Wind be damned we planned to attempt a snorkel with the sea lions on Los Islotes. Moving north we had some wind push us along as we moved up the east side of Isla Partida and Espirutu. We would get strong gusts when passing the vallies then have it die to nothing once past with the strongest gust being 35 knots. Pulling up to the sea lion rookery it was clear the current and swell was not in our favor plus most of the sea lions were off hiding from the weather, so we motored up and drifted back a number of times for pictures and to check out the remaining sea lions.
After getting our fill we headed for Isla San Francisco with full main sail and jib (our screecher still out of commission). The winds pushed us along at 6.5 knots for more than half way before incrementally diminishing down below 3 knots of boat speed when we hung it up and cranked up a Yanmar. Still is was a great chance for sailing lessons and lots of sail trim adjustments to get the most out of the wind. As we approached the island, Victor wanted to swim in and spearfish along the way. We got him in position and he slipped into the water as we rushed into the anchorage to beat a megayacht who was trying to cut us off. We no more than anchored and he was dropping his anchor right in front of us, but was nice enough to holler over “No Problem.” Oh well.
Everyone feeling a bit dirty, we headed into the water – me to check the anchor, Ariel to swim to shore, and Shalise to watch a couple of sea turtles swimming around near us. The anchorage filled up as the day progressed topping out at 17 boats – way too many for any of our liking. Blerg.
In the evening we had Cindy and Mark (M/V Delta Swizzler) over for sundowners. The last time I had seen them was back in Puerto Escondido a few years ago when they gave Jean and me a tour of their boat. We had a wonderful evening catching up and hearing about their summer in the sea followed by a two month up in Lake Chalapis. Cindy’s mango pepper salsa was a hit along with our perfectly ripe pineapple. Sun setting they headed home for dinner and I took to cooking a fish we had in the fridge with Victor’s Chinese spice pack. Bellies full but not quite read y for bed Shalise spun some tunes to accompany a few games of Monopoly Deal. End of day.
No Comments