Ramblings Part V

On April 6, 2013 we left our dock in La Paz, and started our adventure.  The first stop was the fuel dock, where I made a perfect landing without tearing out the piers, the docks, or marking up my boat or causing 3 strong fuel attendants to wrestle her into place.  I was pretty proud of myself, since I have not always been able to do that.  Milagro is a very heavy boat, with a full keel, and hydraulic steering.  Underway, and certainly undersail, she handles like a gazelle, but in tight corners she handles more like a rhinoceros, and has been known to be difficult when it comes to dockings, or landings as I call them.  It comes from my old flying days.  The saying then was “any landing that you could walk away from was a good landing”.  I think that saying was made up by a student pilot.  Since this is only the second time I had ever put fuel into Milagro, I couldn’t remember which deck fill went to which tank.  I really ought to try to remember these little things.

With the fuel tanks full of diesel, the water tanks full of water, the refrigerator full of food, and me full of myself, we headed out the islands.  I had tried to describe the islands to Sharon, and had shown her pictures and charts on where we were going, but as we began to approach the islands she was still taken by their beauty and magnitude.  This always happens, because they are really spectacular.  We went by Balandra, with its brilliant white sands and sparkling blue and green water, and she saw the famous mushroom shaped rock.  For those who might want to follow us on Google Maps, this would be 24 deg – 19.573’N, by 110 deg – 19.971’W. 

With a quick sweep through Balandra, we made our way across the Lorenzo Channel, and as predicted the only wind that we had all day blew briefly and lamely as we crossed the channel.  Staying in close to the island and just following the shoreline we moved on to Isla Espiritu Santo, heading north.  The weather cooperated totally; it was a clear day with very little wind, and we motored slowly along with Sharon snapping pictures of the geology and beautiful colors of the islands which increase in intensity as we go north.       

Our intention was to anchor at Ensenado del Candelero for our first night out.  As far as I’m concerned this is the prettiest anchorage on Espiritu Santo. (24 deg – 30.410’N by 110 deg – 23.370’W)  It is very protected from wind and surge from every direction except the west.  There is a huge pinnacle rock that separates the anchorage into two parts.  The big rock is a sanctuary to birds, and it is fun to sit there at anchor with a beer in your hand and listen to the gulls on top of the big rock arguing, as they so comically do, and watch the pelicans dive and fish all around the boat.  There is a beautiful long white sand beach with a very flat approach for dingy landings You can almost beach the dingy without getting your feet wet.  The big rocks that back the beach are deeply red and orange in color, and hiking trails go straight up the little mountain that centers the island where you can take see the entire bay and look down on Milagro at anchor.  You can walk across the island and see the Sea of Cortez on the other side.  There is a fishing camp there, and most of the time it is occupied with tours by kayakers, divers, fishermen, or just people out for a camping trip.  We saw a group once that were artist-kayakers, and they would sit out in their kayaks with their little easels and paint pictures of Roca Monumento, dipping their brushes into the seawater to wash them and change colors.

I was telling Sharon all about the anchorage as we were beginning to pull in, how beautiful it was, and how much she was going to like it: get your camera ready, your really going to love this! when we both realized that we were suddenly covered with Bobos.  Bobos are little fruit fly looking bugs and they were everywhere.  They don’t bite or sting, but I may have had 300 on one leg, and they are very annoying.  We looked around, there was no body else in the anchorage, and now I knew why.  The anchorage is so protected, that there was not even a breeze blowing through.  I decided to find another place that would have an opening across the island which would allow and even encourage the wind to blow, and maybe that would keep the BoBos away.  What a disappointment. 

It was still early enough in the day that we moved further north to Caleta Partida well before nightfall. (24 deg – 31.962’N, 110 deg – 22.836’W)  Caleta Partida is an anchorage between the island of Espiritu Santo and the island of Partida, and is probably the most popular anchorage in the islands, and it was full of boats.  I’m sure we could have gotten in, but it would have been a tight squeeze, so we elected to continue on north.

I had stayed at the anchorage of Ensenada Grande once before and knew that it laid out well for our purposes, and decided to head there, but as we passed the inlet of Ensenada el Cardonal we looked in, and there were no other boats, there was a good breeze, and from the Cruising Guide we decided that this is where we would spend our first night out.

We anchored in about 20 feet of water and from the depth finder, it appeared that the bottom was sandy, and would therefore be secure holding for the anchor.  The island at the end of the anchorage had a big gap that led across to the Sea of Cortez which allowed just enough breeze to flow through, that only an occasional BoBo was seen.  We grilled hamburgers on the barbeque, had a beer, and retired to our cabins, for a very comfortable sleep.