HEADED FOR LA PAZ - YET AGAIN

Today is Thursday, June 13, and we are snuggled in the far back of the cove at Caleta El Embudo ( Funnel Cove) on the northwest tip of Isla Partida, about 28 miles NE of La Paz. We are slowly working our way south towards La Paz where our new La Vac toilet gaskets are waiting for us. We described our La Vac problems in our previous update (June 5 2002). My brother Jim ordered the parts for us and Defender Industries shipped the parts to a customs broker in San Diego who carried the gaskets across the Mexican border at Tijuana. The broker put the parts on a plane at the Tijuana airport and they arrived at Coast Chandlry in Marina Palmira, La Paz, Tuseday afternoon.

We had planned on leaving the San Evaristo anchorage on Sunday morning, making a quick overnight stop on Isla Del Espiritu Santo, and arriving in La Paz on the Monday afternoon flood tide. Evaristo is 48 miles from the entrance to the La Paz channel.

When you are cruising you find that plans seldom survive the first day of a trip. Instead of going from Evaristo south to Isla Espiritu Santo, which is only about 20 miles from La Paz, we ended up in The Hook anchorage on Isla San Franciso. Once in The Hook we sat for a couple of days waiting for the south wind to diminish. We then left The Hook late Tuesday afternoon when the south wind finally dropped, again with the intention of being in La Paz on Wednesday afternoon.

However, we cruised by this anchorage on the way south and thought it looked like a neat place to stop. We now like the place so much that we'll stay for a few days and probably get to La Paz on Friday or Saturday afternoon.

I applied some silicone sealant to the cracked and torn La Vac toilet gasket and effected a "sorta" repair. The La Vac head works OK and the spare toilet in the workshop is useable, albeit hard to flush, so we are in no rush to return to La Paz. The Raritan toilet in the workshop is really tough to flush. Arlene has trouble working that little plunger and sometimes I can barely pump it. I have poured head lube into the bowel several times and lubricated the plunger shaft. But the plunger handle is such a poor ergonomic design that it is a bother to use under any circumstances. The plunger handle is so close to the wall that the side of my hand is rubbed raw from sliding against the wall as I pump the toilet out.

We started south for La Paz about noon Sunday, with a forecast of Light and Variable winds, with maybe some southerly breezes. We had planned on doing about 36 miles to the ESE to get to El Candalero on Isla Espiritu Santo by 6 PM.

Well that wasn't going to happen. The wind was up to 15 knots and the four foot seas were about six seconds apart by the time we were five miles out of Evaristo . Those would be nice conditions if we were going North with the wind and waves, but pounding South into them was uncomfortable. We are now confirmed cruisers and defintely concerned with our comfort so we headed east toward Isla San Francisco in the hope that the deeper water would let the seas even out and make them less steep. By the time we were within a mile of San Francisco, 9 miles from Evaristo but still 41 miles from La Paz, the seas were over 5' and the wind was about 17 knots-both right in our face. We decided we'd had enough fun for the day, The toilet parts in La Paz were not worth a tough windward bash, so we ducked into the anchorage at the Hook on Isla San Francisco.

We anchored in 8' of water behind a point of land that gave us great protection from any waves coming from NW all the way around to SSW. The wind in the anchorage was still blowing 12 or so with gusts close to 20 but the water was flat.

There was only one other boat there when we arrived. We went in much close to shore than them to find shallow water that was protected from the swells. I don't understand why people anchor so far off shore where they are exposed to wave action. The water in The Hook is 8' deep to within 20 yards of shore and is crystal clear. We anchored about 100 yards off shore with 90' of chain out so we could swing in a big circle and stay in 8' of water.

We were holding our breaths as we came the last three miles into this anchorage. We were towing the Portabote, (you can see pictues of the Portabote at Caliber 40 Specifications - about 1/2 way down the 2nd page), and were really afraid it was going to bury it's bow in one of the steep waves. If it had done so it would have filled with water and then it would have been a big mess. The waves were so steep that Mirador was crashing off them, with spray coming back to the cockpit. The Portabote would fly up the face of a wave and then almost flip as the wind got under it when it came over the top of the wave. It would get sideways sometimes and follow us at a funny angle. Well- it didn't sink or fill with water but it sure did make me nervous.

We did practise a man overboard drill while on the way to The Hook. Arlene lost one of her big plastic storage bowls while trying to dump it's contents over the side. (We find strange things growing in some of the refrigerator bowls after 15 days away from the civilization) This was in 4' waves and 15 knots of wind. Arlene insisted we go back and retrieve the bowl. Getting up next to it was not to hard but how do you pick up a round bowl with no handles when it is in the water and you can't reach it by hand? Eventually we got in front of it and stopped Mirador. Then we let the wind blow the bowl toward the stern. I stood on the swim step and tried to reach down into the water to grab the bowl. That was not as easy to accomplish as it sounds!

