Los Islotes - Curious Sea Lion Pup

Moon Rise over El Cardonal, Sea of Cortez

El Cardonal Sunset 11/19/2010

Moos Rise El Cardonal 14 Years Later

Music Anchorages Los Frailes to La Paz

San Jose del Cabo to La Paz - a Sojourn

We took our time coming up to La Paz from San Jose del Cabo with our first stop in Bahia Los Frailes (Bay of the Friers, or monks) where we anchored for 3 days. We were having coffee in the V-berth our first morning there when we heard a strange kind of noise like the flapping of a jib as you tack the boat. It wasn't windy so it shouldn't be that, and even if it was, it was way to close! Popping up thru the hatch I was treated to the most unusual sight of sting rays jumping out of the water then belly flopping back in. It wasn't just one ray jumping and it wasn't just once or twice, but rather, a whole school of them, and they jumped repetedly as they worked their way across the entire anchorage!

That evening we learned that Los Frailes is kind of a nursery for manta rays and it's the young ones that jump. While the most impressive display occurred that first morning at Los Frailes we occasionally saw rays jumping throughout the rest of our stay at Los Frailes. Unfortunately we can't share any photos with you because our cameras were at the nav station. Lesson learned? Keep the cameras handy!

On our third morning there the winds were quiet so Gail and I went for an extended dingy ride around the point toward Cabo Pulmo and did a sort of drift snorkle back towards Music, swimming lazily while towing the dingy behind us. The water was so clear we could clearly see the bottom which was at times 60 to 70 feet down. Just a couple of the bigger fish we saw down deep were sea bass and grouper. In the mid water column were schools of mackerel and other fish, while in the really shallow water swam schools of tangs, convict fish, and an occasional brightly colored angel fish.

The next morning, Nov 18th, we were up at 5:30 to get an early start to get around the double capes of Los Frailes and Pulmo before the winds and chop got too severe. Together these two capes form what is locally called the "East Cape". About 45 miles later we dropped the hook in 25 feet of water over a sandy bottom at Ensenada de Los Muertos, or "Cove of the Dead". The cruising guides claim the bay and smaller cove supposedly got this name after the deadman mooring system employed there during mining operations in the early 20th century. But I have my doubts. After all, a developer who has moved in and built a really posh resort refers to it as Bahia de los Suenos (pronounced Suenyous), or Bay of Dreams which sounds much more inviting.

After getting settled we dinghied over to the resort and had drinks and appetizers with cruising friends Daryl and Sarah of El Tiburon, a Tanaya 47, to celebrate my birthday. There certainly could be worse ways of spending a birthday! - John

The following day we got up even earlier to get through the Cerralvo and San Lorenzo channels before the wind picked up in the afternoon. Heading North, we had about a knot of current against us but the water was flat so we made good time. After clearing San Lorenzo channel we turned right and headed to one of our favorite anchorages - Ensenada el Cardonal on Isla Partida.

We had such wonderful memories from anchoring here in 1996 during a charter out of La Paz that we just had to visit El Cardonal again. During that charter we had the anchorage all to ourselves and were treated to a full moon rise between the saddle of 2 hills just as the sun was setting. Would we be lucky enough to have it again 14 yrs later? Well, luck was with us and we had the rising full moon during a stunning sunset.

Is it possible this visit could be any more special? - the short answer is Yes!

Some folks we met in the anchorage told us about snorkeling at Los Islotes where they swam with the sea lions. Minutes later we found ourselves in the dingy motoring the 5 miles to the islands (more like rocks) and jumped in the water. WOW!!! Right below the dingy were hundreds of colorful reef fish just hanging out in the current.

A short swim took us to a swim through in one of the rocks. The walls of the "hole" were covered with beautiful soft corals, and to top that off while in the swim-through sea lion pups came right up to us and swam around us. Right behind came Momma sea lion to check us out. What a fantastic snorkel - in fact we call it one of the best dives we've had anywhere, including the scuba diving we've done in Hawaii and Fiji.

One of the things we pay a lot of attention to is the weather. Unfortunately the weather was going to change over the next few days so we decided to head into La Paz and get a slip at a marina. It was going to be nice to wash all the salt off the boat and get a few lingering projects done, not to mention replenish the food stores.

We're currently in Marina Palmira for several days while we wait for the weather to settle down again. While here we've seen several other cruisers from Gate 11 Marina Village, our previous home port on Alameda, and yesterday we had Thanksgiving dinner at the marina restaurant. There was a big cruisers pot luck Thanksgiving dinner put on by a local cruisers club but it was overbooked so we missed out on that. We had a great time anyway, and finished the day off watching our favorite cruising movie, Capt'n Ron. - Gail

Lower Sea of Cortez

A note on sailing the west coast.

