Cup Racing in SF

We had a chance to see some A Cup racing in San Francisco while we were home.  These were the smaller catamarans for the initial events, and they were amazing.  They were hitting speeds of 25 knots in 17 knots of wind.  We watched the races from in front of the grand stand on Marina Green, and it was very exciting.  They set up an entire race village on the green with a dozen or so restaurants, displays, stages with live music, etc.  The races were all very close to shore and the finish line was always in front of the grand stands.  We definetly want to try and be back for the finals in the bigger 72 foot catamarans.  This was some of the best boat racing we have ever seen, as it was spectator friendly.  You could watch all the action from the shore or in front of the giant screen they had set up.  If you go, dress warm.  They wind chill when we were there in August was in the 40's and 50's.

 

 

Putting Bella Brisa to Bed

Our main job once we got back to La Paz was getting the boat ready to be left in the water for hurricane season.  We feel that the marina is one of the best hurricane holes on all of Mexico.  It took us about a week to take the sails off, get the staysail repaired, remove all the halyards, pickle the water maker, clean and take apart the dinghy, and clean out the entire boat.  It actually took a little longer than we expected because the temps during the day ranged from 100 to 106 degrees in the shade.  We could only work until about 2 pm, and then we had to head to the pool at the beach club for the rest of the day.  Oh darn, another day at the beach club.

 

Bella Brisa ready for anything.

 

Due to the fact that the boat was becoming uninhabitable for a number of reasons, we decided that our last two nights should be spent in the local resort hotel.  Very nice!  Our room looked out over the golf course, and the hotel pool with swim up bar was a big favorite.  Most of all, it had great air conditioning! 

 

 

View out our window.  Also shows the narrow entrance canal to the marina.

 

 

We hate it here.

 

 

We also had lunch here in the water. 

 

So ends our first season in Baja.  We will be back in October to head to Mazatlan and points south on the mainland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caleta Partida

 

We were the only boat here for awhile.  That's us to the right.

 

We had a pleasant motor from Isla San Jose to Caleta Partida on the Islands of Espiritu Santo and Partida.  This is a good all wind direction anchorage, so we decided to spend a couple of days here before heading back to La Paz.  We were surprised to be the only boat in the anchorage, which is large enough to hold 100 boats easily.  Of course, by the afternoon a single power boat came and anchored 100 feet away from us and cranked up their mexican music!  Still curious why power boaters are a hated breed?

 

A little cave exploring was in order.

 

 

Some areas had more crabs than this, you couldn't hardly see sand.

 

We discovered the shoreline to be covered with thousands of fiddler crabs.  More than we have ever seen.  It must have been breeding season because it was amazing.  Most of them were 1-2 inches long, but a half mile of the shoreline was literely thick with them.  It was a little scary walking through them in bare feet, but they always kept their distance!

 

 

Things were getting warm!  Upper is cockpit, lower is inside the boat.

 

After a few days, we decided to make the final run back to La Paz.  It was a beautiful morning with no wind, but also no waves.  We motored all the way back to the fuel dock in Costa Baja to check into our slip.  It was a little sad that this part of our cruising season was over, but we were looking forward to getting home to a cooler climate for awhile.

 

Isla San Jose

After a week waiting for a weather window in Agua Verde, we decided to make a run for our southern destinations.  This would be our last longer passage on the route back to La Paz, so we left at dawn hoping to avoid the winds for at least part of the trip.  We did manage to make the first 5 hours without the winds, but then they came up to 20 knots plus right on the nose, accompanied of course by 4 foot chop.  We decided to stop short of our destination and take some shelter at San Evaristo.  Due to the wind direction, we opted to anchor on the North side of the town off the beach with the large salt pond.  We were behind the large rock point, so we had some good wind protection as well.  We did not go ashore here as we were planning to leave early in the morning and make another attempt to get to Isla San Jose.

 

Big rock point we anchored behind.

 

 

Beach at San Evaristo with salt pile.

 

We again left at dawn to avoid the winds in the channel between the island and the Baja peninsula.  Well, it didn't work.  We not only had strong winds, but an opposing current that made for close, steep 5 foot waves that we had to bash the final 5 miles into.  Not a fun morning.  It did however wash the entire deck clean of the dust that had accumulated over the past couple of weeks.

 

We finally anchored in Bahia Amortajada at around noon.  This is a beautiful anchorage with good south wind protection.  It's really a 2 mile long sand spit surrounding a mangrove lagoon.  We were excited to take our dinghy on the reported mangrove river that runs through the island into the lagoon, and then on to the other side of the peninsula.

 

 

We had the place to ourselves for awhile.

 

We spent the afternoon relaxing and swimming.  Our plan was to do the 1.5 mile mangrove dinghy trip in the morning at high tide so we would have a lesser chance of getting stuck. 

 

 

Fishing at the start of the mangrove trip.

 

The trip through the mangroves is a lot of fun.  Most of the river is at least 10 feet wide or more so there is plenty of room to steer around the sand bars.  On the other end is a fabulous lagoon that is so perfect, it looks man made.  The mangroves are full of wildlife.  Many nesting birds can be seen fairly close up.

 

 

Frigate birds hanging out.

 

 

Lagoon entrance on the other side.  Ocean to the right, lagoon to left.

 

When we got back from our exploration, we found the anchorage to be full of giant motor yachts.  The smallest ones were 80 feet long and the largest was 150 feet or so.  These were not megayachts as we know them, because no one had their own helicopter.  However, they did all have complete crews, several ski boats, jetskis, kayaks, and every other water toy.  Their crews were in the process of carefully setting up their private beach cabanas and lining their toys up on the beach.  After everything is prepared and the towels properly laid out, the crew would go back and bring their owners to the beach.

 

 

One yachts beach setup.

 

 

A couple of the big boats. 

No close pictures, as these people do not like their picture taken.

 

We ended up with 9 of these large yachts in the anchorage for the night.  When you consider that they each cost between 20 and 100 million, a large portion of the GDP of Baja Mexico was in this anchorage at once! 

 

That night, when the sun went down, we were invaded by no-see-ums.  In Mexico they are called hay-hay-nays (jejenes).  By the time we realized we were being attacked, it was too late.  They don't call them no see ums for nothing!  We got all the hatches closed, because they are so small they fly right through screens.  The temp in the boat rose to 90 degrees with 80% humidity, and we were miserable.  The bugs live for about 48 hours and they were in our bed, our clothes, everywhere.  You really need strong reading glasses or a magnifying glasses to see them.  By morning, Rich was covered with about 300 itchy red bumps, and Cathy about half that amount.  We decided that although the anchorage was beautiful, we needed to get the heck out of here!  We pulled anchor at first light and headed for Caleta Partida.