May 26, 2019
Through the early morning hours I was up a number of times where the wind hung around the 30 knot range (+/- 5 knots). By 4:00am things subsided a bit and by 6:00am we were back to the 12-15 knots with gusts in the low 20s. Damn the past few weeks have been windy, windy, windy. And made me very…
May 25, 2019
After a second calm night I was up early and jumped into a kayak to explore the shore. The anchorage has a beach with cliffs and two deep arroyos leading to the base of the hills. I made my way up the first arroyo looking for a spot to slip up the cliff. 500 meters or so I found what…
May 24, 2019
Up early Jack and I dropped the dinghy and headed off fishing. Just as it is supposed to be, it wasn’t long before Jack had his first fish. It was a small cabrilla that we slipped back into the water, a good start. We worked around a point and caught a bigger, but still small, triggerfish. We kept it just…
May 23, 2019
Finally a day where we can get moving again. Don Juan was a good protector but after four nights, water too cold to snorkel, and dreams of northern anchorages we were ready to move on. The plan had been to wait until 9:00am but the wind dropped off to less than 10 knots earlier than forecast so at 7:00am we…
May 22, 2019
We had a mellow last day in Don Juan with a call on the radio from Salish Dragon (attempt number two) inviting to the fleet of eight boats to join them for dinner at 5:00pm. Sweet, nice to get a chance to socialize. You might be wondering about the early start time. Well the winds were forecast to blow, yes…
May 21, 2019
The wind gods blessed us with a gorgeous morning. Jack and I gave fishing another go and this time without the waves we reached the area I hoped would bring us good luck. We didn’t see a lot of sea life, maybe we are too close to Bahia LA where there is a lot of pressure. However, about twenty minutes…
May 20, 2019
Morning came with a pretty calm start. Enough so that Jack and I took the dinghy for some fishing. Getting out to the edge of the anchorage we found good sized rolling waves which forced Jack to the floor of the dinghy and required an adjustment of plans. We turned around and attempted to troll for fish in a less…
May 19, 2019
In the morning there was a chill in the air and no one was anxious to get moving but by 7:30 there was movement aboard. After a weather check was completed we came to the realization that we would likely see wind the next five days. Duh. But today looked pretty mellow so we upped anchor and made our way…
May 17, 2019
Mostly motoring except for short periods of using the jib we made our way up to Punta el Alacran. I’d enjoyed this anchorage a few years ago and was happy to be back and even more happy to have the anchorage to ourselves. Score! Shalise headed off for some kayaking and the possibility of snorkeling (in the 55 degree water,…
May 14, 2019
I had a plan. Maybe not the smartest plan but a plan. I was going to hit the ridge line of the surrounding hills to get an aerial view of the airstrip. No one else had any interest, so this would be a solo run. After climbing the plateau for the view, I worked my way through an arroyo back…
May 13, 2019
It was nice to have the anchor set by mid morning in San Francisquito – what was not nice was the water temperature – 51 f’ing degrees. Are we in the PNW? This is unheard of. Ugh, maybe we won’t be doing much snorkeling. But we did wash all of the salt of the boat, filled the fuel tanks from…
May 12, 2019
The title of this post was a quote from Denny Green (former Minnesota Vikings coach) – the guy had a way with words. Some passages kick your ass. The leg to San Francisquito from Santa Rosalia was such a passage. I diligently checked the Predict Wind models and looked at Windty.com – all three said about the same thing, light…