| 28th March 2008 Loreto to Guaymas Baja California On Friday 28th March we departed from Puerto Escondido and motored the sixteen miles to Balandra Cove on Isla Carmen, the forecast had indicated that we should have a breeze for sailing but it never materialized. By motoring however, we arrived in good time to put the dinghy over and go ashore exploring, there was one small fish camp on the north beach and some other 'Gringo's' camping on the southern beach; we anchored between them and felt a splendid isolation after the more crowded anchorage of The Waiting Room. Ashore, we decided to follow the trail that leads across the island to the salt ponds, which were once part of a large salt production facility operating out of Bahia La Salina, on the eastern shore of the island. There used to be two hundred people living and working in a small town which serviced the salt pond and production factory, there was even a small church and a school; all this became a ghost town overnight when the company closed down its operation in 1982. There is still a caretaker looking after the companies interests but once announced, visitors are allowed to have a look round. We didn't get that far but walked the trail for over two hours in each direction and that was enough for one day. I think it would require the best part of a day to hike all the way across the island and back and we were not keen on being ashore late as it seemed great terrain for mosquitoes! For the most part the trail seemed to follow an 'arroyo' (a dry watercourse) and we could see evidence that torrents of water had flooded through and not that long ago….. I presumed this to have taken place during the passage of a hurricane as that is about the only time that they get rain enough to do that sort of thing. It was a reminder to us of the power of a tropical storm and that we were planning to spend the hurricane season here in Baja where we could be in the firing line! The Arroyo had obviously managed to collect some of this water below ground level as it boasted quite considerable and very healthy vegetation; this in turn had lead to an increase in the local bird and animal population and we were lucky to sight quite a few on our walk. Paula even spotted an Agouti type creature that hopped across the trail some way ahead of us; we could see plenty of rabbit-like droppings which we presumed to come from these animals. Back at the cove we climbed the nearest convenient peak to get some photos of the boat and the bay, we were rewarded with the sight of a large pod of dolphins moving across the mouth of the cove, in the silvery waters of the slowly setting sun. It was a moving and memorable sight and we were grateful to be able to see all this; Baja has been producing these memorable sights just about every other day since we left La Paz, either we have been extraordinary lucky or this place has some fabulous stuff on offer! It was a very calm and peaceful night and we were surprised that we had no bugs to bother us; we could hear the gentle lapping of the water on the beach close by, other than that, total silence! The next morning, following the usual round of weather forecasts, we motor-sailed north towards San Juanico; for a change the forecast was correct and by late morning we were able to stop the motor and continue under sail. I took full advantage of this by 'Popping the Chute', it was almost dead downwind so I hoisted the Cruising Chute as a Spinnaker with its Tack out on the Pole (and not affixed to the bow as it would normally be). It was a lovely sail and I was somewhat disappointed when we arrived and it was over. Unfortunately the East-Southeast breeze, which had freshened to fifteen knots, was blowing directly into San Juanico Bay and we could find little in there in way of protection; so we went around the other side of the headland (Punta San Basilio) and came to anchor in Ramada Cove, a very nice anchorage that gave more protection than was indicated in the Pilot Books. It was by this time a little late in the afternoon so we settled down to spend the rest of the day relaxing on board and leave exploration ashore for when we return on the way south. Late in the evening the wind evaporated and it was another very quiet night. When I looked out at 0530hrs the next morning, we were completely enveloped in thick fog and I couldn't see anything of the shore, this cleared a little for 0630hrs when we made our departure however, the fog still lay thick along much of the shoreline. We motored north again, first in a light head wind and then in calm conditions; I'd taken the sail cover off the mainsail in anticipation of some onshore breeze but I forced to put this back on to protect the sail from the sun which was boring into us by mid morning and also burning off the remaining fog. Around midday Paula spotted some fishermen waving at us in some form of distress, so we went over to investigate; it turned out that their battery had gone dead and they were unable to start their motor. We passed them a line and towed them over to a nearby beach where we could see other fishing Panga's drawn up in front of a fish camp where there were a couple of small trucks parked. We let them go as close to the beach as it was safe to get and watched them paddle their boat ashore, a man came down the beach to help them so we felt confident that they were going to have their problems sorted out. Before they let go, we passed them a couple of cans of cold drink and they passed us a Lobster; it was a nice one and we were really happy to see it for not only did it give us a nice dinner but it also indicated that there were lobster to be had just as soon as I can get into the water a little more comfortably! Soon after we waved them good-bye the breeze came up a little and we were able to motor-sail up to Punta Conception and from there we sailed the remaining distance to Coyote Bay where we eventually anchored off Santispac Beach. It seems like Bahia Conception acts as a funnel to any northerly breeze as by the time we'd got half way down the bottle neck of the entrance, it was blowing eighteen knots and the anchorage, when we arrived, was a mass of little white horses. We dropped anchor and stowed the sails but first impressions were not very good, apart from the fact it was blowing much harder than it had any right to be doing, the water was not 'turquoise' as advertised in our