January 14 and 15, 2018
We didn’t have a lot to do to get ready to go, so we took
our time on Sunday morning. Don changed
the oil and, since he had to remove the companionway to access the engine, I
was trapped outside. I puttered around
the deck, lashing down the fuel cans and kayak and rinsing the last of the yard
dust from the bimini side curtains.
After noon, we went out to buy water and last-minute grocery
items. We were unable to obtain any
additional five gallon bottles from the water stores and didn’t want to buy one
that we couldn’t return, so Don made a few trips to fill the water tank while I
took off the sail covers and made ready to leave. We ate an early dinner at the Dougout, a
baseball themed seafood restaurant, where Don got fish tacos and I had shrimp
ceviche and an oyster taco that was delicious.
We swathed Don’s SUV in its cover and left it in the parking lot of the
Fonatur marina in Guaymas for the summer.
At 6:15, we cast off the docklines and, as our dock
neighbors commented, “sailed into the sunset.”
Guaymas is deep into a bay and it was full dark before we reached open
water. We threaded our way between the
red and green buoys and dodged the fishing boats working the banks just out
side the bay. It was a clear night and
the lights of Guaymas twinkled prettily behind us as we sailed out into the
moonless night.
Don took the 8:00 to midnight watch and I tried to
sleep. We soon had 15 knots of wind and
the waves were big enough to make it hard to stay in my bunk on the uphill
side. I dozed a bit, but mostly just lay
there and tried not to bang any body parts against hard surfaces. When I came up at midnight, we were thirty
miles offshore and it was dark enough that we could see myriad stars. I was wearing just about every bit of
clothing I had brought and just managed to stay warm. For a couple of hours, the wind was gusting
to 20 knots and then it calmed back down to 12 to 15. It was gorgeous and we didn’t see
another boat all night.
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| Caleta San Juanico |
I was definitely ready to crawl back into my sleeping bag by
4:00. I moved out to the low side off
the settee and slept well until 8:00 AM when I got up, made a cup of cocoa, and
resumed my station so Don could sleep.
We were then back in sight of land, although still 15 miles or so from
our destination. It was clear, but still
cold. The waves had calmed down, making
the ride more comfortable. As we
approached the coast, we saw a few boats leaving Caleta San Juanico, where we
were headed, and one boat arriving from the south that followed us into the
anchorage. We dropped the hook in 12
feet of water to the left of the big rock that divides the anchorage and had
everything tidied by noon.
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| Comet at Anchor in San Juanico |
It was too early for a celebratory beer, so Don made coffee
and then I made French toast. The wind
dropped and the sun was warm. Don spent
the afternoon reading while I slept until 5:00 when I started to get
chilly. I got up in time for a beer and
chips with salsa. Thus fortified, I made
salad, broccoli and arrachera for dinner.
We were going to barbecue the meat, but discovered the propane hose for
the barbecue was cracked and leaking. I
cut the meat into strips and sautéed it instead.
The meat was exceptionally tender and we devoured all of it before settling
down for a pleasant evening of listening to music and, in my case, writing.
January 16, 2018
It was cold when I woke up.
I pulled the blanket over my head and went back to sleep. Sleeping with the hatch open seemed like a
good idea when I was gazing at the brilliant stars the night before, but kept
me in my bunk until nearly 9:00. Don
finally got up and started the water for coffee and I guiltily arose and tried
to redeem myself by making breakfast.
The sun was warm in the cockpit and there was little breeze. I put on shorts and dared to dream of a
shower and possibly even a brief swim.
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| Refurbished Comet Shell |
After breakfast, we put the dinghy in the water and took a
spin around the anchorage so Don could see how his new outboard worked on the
dinghy. We went ashore at the cruisers’
shrine and took the shell emblazoned with Comet’s logo back with us to be
refurbished. From there, we ventured out
around the sawtooth rocks bordering one side of the anchorage and then headed
across towards the far shore.
Unfortunately, a cold north wind blew up about this time and the waves
built quickly until our ride was bumpy and wet.
We abandoned the idea of visiting the opposite shore and made a beeline
for the boat.
We had originally planned to go ashore for a walk, but
neither of us really wanted to get any wetter.
We spent the afternoon lounging around the boat. Don puttered around the deck and I practiced
the guitar and tried to get warm again, finally resorting to making a cup of
hot coffee and putting on warm clothes just before the wind dropped in the late
afternoon.
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| Sunset at San Juanico |
Dinner was boiled potatoes and pork chops with salad. We spent the evening listening to podcasts
and music. The water sparkled with phosphorescence like stars on
the water. We could see fish, large and
small, leaving glowing trails through the water. It was cold, but beautiful. Once again, I couldn’t bear to shut out the
starry night by shutting the hatch. I
just added a heavier blanket.
