I woke up a bit early (6am) tried to go back to sleep, but that did not work. So, I got up at 7, Renee’ was up, coffee made and ready for breakfast by 7:30. Followed by devotions. Then as Renee’ was cleaning the boat, in case of guests, we were visited by Tom and Brigitte Soltys from S/V KIA-ORO an IP 40 we had seen their boat in San Juanico, but left before we could talk. I did get a picture of their boat against a rock and when I saw a picture of his boat on FaceBook and that they were nearby, I posted it for them as well. In any case we chatted aboard for about an hour or so, then they headed out.
By this time it was lunch time, so we had lunch and then we got the dinghy down and positioned under the outboard, and I changed the prop then we put it on the dinghy and went ashore. It was much easier than I thought it would be. Once ashore we headed out to get a hike in we hiked around the point about 5 miles total, and then back to the boat. Got our iPads and headed back to Ana’s on the beach for beer and internet. Once we logged in we found out that Lost Pearl and Merry Lee were not far away, and would be here in a couple of hours, we also found out that Capella III would be here Sunday, it is going to be a pretty busy little anchorage!
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
We woke up about normal, had breakfast and did our devotions, then sat and worked on a variety of things while we had internet, like researching solar panels and do we want to upgrade what we have, or put new ones in or …. Anyway, I looked at options. Sometime after lunch we set out and crossed over to Bahia Concepcion, the wind was stronger than we expected (24 knots) so when we got to the planned anchorage Bahia Santo Domingo and it was shallower than I really like (10 feet to get into the protection from the wind), we decided to continue to Santispac.
We dropped anchor in about 30 feet of water and had dinner and read our books and went to bed, a very quiet day
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
We got up early but did not get out of bed, (at least I did not) laid out reading. The weather is a bit “dreary” raining and some fog. By about 10 it was mostly clear.
We had breakfast and did our devotions. Followed up with catching up on Facebook, sometime there is some pretty funny stuff there:
Q. What medicine do you give to someone who keeps buying sailboats?
A. Antibuyyachtics!
By 11 am or so, we decided it was clear enough to run into town and check out the brewery here. As far as we have seen, there are two breweries in Baja California (if you know of anymore please let us know and we will check them out!). Baja Brewing in Ensenada and Mulegé Brewing here in Mulegé. This one has Stout at 7.1% ABV. Very good taste!
We used the dinghy to get into town, the city is about 2 or 3 miles up the river from the beach. When we left the boat, it was clear but about the time we rounded the point to start up the river, it started raining. It was not hard but it got harder the longer we were out. When we were just about all the way into town, we found some rocks in the river, which were not visible through the murky water. We continued up until we found the bridge and found a dock on the river bank to tie up to. We only hit a couple more rocks on the way in, and then back out.
When we got ashore, we were soaked, oh and we were on the wrong side of the river for the town, the normal bridge (low down on the water was being worked on and the taller bridge for Highway 1, was pretty busy. We found a trash can and got rid of our trash and then saw a car where there were selling shrimp, we really did not want the shrimp but we talked to the guy selling and asked where the brewery was and asked about walking across the river somehow, he offered us a ride and did not want any money. We accepted the ride and gave him 200 pesos for his efforts. Probably more than it was worth, but it was the right thing to do. He took us into the heart of town, and it was really raining by this time. We got under a porch at a shop and went in and found a hat for me, a blouse for Renee’ and a straw mat for the beach. We also got better directions to the brewery, and by this time the rain had mostly stopped. So, we walked to the brewery.
The beer was really good, the owner is a gringo and the shop has only been open a few months, we had guacamole and chips and two stouts each. At the end of our time in there, one of the patrons who was leaving to go get his wife offered us a ride back to our dinghy, which we accepted and got back to our spot and discovered that while we had been gone someone had pulled our boat further out of the water than we left it. We also had a couple of inches of water in it. I bailed it out and Renee’ loaded the stuff we bought and brought with us back into the boat. Then we headed back down the river. As I said before we hit a couple of rocks going this way as well. Though this time we were basically idling the whole way. The rain picked up and we had our umbrella out, in the beginning, I had it and was staying dry while Renee’ used an oar as a feeler to see if the bottom was there in front of the boat, once we got past the shallow spots, I gave it to her and she huddled in the bow with it just over the front of the boat, and I sat in the back. This allowed us to get up on a plane with the dinghy and go faster. Renee’ was already pretty wet, but now it was my turn to get soaked. Eventually, we got back to the boat and then worked through the process of getting the dinghy put away and all the stuff spread out to dry. One thing we found when we had the dinghy back aboard, the outboard prop is toast, good thing we have another one.
