Mirador and I are (Sunday September 15) anchored in Caleta de la Cueva (Cove of the Caves) on Isla Salsipudes at N 28º 42.4’ by W 112º 55.98’. Salsipuedes (Leave it if you Can Island) is one of the Midriff Islands in the Northern Sea of Cortez. The Sea narrows down to about 40 miles at this latitude where there is a chain of islands that stretches from here, about 10 miles east of the Baja California east coast, to the west coast of Mainland Mexico. Salsipuedes is named for the very strong currents that run around it on all sides.
The Sea of Cortez extends another 180 miles north from here where it is over 100 miles wide. The tides at San Felipe ,which is about 100 miles north, are over 22 feet at times and the sea is over 3000 feet deep in places to our north. All of that water has to flow in and out thru three channels that run north and south around this and the other Midriff Islands. The islands are separated by channels that vary in width from 100 yards to ten miles. Several times a day the channels can have currents running in them of more than five knots.
The problem for boaters is that the Mexican government has never produced tidal current charts or tables for anywhere in the Sea of Cortez. No one knows how to predict how strong the current will be or even in which direction it will be flowing, except in the most general sense.
Yesterday I motored 19.8 miles up here from Bahia San Francisquito. I left there at 10:15 AM and headed north. High tide was at 12:18 AM at Bahia de los Angles, 44 miles north of San Francisquito, and high tide was at 10 AM in San Rosalia, 75 miles south. I figured the tidal current would turn to a south going ebb sometime after noon and would really slow me down by 1 PM. However, at 1 PM Mirador still had a one knot current pushing from the south. SO – I have no idea how to determine tidal currents for this area.
Salsipuedes is a
mile long, ½ mile wide, barren island with almost no vegetation
growing on it. There is only one sand beach for landing on.
The anchorages are very steep to, this one is 30’ deep five
yards from shore. I am anchored in 39 feet of water with
150’ of chain out. A Northeast wind causes
Mirador’s stern to swing toward some rocks where it ends up
20 yards from shore in 42 feet of water.
The sun is still incredibly hot but at least the prevailing Northeast wind is dry and somewhat cool. The water in the anchorage is very calm since the wind blows off the beach all the time.
The Pacific Ocean west of the Manzanillo-Acapulco area, which is 1000 miles southeast of here, has been generating a lot of severe tropical weather. Tropical Depression 12E is now spinning around down there but is headed WNW and does not appear to be a threat to the Sea of Cortez. This is the third depression of concern in the last week. 12E is forecast to pass 180 miles south of Cabo San Lucas and to just keep heading WNW. On Saturday afternoon and night we had a scare when tropical thunderstorms in the Mazatlan area became organized and developed a counterclockwise circulation. By late evening they were generating 35 knots gusting to 45 with definite circulation.
That weather was 440 miles south of us but the prevailing wind pattern down there blows storms NW towards us. The entire Sea of Cortez is warmer than 90 degrees so the storm could have intensified very quickly. The storm fell apart in the early morning hours of Sunday for no reason that the weather service understood, just as it had formed for no apparent reason on Saturday afternoon.
Here is a picture of the San Francisquito anchorage taken from a hill to the SW.
The island in the
distance is San Lorenzo, the southern most of the Midriffs
Islands. Isla Salsipuedes is to the far left of San
Lorenzo, lost in the haze in the this picture.
Bahia San Francisquito turned out to be a
very nice anchorage. The weather was nice, the diving
interesting, fishing excellent, there was good hiking, and lots
of nice cruisers on the boats anchored there.
During
most of the time I was in San Francisquito the weather was almost
perfect. There was almost always a light north wind,
perfectly clear skies, and 80 to 95 degrees. Most nights it
cooled off to 77 and I had to sleep under a sheet. It was a
real treat to not wake up soaked in sweat at night! We had
heavy rain squalls with 20-25 knot winds on Monday from about 3
AM until after noon, then it cleared up but stayed in the low 80s
for the rest of the day. The remainder of the days were sunny,
warm, and just a little breezy. Paradise!
