PUERTO REFUGIO

Mirador finally made it as far north as she will travel this summer, about 1010 nautical miles NW of Zihuatenejo which we left last March.  We arrived Sunday evening, September 14, in Puerto Refugio which is on the north end of the island named Angel de la Guarda, the 2nd largest island in the Sea of Cortez.  Refugio is an area containing several islands, points, reefs, rocks, and bays.  Very few cruising boats venture any further  north of here into the real North Sea of Cortez.  

It is about 127 nautical miles from here to the northern end of the Sea but there are very few harbors or good anchorages anywhere north of here.  Additionally, the tides get pretty extreme further north.   During the September full and new moon the water level in San Felipe, which is the only real harbor north of here on the Baja side, changes by 17 feet.  Many of the anchorages go dry on a low tide, over a mile from the high water beach.  That makes for tough anchoring.

The island Angel de la Guarda is about 40 miles long and varies in width from five to ten miles.  There are very few anchorages on the island, except at the north and south tip. 

The picture to the left is taken from Mirador just off the northwestern most point of the island.  You can see a few boats in the central bight anchorage.

The mountains behind the anchorage are over 4300' tall.  The central spine of the island is above 2000' over it's entire length.

During most cruising seasons only about 10 to 20 boats visit Refugio.  However, last February during Sailfest  in Zihuatenejo, (read about Sailfest here), we did too good a job of extolling the virtues of cruising up here.  Right now there are 15 boats anchored within a mile of Mirador and at least one more is headed this way.   The West Bight in the East Bay is currently Mirador's home and also the home to seven other cruisers.  But it doesn't feel crowded since the closest boat is 50 yards away with four  boats are over 300 yards distant.

I left Quemado, the site of my last WEB update, on Saturday morning when we verified that vegetables and produce were now available every day in the Puebla de Bahia de Los Angles.

I motored about half way to the Puebla and then sailed into the light house anchorage which is behind the sand spit about 3/4 mile from the village landing beach.  The picture to the right is taken from Mirador looking toward the village.

As you may note; there are not a lot of big buildings in the Puebla.  However I was able to buy five gallons of gasoline at $3 per gallon and all the good produce I needed.  There is a dinghy landing site just a block from the outboard repair facility that sells gasoline from a small trailer and two blocks from the "Yellow" grocery store.  The "White" store is at the other end of town. 

You know it is a big village in the Baja when you have to refer to the tienda by color.  I didn't anchor right in front of the village because the NNE breeze was directly onshore and can build up a nasty chop by early afternoon.  The anchorage behind the lighthouse spit is completely flat in a NNE breeze.

I sailed out of the anchorage at 2:30 PM with two full Jerry cans of gasoline and lots of tomatoes.  My destination was Ensenada Alcatraz, about 14 miles NNW thru the channel between Isla Smith and the Baja Peninsula.  I was too lazy to put up the mainsail but Mirador still made four to five knots while beating into what had become a north wind and flat seas.  Isla Smith, with its 1554' volcano cone,  blocked the North wind so I had to motor the rest of the way to Alcatraz. 

The next morning the wind was forecast to blow from the SE and the tide was supposed to flow from the SE while I had to head NNW to Puerto Refugio.  I couldn't resist that combination and sailed out of the bay on the start of the north going tide.  Within a mile I had the main and spinnaker up with Mirador making five knots on a reach directly toward Refugio, 30 miles to my NNW. 

The sailing was just about perfect.  The sun was hot, the wind was cool enough to be comfortable, the current was favorable and the seas were flat.  Now, what could go wrong?  How about a wind shift from a steady SSE to NW in about five seconds?  Yep - After about an hour Mirador was  making 5.2 knots on a steady 7 to 8 knot SE wind when suddenly, very very suddenly, the spinnaker backwinded and then wrapped around the port spreader and shrouds as the wind gauge  showed a steady 8 knots from the NW.  

Now there's a project:: single handed taking down a 1200 square foot asymmetrical spinnaker that is wrapped while heading into the wind.  Fortunately the spinnaker didn't hang up on anything and I was able to pull the turtle (bag) down over it and to drop the bagged chute along the port deck.   The wind remained steady for about 10 minutes so I rolled out the genoa and was able to sail close hauled only about 20 degrees below my desired destination. 

Over the next 15 minutes the wind shifted north then east until it was back in the SSE at 10 knots and I again put up the spinnaker.  I was able to carry the spinnaker at an apparent wind angle of about 130 degrees for another two hours while making about five knots thru the water.  However, the strange tide thing happened again.  Just when I thought the tidal flow should be most favorable for Mirador it rather dramatically turned and started coming from the NW and slowed the boat by about a knot. 