I was getting soaked 'cause the 4' waves would crash into the back of the boat where I was standing with my feet in the water. Arlene was using reverse to keep the boat from moving forward so that the bowl would float toward the stern. That made the waves really slap me and the stern and rush up the insides of my shorts. The water is still only about 72 degrees so I was kinda chilled at times. Eventually I was able to hang far enough down into the water to grab the stupid bowl. A lot of work for a $1.00 plastic bowl we could easily replace in La Paz.

We arrived at The Hook about 2 PM on Sunday and planned on leaving early enough Monday to make the 4 PM flood tide in La Paz. However on Monday morning we learned that we were stuck in "The Hook" anchorage while waiting for the south winds to diminish. We really have become lazy cruisers and do hate to sail to weather. There had not be less than 13 knots of south wind for the previous 48 hours. The 41 mile course from there to La Paz is 150 magnetic and the 15 knot winds were coming from 170 magnetic. Don on Summer Passage, (THE Baja weather guru who is the Baja equivalent of"Southbound II"- Herb Hilgenberger ), thought the south winds would continue to blow thru at least Wednesday and then the seas would take 24 hours to diminish. We were only 1/2 mile from the open water to our west and could see the four to six waves just rolling by - headed north.

Sunday night was fairly uncomfortable in The Hook. The wind stayed at 20 to 25 knots from about sunset thru mid-morning Monday and shifted a little bit to the west about 3 AM. That allowed the swell to wrap around the point and refract into the inner anchorage. The refracted swell was coming from about 280 degrees while Mirador was pointed directly into the wind from about 190 degrees. Consequently, Mirador rolled 10 degrees to each side about every 15 seconds. That motion makes it tough to sleep.

I put the flopper stopper out in mid-morning to diminish the rolling as the big swells wrapped around the point and came back into the protected anchorage. It did seem to help a little.

On Tuesday morning the south wind was again forecast to be in the 15 to 20 knot range thru at least mid-day Wednesday so we figured it would be a couple of days before we try to get to La Paz. At 10 AM the south wind was still over 15 knots and had been so for 72 hours.

I suppose I shouldn't complain - BUT this was the first time since we had been in the La Paz area that the wind had blown from the south for more than 12 hours - AND it was the first time we had needed to go south to meet any schedule.

The interesting thing is how cold the south wind was. On Monday night the air temp got down to 65 degrees and we had to sleep under the down quilt. At 10 AM Tuesday it was still only 74 degrees. We didn't put up the sun awning because we needed the solar heat in order to keep the boat warm inside. The water temp also plummeted. It is now so cold that I have to wear my wetsuit if I want to stay in more than a few minutes. The cold water is due to the upwelling in the Sea of Cortez caused by this continual south wind.

Don says the south wind is due to the cold dense marine air on the Pacific side of the Baja California Penninsula flowing 25 miles across the "La Paz Gap" that connects La Paz with Toto Santos which is a beach community on the Pacific Ocean. That gap is the only spot in the entire south 200 miles of Baja where the mountains are less than 2000' so the cold Pacific air just rushes thru the gap and spills out into the Sea of Cortez. Monday morning at 9 AM the wind was blowing 20 - 24 knots at The Hook but at Aqua Verde, just 40 miles further north, it was calm.

About 1 PM on Tuesday the sun came out, the air warmed up, and the wind died to nothing. Within an hour the sea state was down to less than a foot of chop. We pulled anchor at 3 PM with the intent of making it to Caleta Partida (24 miles), which is a very secure anchorage between Isla Partida and Isla Del Espiritu Santo.

AND - that is how we ended up in El Embudo. The charts and books don't say much about the anchorage. Once we found our way all the way to the narrow east end of the anchoage and stopped in 10 feet of water we saw that we had 100' rock walls wrapped all the way around us from 300 degrees to the NW, all way thru North, East, and SW to 240 degrees.

We dropped the 66# Spade in 12' of water over white sand and set it with 90' of chain and the Yanmar at 3200 RPM in reverse. I dove on the anchor and could find no sign, absolutely none, of the anchor, it's shank, or the last five feet of chain.

The only reason I am sure the anchor is there is that the line from the anchor float disappears down into the sand at about the same point as does the chain. I am reasonably confident that the anchor is well set. I sure hope so because the rock walls are only about 50 yards to our north and south and the nice white sand beach is about 200 yards to our east. We don't have much room to drag, except to the west.

