Bahia Bonanza, voted best anchorage of the spring

We attempted to take advantage of the morning wind but after three sail changes in fifteen minutes we started up the engine and motorsailed along. Duh, oh well at least it is a beautiful day to be on the water. It turned out to be a good thing that we left Bahia Muertos early because before we came up on the turn into the Ceralvo channel fog was rolling in. Another half hour and we would have been depending on radar to steer clear of the navy ship in the Muertos bay.

I figured there would be nightly coromuel winds, so after taking a look at the north side of the bay we scrapped that idea given what looked like a potential funnel effect caused by the valley cutting to the west side of the island. Instead we jump behind the biggest hill, hoping it would provide some protection. We tucked in close to shore anchoring in the shallowest depth yet (at low tide we had about three feet beneath our keel). Jess and Sabrina took advantage swimming in to shore to enjoy the beautiful day. I suppose it was an hour later that I looked out and noticed they were joined by someone from the only other boat in the anchorage. Looking closer with the binoculars I had a good laugh as I could make out he was taking naked selfies of himself. Ah the things people do. Well he was a good distance away from them, but they were technically on the same beach and still provided good entertainment…

Sure enough that night around 8:00 the winds piped up. And stay around 20-25 knots for the entire evening, night, and into morning. Bahia Bonanza has excellent holding and with the support of my anchor alarm it was a peaceful nights sleep. Not deterred by the winds before the sun rose I paddled the kayak into shore for the view and a nice beach walk. We spend the rest of the day swimming, fishing and relaxing. It was a perfect day capped by a kick ass meal of wienerstnizle and potato salad whipped up by Sabrina.

The overnight winds failed to relax in the morning but we decided to still make our day trip to Bahia Balandra (mushroom rock fame). We sailed out of the anchorage in a spirited 20+ knot wind. A bit of a bash but nice to be sailing. Reaching the San Lorenzo channel it was clear we would be bashing into building waves and uncomfortable conditions all the way to Bahia Balandra, the deciding factor in turning around however was the fact that the snorkeling and paddling in Balandra would be crappy at best. So back to Bonanza!

Instead of a water day we went hiking, taking on tallest hill surrounding the anchorage. Even better it was a bushwhack hike since the only trail led to the west side of the island and not to the top of the hills. We had a great bit of exercise and enjoyed spectacular views of Strikhedonia and the sea.

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