guide book, it was an unreadable, murky green and we could not see the bottom even in ten feet of water. The highway was close enough that we could once again hear the sounds of the Mexican Trucks, turbines racing, shifting down through the gears as they went into the curves. There were half a dozen R/V's pulled up on a below average beach with a couple of Palapas and a large tin shack that proclaimed itself to be a restaurant. It wasn't quite what I had envisaged and I was wondering how we were going to spend the next few days here whilst the expected 'norther' moved in… The next morning, after a very quiet night, we heaved up and went for a cruise around the many coves that make up Coyote Bay, a three mile long indent that lies on the mainland shore of Conception Bay. We examined the available anchorages along the way and I noted several positions as well as 'marking' them on our GPS; eventually we anchored in El Burro Cove where we had heard on the Grapevine that Geary Ritchie, a locally well known Ham Operator who does invaluable service providing weather information on the Sonrisa Net (a local Ham Net) each morning, was making free internet available to visiting yachts using his Wi-Fi system. Once anchored, I went ashore to chat with Geary about the weather and to secure a log-on code so that Paula could check our mailbox and make a few additions to our Web Page. I had a couple of jobs in mind for the day but they were shelved so that more immediate maintenance could take place on items which suddenly produced a problem. First there was the our Wheel Steering Autopilot which had decide not to work, this was a Simrad WP4000 and I'd discovered from the Internet that this unit had a design problem causing serious operational problems; there had been a modification available but this was some time ago and we were unlikely to get any assistance with it now. I decided to make some alterations myself and after some thought and a few trials, came up with a "Mr John" modification that would at least keep it operational. The second job that came up was the toilet, which I had to strip down to discover why there seemed to be back-pressure during pumping; eventually I discovered a wad of muck had wedged itself in the inlet valve ball-spring, a very simple problem to fix…….. Once I'd taken the whole toilet apart; that took care of the best part of that day for me. Paula had an equally frustrating day, spent mainly on the computer, trying to coax a first world signal from a third world system transmitted from a wooden hut on a beach half way up a dessert highway in the land of manana; wow, but how time flies in paradise! The next day we left Conception Bay; we had not actually found an awful lot of interest and whilst we could see that there were some walks and probably some neat hikes we were not taken to staying. The beaches that we viewed had either R/V's, Trailers or houses on them diminishing any charm that they might have had and it seems that there is little in way of 'zoning' as people are building 'just about anything' almost down to the waters edge. In many places there was literally no where to go on the beach without feeling you were trespassing in someone's front yard! The remaining 'nice stretches' were there only because they had unseen problems like, exposed to the northerly wind and rocky or reef below the low water mark making entry into the water (and beach landings) difficult. Sure, these properties were better than Palapas or fish camps but in most cases they were still rough and ready, cheap accommodation made out of ply-board. Having motored clear of the entrance we picked up some wind and actually had a nice beat in light conditions across to Punta Mezquito about fourteen miles north and even dropped anchor under sail; it made for a beautiful day although we were actually suffering a 'Pineapple Express', the term used when a long swath of cloud covers the area, coming up from the ITCZ. On this peninsular there had obviously been some organization, firstly there seemed to be two first class hotels out on the point and secondly, they had been building some very tasteful properties along the top of the beach. It was done in such a way as you could still walk the beach and not feel you were actually blocking someone's view. These were higher standard, proper homes; they even had a small airstrip to fly into and we could see several light aircraft from where we were anchored. Apparently they have a residents association and are well organised, somehow I'm inclined to think that this wasn't a Mexican association, it looked far too neat and well laid out………. The morning of the second of April we left early and headed northeast across the Sea of Cortez to Guaymas, we had the promise of fourteen to seventeen knots of wind out of the northwest and were looking forward to a nice fast reach. It never came and we motored just about all the way from one side to the other, it was most disappointing, it was my birthday and I was expecting better! We arrived at Bahia Catalina in the dark, it was only 2000hrs but it was a dark night…… We were lucky to have Radar to assist as the British Admiralty Chart, the pilot book and Google Earth all gave very differing positions; very little is in agreement here and there are few nav. aids to help you along. Fortunately it was a calm night so if we had swung and touched it would not have amounted to much. The next morning we found ourselves right in the middle of the west wing and in a perfect position; it was a very nice little cove and was marred only by the old fish camp standing on the best bit of beach……. That and the pervading smell of the fish plants in nearby Guaymas! The boat is due to come out 7th April for a few weeks to antifoul the bottom and do a few jobs. Please keep checking our web site as will be not be long on the hard. We have so much to see and do, we hate to waste time. ´Every journey is an adventure´ and we have many still to do.......... John & Paula |
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| Balandra Cove on Isla Carmen |
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| Punta Conception Bay |
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| Snap shot of a whales tail taken from a video clip from the camera en route to Guaymas |
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| Arriving at Guaymas |
| Sun rise at Punta Mezquito |