SVSoulsticeAdventures: June 2020

Monday, June 8, 2020

More Cruising in Baja

Continued COVID Cruising end of May to June 4, 2020

In my last entry, we were in the anchorage just south of Agua Verde and loving the area. Great spearfishing, open water swimming, and paddleboarding. We were able to stay with only 2 boats in the anchorage there for over a week. Freshies were getting low again and I was resistant to going back in for shopping. An onion and small bit of cabbage was left. I was willing to just make do with our dried goods just to stay on the hook and start using more of our dehydrated vegetables we had stored. The dehydrated veggies are not super awesome but you are getting veggies. Nuff’ said!

Blue Wind was definitely going into the marina in Puerto Escondido as they wanted freshies too but Chris also needed to renew her visa with immigration. We decided to anchor out behind the north mooring field which is free because it is separated by land and not part of the area. The anchorage is called Bahia Chuenque and we were in the southeast bight and approximately .75nm to our west is a tiny town and beach called Playa Juncalito. This spot afforded us some sketchy internet to check accounts and check in with family and friends via telephone.

Blue Wind decided to rent a car for the errands and Stephen hitched a ride to go into town to get us some freshies again. Despite the COVID restrictions in Baja, you can rent a car as a gringo and go into the town of Loreto. There is a checkpoint with armed guards and because this is considered essential travel it is permitted. In order for Stephen to meet Blue Wind, he paddle boarded to a small cliff wall ( the land piece that separated us from the mooring field) and hiked over to the mooring field with a large empty dry bag to get our goodies. I went with just to the wall and towed his paddleboard back to the boat. Chris picked him up in the dinghy on the other side.

The small cliff was crumbly rock and we decided not a good return sight with a heavy bag full of our precious groceries which would include eggs. So, while they left I did some re-con and found out the beach by the town was connected by less than a 1/4 mile dirt road in decent condition from the highway. They could drop Stephen off here on their return to the marina and I would meet him, towing his paddleboard and we could paddle back to the boat. This is exactly what happened. It was perfect except the wind coming back to the boat was blowing pretty decent and after my first paddle back from exploration, as soon as I got back to the boat, Stephen was on the VHF radio saying he was ready for me to meet him. Uggh! So back out I go which was a downwind to meet him but I knew the 2nd round of me vs. mother nature was coming on the return. He laughs because he knows I am grunt and love to exercise but I was a bit tired from the first paddle back.

We stayed one more day in this little spot and that night we heard a terrible noise in the rigging. I woke up very confused because the rigging had this very disturbing, harsh banging noise and I thought Stephen was doing something on the deck. I could not understand what or why it would be so loud but I remember hearing him above and started to yell, “ Hey, what are you doing up there?” I still had sleep inertia and it was confusing. He then informed me a bird had smacked into our rigging and he heard flapping in the water but couldn’t see it. In the morning, he saw some feathers on the deck but no bird parts or bloodshed. It was a large bird no doubt and we reasoned it must have been a pelican. We hear as they get older they can lose their vision and this is as a consequence of trauma from all their dive-bombing for fish. Our rigging did not seem to be damaged either but surely it was one of the loudest noises we have heard. We hope the pelican did survive without too much trauma but surely I was not convinced based on the noise to injury ratio.

On a more positive note, every a.m. around 630am a huge pod of dolphins would come through and pass right next to the boat and make there way across the entire bay over to the town. It made for lovely mornings sipping my coffee in the cockpit enjoying the placid water and playful dolphins. I did capture some video but still have not mastered the art of posting a video to blogger.

When we left this anchorage we decided we would make some northing. We decided to check out Isla Coronado. We had avoided going here because it always seemed to be busy and the navy ribs were patrolling here. It had been several weeks since we had heard this on SSB and Mexico was going to open up some essential work starting June 1 which was just a day away. We sailed a bit to get there and then had to motor. The anchorage was packed! 16 boats including us. Boohoo! We had been so spoiled that this seemed terrible to us. It is a large anchorage and so truly plenty of room but we found it somewhat smothering. There is an almost 1000ft peak on the island with a trail leading up to the top that I did want to check out. It supposedly is a volcano.