Since it has been overcast, the solar has not kept up with the power usage. So, we ran the generator for awhile to charge the battery and heat the water and run the heater inside the boat. This helped to dry everything and heat the water for our showers.
At this point, we have had dinner (tuna casserole again, still the same fresh BBQ’d tuna) and Topo-Chico (sparkling mineral water) pretty great dinner!
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
We got up at 6:30, and got ready to go, had breakfast, did our devotions, and called Capella III about my jacket that we left on their boat last night. We arranged to pick it up on our way out to run the water maker. So, at about 8:00 we picked up the jacket and then headed out. Once we were out far enough I started the generator and the water maker at 8:40. Then we put the sails out and did a very leisurely sail out for about 15 miles or so, which took several hours. At some point during the day, our boat speed was down to about 0.5 knots, but we were not going anywhere.
While we were out Renee’ put her line in the water, using a cedar plug and a weight (the plug is designed to float, and the weight keeps it below the surface. After a couple of hours of this, I looked back and asked Renee’ if she had something on her line, so, she went and checked and started bringing it in. No real fight, but it was pretty big. When she had it alongside the boat we got pictures and video of her first shark! She was pretty sure she could not pull it onto the boat with the line she had and it was too big for the net, so, I got the gaff and when she got it close I gaffed it through the mouth and up through the top of its head.
“Sharks don’t poop” that is a quote from one of the fish books, so you have to ”catch, kill, and gut” quickly. So, we brought the shark on board, ran the fillet knife through the brains, and then tried to cut off it’s head. The knife was not doing it, so I went and got the hand saw that we bought at Lowes It is a folding saw with interchangeable blades that are about 10” long. This worked well in removing the head, and the tail then I gutted it with the fillet knife and turned the mess over to Renee’ to remove the skin and cut into stakes. We measured the shark at about 36”. We think it is a black tip, but it might be a bull shark, not really sure.
After a while, we decided to turn around and head back in finally dropped the anchor at Mulegé at about 4:30 or so. In about 15 feet of water. The first time we dropped anchor, it drug as we tried to set it, so we pulled it up to try again, and figured out what the problem was, we had filled the anchor with seaweed. This is not a great anchorage, as it is not protected, is somewhat shallow and has seaweed. We checked the weather and it is supposed to be very calm tomorrow. Our plan is to go into town (about 3 miles up the river, that is too shallow for the boat) in the morning then come back to the boat and move to a more protected anchorage in Bahia Concepcion in the afternoon.
Oh and it is raining now. We have not had much rain since we left San Diego, but perhaps there will be enough to rinse all the salt and dirt off the outside of the boat. It really needs a bath.
Details: we ran the water maker from 8:40 am until 3:40 pm, 7 hours at 20 gallons per hour. We put 140 gallons in the tank, the “Acu-guess” (the brand is Acu-gage) instrument started at 10% the tank is 260 gallos, so we should have about 166 gallons (less the 6 gallons or so used to flush the water maker) 160/260= 61.5%. Sure there is a bit of a fudge factor here so it could be a bit more or less, but the instrument now says that we have 90%.
We are thinking about what to do next. We have been in communication with Jeff and Angie on Lost Pearl (who are with Josh and Cozette on Merry Lee). (Our boat kids). Jeff said that it would be 3 to 5 days until they get as far north as Santispac, where we were planning on meeting them. Saturday or Monday of next week, then we would head back to Punta Chivato and spend the night and get an early start the next day to cross to San Carlos. Do we stick around here for another week before crossing, or do we say sorry can’t do that and cross.
Dinner tonight will be leftovers, all the shark went into the freezer. We have lots of variety for leftovers: Spaghetti, Chinese, Enchiladas, Tuna, and Pizza. We have to eat some of these or toss them as they will get too old.
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
The sharkThe gaffed shark (the squiggly line is a plastic string for the cap that goes over the pointy end of the gaff)Look how calm the water isWhat came up with the anchor the first time we tried to anchor
We woke up a bit later than normal and did not get out of bed until almost 8 am. The water tank still shows us at 30%, I am not comfortable having it this low, but it is. We had plans to go into Santa Rosalia and stay a day and then head across to San Carlos. We were going to run the water maker on Friday. We would have had 60-70% in the water tank then. This is Tuesday and we won’t be running it until tomorrow.We do have a jug of water as a back up to drink if we run out of water in the tank before we start the water maker.
