STILL MORE PICTURES OF BAHIA SANTA MARIA

We have spent yet another day here exploring the enormous beaches and hiking part way up Mt. San Lazaro.

I startedm ashore to meet some friends. Tthe wheels, which were down on the back of the dinghy, bumped a rock while the prop was still turning as I entered a little cove in calm water. I looked out and saw other rocks in the ankle or knee deep water so I stopped the motor, tilted it up, and stepped into the water. Whoops - it wasn't knee deep - it was belly button deep! It was so clear that I misjudged the depth. No problem, except for the Motorola FRS radio I had in my pants pocket. I have now dryed it in the hot sun and it works OK again. The water in the bay is very clear. When we look over the side of Mirador we can see the flopper stopper 18' below the surface.

All this was in front of five friends who were dying of laughter. Turns out they had been sitting there drinking straight tequila for a couple of hours so I was just the entertainment they needed.

The next dinghy landing on the big beach to the north was a bigger mess for Arlene. We had to land thru 2'+ surf that was about 30 seconds apart so it should have been no problem. I caught a wave and surfed in very nicely and in control. Once again, I thought I felt the wheels hit and the boat stop moving. I told Arlene to jump and I then started to jump in. She went in up to her chest! I had misjudged the depth again. Wouldn't have been so bad except for the red algae that was on the water surface about 2" thick. By the time she pulled the boat another 10 yards and I got out, in ankle deep water, she was covered from her midsection to toes with yucky red algae. Other than that the landing was perfect, as least from my perspective 'cause I stayed in the boat when I saw how deep it was.

Here is a picture of Arlene trying to warm up after getting rid of her nice black sweater that was covered with red algae.You can see that the beach is huge and deserted.

Here is the beach looking back toward the anchored boats and Smart Peak behind them.

For those of you not familar with dinghy wheels. Here is the Portabote sitting on it's wheels waiting for us to wheel it back into the surf. The wheels fold up out of the water when the boat is not on land. When we want to land in the surf, we just put the wheels down while outside the surfline and then using some engine power we ride the back of a wave onto the beach until the wheels hit bottom. We then jump out, lift the bow, and pull the boat clear of the surf before the next wave hits.

Finally, just another shot of the vast beach.

We can't have a visit to Santa Maria without a picture of Mirador, with Mt. San Lazaro in the background.

We have our Magma flopper stopper deployed off the reaching pole on the starboard side of the boat. The flopper stopper (FS) is a piece of 1/8" stainless, 4' long and 30" wide. It has been cut in half lengthwise and the two halfs reattached with a piano hinge that can only fold in one direction.

The FS is suspended from the pole by a line attached to a bridle attached to each corner of the FS. When the boat rolls toward the FS it flolds upward and offers little downward resistance.

When the boat tries to roll away from the FS the upward pull of the line causes the FS to open to it's full surface area which then resists any further attempt to roll away from it. The FS projects 10 square feet of surface acting on a lever arm of over 12' from the boat's center.

It seems to cut our side to side rolling in half, and greatly lengthens the period of the roll.

We climbed to the saddle between Mt. Smart and Mt. San Lazaro the evening before we left for Cabo San Lucas. From there we could see the Pacific Ocean, Cape San Lazaro, the sand spit and mangroves, and the Bahia Santa Maria Anchorage.

This is looking NW into the tranquil North Pacific toward Cape San Lazaro, along the west side of Mit. San Lazaro.

Well - now it's off to Cabo San Lucas.