Our first night there we did a nice paddleboard around the entire anchorage and the next morning paddled into the beach and made our way to the trail. It was some sand, then volcanic rock, and then just a slog with 60-degree sandy switchbacks at the end. It is a short hike approximately about 2.5 miles but a decent grind and another beautiful spot to memorialize with some Petra ashes. Petra got dropped off, we admired the great view and the anchorage down below and made our descent. The water here was cold by the way at 69-70 degrees which was hard to understand since it was fairly shallow anchorage. Despite the cold temperatures, we did check out the area with some snorkeling and saw quite a number of reef fish. From the paddleboard we always do surveillance but it is really hard to know what is down below without getting in the water. I didn’t last long with my wetsuit on and the visibility was just ok. We always feel like we are chasing water temperatures and visibility. It has been very inconsistent despite going north or south.

We had a plan to do some spearfishing the next morning before leaving out the anchorage to head farther north. That morning we woke up but because of the cold water and poor visibility decided to just get going to our next destination. We were going only 20 miles north and wanted to wait for some wind. As we were slowly getting the boat ready to go we spied a Navy rib heading our way. They started at the south end of the anchorage and drove by each boat with a loudspeaker playing a canned speech about “stay in your homes and do not go to shore. If you go to shore for essential items it should only be one person. Stay in your home for your safety and the safety of others. If you see anyone violating this call 911 and they will be subject to a fine.” We were like 911??

Stephen and I were like ‘yep it is time to roll out!’ Isla Coronado is considered part of a natural park system there. Please know that we appreciate the message but also feel like if you are swimming or snorkeling or hiking with just the person you already live with that you are not risking exposure to yourself or anyone else. This is within the confines of social isolation/distancing recommended. The real risk is being in a town, going to the store, etc….UV helps to kill the virus as well so being outside is helpful.

The anchorage was starting to clear out already with some boats heading north and south. We joined the bandwagon to make room for the next boats arriving at the anchorage. We made our way to a Punta Mangles hoping we would have warmer water and better visibility. Well… not so!

We arrived in the evening on June 2. We had a lovely surveillance paddleboard around the anchorage that is very open to the southeast. During the paddleboard, the water was exploding with stingrays, Literally, they were doing bellyflops everywhere and just hovering under the surface of the water by 1-2 ft and swimming all over the anchorage. Schools of mabulas, southern, sea of cortez and spotted eagle rays. You had to pay attention to putting your paddle in the water because every other paddle there was another crew just skimming under the surface. It was incredible and I wondered what was the attraction for them there.

Stephen and I checkout the north-facing wall and then started heading south along the perimeter of the bay. He wanted to head back and I was still keen to check out this wall farther south. I made my way across to check out the wall and there was a fair bit of swell so I decided I would return back to the boat. I saw many large sea turtles as well during this time and then a ‘large fish!’ that I suspected was a shark. I was quite taken aback because I have not yet seen a shark while paddling. I know they are around more-so because the local fisherman catch the hammerheads and macos and unfortunately dump their head carcasses on the beaches. This guy was about 4ft long and grey-blue. I hurried back to the boat but not too overzealous with my paddling. I did not see the shark follow me but it sure got my heart racing as I was several hundred yards away on an inflatable!

When I got back to the boat I told Stephen I saw a shark I thought and he was quite nonchalant about it. I feel like for one he did not want me to get any more excited than I already was and he did live in Florida for 10 years and was in the water with sharks before and so this was not as unnerving to him. In my head, I already was super bummed because I was like there is no way I can go for open water swim here now. I would be a wreck in my head and I just did not think that was smart.