There
was a white sand beach all along the south side of the inner
anchorage and rocks to the east and west with water about 10 feet
deep. The water was almost cold. I wore my shorty wet suit while
diving but still was chilled after an hour in the water.
It was just cold enough to be really refreshing but not
miserable.
There
were millions of fish on the point, about 1/4 mile from Mirador.
I saw five pound groupers, three pound pargos, and big Hogfish.
I shot a nice three or four pound hogfish and had it for dinner.
It is very tasty, nice firm flesh with a good flavor. I
also shot a Blue Bronze chub. They yield two 6 or 8 oz
fillets. The meat is very sweet and flaky - real nice.
The
spear gun makes diving much more interesting - I feel like I can
pick and choose and then have a real chance at getting whatever I
shoot at. I hit about one out of every six fish I shoot at.
I do have to be careful about rocks in the distance - the spear
travels further than I expect. The gun has quite a bit of
recoil and gives me a good thump if I don't have a firm grip.
My first shot on an 8 or 10 pound grouper was funny - BUCK FEVER
- I was within 6 feet and couldn't miss - but I couldn't get the
shot off. I forgot to release the safety and by the time I
remembered it I was getting low on air. I was down below 20
feet so I had to pass on the shot and surface.
Later
I swam right up to a grouper that I didn't think I wanted to
shoot because it wasn't big enough and I already had five pounds
of fish in the bag. I literally poked the grouper in the
nose with the spear. When it turned to swim away I realized
that the darn fish was at least five pounds and would be a
wonderful dinner. But, they are really quick and he was out
of range before I could line up the shot.
A
40" spear gun is a little awkward underwater and you can't
move it around real quickly.
The
dive weights I wear on a belt are fantastic. I float just
below the surface with the top of my head underwater but the
snorkel is above water. When I want to dive I just turn my
head down, give a couple of kicks and I'm down 20 feet. I
can now go that deep and swim around, lining up the fish shots or
looking for lobster. You experienced divers are probably
wondering why this is news to me – but I am a self taught
snorkeler who never understood how useful weights were.
All
six divers saw a total of ONE lobster while in San Francisquito.
I
went for a run the other day at 1 PM just after the rain stopped
but the clouds had cleared. WHOA - that sun was hot. I
thought it would be OK since the air temp was 81 but the sun was
painful and once I got a mile from the beach there was very
little wind. I ran for 31 minutes but really suffered.
My legs felt great and I could breathe OK but I could not shed
the heat. I stopped and stood in the shade of big cactus
several times since I was so hot.
Later
in the day Don/Gwen (Tackless II), Kathy/Paul (Ryakosho), and I
went for a hike and then walked about a mile over the hill to the
dirt airstrip and fishing resort on the other side of the point.
It is a very primitive resort but they did have cold beer.
On
Tuesday I baked a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting for what
we think was Paul’s 47th birthday.
While
Paul, Kathy, and I were diving one afternoon I had a startling
but really funny experience.
I
thought I found a big octopus under a rock in about 3' of water.
I called Paul over to look. He said that it was a Rock
Sculpin fish, and a big one at that. I could just barely
tell it was a fish, it sure looked like an octopus. Paul
said he would poke it to make it come out from under the
rock. I was about three feet from the rock, toward deeper
water.
When
Paul poked the fish it came flying out of the hole, bumped me in
the chest, and disappeared back through my legs. Startled
me so badly that I jumped out of the water. Paul and Kathy
thought it was hysterical.
We
found a bunch more sculpin and will soon have to try one for
dinner. They are supposed to be excellent eating but do
have venomous spines so need to be handled carefully.
There
are also hundreds of Gulf Opaleyes and appear to be up to five
pounds. They are very easy to shoot so I guess I'll have to
try one of those.
Things
are getting back to normal here as far as recovering from the
water damage. The Fluke voltage meter and the heat gun are
both working again and I am trying to bring the SONY PC back to
life.
Here
I am on the south beach in Bahia San Francisquito 
I am going to stay here on Isla Salsipuedes for a couple of more days and then move north again. I want to get all the way into Bahia de los Angles which is about 50 miles to the Northwest from here.