Up the Sea 3.4. Santa Rosalía to Puerto Peñasco.

When we left Santa Rosalía in the afternoon for Ísla Salsipuedes, we calculated to have favorable winds after the sunset for this overnight passage. First it was flat calm, no wind, no waves, so we were motoring along, used the last bit of cell service, watched the sunset and had dinner. Just when Radu took the first night watch winds picked up from the West, he unfurled the headsail and in no time he was sailing nine knots. We were flying. Then the waves came. Pushed by winds crossing the Baja and funneled through some canyons, big waves were building off the shore smashing into the side. The waves were getting higher and higher. Everything in the cabin flew. I had secured everything below but some things still found a way to dislodge like shells and books. Radu decided to go off wind, turn on the engine and off course closer to shore and to head into the waves. for a bit easier movement. This lasted for two hours. I didn’t sleep a wink. Then were past that canyon and the waves calmed and we could sail again. And I got four hours of sleep until it was my watch. I tried to sail and wind blew for half an hours then died, then came back for a bit. The moon was nearly full and dramatic, sending a carpet of light to our boat until it set over the Baja. For half an hour it was pitch black around us and the stars reflected on the calm, silky water until dawn lit the sky in the east. We arrived at Ísla Salsipuedes in the early morning light and after putting the boat back together on deck and below, had a big breakfast right away.

We were traveling with our new friends on SV Osprey we had met on the dock in Santa Rosalía. SV Osprey is a Canadian 32’ (9.7 m) full keel boat with classic lines and her owners, Lauralee and Josh, take her around the Sea of Cortez for two or three months in spring until they will be cruising full time. They arrived late morning and tucked near us into the South cove as strong Northerlies were expected for the next night and day and some swell might wrap around. As is happened we were well protected from the winds but did get some swell rocking the boats so we all slept sidewise in our v-berths, which was way more comfortable than to roll from side to side.

Late morning the next day we joined Lauralee and Josh on a stroll over the low and hilly island. Strong North winds blew when we came up onto a hill with a magnificent view of the Baja to our West and to all the other Midriff islands: to our East was Isla San Esteban we had been to two years ago after visiting Isla Tiburon and Kino Bay (travel log here) and to our North were Isla Partida and Isla Angel de la Guarda we are planning to head to next. After collecting a big bag of plastic garbage on a beach, we went back to the boats with an invitation for our friends to come over to the Imagine for drinks and dinner. We potlucked grilled chicken and chorizo tacos with guacamole dining under the bug netting of our cockpit, because this paradise does come with hundreds of tiny annoying flies called Bobos.

The passage to Isla Partida the next day was short, just two hours long, so we slept in and left after yummy mango muesli. It was a gorgeous, sunny and cloudless day and the tidal current accelerated us north to Partida. I was looking forward to see the bat scientists again we had met here a couple of years ago (travel log here and Bat Lovers blog here), but when we got closer we didn’t see any tents or signs of a camp. How disappointing! We must be too early on the season. I will contact them to find out what happened to their yearly field studies and if they still come here to study the fishing bats and post an update here.

The beautiful crescent bay was calm and the turquoise water so still and very clear that we could see the anchor dug in well in sand. It was much cooler at the Midriff Islands than 100 miles south, were all winds all cooled by the water, especially at night we even needed a wool blanket and the water was fresh, still too cold to snorkel but our tough Utan friends braved it to rise and shower. SV Osprey is a Canadian full keel boat with classic lines, 32’ long, and her owners take her around the Sea of Cortez for two or three months in spring until they will be cruising full time.

In the evening it was dinner on Imagine again. We had provisioned a lot and Radu loves to cook and big pots of it, so that there is always enough food for others to join. It is especially nice to share in the solitude of the the anchorages in the Northern Sea. Not many cruise here probably because of its remoteness, it’s strong winds and currents and only a handful of villages for provisions and fuel. One has to come prepared and watch the weather predictions closely as storms can form quickly.

