Sailing Across the Sea and Exploring San Carlos
March 31 - April, 2
Dan and I got up at 5 am, as we needed to get things ready for an overnight passage to San Carlos. We were hoping to catch the tail end of a northerly in order to enjoy a sail across the sea of Cortez. The dinghy got deflated and stowed in the V-birth, motor was hung on the rack and the covers were taken off the sails. We drove Malo to the docks to fill our water tanks just before we left the marina. The morning light was pretty as it started to shine on those huge mountains beside us.
We motored out of the marina with the belief that we would visit this place next year. It is a well protected place for the northerly winds that frequent the sea. It was perhaps one of my most favorite marina places thus far.
Like Dan, I prefer to sail with wind and not be caught in a lot of calm conditions. The strong northerlies make for a difficult tack north and often the waves are so close together and steep that the sailing is rather uncomfortable. So I understood leaving when we did, even though I did not get to visit with my friends on S/V Slow Motion - Lynn & Curt, that had arrived yesterday evening.
During the first 2 hours of our passage to San Carlos, we passed a lot of pelicans, frigate birds and seagulls hanging out on the water. It was surprising to me, as usually the birds would just fly away when motors come close to them, but they held their ground and did not move.
The conditions were good for flying the Code One sail as you can see below.
The sunsets are always special on the water and we have been blessed with many.
This is the same sunset although a little later.
The overnight sail was light wind and we never had to reef down. In fact we even flew the Code One sail around 2:30am which is something we have not done at night before. The full moon rose just as the sun was setting. As it rose and got brighter, it helped shed light on the water and made for a wonderful night sail. I noticed a lot of dampness in the air which eventually made for the decks and cockpit to get wet. I choose to wear my foil weather gear as the moisture was causing my clothes to get damp. We did our usual on and off again shifts, with someone always awake on deck.
The second day of the passage was difficult for me. I did not feel that well and was not able to sleep well. Finally, I put my head phones and slept on the couch and I actually took a pretty nice nap there.
Once morning came, the gentle breeze we had eased up even more. After several tries with our light air code one sail, Dan determined we would have to resort to Mr. Rumbly, our engine. Neither of us really wanted to spend a second night out and the lack of wind was not helping us get there.
One thing I have learned on this trip is that there are sailors and there are those that cruise on sailboats but mostly motor or motor-sail. These calm spells are often what cruisers look for to move from harbor to harbor. I never really occurred to me that cruisers would have a sail boat and not sail, after all isn’t that the point of having a sail boat? Dan has explained to me that some boats need 10 knots of wind to even move in the water because they are so heavy. Malo weights 16,000 lbs which is much lighter than the 30,000 lbs boat of many of the other cruisers we have met. Now I understand why Dan is so cautious of carrying too much stuff. Different stokes for different folks, it’s all good.
We had the privilege of being escorted for a short while by a few dolphins.
Eventually, Mr Rumbly got us closer to our destination - San Carlos on mainland Mexico. You can see it off in the distance below.
As we approached, it became apparent that this area was filled with old volcanoes. It appeared brown without a lot of green vegetation. This mountain is called: Tetakawi.
We anchored in a large bay called Bahia Algodones. Once we arrived, we were shocked with the amount of activity - the beaches were packed with people, loud music was playing from every direction, motor boats of all types were zooming around with their music playing loudly, and the sand dunes on the far shore had races going on with their loud exhaust systems. Suddenly, I remembered that it was the day before Easter! I had also heard, that the Mexicans really can celebrate on Easter, and this sure was proof. But, I forgot to take a picture to show you.
We decided to stay on the boat, both of us were beat and figured tomorrow would be a fresh start for us. Things where pretty quiet upon awakening in the morning. We had decided though to anchor at a different location a little 5 nm farther south. This is what the bay looked like the following morning.
Here I am helming Malo as I am looking for blobs of seaweed to avoid hitting the prop with.
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