It is Monday, Jan. 24th
at 10:00am; Sol Surfin is now crossing the Sea of Cortez heading
to Mazatlan. We woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to listen
to the weather report and decided that it was a good day for us
to sail across the sea. We have all of our sails up, the main,
the jib and our beloved screecher sail, which has gotten us through
thick and thin. The winds are about 14 knots coming down from
the North and we are doing a beam reach at about 7.5- 8 knots
on average. It is good day to sail and tackle this sea crossing.
It is about 165 nautical miles to Mazatlan, which will take us
about 26-30 hours or so, depending if the wind keeps up. Gary
and I are getting the hang of these overnight sails and taking
turns of about 4 hours each on the helm. The nights are usually
peaceful and it should be beautiful tonight with the full moon
approaching. Hopefully, we will not have any cruise ships to avoid
tonight! (or fishing boats.)
We have spent the last 4
days hanging out in Los Frailes, which is a little fishing cove
and RV’ers paradise around the tip of Baja on the way to
La Paz. Great place to take your RV at the end of Baja and experience
the good old lazy day life style. We will have to come back here
someday with our camper! Gary traded 2 cold beers for a freshly
caught Dorado; I guess the fishermen were thirsty after a long
day of fishing! This fish also known as a Maui Maui, the fisherman
filleted it in a few seconds on the spot.
Gary and
I really liked this cove because not only was it sheltered from
the winds and swells but it was also a beautiful anchorage with
a submarine canyon filled with aquatic life. We snorkeled and
explored these canyons which were filled with exotic fish and
living coral. Ever night and morning we could see and hear the
mantarays shooting out of the water about 10 feet into the air
and plopping on the water. There were also schools of fish surrounding
our boat. We took our dinghy around the corner to the famous Cabo
Pulmo Reef. This reef is a national marine park and is filled
with beautiful things to see. We swam with the sea lions and this
was a real trip. Each of us took a turn in the water and Gary
was a lot more brave than me, because I had to hang onto the side
of the dinghy in case I needed to jump quickly back in. The sea
lions are amazingly graceful creatures especially underwater.
Then they climb up on the hot rocks and laze in the sun just like
puppy dogs in a puppy pile. At the reef, we landed our dinghy
on the white sandy beach and Sampson (our dog) had fun digging
holes in the sand. We met a young couple visiting from Wash. D.C.
I guess they wanted to get out of town for the inauguration event!
(Humm, we seem to have forgotten all about this) Along the way,
we saw a few kayakers who were camping out on the beach, they
must have paddled down from La Paz. Looks like another fun adventure
to do in a future life.
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