieter than the more common ‘party’ boats that we have encountered. Later one of the mates came over to our boat by dingy. He apologized for disturbing our tranquility and very graciously invited us to join them on the beach for a barbeque. We thanked him but declined. We had dorado to barbeque on the boat. We ate on the back deck and it was glorious.
To make up for the past couple of days, it is 8:30 and we are only now leaving.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 – leaving Los Gatos.
Tuesday, we decided to head up to Los Gatos by way of the Canal de San Jose where we have caught fish in the past. We had a wonderful cruise. The water was glassy and the scenery as always breathtaking. Before we even left San Francisco we hooked and lost a dorado. During the day we caught two more and four bonito – some even on one of the new lures. This channel is known for whales and we saw a pod of orcas, a pod of pilot whales and some other large whale. In addition, there were manta rays and dorados swimming on the surface.
The real reason we had come to Los Gatos was to get lobsters for dinner. Manuel, a local pangero, is well known among the local cruisers for visiting boats at anchor in Los Gatos with fresh lobsters. Patiently we waited. Finally around 5, he showed up. He told us that he had been sick, which we had heard from other cruisers, and could no longer dive for lobsters. Fortunately for us, his son Manuel would dive and they would be back in the evening with some. He had some embroidered mats that his wife had made. He said they took her two days each, which I can well believe. I bought three for the grand total of $20.
True to his word, the two Manuels were back by 6:30 with 9 lobsters. The younger Manuel was wet and shivering. The water is relatively cold for extended diving and he has no wet suit – they are too "caro". No one had a scale so we guessed high on the poundage and gladly over paid. We told Manuel that we might be back on Christmas Eve. Manuel asked if we would bring him 20 liters of gas when we returned. Instead, Earl gave him three gallons of gas in plastic gas can. Manuel promised to return the container in the am at 8. Bright and early, there he was with three more lobsters as a present. I think we are going to grow shells.
Today we are off to look for more fish.
Friday, December 17, 2010 – Costa Baja Marina
On Wednesday, after we left Los Gatos, we headed for waters east and north of Isla San Jose to look for fish. We had done well here before. Sure enough, shortly after passing a bunch of porpoise, we hooked a nice dorado which we kept. After that fishing seemed to dry up, so we headed west to the Canal San Jose. On the way, east of Isla San Diego, we passed patches of red water. It looked like red tide. We will need to see if that occurs here. Once back in the Canal San Jose we started catching more dorado. I lost count, but I think it was four. Anyway, the man was happy.
We tried a new anchorage, at the southern end of Isla San Jose in an area called Bahia Amortajada. This is right near a large mangrove area and lagoon. We had heard that there were clams to be had there and they are among Earl’s favorite food. He decided that we would try near the outlet to the lagoon in the morning at low tide. The evening was lovely. We were alone, although there were two sailboats anchored within sight. There was a nice light breeze and it was pretty close to heaven.
As usual, Earl had his underwater lights on, and, as usual, he was wandering around some time during the night. He noticed that the small fish which are usually jumping in the lights were quiet. The reason, it turned out, was a seal who was delighted to have his dinner lit up. He would come by the stern, within arm’s reach. Daisy who was up could hear the seal snort and was all excited. She wanted to go out on the swim step to get a closer look, but Earl would not let her.
The next morning the Captain changed his mind about clamming. Much as he loves clams, he likes to catch fish better and he really would like to get another marlin. In addition, it was windy and there were waves on the beach. So off we went towards an area on the east side of San Jose called El Bajo on the fishing chart. Before long, we were in choppy water. Recognizing that it would be hell to bring in a large fish under those conditions, Earl headed south along the east side of Isla Partida to another new anchorage. This one is across a shoal from our favorite Caleta Partida. The wind was blowing from the west and it was a fine place to be. As usual, we had a spectacular sunset, with only one other boat keeping us company.
This morning we headed for ‘home’, marina Costa Baja. One the way, Earl made a swing to the east in one final attempt to find a marlin, but no luck. No matter. It is a lovely day and we found to our delight that our new ATT i-phones have great service compared to our old Verizon net work. We had coverage most of the way home.
Once at the marina we stopped at the fuel dock and got 525 gallons of diesel, as well as gasoline to replace what we had used and given away. We paid about $2.65 for the diesel.
Pulling away from the fuel dock, our bow thruster quit working. Earl did a great job of getting us into our slip without it. He has had no luck finding the problem so a mechanic will be coming to do it for us. We are getting spoiled by the cheap labor in Mexico. Right now, Fito and Rudolfo are washing our boat, something we used to do ourselves.
This little cruise was 182 miles, 31 engine hours and 22 generator hours. We really did not go as far as that might imply, since we were mostly fishing. It is definitely the journey, not the destination. We will spend a couple of days here, then, Monday evening, my sister Marie-Noel arrives and we will have the joy of sharing this beautiful place with her. I can hardly wait.
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