Rock and Roll

Caleta Partida, BCS, Mexico

We have not anchored out since Mag Bay on the way down the outside of the Baja peninsula in January. We may have lost our touch!

They have a wind here in the La Paz area called the Coromuel. This is a SW wind that appears most every night and is part of the reason that the nights are so comfortable in La Paz - without it the heat would be more unbearable. In the last few nights, the winds have been a little stronger than normal and the night-time temperatures have been a bit cooler as well - apparently nothing to do with the approaching cyclone.

Having decided to leave La Paz this morning, we wanted to get away as early as possible. However, we had to wait until the winds abated somewhat before we were comfortable with leaving our slip. We finally backed out around 10:45 AM. First stop was at the fuel dock where I attempted to make a fancy 180 degree turn to give us a port tie at the dock. Partly because of the remaining wind and some current in the marina (but mostly just my own inadequacies as a helmsman), I managed to hit and partially destroy the marina's sign at the end of the fuel dock. But we need not dwell on that!

After leaving the fuel dock, we managed to maneuver out of the La Paz channel OK and made a fast run north to our current location at Caleta Partida, a large anchorage between the islands of Espiritu Santo and Partida. We motored the entire 25 miles, with virtually no wind until we got to the anchorage, when it started to blow like stink - 20 knots from the north. We managed to get anchored securely in spite of the fact that the foot switch for the anchor windless would no longer let us put the anchor down. I was able to use the 2nd switch from the cockpit so all was not lost.

As soon as the anchor was down, the north wind died and we had a beautiful 2 or 3 hours of blissful peace before the nightly Coromuel wind came up from the south, now gusting around 20 knots and kicking up some higher seas, as there is little protection here from the SW. The boat is heaving up and down and sailing back and forth and just generally making for a restless night. I'm not sure where we are going tomorrow but it will definitely NOT be around here!

Note: Our cruising guide shows a lovely picture of many boats anchored where we are. Tonight, we are the only boat here - I wonder why...

{GMST}24|31.81|N|110|22.8|W|Caleta Partida, BCS, Mexico|Caleta Partida, BCS, Mexico{GEND}