That night I went to sleep with noises of water smacking constantly from the jumping rays. It went on all night. Then in the morning, I awoke to our paddleboards covered in bees. They had dew on them and the bees are desperate for fresh water. Usually, we put them up in the rack at night but it was supposed to be a mellow night for wind and we were tired and just left them tied up to the boat in the water. The bee thing can be quite overwhelming. Once they find freshwater they tell their bee friends and before you know it BAM! you are swarmed. We had a problem back in Isla San Francisco but not really since. On the morning net, we have heard of cruisers saying certain places have been terrible for the bees, the cruisers being hostages inside their boats and using mosquito coils to try and rid them which has had some success for some.

I put our netting over the companionway, made sure all the screens were in and took a bucket of saltwater, and poured all over our swim step ( we did take freshwater showers last night!) and dumped more into our sinks in the galley. The thought is once they realize you don’t have any freshwater they will leave. And they did leave by the afternoon and only a few stragglers after that which is manageable. They are not aggressive just desperate. The occasional wasp will show up but it is mainly bees.

Despite my shark sighting and I think I tried to convince myself it was not and maybe some big fish I didn’t recognize, Stephen and I donned our spearfishing gear and headed out. The water was warmer here at 73 degrees but visibility just ok. There was a lot of seaweed and plant growth on the bottom. No big rock outcroppings/ reef type territory that we were looking for and used too. Because of all the rays and poor visibility, I decided I preferred to be on top of my paddleboard. I followed Stephen around as he was still looking around to check out if any lurking fish. I hardly saw any fish and was not excited. He eventually got up on his board and we decided to head to the south wall. As we were paddling over and almost in the same spot as yesterday, I saw the ‘big fish’ again! I told Stephen as he was slightly ahead of me and said, hey, I just saw that fish or shark. Turn around and come take a peek. He started to paddle to me but I did not see it again and said just forget it. We got close to the wall and I put all my gear on and hopped in the water. It was soo silty and I couldn’t see much at all. I was thinking this is too spooky and hopped back on my paddleboard. At that time, Stephen was sitting on his paddleboard with his feet dangling the water and then called over to me and said, “Yep! we have a positive ID! Two black-tipped sharks just went under my board and did a second pass.”

Well, that was enough for me and I was like I am paddling back to the boat. He said he even got a third pass as he picked up his feet and decided to paddle back as well. They did not follow us that I could tell but I was a bit rattled paddling back as Stephen was saying, “ you know how to do a paddle smack if they get too close don’t you?” and I was like, “ yeah, I do.” But I am thinking I will really have to keep my cool and not totally freak out. The blacktip is not known to be aggressive and I was not overly concerned with our paddleboarding except being on an inflatable but certainly, spearfishing would be pushing the limit.

Well….we returned to the boat and decided to call it day and focus on a celestial navigation lesson instead. We got out the sexton and took some sun sights. We then did our calculations. It was good practice. We needed at least one more sight and better yet a 3 to make our lines of position to get a fix of where we are ( of course we have GPS and know where we are but this is an important skill in case all the electronics take a big dumper). It was getting later in the day and we did not get any more sights. We will practice tomorrow on passage as we both decided we make a move again to another anchorage in the morning after the NET and a weather recheck!

Adios for now!

view from the lovely shelter on Isla Coronado

Beach by southwest anchorage of Isla Coronado

Start of the hike to volcanic peak

Summit 900 ft - some Petra ashes let go here

Again so hard to upload a video with blogger so will send to FB -some dolphin and manta ray video

Continued COVID Cruising

A blur of days since my last blog entry. In the last blog entry, we were in Puerto Escondido in a slip. We left out of PE on May 9th, the day after Stephen’s mother’s birthday. Yeah for Amazon as we were able to amazon some nice Bday gifts and actually call his mother, Renee, to wish her a Happy Birthday but also to capitalize on an opportunity for a Mother’s Day message as well. I too also was able to contact my mother and send her some lovely gifts via Amazon.