We don’t run the water maker in port, or near shore as there is a lot of stuff in the water closer to shore. Not just the fact that the cities discharge their sewage there, (this is true in the states as well as here, just in the states they pipe it out 3 miles) but also run off from streams and rain fall, and if it is shallow then the sand in the water is stirred up as well. All of this challenges the water making system, the filters get clogged and the Reverse Osmosis membrane gets fouled.
We had breakfast, did our devotions, and got the dinghy down and went ashore. There is a large resort here on the point that has been closed for about 10 years, and was open for 10 years before that. The owner (as told to us by a guy that was removing copper air conditioning lines) is an Italian who also owns resorts in La Paz and Cabo by the same name. There is not much of value left here, except the building (maybe?). From there we talked/chatted with Colin and Claudia on Capella III, and Jeff and Angie on The Lost Pearl and Josh and Cozette on Merry Lee. Capella III was headed in to this anchorage and we were scheduled to spend the day with them gathering shells.
Josh, Cozette, Jeff and Angie were in Puerto Escondido and are planning on going as far north as Bahia Concepcion then they will turn around and go back to San Diego. We debated on the pro’s and Con’s of sticking around and meeting up with “our boat kids” or crossing the Sea as planned to San Carlos. We decided that we will head south to Bahia Concepcion, after further deliberations, the plan is to go out for a few hours, run the generator and the water maker tomorrow, then anchor at Mulegé (about half way to Bahia Concepcion) then Thursday go and meet up with the Boat Kids for a last day together before they go back to San Diego. When they leave, we will come back here to Punta Chivato, spend the night then get a very early start for San Carlos on Saturday or Sunday, (something like this anyway).
In the meantime today we connected with Colin and Claudia and went ashore to collect some shells. There is probably 5 or more miles of beach starting at the point had going west then south that are just covered several feet deep in shells. We talked to an Ex-Pat that sort of lives here who was out walking her dogs, and she said that she had once dug a hole to see if she could find any better shells deeper down, and she said that the shells were still there 4 feet down where she dug. She also gave us pointers on where to get the best shells, so we went back out and moved down the beach with the dinghy, we saw lots of shells, and quite a few rays, some pretty small (3” in diameter) and some pretty good size (12-15” in diameter). We got lots of shells. Renee’ will have to figure out what to do with them.
After gathering shells, we went back to our respective boats, and dropped off our “loot” then we met at the Capella III for happy hour. We chatted about lots of things and nothing in particular. It is interesting to compare boats (theirs is an Island Packet 420, which is the model we had been looking at before we bought this one. Today, we were in the cockpit for a bit on their boat, and I looked at the table that hangs off the backside of the instrument/steering pedestal, and recognized it as the “fish cleaning table that had been mounted on the stern rail of our boat but was missing some hardware to make it work. We moved it next to the BBQ and configured a leg for it and made it a work table for the BBQ. But it is nice to know that it was not missing parts, just wasn’t what we thought it was.
Dinner tonight is tuna casserole, which at first doesn’t sound that great, but remember the fresh tuna that we had for dinner two nights ago in Santa Rosalia? Well, some of the fish got sent back with us that night, and we have had Tuna Salad Sandwich’s for lunch today, and we had Tuna on our salads for dinner last night. All of the Tuna we have had for three days comes from what we were given, and it is really good. Renee’ just pointed out that even after the casserole there will still be fresh BBQ’d tuna left over. This is some really good fish, but we are just about tired of fresh tuna.
After dinner and dishes, we got showers. Again that might not seem like such a big deal, but we have gone 10 days since filling the water tank. We took showers a couple of times in the marina, but other than that we have each gotten showers here on the boat probably 6 or 7 times and the indicator still shows 30 % in the tank. This tank holds 260 gallons of water. In the future, I will plan ahead to ensure we don’t go more than a week with out filling the tank.
We do have room for guests, if anyone is interested in visiting and spending a week or so with us, drop us a line and we will coordinate. What you have to do/have is you need a passport and will need to be able to get to where we are when you are going to be down. When we know what time frame you are thinking about we can let you know where we expect to be so that you can make your travel arrangements.
If you want to know where we are, click this link:
Our Dinghy with Make Me Laugh Again in the back groundThe abandonded hotelThe view of our boat from the abandoned hotelThe pool at the old hotelCapella III coming in. Note no waves, and no windMake Me Laugh Again on the left, Capalla III on the rightThe beach of shells.
