SLOW BOAT TO LORETO   

Mirador and I managed to use 7 hours to sail 17 miles from La Ramada to Isla Coranados today, Monday July 21. 

I am anchored in the north anchorage with four other boats enjoying the near perfect weather.  I arrived here at 6 PM in bright sunshine, 90 degrees air temp, 60% humidity, and a light SE breeze to cool things nicely. 

This picture is taken from shore looking west toward the main anchorage.  Those mountains are the north end of the Sierra Gigante range on the Baja peninsula. 

The 25 mile sailing trip (only 17 miles in a straight line) to here was all dead into the wind which varied from 3 knots to 12 knots.  I waited to leave La Ramada until about 11 AM so that the mid-day SE sea breeze would have time to build.  It did somewhat but stayed below 10 knots until about 3 PM when it started to fill in nicely to the low teens.

You might recall that my previous WEB post, July 20, mentioned some confusion about day of the week.  It turns out that it was not me that was confused but Jimmy the Amigo Net Controller who broadcast the correct date but wrong day of the week.  I believed him since I don't pay much attention to such details.  All that mattered to me was that I not try to go to Loreto on Sunday.   Last night I had drinks and appetizers on Isla Bonita II, more about them later,  when then they told me I was wrong about the day of the week and YES, in fact, in was Sunday!

I had seen them on shore when I went for a run and they said something to me to the effect of "I thought you were leaving today so you could use the internet places in Loreto tomorrow."  I said, "Yes, but since tomorrow is Sunday I'll stay here and then sail down to Isla Coronados Sunday afternoon."  Then I ran off and didn't see them for several hours until I went over to their boat for some wine.

Boy - is life on a cruising boat complicated or what?

Isla Bonita  is a Sunseeker 51 which is a fast and sleek power boat built in England that cruises at 25 knots  using 55 gallons per hour of diesel..  Ron and Barb cruise about eight months a year on their boat.  They have spent a year in the Bahamas, a year in the Caribbean, and now three or four years in Western Mexico.  The boat is a great live aboard and has all the amenities.  It just gets there a lot faster.

Yesterday I went snorkeling along the cliffs about a 1/2 mile NW of the La Ramada anchorage.  It was really exciting and some of the best diving I have done.  There were a lot of caves that went back into the cliffs and under the house sized blocks of rock, actually small apartment building sized,  that had fallen off the cliffs.  Most of the caves were 10 to 30 feet deep and had air pockets in them.  I could swim into the cave and check out the neat fish that were hanging out in the darkness to avoid the afternoon sun and heat.

I found big snappers, pargo, and a couple other big fish that II couldn't identify.  I also saw a number of Parrotfish that were more than 10 pounds.  Additionally, there were large schools of smaller fish including many of the very colorful reef fish.  Swimming amongst the huge boulders and caves was doubly exciting because there was a three foot swell crashing into the cliffs.  The in and out surge is neat to swim in but seems to be no real danger. 

I wanted to swim further back into the small cove to check out more caves but as I did so I started getting a lot of nasty little stings from agua males.  They initially feel like a small pin prick and then burn for an hour or two. 

Today while cleaning the barnacles off Mirador's propeller I was lashed by a 6" tentacle from a small jelly fish.  Normally when I go in the water I wear something to cover my entire body down to my elbows.  But, since I was just going to clean the prop I didn't put any protective clothing on  and got a big red welt across my left side just above my swim trunks.  I almost ran head first into another jelly fish but saw it just as I reached for the prop. 

I am parked in the North Isla Coronados anchorage which is just 7 miles from the Loreto breakwater.  There is only four feet of water inside the breakwater so almost all sailboats have to anchor outside it.  I'll get there early and check out airfares at the internet place about a 1/2 mile from the dock.  It is best to be back on your boat by 1 PM or so when the swell starts to build in the afternoon SE breeze.   It is about 13 miles from the Loreto breakwater into the Puerto Escondido anchorage. 

If airfares and schedules look good I'll check in with the Loreto port captain who has jurisdiction over the Puerto Escondido anchorage.  There has been a little controversy surrounding the port captain.  He has decided that cruisers checking out of his port do not need to present their crew list to Migracion (Immigration Officials).  However, the port captains in Santa Rosalia, 120 miles NW, and San Carlos, 125 miles east, are refusing to allow boats to check in at their ports if they have not gotten a Migracion stamp and signature on their crew list at their previous port.

In Loreto you must take a $10 round trip cab ride from the port captains office which is, naturally at the port, to the airport six miles south of town  to see the Migracion officials.  Most cruisers wish they didn't have to pay that cab fare and the port captain was trying to be accommodating.  So far, the Santa Rosalia and San Carlos port captains have eventually allowed checkins without Migracion stamps after calling to Loreto but they are threatening to send boats back to Loreto if the problem continues.

Ah - Mexican Bureaucracy!