Since then we headed north to Bahia San Juanico, off the peninsula of Baja and the farthest north we achieved in our 2018 Mexico cruising. We had a few more days with SV Milou as they were planning to continue to Puerto Penasco afterward, which is the farthest northern marina in the Sea of Cortez on the east side for an eventual haul out at the end of the month. They were hopeful as some boats were getting hauled out despite the COVID 19 restrictions. We spent 4 days in San Juanico and enjoyed a peak hike we did last year and additionally some spearfishing. The visibility was not so great but Stephen and I both scored a total of 4 triggerfish. There really was not much else on the menu. When you spearfish you get to see the possible menu and it was quite limited there.

We had invited Milou for a dinner of fish cakes for Mother’s Day. We figured we could get Larry out of making dinner for Nicole and we needed a fair bit of fish because Ellie is only 10 years in age and a gorgeous mermaid but eats like a 16 old year boy. The next night we enjoyed a stern tie to SV Milou on our paddleboards and also chatted with SV Tara on their dinghy. SV Tara is a lovely couple from Holland, who are retired and made there way from Holland across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean, AROUND CAPE HORN, through Central America and now are enjoying Mexico. We actually don’t know their age and don’t care but would guess late 60’s/early 70’s and as vivacious as in their early 30’s. They are enamored with nature and traveling and it was evident in their conversation and their travel experiences. The funniest thing was Jacqueline was upset because on the SSB she was concerned people thought her boat name was “terror” and not “ Tara”! Her husband’s name was Role, pronounced “rool” and all the gringos on SSB just couldn’t get it right. We do enjoy meeting folks in Mexico who have traveled extensively and not just on the US/Mexico route.

Speaking of…. our friends from SV Spruce who did venture to the Gambier Islands prior to the official border closures of French Polynesia are doing well. French Polynesia has finally opened up it’s borders and inter-island travel is allowed. We still feel good about our decision not to go but happy for these guys as they had to quarantine but can continue with their sailing plans. We wish them well and hope things continue on a positive track.

After San Juanico, we headed back south for some warmer water and better clarity. We made our way to Bahia Cobre, on the northeast corner of Isla Carmen. We had a fantastic time here with some great hikes along the rim, sightings of big-horned sheep, and some great spearfishing. We stayed here for several days and then another friend boat, SV Blue Wind, joined us. Due to some NW winds coming we moved to Bahia Perico, which is an anchorage just around the corner to the south. We did a hike one day with Chris from SV Blue Wind that turned into a 4-hour hike with an originally intended 2-hour hike. There was bushwhacking that occurred. When I say this, in a desert environment with cactus and multiple bushes with long, pointy spikes, it has a whole new meaning. Chris was a trooper but if we said, “oh this is good, we just need to get to the ‘next ridge’ over” Chris would say, “ if you say next ridge one more time, you will get a (hiking) pole in the butt!” AAAHHHH!!! We did eventually make it back to our boats and found a fairly painless clearing in the brush and were joyful to return to our respective boats.

We had SV Blue Wind over for dinner, making a salad and some grilled fish that we had speared. We were hoping Chris could forgive us for the long trek in the desert. We also played “What do you Meme?” which a fun card game for adults.

After this, we then continued even farther south to an anchorage just adjacent to Agua Verde. We already had spent time here a few weeks ago with SV Milou. We thoroughly enjoyed returning as the spearfishing is great, snorkeling is great, great paddle-boarding to several adjacent bays and we had some great swims in the anchorage. I really enjoy using Stephen’s Euro 110 Riffe speargun. The accuracy is fantastic and I was able to land a large barred Pargo and a spotted rose snapper at some distance. Chris lent me her speargun and it was good to try another. The accuracy is definitely not the same. It also required that I be just as close as my pulse spear which I am more comfortable with and does not require “re-loading”. I definitely have decided I will get the same speargun as Stephen but with 3 bands so I can load it independently. He has 2 bands and it is with great effort to get the bands loaded. Chris’s gun had 2 bands and I could load them but it was also with some great effort as well. It is fantastic to be able to feed ourselves and other buddy boats with our spearfishing efforts.

