The plan was to have lunch and take in a hike at Salsipuedes which meant an early morning. Lowell and I hauled anchor at 5:30am and we putt’d out of Don Juan. Outside the harbor we could see wave action to the north, likely from high overnight winds spilling over from the Pacific. Looks like our anchor location was a good one.
On the last stretch before our stopover, I spotted what I thought were dolphins and called to the guys. Looking closer my next guess was pilot whales before Lowell identified them as orca whales. Seriously, how fucking cool is that! They stuck around for only a few minutes before carrying on and before anyone could get a good picture. Thankfully a few minutes later Murril suggest we go back for another look. At first it seemed they were swimming away faster than we were motoring but then they had a change of heart and made another visit. From the original pod of ten-ish we had three who put on a show right next to the boat. Jumping. Swimming with their belly up under the boat. And showing off. It was unbelievable. Beyond thankful that Murril spoke up.
After losing their attention a second time we finished up our leg to Salsipuedes anchoring down and heading to shore for a hike. Lowell had been here a few times before and gave us the royal tour, note it is not that big of an island. We spent a good forty minutes making a nice loop before heading back to Gato Loco. And on we pressed to Puerto San Francsiquito, getting in a nice couple hours sailing with the motors off. Anchor down in the slot we had our celebratory cocktail before Rick and I tried our luck fishing. Trolling around the point I tossed out a lure and we attempted to find the fish. Unfortunately, the only lures on board were for trolling from the big boat and we got skunked. Oh well.
After a nice dinner and a few rounds of Shut the box everyone’s eyes were heavy and at the ripe hour of 8:30pm it was good night.
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