WAITING IN CHAMELA

Today is Tuesday, April 8 and Mirador has been here in Bahia Chamela since a week ago this afternoon. The big obstacle to going north from the SW coast of Mainland Mexico is Cabo Corrientes (Cape of Currents) which sticks a ways out into the Pacific, creating its own wind and wave pattern.  Corrientes is about 60 miles NW of Chamela and the wind has been blowing out of the NW at 15 to 25 knots for about five days now.  The wind diminishes after sunset but gets close to 25 knots by later afternoon each day.  The seas at Corrientes are notoriously lumpy and confused so I want to wait until the prevailing Northwesterlies have been below 15 knots for at least 24 hours.

Our favorite weather prognosticator, Don from SV Summer Passage who has sailed these waters for 40 years, thinks that the Northwesterlies will die off by tomorrow morning and will turn to easterlies by tomorrow afternoon.  I am planning on leaving in the early afternoon Wednesday and rounding Cabo Corrientes before daylight Thursday morning.  Then, depending on the strength of the east wind, I'll continue on to Punta de Mita arriving there before noon Thursday or, if the wind is favorable, on to Isla Isabella, arriving there mid-morning Friday. 

When I arrived here a week ago this evening I was the third boat in the anchorage.  There are now 13 boats here, all waiting to head north.  Some of the boats are talking about leaving this afternoon which is great for me because they will be able to provide on site weather reports for helping me decide when it is time to leave for a comfortable trip north.

So, what's the big deal about heading north into 15 to 20 knots of wind?  Can't Mirador sail upwind? 

The answer is that I am a lazy cruiser.  Chamela is a very nice spot to spend a couple of weeks and I see no need to get knocked around going north when I could be comfortably sitting here enjoying a very pleasant anchorage.  More importantly,  the North to Northwest wind in the Sea of Cortez, about 400 miles north of here, has been blowing more or less steady at 15 to 20 knots for about a week.  That means the six to eight foot wind waves and swell have really established themselves and are rolling on this direction with vigor.  Additionally, the East Pacific high is well established off the Southern California coast so the wind has been blowing 20 to 30 knots with eight to 10 foot swells on the West Coast of the Baja peninsula.  Those swells refract at Cabo Falso (the southern tip of the Baja) and find there way SW to Cabo Corrientes. 

All of these factors lead to Corrientes being a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable point to round and I'd rather be lazy than wet and uncomfortable.  I don't have to be in La Paz for another three weeks so I'll wait till what I think is the right time to head north.

Chamela is a largish bay formed by Punta Rivas to the NW and Punta Eitopa to the SE.  It is wide open to the south and southwest and has been quite rolly at times.  The NW beach, about 200 yards inshore from where Mirador is anchored, has lots of small and large palapa restaurants that serve a variety of locally caught sea food.  The village of Chamela is about 1/2 mile down a paved road from the beach and has several small stores, meat markets, hotels, a nice town square, pharmacy, and a couple of restaurants that  never seem to be open. 

I sailed (32 miles) up here from Tenacatita on Tuesday, April 2. I had a nice sail the first two hours out of Tenacatita but then the wind lightened and I had to motorsail the rest of the way. A strange fog blew in as I got closer to Chamela. As I came into the bay, half way between the island and the reef I couldn't see any land at all. I had a good GPS waypoint for the anchorage from the last time I was here and the reef showed up well on the radar so I wasn't too worried about finding my way into the bay.  I did catch a very nice 5 pound Stripped Bonito just outside the bay as the fog rolled in.

It then cleared up again as I got further into the bay so I anchored about 200 yards off the NW corner of the beach where the pangas launch. A really big swell was rolling in here all day last Tuesday and Wednesday as well as yesterday and today. My friends on Ryokosha are anchored about 100 yards outside of me. Their 32' boat  disappeared when we both went into a wave trough. I couldn't see the top of their mainsail cover, 3 feet above the boom. Last week; not even the pangas were trying to get off the beach on Wednesday.

Before I left there; the Tenacatita swells dumped another four or five dinghies into the cold wet surf. The shore break had been pretty calm all day and then all of sudden came up again to about four feet around 3 PM when everyone was going into the beach for volleyball.