Spearfishing to me is snorkeling but also on the hunt. You really do take an appreciated view of the underwater environment. What fish are around, thriving, and their behaviors… We do see eels at times and very large ones, like 8 feet long and ribbon-like swimming along. The green moray eels. I did have a small eel track me one day and I think it because in that anchorage at night there are multiple local Mexican divers on the hooka and just fishing. They assimilate that knowledge and find the diver to be a food source. I had to point my spear at this little guy and make a move on him and then he took off. It is always a good reminder to be thoughtful about who is around when you are on the hunt and I always am.

Now I will include an excerpt from Stephen’s journal to complete this blog entry….

5/25/2020

A beautiful Baja morning! Jen and I awoke and made coffee and chatted on the Amigo Net. I was feeling great from my swim the day before and we were still finishing the Pargo, so no spearfishing yet. The water in the anchorage was mirror pond and visibility pretty good. We donned our swimming gear again and swam wall to wall several times for an hour swim. We made some bread to rise for baking tomorrow morning, I rinsed some clothes and did a small batch of laundry. Jen chatted via Satellite with her mother for about 20 minutes. We began on a new book together “ Maiden Voyage” after the swim. I did grill up the rest of the pargo that I had for some breakfast and some I made a great pargo fish salad not unlike tuna fish salad but way way better with flaky white meat, onions, mayo, dijon, capers, and garlic. I sent “Pops” a nice email. I also took my Serrano chiles that I sun-dried to a nice, dry cherry red and made three bottles of hot sauce that I placed in two 355ml bottles and one smaller bottle that I made for Blue Wind. I put white vinegar in a pot and boiled it with all the peppers (deseeded), shaved carrots x1, 1 clove of garlic crushed, and Himalayan salt. After boiling I let it cool for 1/2 hour. I then used our handheld smoothy mixer and pureed it. I used some (ALOT) on my open-faced pargo sandwich that was on our homemade bread. Yummy! I’m thinking the next time I do this hot sauce I will add some dehydrated mangoes and this will be more like a sweet Caribbean hot sauce. Later in the afternoon, Jen and I went for a SUP around the East point. I took the pole spear since we saw a school of either yellowtail or yellow jack. On the way back to Soulstice we were on the outside of the point when suddenly there was a big flap/slap that came from behind and nearly pushed me off my SUP. I naturally about crapped myself and for an instant in my mind’s eye was thinking… “ shark!”, but in all actuality, it was a medium-sized ray as I saw him take off. The water was calm and there was a lot of life out. At the start of the paddle, Jen saw an enormous Manta Ray that glided under her board. She dropped to her knees knowing that if this guy flapped she was surely going in the drink. What a show!?! Once he came out from under her board, he showed his large wings off by raising them out of the water and slapping the surface with a powerful and thunderous smack. We had captain’s hours on Blue Wind with a few margarita’s and rum, lime, and brown sugar cocktails. We returned to Soulstice shortly after sunset and made Pargo fish tacos.

Near sunset, we went to shore with Alex and Chris and made a nice campfire. It was a lovely mellow evening under the stars and a great session of speaking the philosophies of life under the raw beauty of nature. We had another no moon paddle in the phosphorescence. The sliver of a waxing crescent moon descended over the horizon fast on the heels of the Sun before we set out to paddle back. It was like paddling glitter each time our paddle pushed through the water to advance us forward.

While deep in our sleep that night, Jen and I both heard the sound of running water. We hopped out of bed and followed the sound to the cockpit. There was a phosphorescent glow in the water about 30 feet across and it was moving counter-clockwise and looked like a cyclone. The fish were swimming so fast in such a large school at the surface, it sounded like a rushing creek. Periodically, we heard some really large splashes near the boat and the sound would stop for 30 seconds to a minute, we thought it was either large fish or a shark or a dolphin. I never heard the breathing of a dolphin so I am skeptical that that's what it was. What I can say is there is no better sleeping than being surrounded spherically 360 degrees by nature, two-fluid mediums teaming with life. The sea takes on a completely different personality at night. Hearing schools of vibrant life dashing back and forth under the hull of the boat and splashes right next to our heads at the waterline of the boat is amazing. I have an intoxicating love affair with nature!