Upon leaving San Francisco, we encountered 27 knots of wind while heading out the gate.

Then, upon crossing the finish line of the Baja Haha, a couple miles short of Cabo Falso,

or "false cape"; itself approximately 5 miles from Cabo San Lucas, we ran into strong head

winds. Winds of about the same velocities as those we encountered while leaving S.F. Somehow it

seems fitting that we had to fight our way out of San Francisco Bay, and then

fight our way across the threshold, into the Sea of Cortez.

On a lighter note, upon rounding Cabo San Lucas, Music has now sailed the entire west coast of the 48

contiguous states and then some. With having done the race around Vancouver Island, Music

and I have have sailed approximately 2000 nautical miles of coastline from Port Hardy, above Cape Scott at the

northern tip of Vancouver Island to Cabo San Lucas. En route, the strongest winds we've encountered on any

stretch of this trek were about 35 knots. And, these were found on both the west side of Vancouver

Island on the leg from Winter Harbour to Ucluelet (sp?), and on the leg from Cape Mendecino to Point

Reyes during my delivery of Music to San Francisco from the Pacific Northwest.

While other stretches of coast can be notoriously rough, Music was lucky to find only light winds.

Just one example typical "rough" conditions, can be found on the stretch of coast from Point Sur, just south of Carmel,

to Point Conception, just a little north of Santa Barbara. Here, strong winds and rough seas are the rule rather than the exception.

Nov 14:

By my reckoning we are now officially in the Sea of Cortez! The last 5 miles or so of our

route were at a compass heading of about 335M (magnetic) which means we are officially

inside the Sea of Cortez. From this afternoon on, if we head due west we will hit land.

No more open sea to the west, at least for a while.

We left San Jose del Cabo at about 9:40 this morning and dropped our hook in Bahia

Los Frailes (Bay of the Friers - that's right, Bay of the Monks) in about 35 ft of water

at 15:15. It is the first time on this trip we can actually see the bottom and see our

anchor - Yeah!! We think we'll be here for about 3 days as Pulmo Reef, the only coral reef

in the Sea of Cortez (according to the cruising guides), is just around the corner. We plan

to do some snorkeling and hopefully get in a dive or two before continuing up the

sea toward La Paz. - Please keep your fingers crossed for us. While we wanted to do some diving

in the Channel Islands and perhaps Catalina on our way to San Diego, time and circumstances said No!

As for the weather, it turned out that staying those few extra days in San Jose del Cabo was

the right call! Upon anchoring here, some folks from a nearby boat dropped by in their dingy and

reported that they wind conditions of 20 knots 2 days ago, and 30 knots of wind through the

anchorage yesterday. I hate to say it, but I've got to turn off the computer now. It's time to

drop the dink (dinghy) in the water, and... Ahhh, but then come appetizers, brie and French Bread!

Cheers, John

Music & the Baja Haha

Positions depicted for s/v Music are for visual reference only and do not replicate the actual track of the vessel. Our route from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas covered about 850NM (nautical miles).

San Jose del Cabo

Here we are in sunny San Jose del Cabo and have a moment to breath before we take off for La Paz. We finished the Baja HaHa cruisers rally which had about 150 boats participating. The first leg of the rally was from San Diego to Bahia des Tortugas or Turtle Bay. The next leg was from Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria and the 3rd leg was to Cabo San Lucas. At Turtle Bay and Santa Maria the locals would host a beach part for all the cruisers (over 300 of us). The parties were basically a fund raiser for the towns and the locals would prepare food and have beer and margaritas - all for a reasonable price. While in Santa Maria John helped another boat, Phambili, undo their spinnaker wrap. The rally was 10 days and we arrived in Cabo San Lucas on Nov. 5.

We left Cabo San Lucas after the HaHa events were over and are now in San Jose del Cabo. Cabo San Lucas was crowded, noisy, and expensive. San Jose is laid back and a much more relaxing place to be. We went into the town and to the Mega store to do some reprovisioning. We'll be taking off tomorrow to head to La Paz and enjoy some anchorages along the way.

Adios amigos! Gail and John

We are currently in San Jose del Cabo and should be heading toward la Paz in a couple of days. But right now are waiting for some changes in the weather, and that allows me to address some things that either came up on our trip south, or I just plain haven't gotten around too yet. At any rate our Mexican Spanish is improving and we devote at least a small potion of every day to learing more. - John - We will soon share more about our trip south. Maybe manana (man-yana phonetic spelling).

Love Gail and me.

Posted by karen

Hi
Got a note from John and Gail the rally is over and they are now headed for La Paz and then to Bahia Las Frailes and do some diving.
More later.Karen