Author: Neil Scheuerlein

We woke up about 7 am, listened to the net on the SSB Amigo Net 4149 Khz Upper Side Band, or 4146 frequency, at 1400 Zulu time. We will also try to check in, or least listen to the La Paz Net channel 22A at 8:00 am Monday thru Saturday.

The NETs are a way for cruisers to stay connected. They have a check in period for emergency traffic, cruisers underway, then finally for cruisers that are anchored/docked. This is followed by the weather report and a chance for anyone to send a message to anyone else (like stay on this frequency for a few minutes after the NET is over for some personal communications). There are also general announcements given, like updates to the COVID status. SSB has a very long range, we had people on the net near Puerto Peñasco (north end of the Sea of Cortez) and as far south as Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta. As a comparison, we heard 70 degree and 80 degree sea water temps, discussed this morning. This covers an area of about 1000 miles or more north of where the NET was hosted from.

We were here last February 19, and 20. We were anchored near the town, in about 16 feet of water and we snorkeled. I suspect the water was warmer then, but we might give it a shot here again. We are planning on staying through Monday to avoid high winds on Sunday. 

Our plan for today is Breakfast (cereal) they kayak for a bit and a trip into town. 

We kayaked around the bay, found the restaurant (closed for the next 2 days, as the boss is out of town). Talked to some fisherman cleaning rays, and then back to the boat (had a beer). Lunch and snorkeling for awhile then a nap, and happy hour, (beer, sausage and crackers). Then nothing for a bit, in a really great quite bay. Then put the kayak away and watched another sailboat come in and anchor much closer to town. We checked the weather and will probably get underway very early Monday morning and go straight to La Paz.

Details about the snorkeling, we started from our boat, I swam under and checked the status of the bottom, it is OK, but will get cleaned in January before we leave La Paz. I scrubbed the heat exchangers for the the fridge and freezer. We went into the beach, and stayed within 10-15 feet of the shore as we swam looking at the fish, we saw Puffer fish, we saw a ray, (12-15” in diameter) we saw lots of coral, we saw black fish (very small) schools of sand colored fish (about 1 foot long) and bunches of yellow and black stripped fish. It was like swimming in a fish tank. This snorkeling took us about an hour, and was very pleasant, water temperature was 75 degrees, and air temp was about 79 degrees. It is nice to have a hand held depth and temperature gauge. 

Dinner tonight is fish burritos from the Bonito that Reneé caught the other day.

Well, not to rolly, until we went to bed. Then really rolly until about midnight, calmed down some and finally some good sleep around 4. Then up at 7 to get started. Perhaps we can get some naps in today. 

Breakfast burritos and coffee to start the day!

Quite a bit of wind again today. We coasted along at about 5 knots with jib and mainsail out with the wind almost directly behind us. Running the watermaker and washing machine all day. At the end of our trip we pumped out the holding tank and ended with something more than 90% in the water tank.  We anchored in 30 feet of water at San Evaristo in the north east corner. Very well protected for wind and waves. We expect to be here two nights. 

We did not sleep that well, the boat was moving a bit last night. Not much just enough to drag the chain around on the rocks/gravel under the boat. Since it was so quiet it was enough to wake me up. Renee’ had issues with wet hair keeping her awake. So, she used her blowdryer this morning to fix that. We looked at the charts and thought about what we are going to do as we continue south. At this point our itinerary looks something like this:

Thursday night (tonight) in Puerto Los Gatos, if it is crowded then we will go another couple of miles to Tembabichi. This is a short day, only about 20 miles.

Friday (12/11) and Saturday (12/12) night, in San Evaristo. A very protected bay. This is because we are expecting some wind on Saturday. This is about 35 miles.

Sunday (12/13) night, Isla San Francisco (10 miles), or Isla La Partida (30 miles), or Espirtu Santo (35 miles). 

Monday (12/14) La Paz, depending on where we were Sunday night, 50 miles or less.

Monday (12/21) Fly to Tijuana and back to California Returning 1/2/2021. 

One thing that happened relative to the new batteries and charging system, the display for the inverter/charger stopped showing battery percentage. The info was still available from the Victron Energy battery monitor either on the face of the instrument or via Bluetooth. Just not on the local display. I found a cable disconnected on the back of the battery monitor. The wire is a little on the short side, and a bump to wire can unplug this. I will have to figure out a way to keep that from happening. In any case, it is all working again.

