Pt. Escondido to Isla Carmen

Here we are with June almost at an end and only the slightest easing of Corona virus restrictions. While our life in Mexico has been relatively free of difficulty during the crisis we remain 'stuck' in the north of the Sea of Cortez until international borders re-open and the cycle of weather seasons allow us to sail home to New Zealand. The opening of Fiji to cruising yachts is a ray of hope that things may one day return to something near normal. I guess that the islanders are feeling the economic impact of the lack of cruisers that spend hard currency in the islands, distribute useful trade goods, and freely donate their technical expertise. However, one stop at an open border country along the route homewards does not make for a happy and satisfying cruise. We will have to wait until more island nations open their borders.

We are better off than many yachts that are stuck in places where the cyclone season is almost upon them and they cannot move to safety due to border closures. The northern Sea of Cortez is not free of cyclones but the probability of a damaging storm is less and there are places in which to hide. I hope we don't see one, whether Taiko is in the water or hauled out. I have read of yachts in terribly stressful situations in the Maldives and the Caribbean with nowhere to go. Relatively speaking, we have at least a reasonable amount of freedom of movement.

Returning to the subject of cruising, it must be said that, apart from occasional bouts of worry and homesickness, we have had a very enjoyable time. We left Puerto Escondido well stocked and replete with fuel and water, and in good spirits, to enjoy a cruise northwards through the offshore islands that are part of the National Park network.

Our first stop was at Bahia de Salinas some 25nm distant from Puerto Escondido. It was a very slow sail that took seven and half hours to cover the distance,it was necessary to motor the last five miles there being no wind at all. Bahia de Salinas is an abandoned salt production facility that had obviously supported a fair sized workers' community. The signs over the doorways of the crumbling ruins indicated workshops, medical station, shop and production office. We wondered how the people who had lived and worked there had fared as we walked through the ruins. Were they properly treated and remunerated? Somehow, looking at what remained, I felt they were not.

The remains of the medical centre and store.

There were an extraordinarily large number of Pelicans at this bay. We marvelled at their flight and fishing skill. While their take off, with their large beak protrusion and necessary foot assistance, looks ungainly they are masters of flight once fully airborne. It was fascinating to watch their dives which begin with a full wing span reminiscent of a WWII Stuka dive bomber (Oops! Mustn't mention the war.) and finish with a beautiful tuck and final wing tip descent like a modern jet fighter. Their fishing is usually successful, though not always. I thought it might be fun to be a pelican for a day; eating live fish for any longer than a day would become tedious.

Pelicans at Bahia de Salinas.

The Mexican government's conservation arm has established a population of big horn sheep on Isla Carmen. These robust and agile creatures are carefully husbanded to provide animals for the repopulation of other areas and to provide 'sport', for want of a better word, for wealthy hunters and for this reason a lodge with full time care taker has been established at Bahia de Salinas.

The hunters lodge at Bahia de Salinas.

We motored the next few miles along the east coast of the island to an anchorage known as Painted Cliffs. A splendid anchorage where we had a snorkel and enjoyed the scenery and slept well, for there was absolutely no wind or swell. Here we tested our ability to enter our small Welsford Roof Rack dinghy from the the water and found that we were both able to enter from the water, assisted by our fins, without inundating it and bringing only a small amount of water aboard on our bodies.

Painted Cliffs anchorage.

By 1045 the next morning a light breeze had started to blow from the east which was perfect for sailing northwards along the east coast of the island and across it's northern to tip to the next anchorage at V cove. We were enjoying a delightful beam reach making four knots over the ground in about ten knots of breeze when we were hailed over the VHF radio by a yacht motoring in the opposite direction. The yacht Susimi called only to compliment us on the fine looks of Taiko, later we were to become friends with Hazel and Paul who are the crew of Susimi. We continued our sail to V cove at which we had to tack to weather to enter the cove. Again we were complimented on the fine looks of our vessel and her ability to sail to windward. Our anchoring at V Cove was an interesting experience in that it appeared to be a fairly narrow cove with a large uncharted submerged rock in the middle that had to be avoided in order to anchor at the head of the cove. We did so successfully, but after a few minutes the rock was perilously close to us and we concluded that we must be dragging. So it was up anchor and start again. After the 3th time we realised that the rock was moving! The rock turned out to be a densely packed shoal of fish! Apparently we are not the first to be fooled by this phenomenon. Later we explored by dinghy, guess who rowed, stopping in a cave where it was possible to anchor in the cool of the interior. We also enjoyed a walk ashore. It was a beautiful place.

Anchored in V Cove.

Our next anchorage was only two miles away at Bahia de la Lancha (Launch Bay). So called because this was where a service launch brought workers and supplies to the Island for the salt works. A track winds it's way from here to Bahia de Salinas; part of which we walked. The main reason for changing anchorage in such a short distance made good was to catch up with friends, Sherri and Steve, on the yacht Pablo. Pablo is a West Sail 32, a design that has long been a favourite of mine. It was a pleasure to enjoy socialising with Steve and Sherri again aboard the good ship Pablo again. I could not help privately contemplating how one might convert a West Sail to junk rig. I am told it has been done.

Pablo sailing to windward in very light wind and leaving us behind while towing a dinghy.

It was at Bahia de la Lancha that we caught our first and only glimpse of a small mob of Big Horn Sheep. They were easily watched through binoculars but not possible to photograph with our wee camera. Sherri got some good shots with her digital SLR.

A mob of 8 big horn sheep. Photo from Sherri Brenner SV Pablo

We sailed together with Pablo further to Isla Coronados. Read in the next blog.