That night was predicted to be calm and that it was. The flower full moon rose over the island between its two peaks just after the sun had set and when the dusk faded into darkness we could hear them: thousands of bats shrieking their high pitched cries from the middle of the island where they live under rocks. They were waking up and getting ready for their midnight flight to catch fish. I got up to check and sure enough there were much less cries around two o’clock in the morning! 

The next morning I was glad that we had gone to bed early because we were woken up by swell after sunrise. That meant that winds predicted for the afternoon were sending waves ahead and we were in for a bumpy ride to our next stop, Puerto Don Juan, where we wanted to weather a three-day Norther with winds around 30 knots. So we jumped out of bed, pulled up and stowed the dinghy, prepped the top sides and the cabin for bashing into chop and lifted the anchor twenty minutes later. Brushing our teeth and breakfast could wait. And choppy it was and we also struggled the current crossing the 6000’ deep channel, Canal de Ballenas. Once through there, the movement got easier and we gained speed as the current was pushing us now. When we got into the landlocked natural harbor of Puerto Don Juan it felt like arriving in the safe harbor that it was. 

The AIS had shown three boats but there were five boats anchored when we arrived: SV Strickedonia, SV Malakai, SV Salish Dragon, SV Sedna and MV Venture Forth. The inner bay was large and there was plenty of room for many more boats seeking shelter from the storm building outside, I heard that a hundred boats were in Puerto Don Juan once hiding out from a hurricane hitting the area. SV Osprey came early afternoon and the trawler MV Salish Sea the next day. 

Sure enough at five in the afternoon it started blowing a constant minimum of twenty knots with gust up to forty knots. The bay has a picturesque window at its west end where you can see several islands of Bahía de los Ángeles and then the Baja beyond. The northerlies blow through there as well but there is no swell. Still, the boat pointed into the gusts and relaxed afterward every minute or so and we were swinging for three days and three nights on our anchor. 

We knew several boats in the bay but the wind made it impossible to visit. Our dinghy is small and the 2HP motor weak and not able to battle strong winds, which could come back within an instant. So we stayed on the boat, Radu exchanged the broken bilge pump for a new spare one we carried, luckily, we then napped, read, wrote and watched movies. 

The next day we woke up to a calm morning. I went to visit MV Venture Forth, Australians we keep meeting in the Sea, and ended up kayaking with Toots to the ‘Window’ where we collected a trash bags full of plastic trash and all around the bay. The winds picked up again early afternoon I raced back to prep the dinghy for more winds. Again they blew all night, followed by a calm morning when SV Salish Dragon called out on the radio that they were hosting a potluck dinner that early evening. That large catamaran was big enough for all of us fourteen, we had a delicious dinner supplied by all and food company. The boat was anchored close to the ‘Window’ and from their cockpit we could see past the opening to the bay beyond with white-capped waves and more wind then in our landlocked anchorage.

When the winds came up that night we flew in the dinghy downwind back to our boat just in time. That night winds were the strongest yet, up to 50 knots and we were swinging and heeling. It was like sailing at anchor! 

And then in the morning the winds finally stopped for good. As it happened we all boats in the anchorage except Osprey were on our way north to Puerto Peñasco and by 7 am two boats had already left and three others left the same time as us. Only the motorboats stayed a little longer in the region hauling out mid June. SV Osprey and we went to Bahía de los Ángeles for provisioning and wifi and anchored in front of Guillermo’s. We went to two tiendas for fresh veggies and fruit, eggs and milk and had lunch under Guillermos palapa on the beach. The next day we went ashore for breakfast and went to the local natural history museum we had been to two years prior. Built and curated by Americans living in town it describes local history, ranchos and mining on the Baja and the marine life. 