We arrived in Puerto Los Gatos about 1 pm, a bit of excitement, the weather guessers said that it should be mild with minimal wind. Of course we had over 20 knots from behind us and that meant for an interesting time furling the gib (so, not so mild). Anyway, we got it in and then the mainsail as well. We ran the water maker for almost 3 hours, and ended with about 90% in the water tank. It only shows 10% increments, so we could have been at 99%, but we were not full. We have a couple of loads of laundry to do, so we will start that the next time we run the generator, and the watermaker. We also charged the battery, with the final on that of  95%. The only other boat here is S/V Pellucidar. 

Today has been rainy, and we discovered that the boot around the bottom of the mast leaks. Tonight is popcorn and a movie. Then bed in a rolly anchorage.

So, either we stay here (at Salinas) a day or straight to Agua Verde. The weather program says that we should expect high winds next Saturday.  If we stay here Thursday, then Agua Verde Friday, we will be in the islands north of La Paz on Saturday, and I really don’t like going into La Paz with a lot of wind. If we go to Agua Verde Wednesday, Then the islands on Thursday, we will be going into La Paz on Friday, which is a full week before our flight, which means extra slip fee’s. Time to Christmas shop and maybe time to get the outboard worked on, the boat detailed, the bottom cleaned, the stainless steel polished. Look for some parts that we would rather not bring back in our luggage. Like Fenders that are huge. 

So, we got up and motored to Agua Verde. We ran the water maker for about 3 hours (45 gallons or there about) we are now at about 90%. When we got to Agua Verde, we got the kayak down and paddled ashore, had a beer (or a couple) and talked to Leonore about the school supplies and the outboard not working. Her husband fishes at night, so he will come with a teacher to get the supplies when he gets up. She also has a nephew (husband of her niece actually) who will take a look at our outboard. Since it needs to be mounted on the dinghy and in the water we did that when we got back to the boat. We enjoyed some chatting with another cruiser and his guests there at the restaurant. Then we went back to our boat and put the kayak away and got the dinghy down and put the outboard on it. As we started, it began to rain. Not heavy but kind of cold. Anyway, we got it done and are back inside waiting for our guests.

Well the teacher the husband of Leonore and a student from the school all showed up about 5 or 5:30, we gave them the supplies and they told us the nephew who could work on the engine would be by tomorrow, so we told them to not bother and we would get it taken care of in La Paz. We then put the dinghy and outboard away again, went below and had dinner, read our books and bed.

While at the restaurant, we talked to the crew of S/V Pellucidar, which was named by the previous owners and is the name of the hollow earth that Edgar Rice Boroughs wrote about before he wrote Tarzan or the Barsoom (Mars) books. 

We got up as planned at 6:30, dealt with the spinnaker, and started motoring by 7:30. As predicted a very calm day. I set the speed at 5 knots to give us more time to run the watermaker.  After we were underway we had breakfast in courses, apple bread and oranges first, then cereal a bit later. 

We saw two boats heading south in San Juanico, and another one that was sailing north from Salinas heading to San Juanico. At one point we saw about 10 small fishing boats (not panga’s) sport fishing type boats 20-30 ft long fishing in one area. Renee’ ran three loads of clothes. Which takes about three hours to run the washer, and about 15 gallons of water per load, while the watermaker gives us a little more than 15 gallons of water per hour. We ran the watermaker for about 6 hours and raised the level in the water tank about 20% (0.20*260= 52 gallons). We talked to both boys on the phone today, and did a little texting (we had cell service for about an hour as we crossed and could see Loretto, until we got around Isla Carmen and the signal got blocked. In any case we arrived about 4pm, as planned and anchored in about 20 feet of water. There is another sailboat anchored here.

This was a salt plant, with a large salt pond just inland on this island that used to ship salt all over the world. We will kayak ashore tomorrow and take in the sights.

The plan is to head across to Agua Verde on Thursday. Renee’ exchanged texts with Leonore at Agua Verde about the supplies and getting them off of our boat, as our outboard is not working. What we have to give them is a bunch of school supplies. There are 17 small backpacks with a variety of supplies in each, these were aimed at elementary kids. There is a bunch of 1” binders and notepads, and drafting type tools, (triangles, protractors and compasses) and more stuff. There is a large rolling bag full of stuff, and 4 trash bags with the backpack and some of the other things in them. Leonore’s husband has a panga and will come out to get them. Her comment was that fishing has not been good due to the wind. The trip to Agua Verde is about 30 miles, we will probably go slow for that as well, so we can run the watermaker again. When we get to La Paz, I want to go in with the water tank full, as we will be there for a couple of weeks (part of the time we will be in Calif). We will also have the holding tank empty to maximize our time before we will have to go out and dump it.