We spent a night on the dock at the Fonatur marina in Guaymas. This gave a chance to rinse the boat off after all the dust and dirt in Gabriel’s yard and to get a few more things put back together. On arrival we followed the “best to ask forgiveness than permission” by tying up to the dock before getting a hold of the dock master. I did try calling twice on the radio but without success. Thankfully with some begging, he let us stay one night even though some of the dock floats had been pulled out and no boats were supposed to be tied up. The lack of wind helped us get this exception…
Dumb luck shined on us yet again with the city celebrating Dia de los Muertos early, so we walked around checking out the ofrendas, music, and street food. Fun to enjoy this very Mexican town without other gringos around.
The next morning we blasted off for the short 20 miles to San Carlos
Hard to believe San Carlos is so close to Guaymas yet looks so different, read into that upscale and American
We chose to anchor out for the night, but we did take the dinghy in to arrange a slip for the 2018 hurricane season
One more shake down day where we sailed nearly the entire 34 miles to Los Cocinas (Kitchens). It felt so good to have the engine off and beautiful following seas.
Good to be back in nature with empty sand beaches and coyotes howling at night
Overnight the winds shifted, coming in from the West leaving us completely exposed and with a big swell which was about twelve hours earlier than forecast. Blerg. We had planned a 2:00am departure but this was moved up to 12:30am. Unfortunately, we had to head into the wind to get around a large shoal that extends 20 miles into the sea. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit miserable for six hours, the two hours in the middle being the worst. For the first time ever, we used both engines to get an extra knot shorten the time getting through the 3-6 foot waves and 25-30 knots (20 degrees off the Port side). Once we turned north it was better and kept chilling out as we approached Isla Tiburon.
Arriving at Los Perros on we set the hook and took our first snorkel of the season. The water was a warm 82 degrees and there were a few fish to see. Not spectacular but still nice. The beach held a number of interesting shells but Isla Tiburón is a protected nature preserve so we took only pictures.
Home for one night before our crossing
Sunrise and comfortable seas/winds as we cross the Sea of Cortez for the Baja peninsula through the Midriff island chain
Isla San Esteban looked magical as we passed by
We were treated to a spectacle of many hundreds of dolphins. They literally stretched over a mile. Adjusting our course and speed they played in our bow wake and gave us a great show.
Just a fraction of the dolphins
Early afternoon we pulled in to El Alacran just south of Bahia de los Angeles, home to an eco-camp for whale watching.
Sunrise over El Alacran
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