November 8, 2011

The Sea of Cortez is not a body of water that one should trifle with idly. The Whistle Wing weighed anchor around 8:30am yesterday from San Jose del Cabo. Evening was uneventful in that anchorage. There was nothing of particular interest close to the break water and marina. Joe and I took the dingy in to the docks to check the mooring prices, accommodations, and any nearby sites that would be fun to visit during the late afternoon. Mike stayed onboard to make water since we were not in a polluted anchorage and make sure that the anchor continued to hold. It was the first time any of us had anchored at that location and the charts were anything but useful. Turns out the local prices for a vessel of our size were roughly $50 for a slip that had no electricity or fresh water. The only reason we debated actually tying up was so that we could give the boat a nice fresh water rinse down. Certainly not a priority especially when one of those moorings would have cost more than $100 per night. The friendly dock master informed us that there were two restaurants within walking distance but it would require a ride to get into the actual town of San Jose del Cabo and it did not seem worth the expense. Joe and I quickly turned around and returned to the boat where Mike and I took a little swim before settling down to read and have dinner.

Off of our port bow was a local shrimp boat that was anchored for the day. After stealthily reconnoitering the decks and bridge, I noticed that there was at least one person on board who appeared to be standing watch. Down here there is a definite barter system in place where the local crews are more than happy to trade for their catch. This holds true for most of the world. Due to many of his circuitous connections, Mike has bags of shirts, jeans, and wetsuits that we can use for bartering. We decided to make a trip over to the boat and use sign language, pigeon Spanish, and English to enact a trade. Turns out the man that we saw was the only person on the boat. He was keeping an anchor watch while the rest of the crew was sleeping on shore. Shrimp boats operate best at night. They had already offloaded a majority of their catch and he was not authorized to do any trading. We came back in defeat much to Joe’s amusement. He had predicted that outcome but in my opinion you n ever know for sure until you are rejected.

The night was calm and there was a gentle ground swell that rocked us to sleep like babies. Since there really was not much to do in that immediate vicinity, the crew unanimously decided to once again weigh anchor and round the tip of Baja Sur and enter the Sea of Cortez. According to the weather files that we received that morning, the winds would be building over the course of the day. The morning promised to be fairly calm with the wind right on our nose, a complete reversal from the Baja Ha-Ha, and by the sundown the wind would be between 15-20 knots. Turns out those weather files were grossly inaccurate. We rounded the first cape and the wind was on the nose. The problem was that it was already about 15 knots and building quickly.

It is important to note that there is no ground swell in the Sea of Cortez. It is much like the Chesapeake. You don’t get any real seaway like an ocean and therefore the waves sound small in comparison. For example the typical wave height in the trade wind areas is between 10 and 15 feet. However there is a nice and long period so it does not beat up the boat. When you are only dealing with wind chop, the waves are usually just a few feet high but have a very irregular period if any whatsoever. The prevailing winds in the Sea of Cortez are out of the north. They have an unobstructed 300 mile shot straight south and therefore the wind chop can actually build considerably, unlike the Chesapeake. When we rounded the cape and entered the Sea, the wind had only been blowing for a few hours and the chop was already around 6 feet and building. We were going straight into the wind and the resulting waves. There was no way that we could sail straight into the wind so we cranked the engine up and motored north. A major problem is that you can’t make too much forward motion when the ocean and the wind are beating you back. It became regular for us to get our speed up to a measly 3.5 knots and then hit a particularly nasty grouping of waves that would slam into the boat and completely arrest our forward motion. Needless to say, it was very, very slow going.

As the winds continued to build and the weather forecasts called for ever increasing winds up to 40 knots, we decided that our first decision on anchorages for the night would be a good one. After only 30 miles that took us over 5 hours with waves starting to break over the bow, we turned into Los Frailes. It is a small anchorage that can barely be described as a bay. It is home to the only living reef in the Sea of Cortez and therefore also the home to a small fishing village. The anchorage is in the lee of a relatively large hill that provides a break in the surf, if not the wind. We thankfully turned in and set our hook without any problems. The wind was still blowing about 20 knots at this point even in the lee of the hill but at least we were not fruitlessly motoring against it and just wasting fuel on an uncomfortable ride. This wind would have been welcome a few days before when we could have used it to sail and were not fighting against it the whole time, but since we are on a very relaxed time frame, this is a good option.

Once we set the hook and took a look around, we all decided that this was a great anchorage that is underrepresented in any sailing publication. The hill that provides shelter is a beautiful example of the stereotypical geography of Baja- rocky and sandy with a smattering of scrub brush. The beach directly to the left of the hill is something that you would find on a postcard. Because there is no real swell, especially in the Sea of Cortez, there is very little erosion on the beach. The result is a huge expanse of white sand that stretches as far as the eye can see to the left and is at least a quarter of a mile deep. There are some dunes behind it, in the distance you can see the jagged mountains of the Sierras, and in between the dunes and mountains in a gorgeous sandstone cliff that stretches for miles and is clearly a result of a tectonic fault. All of the geography catches the sunrises and sunsets, giving them soft red and pink hues.

Fishing and diving seem to be the major attractions for this area. There was clearly an attempt by some entrepreneurs to promote tourism because a hotel of sorts can be seen in the distance. It was a failed attempt and appears to stand empty. Now the only foreigners that frequent this “bay” are cruisers and other boats that want to escape the notoriously fickle winds and currents of the Sea of Cortez. The fishing camp that we can see on the beach is of the same ramshackle construction that we saw in Bahia Santa Maria. The huts are built out of corrugated steel or aluminum and plywood. In any major storm I am sure they would be annihilated and quickly rebuilt. This gives rise to the idea that these fishermen are seasonal and do not live here year round. They also do not have to go far for fertile fishing grounds. The largest boat that I have witnessed them use for fishing are the large pangas from Bahia Santa Maria. They go offshore a few miles and at the end of the day they come in and just beach the boats.

In order to sell their fish I have noticed a four wheeler come from behind the dunes and race across the beach to meet the incoming fishermen. Once they have finished whatever business they have, it will race back behind the dunes. It turns out that on the other side of the dunes is a small landing strip. Mike said that last night and this morning he noticed a small, single-engine plane in the area. There are also some trucks that seem to pull up to the fishing camp. I am under the impression that they sell their catch to these people. Unfortunately this is all just based on the speculation I have from watching from the boat. The winds have still been too strong for us to risk taking the dingy in to the beach and leaving it unattended; if we were to lose the zodiac than we would be in serious trouble for the rest of the trip. Understandably Mike is rather paranoid about this happening.

It was rather frustrating today to sit on the boat and look at these pristine beaches, that sand stone cliff, and the hill begging to be conquered and explored and not be able to do anything about it. Reading is all well and good, but there is plenty of time to do that out at sea in between our various ports of call. I want to adventure, take risks, have fun, and enjoy my youth. I will have plenty of time to twiddle my thumbs as I get older. I was told that Mike was excited to have me along on this trip because I would want to do fun and adventurous stuff rather than just sit around and enjoy the natural scenery. Weather was not “permitting” today for adventures, but it is just so tantalizing to see stuff that I want to do and not be able to do them. But this is only one day in the span of many and I am sure that many adventures are right around the corner.