A women fell out of a dinghy in the shore break, that unbalanced the boat, the man fell out the other way and the motor kept running, making the dinghy go in circles, scaring the be-jesus out of everyone. No one was hurt but they got a big hand from the crowd on the beach.

Another inbound dinghy (Avon 3.5 meter) was sitting offshore watching the break about 20 yards inshore of them when a wave broke outside of them, flipped the boat up sideways and threw Irwin out. Jaye hung on to the engine and the dinghy didn't go all the way over but did fill with water. Jay was afraid to land with the dinghy full of water so Irwin had to swim in.

I was headed out in the Portabote. A 2' wave broke outside of me while I was waiting in waist deep water with the wheels down. I didn't see any more waves coming so gassed it and headed out. About 40 yards off shore a 4' breaker suddenly appeared outside of me, broke over the bow, filled the boat with water, spun me around and deposited me back on the beach with 8" of water in the bottom of the boat.

I bailed the boat out and tried again. That time I got clear outside the surfline and was stopped trying to get the wheels up when a 6' (no kidding!) wave broke just beyond me. I had no time to react so the wave caught the Portabote sideways and almost flipped me over. I was hanging onto the side of the boat trying to keep from falling out. I kept trying to shut off the outboard because I was sure we were going to roll. I couldn't quite reach the kill switch because I was hanging from the side of the boat by the oarlocks.

The wave carried me for a ways sideways until I could get back into the boat and power up the engine to drive the boat down the wave. I again surfed into the beach with even more water in the dinghy than the previous time. The fans on the beach were astounded that I didn't get rolled. They said I pretty much disappeared into the wave tube. I think the wheels being down acted as a keel, keeping me from rolling and then allowing the bow to get pushed down the wave so I could steer.

Later, after volleyball, four different dinghies were leaving the beach. Three of us got off OK and were sitting about 100 yards out waiting for Ryokosha to come thru the 2' surf. All of sudden another 6' wave started forming about 40 yards further out. My wheels were up and the engine was in gear at idle. I gassed it and headed straight out to get over the wave before it broke completely. I went over the top in lots of foam, coming almost clear of the water as the Portabote launched off the top of the wave. We all made it out but no one can figure out where that wave came from.

And of course, you saw the my WEB page picture of Dwight and Donna jumping the surf at Tenacatita (March 28 update).

The transom on the Portabote is now so split and de-laminated that I am afraid to put the big outboard on it. I will have a new transom and new seats made while in La Paz.  For now I have the 2 HP Suzuki on the dinghy transom.

The little Suzuki can move the Portabote at about 5 knots but it does make the surf landings and takeoffs a little more interesting.  Yesterday I took the dinghy about a mile east of the normal, protected, dinghy landing so I could beach it just a block from the town square in Chamela. I had bad feelings about the landing because the swell was pretty big and the beach is very steep over by the village.  I sat outside the surfline and watched the four to six foot swell pound the beach.  I noticed that there were occasional 30 second periods where almost no swell hit the beach. 

I caught the back of what I hoped would be the last wave of a set and tried to ride it into shore.  However, the little outboard could not keep the dinghy on that wave.  As I got into the shallower water a wave started to break behind me and the Suzuki started to stumble.  The wave broke over my head, filling the dinghy with water, but once again, the Portabote stayed straight in the water and just rode the foam up onto the hard sand.  I was soaked and the boat had 20 gallons of water in it but we were upright, high and dry on the steep beach. 

The problem was then how to get out past the shore break which looked much, much, more intimidating from the beach than it did 100 yards offshore, looking at the back of the break.  After wandering around Chamela, talking to my brother on the phone, buying some produce and chicken I walked back to the beach, hoping that the swells had diminished.  Of course they had not. 

I stood beside the Portabote for 15 minutes trying to see some pattern to the waves that would allow me to get out, past the surfline, without flipping the dinghy.  I would start counting the seconds after a large wave hammered the beach.  I seldom counted above 12 before the next wave dropped vertically onto the beach.  The beach was so steep that there was no shallow water where I could safely stand beside the Portabote with the engine running while waiting for a break in the shore break.  I needed enough time, after a wave broke on the beach, to push the Portabote about 10 feet off the beach, climb in, pull start the engine (will it start the first pull?), and power up and over the next incoming wave.  The 9.8 HP Nissan has an electric start that I can hit as I climb in and it has enough power to push the Portabote, quickly, up and over a three or four foot wave.  The 2 HP Suzuki has neither of those positive attributes.