I say the tide turned dramatically because you can see the change in flow quite a ways ahead of the boat.  We were making 4.5 knots thru the water and five knots over the ground but as we approached the disturbed water and then encountered the small tidal rip the speed over the ground dropped to about 4.3 knots while the speed thru the water increased to about five knots. 

I hope I can figure out these tides someday.

A while later the steady 11 knot SSE wind that was keeping the spinnaker full and driving suddenly, again very suddenly, shifted within 10 seconds to a 10 knot North wind.  And, again, the spinnaker backwinded and tangled with the mast.  Ten  minutes later Mirador was driving NW with a full main and genoa hard on the wind. 

The western approach to Puerto Refugio is technical and scary.   The basic problem is that the charts for this area are off by over one mile.  Right now the GPS location of Mirador at anchor, accurate to within 20 feet, plots to 1 mile inland on the island.  When I look off the stern of Mirador I see the beach about 100 yards south.

The 2nd thru 4th problem is that to set up the approach to the anchorage you have to sail at right angles to the channel leading into the bay while skirting a reef on the south and pinnacle rocks on the north, neither of which are visible. The reef and pinnacle rocks,  (rocks that come to the service from deep water and are a ways from land or reefs), are separated by about 200 yards of water over 10 fathoms deep.  During this time you can plainly see the boats at anchor straight ahead of you about one mile away.

 But, there is a reef, visible only at low tide, that connects the main island to one of the outlying islands and prevents you from sailing directly into the anchorage from the west.  The channel you are trying to find but can't see until you are almost in it, takes you 300 yards north between two islands where you then make a 180 degree turn and head back into the West Bight anchorage where you have only one more reef, just below the surface, to dodge around. 

The Cunningham Cruising Guide gives a very precise method for negotiating this reef and rock strewn approach.  You make a course due north (all bearings are True in the book but I can only think in terms of magnetic which is 12ºE) close to Sail Rock, pictured at the left, until Fang Rock is visible between the main island and the outlying island at a bearing of exactly 59º. 

You then turn toward Fang rock, about two miles ahead but on the other side of the semi-visible reef, and maintain that heading within an accuracy of 1º.    During this time you are broadside to the tidal current where the water level can change by 10 feet in just six hours.  You maintain 59º +/- 1º until you can see north thru the channel between Isla Mejia and Isla Division, at which time you are within 300 yards of the reef ahead, where you make a 80º turn to port. 

After that it's no sweat. You just have to go thru a 50 yard wide, 30 foot deep pass between the islands and then get into the anchorage while not hitting the last reef.  But, someone that is anchored there will come out and sit on the reef to help you avoid it.

No Problems! - Except for the heart attack caused by Charlie's Charts for Western Mexico.   Charlie's, actually Peinniped's, provides GPS coordinates for both the first reef and the pinnacle rocks that must be avoided while maintaining a course of 59º magnetic inbound from Sail Rock.  When  I turned Mirador on the 59º course I had not gone 200 yards when the Nobletec charting software started blaring an alarm.  I saw that Nobletec was telling me that Mirador was within 100 yards of hitting the reef as plotted using the Piinniped's GPS data. 

I turned Mirador hard left to head north, parallel to the danger.  I then used my excellent Nikon Binoculars with built in compass to verify that I was on the proper course and found I was.  I then got out my hand bearing compass and made the approach again on 59º magnetic and again Nobletec said that I was headed directly for the reef.  I then verified that the latitude/longitude for the reef I had entered into the Nobletec program was exactly the same as in Pinniped and found that I had entered it correctly - down to hundreths of a degree. 

I motored north and south twice more trying to figure out what mistake I was making.  But, no matter how I thought and aimed the boat, if I followed the Cunningham directions I wound up headed directly for the Pinniped reef. 

I have encountered this problem several times in the past with waypoints and bearings taken from Charlie's Charts.  They are just plain WRONG! and in this case it was dangerous.  I chose to follow the Cunningham directions and proceeded into the anchorage with no problem.  I never saw less than 13 fathoms until I entered the channel between Isla Mejia and Division. 

Every other boat in the anchorage that tried to use Charlie's as did I encountered the same problem. 

I have the sun awning up and will stay here for at least a week and probably several weeks.  There are dozens of great dive sites, places to swim with the Sea Lions, trails to hike, and fish to shoot. 

But, enough of this writing, it is almost time for the afternoon Bocce Ball competition on the beach.