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| Don on the Beach at San Juanico |
January 17, 2018
We got up in time to listen to Gary’s weather report on the
morning net. Don had purchased a single
sideband receiver so that we could listen in.
He predicted winds from the northwest in the mid-teens and that sounded
good to us. Since our bananas were
overripe, I made banana pancakes for breakfast and then we took the dinghy to
shore to return our refurbished Comet ornament
to the cruisers’ shrine. We landed on the beach nearest the boat and then
walked along the shore to the little tree where cruisers leave their marks.
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| Cruisers' Shrine in San Juanico |
We pulled up the anchor at 11:30 and headed out of the
anchorage. We raised the mainsail and
motor-sailed in order to charge the batteries.
The wind was blowing, but the sea was unusually flat. It got windier and windier. When the wind reached 25 knots, we reefed the
main and shut down the engine. We were
doing over eight knots with a reefed main and no jib. We charged across the strait between the
mainland and Isla Coronados. The wind
eventually dropped to about 15 knots and, after I put on long pants and a
couple of extra layers, we had a comfortable sail to Puerto Balandra.
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| Tigger Anchored at Puerto Ballandra |
Balandra is a small bay, well protected from a north
wind. There were three boats there
already. The bay is deep and then rises
steeply to the beach. We finally dropped
the anchor in 28 feet of water at 4:15. The wind howled through the rigging,
but we rode comfortably. We had a beer
and I made guacamole and chips. Dinner
was tostadas because the chicken I had planned to cook for dinner had failed to
thaw. We had data service for the first
time in days, so Don downloaded some podcasts and we listened to them after
dinner.
January 18, 2019
It was warm and calm in Balandra in the morning. We drank coffee in the cockpit and then Don
made oatmeal for breakfast. After
breakfast, we threw the kayak in the water and I kayaked to shore and then over
a small bar and up into a small estuary that reached into Isla Carmen. It was quite green along the waterway and I
saw great blue herons and egrets, as well as gulls who squawked in irritation
as I approached the beach. I kayaked up
the estuary until it ended in a mud flat and then turned around and drifted
back down to the bay.
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| Mouth of the Estuary at Balandra |
Don was in the water when I returned and I decided that a
rinse was worth the possibility of freezing and took a quick swim, myself. Don then took the kayak out for a bit while I
practiced the guitar for an hour. We
spent a lazy afternoon reading and dozing.
Dinner was chicken adobo over rice, which was filling and
satisfying and we lounged and listened to podcasts for a couple of hours before
Don did the dishes and then, getting a second wind, we stayed up talking until
nearly midnight.
January 19, 2018
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| Glassy Crossing to Puerto Escondido |
It was even warmer our second morning in Balandra. I got up
and made coffee about 8:00 and basked in the sun for half an hour before Don
got up. We had eggs and beans for
breakfast and then secured the kayak and got ready to head out. We left about 11:00 and headed across the
strait to Puerto Escondido. It was very
warm and there was little wind. The sea
looked glassy. We didn’t even bother
putting up the sail. It was warm enough
that I made it the whole way in a tank top.
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| Looking Out Through the "Windows" at Puerto Escondido |
Puerto Escondido is located in a volcanic caldera at sea
level. No matter how well I know that one can't sail uphill, I always feel like we are higher than the level outside. We motored to the south end where
the entrance is located. There were many
boats anchored or attached to mooring balls in the “waiting room”, a cove just
outside the caldera. Only one boat was
moored inside the ellipse, a small basin just outside the entrance. When we were in Puerto Escondido two years
before, there was a rumor that the ellipse was going to become a marina, but
nothing there had changed.
The former Fonatur facility, however, had seen a lot of
changes. New docks had been installed
with some slips and a long dock for side tying. There were mooring balls in the
basin enclosed by the dock, but it was unclear whether they were intended to be
used for Med mooring or fore and aft mooring in the center. None were occupied. We continued past the marina and picked up a
ball in the mooring field in the caldera.
It was emptier than it had been later in the season, but probably 60% of
the moorings were occupied with boats either stored there or occupied.
We drank a beer to celebrate our arrival and I was happy to
finally be warm enough to drink a beer in shorts and a tank top. Then we took the long dinghy ride to the
marina office to pay for our mooring and take much needed showers. The showers had been renovated since our last
visit and were very modern and attractive, but completely devoid of hooks or
benches on which to put one’s clothes.
Each shower stall had its own sink and everything had to be piled there.
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| Pepegina's Restaurant at Puerto Escondido |
After our showers, we repaired to the new bar/restaurant on
the second level where we had margaritas, salad and pizza for dinner. The food was good and reasonable, but the
margaritas were a bit pricey, although not short on tequila. We sat there, using the Wifi (also upgraded),
until it started to cool off and we made a beeline back to the shelter of Comet
where we settled down to listen to music and write.
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