I gotta' tell you, I was scared, more than just concerned, I was very scared about what would happen if one of those four foot breakers, which fell vertically onto the steep beach, caught the Portabote before it could clear the impact zone.

Finally I thought I saw a reasonable break in the swell and a chance to get off the beach.  I pushed the boat into the foam sliding outward off the beach, the Suzuki caught on the 2nd pull, and I powered out into the oncoming swell.  As I had hopped, that wave was only a foot or so high when it broke in front of the dinghy, I had slowed down to let it collapse, and the Suzuki was able to push thru the white water.  Yikes, I could see a larger swell starting to crest about 30 yards outside of me.  It looked to be a little lower to the west so I angled that direction at full speed.  As I approached it the wave top was still holding together and was only about three feet high.  I pointed the bow straight up the swell and the Portabote S..L...O....W.....L.....Y climbed the wave as it started to break.   The wave really started breaking as the bow went over the top and and then the Portabote fell thru the wave and banged down on the back of it.  No water, no sweat!  I was however fairly well frightened. 

Then I had only one last big swell to climb.  That one was even further outside and the little Suzuki was able to push the dinghy up and over the four foot mound. 

Before I went into the beach I knew it was a dumb idea and that I would have a bad time getting out.  I guess I just wanted the adventure and opportunity to test the Portabote and myself in some more interesting surf.

The Chamela cruising community had an afternoon cards, movies, games gathering on MV Kai Lynn yesterday.  Kai Lynn is a 49' trawler with lots of room for the 16 guests.  Five of us played poker on the fan tail, seven people watched a movie in the main cabin, five people played dominoes in the pilot house, and there were always two or three people in the galley talking.  There is a lot to be said for a big comfortable trawler.

And finally, another confrontation with cattle (our logs from last July describe some other Baja cattle stories) as  I went for a very nice run the other afternoon.  I was able to run from the dinghy landing spot, along some dirt roads, thru some open fields and wooded areas to a large beach just NW of Punta Rivas.  It was a very comfortable run since the sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and the dirt was soft.  I did have to duck under or thru three or four barbed wire fences as the run progressed.  I also saw large "cow pies" in the middle of the trail I was running.

I was walking fairly slowly trying to cool off as I was returning to the starting spot.  I came around a bend in the one lane dirt track road and almost bumped noses with a Santa Gertrudis cow.  She was not pleased to see a gringo on her trail.  Nor was the herd bull who was next in line, nor were the five or so cows behind him.  The cattle were on very narrow path coming out of the woods and could not turn around to get away from me.   I stopped and tried to tell the cows to back up and head off into the woods.  They made several rude sounds and the bull did a lot of snorting but eventually they all got turned around and then bolted deeper into the woods. 

About five minutes later I noticed another small group of cattle up the hill about 20 yards from the dirt track I was following.  They watched me but did not seemed too concerned.  Then a large male with very nice horns, I couldn't see all his dangling parts so am not sure if it was a bull, came charging out of the woods about 15 yards from me.  He was definitely headed my direction and was not happy to see me.  I waved my shirt at it and flapped my arms while I tried to figure out which tree to duck behind if it kept charging.  The critter stopped about 10 yards from me snorting and waving it's horns around.  The track was bending away from cattle at that point so I slowly walked away while listening carefully for thundering hoofs.  I guess he had done his duty and I got back to the Portabote with  only one more surprise.

A very large snake was asleep on the single track trail thru the woods just a 100 yards from where I parked the dinghy.  It felt me coming and slithered off the trail into the brush.  I tried to see if it had rattles and am pretty sure it didn't. 

As I was writing this Peety from Kai Lynn came on the VHF radio to announce they just saw two yellow bellied sea snakes while launching their dinghy from the beach.  The book says they are extremely venomous but also non-aggressive.  I sure hope the Nature documentary I watched was correct when they said the snake will not bite a human and in fact might have trouble doing so because their mouth and teeth are the wrong shape to bite.

AH, a veritable nature preserve!