The La Paz Coromuels are a nightly occurence this time of year and blow at 20 to 30 knots from the SSW from sunset until mid-morning. They can be felt as far north as Isla San Francisco. All the anchorages on the west side of Espiritu Santo and Partida are pretty exposed to the SW so you have to use the ones with the best protection from the Coromuel. We were concerned that this anchorage might be a little exposed to winds out of the SW.

Wouldn't you know? The wind has been from the NE and North during most of both nights we've been here, with a few gusts from the SW. They have actually been pretty wierd wind nights. Each evening, about sunset, while sitting in the cockpit with the wind dead calm I hear a small train coming down the hill side towards us. Soon after that a hot 30 knot wind is blowing from the NE for about 20 seconds and then quickly returns to dead calm. That pattern repeated itself every five minutes or so for the next six or eight hours. At times the wind would also gust at 20 knots out of the SW, but that would be a 70 degree cold breeze. Last night the gusts were exceeding 40 knots and were veering from NE to East. This morning the wind is still NE to East with 20 to 30 knots gusts.

When we look west out into the Sea of Cortez we can see the south wind blowing up windcaps. I guess the East wind here in the "The Funnel" is caused by the South wind being bent around the big hills to our south and then flowing back out to sea as it flows down the valley which you can see at the head of the anchorage in the photo above.

The poor boat spun in circles all night. It would just settle down; pointed toward the NE when one of the SW gusts would come thru and start Mirador swinging back to the SW. Before the swing would finish the NE gusts would hit again.

We snorkled for about an hour yesterday but the water is still so cold that even I wanted to get out 'cause I was shivering.

Fishing has been great! Last Saturday night I caught two nice Crevalle Jacks (Caranx hippos) and a Mexican Barracuda. We caught another bigger Crevalle Jack while on the way to The Hook. They sure make nice pieces of meat! Florida fisherman tell me that they don't eat "Jacks" that they catch and the Pacific Fishes book says that some people don't like the flavor of the bigger Jacks. We ate the Crevalle Jacks for dinner and they were great. Nice firm dark meat with a good taste. These jacks are very closely related to the Pompano's. I wonder if they are the same fish as are called Jacks in that backward and narrow minded state of Florida?

I am catching all our fish while trolling with a "double squid rig." That is an orange squid with sinker inside it and a green squid inside the orange squid with a sinker and two hooks. It seems to be an all purpose lure for almost anything.

The other night I had an epic struggle with something big while trolling from the Portabote about 1/2 mile off Punta Evaristo in the San Jose channel in 100+ feet of water. What ever it was hit the squid rig on on our medium heavy trolling rod and reel and immediately started stripping line. I stopped the trolling motor and tried to reel it in with very little success. I tightened the drag a little and retrieved about 20 yards of line. Then it made another run and threw the hook off. The exact same thing had happened three times the previous night at the same spot and time.

The mystery fish hit the squid rig really hard about five more times, each time I had it for 30 seconds to a minute and retrieved some line. Each time it spit the hook out after a while. Sometimes I could get it to within 10 yards of the boat. It was reddish brown with big fins, I think, and several feet long. Sometimes it would hit the squid, pull out 20 yards of line and then drop the squid.

I tried everything to set the hook. I would let it run with no drag for 50 yards and then slowly set the hook. I tried the same thing but set the hook hard after 30 yards. I set the hook hard as soon as I felt it hit. I set the hook softly when it hit. I could drag the squid about 10 feet behind the dinghy and watch the thing come straight up from the depths, see it hit the squid, break the surface, and spit the squid out. But I couldn't make out what it was!

This went on for over 1/2 an hour over a distance of 1/2 a mile. I kept circling back to it thinking I could out smart it. I finally gave up because it was getting pretty dark and I didn't have any lights on the boat.

Maybe it was a good thing I couldn't get the hook set. That might have annoyed it. I got the definite impression that whatever it was - it was playing with me. In subsequent conversations with experienced Sea of Cortez fisherman I was told that the mystery fish was most likely a big squid. They said the big squid are notorious for that behavior, particularly the rush straight up at the bait and then squirting out the water and bait as they break the surface.

We plan to be in La Paz by Saturday to pick up the toilet gaskets and a few more supplies. I can see we need a lot more squid lures, egg sinkers, and smaller Rappala lures. And I need a spear with barbs on it. I shot three mullets last week and every one of them got off the spear after being shot. I was able to re-shoot all three of them and they made for a nice fish dinner but I don't want to chase wounded fish anymore.