Cruise of the Confidence 2013-01-12 to 13-12

2012-01-12 Cabo San Luco

 

It is all about the journey and not the destination. We made it and there are some things that are really quite beautiful about Cabo but a lot of it does not appeal to us. The marina was well laid out and the facilities were clean. Provisioning was fairly easy and of course the laundry was good. But I have gotten spoiled and after spending the day cleaning the boat David suggested that we pay the lady to do the laundry for me. I would not argue.

 

Things in Cabo are expensive but I guess the attraction is for people to go to a place that reminds them of home, where most people speak English and the food is not too foreign. It did not really seem like we were in Mexico at all. We did find an Itlian bakery which was a treat. David found a Hagen Das store and bought me a dish of ice cream. Two small scoops cost him 10 dollars/

               

So after 3 days we decided to head up the inside of the peninsula and make our way to LaPaz.

 

1200: abeam the arches.

 

1215: Genoa out and motor off. There is a westerly blowing about 12 knots which should take us around the point. There are a few scattered clouds, but mostly clear and the water temperature is 27 C.

 

1605: abeam Punta Gorda

 

1645: sighted a rainbow and evidence of a storm approaching. Time to close the port holes and batten down the hatches.

 

1713: Fantastic sighting of a humpback whate. It came about two thirds out of the water flapping his tail. He did this about 10 times. Apparently this is just the beginning of their migration into the Sea of Cortez for mating.

 

The rain clouds seemed to have collapsed and the other side of the rainbow is not evident on the starboard side. Guess we got lucky on this one.Wind is on our nose so we are getting bounced around pretty good..

 

As the sun begins to set the seas start to settle down. |Good time to prepare something for dinner. Baby back ribs and leftover potato salad anyone/ Sorry I cannot find the question mark on this spanish keyboard.

 

Just got a call from Dal and Donna - our friends from Bellingham. They have a small house in the mountains and are about a half hour drive to one of our stops. So they will meet us there for lunch.

 

1729: another absolutely gorgeous sunset. Sorry- had a nice picture but for some reason I could not get it to insert.

 

2035: anchor set in 30 feet of water at Bahia de Los Friales. 4 other boats in the anchorage. And of course it is dark outside - we must stop doing that but at least this time there are no lobster traps. It is very warm in the boat so we dicdied to bring the settee cushions into the cockpit and sleep outside under the stars. How cool is that. It was a very calm anchorage and we slept like babies.

 

Woke up sun and a view of a beautiful beach with a dozen palapa - thatched roof umbrellas- looks like a park. To the south are some spectacular looking homes. We opted to stay for the day and head out tonight as the winds were still going to be on our nose but maybe not so strong. I made a nice breakfast with scrambled eggs and swiss cheese, italian bread toast with homemade blackberry jam and fresh papaya.

 

A big black cloud is passing overhead and it has begun to rain. This is not such a bad thing as it will wash off some of the salt/

 

Sounds like a good day for reading.

 

07-Dec-2013 0015

We left the anchorage and started beating ourselves up the coast. The winds had died a bit but the seas were still rocking and rolling. It was like being on a rocking horse with the occasional bucking to keep you alert. The vibration caused the radiator cap to jiggle off and we lost some coolant. Thank goodness the alarm sounded right away, David topped up the fluid and we were back in business.

 

1215: anchored in Bahia de Los Muertos.

 

The beach at Bahia De Muortes

Not attractive but having fun! Water is beautiful. Crystal clear to the bottom at 30 feet/

Even David got in the water. Now you know that it is warm!

 

We had a lovely lunch with Dal and Donna and then went for a walk along the beach. There is quite a nice resort here but not a sole around.

After returning to the boat we saw some new additions to the bay - people we have met on the way.
Because of the winds and the tides we decided to head out as a convoy for the last leg into La Paz/

1800: the convoy left with us in the lead.Mandalay was directly behind us. \Then Pelagia, Green Panther and Sound Discovery. Fishing boat coming up on our starboard side. How do I know this when it is dark outside you ask? *I found the question mark!

Time for another lesson: Port light is red. Starboard light is green. Bow light is white. Not to be confused with lights on the buoys which indicate safe entrance into a harbor where the red buoy is on the right and the green bouy is on the left. Just to confuse you. But the main thing to know is Right Red Returning when you are entering a harbour.

0230: entering the Canal de San Lorenzo

0326: abeam the green buoy marking the shipping channel. Had the boys a bit concerned as they were following me and felt that I might have fallen asleep as I was hugging the port side of the channel. But I had checked the radar and their were no boats coming out. David and I have lots of experience in shipping channels and it is not always so necessary to be way over - we often just lie inside, out of everyone's way but still in enough water to be safe. But it was good to have them looking out for me.

0431: brought the main over as we altered port towards Punta San Lorenzo

0650 abeam Punta Preara and the entrance into the channel at La Paz

0815: anchor set. Except for the fact that Wendi not sleep and did not sail it was a pretty up eventful leg. Timing to anchorage was perfect. No room at the marina so we decided to stay on the hook and get some sleep.

1300: marina called to say that someone cancelled for the following week so we went into Marina Palmira and tied up at slip 515