Midday we lifted anchor and went to La Gringa, a beach on the North end of the bay. We strolled on the beaches around an estuary, had beers with Los Angeleno family camping on the beach and had SV Osprey over for a last potluck meal of chorizo tacos with mango salsa or guacamole. We watched together the stars and fish next striping the water with green fluorescent flashes as they raced through bioluminescence??? before it was time to say good bye. Meeting cruisers is always fun but sometimes it is a little harder to part ways. We’ll make sure and catch up with them next spring.

It was a longer sail to Puerto Refugio on the top of Ísla Ángel de la Guarda from La Gringa, 34 nautical miles and we lifted anchor at 7:30 so that we would arrive in the afternoon. When we got there we anchored in a beautiful spot right behind a shallow outcrop of Ísla Meija which makes the western bay with Ísla Ángel de la Guarda to the south and the guano-white Roca Vela (Sail rock) to the west. We wanted to be protected from a storm raging north from us but instead strong winds from the south rocked us all night long. This season we were not lucky with the winds and we heard that it was particularly windy this year, an El Niño year or because the climate is changing (more on storms at anchor here). We moved to the enormous East Bay as soon sun was up and found SV Strikhedonia and the trawler SM Salish Sea there in different blithes. Winds were blowing off shore there, only little swell and we finally got some rest. 

As always after an especially shitty experience something extraordinary happens: Ted and CJ came with their fishing boat Cancun Baby alongside our boat and threw a large Yellowtail Tuna they had just caught into Radu’s arms. Radu filleted it on the bow, cut steaks and pieces for ceviche, froze some and fried some for fish tacos that night. How delicious! Incredible to taste fish that fresh! The sweet taste of cruising!

SV Strikhedonia invited us for a hike on land the next morning and picked us up after breakfast. We landed on a pebble beach and made our way up to a large valley plateau surrounded by lava tufts of all colors inhabited by leafless trees which completed the out-worldly picture. We climbed on several hills and enjoyed views from the ice-cream colored sierras of the island down to the sea where our boats were rocking in the swell. Well, the Imagine being a monohull was rocking more that the catamaran Strikhedonia.

On our way off the beach we had to make it through the surf as the winds had intensified and waves broke on the shore. We all got baptized on this last stop in the Sea before haul out, we all got soaking wet luckily without flipping the dinghy. Yeah.  SV Strikhedonia left after lunch for their overnighter to Puerto Peñasco. We went back to the west bay again because we were sick of rolling side-to-side on waves without wind since sunrise. With wind at least we’d point into the waves. That’s what we were hoping for that night in west bay with predicted light southerlies.

The south winds were gentle and so were the waves rocking us in our sleep all night long and we awoke rested on our last day and night at anchor. After an elaborate breakfast and watching birds having fish feeding frenzies along the rocky shore, unexpectedly our friends SV Strange Byrds arrived. How to the point!

We four went ashore to visit Ted & CJ at their camp on Isla Meija tucked in behind cactus-covered rocks. They come here from the mainland to enjoy the solitude and some fishing and also said that in ten years they had not experienced such a windy and cold spring. That night we invited everyone for dinner on Imagine. Radu had made plenty of pasta sauce to share with Ted & CJ and Anna & Brian and we had a nice evening with interesting conversations.

The next morning we got the boat ready for passage, took a very needed shower and looked out onto the bay some more. This anchorage was one of my favorites, the birds were always busy fishing or tending to their young, the resident sea lion swam on his daily morning swim past the boat, schools of tiny silver fish chasing through the clear water. I can’t get enough of contrast of the red rocky desert hills meeting the light blue sea. The stark arrangements of organ cacti dotting the panorama of hills and tufts in green and gray with spiked red mountains towering over gravel beaches was, as always, impressively beautiful. 

We inhaled every ounce of it. Soon enough we would be on land again and it will get hectic again: haul out, first repairs, prep of the boat for the summer on the hard and then we’ll leave for Berlin.

The last sail to Peñasco was calm, windless and moonless. Only the stars and our navigation lights in a bubble of humid fog blurring the edge of water and sky.