Puerto Don Juan, BLA, BC, Mexico
A pretty exciting week for us.
We were in the anchorage at Ensenada la Gringa for the "Full Moon" party. We arrived a couple of days before the big event in order to attend a talk that one of the cruising couples was putting on, regarding cruising south from Mexico to Ecuador. This took place on Sunday afternoon (in order for all of the American football fans to listen to a game on their satellite radios in the morning).
We all gathered at around 4:30PM as a dinghy raft-up near the beach - there were about 20 people attending. We did this in spite of the ominous-looking black clouds full of lightning and thunder that we could see just at the south end of the bay. Sure enough, about 15 minutes into the talk, we heard a shout from one of the boats nearby, warning us of an approaching line of rough water. You never saw a bunch of dinghies move so fast! By the time we got back to our boat, the wind was blowing at 20 knots and the seas were beginning to build. We managed to get the motor off of the dinghy and get it stowed on the back of the boat, and then just sat back and watched a repeat of our horrible experience of the Chubasco just a week ago, right here in the same south exposed anchorage. When will we ever learn?
The winds did not get over about 30 knots but it was coming directly from the south where the 10-mile fetch allowed the waves to really build up before expending all of their energy on us. Again we found ourselves hobby-horsing up and down and putting an enormous strain on the anchor (and our snubber, now attached with a rolling hitch instead of the chain hook that we lost during the last storm). But this time, instead of being virtually alone in the bay, we had a total of 26 boats in the anchorage, one of which seemed to be no more than 50 feet directly behind us. I started the engine just in case, but our anchor held and, in the end, we were none the worse for wear. The whole squall did not last much more than an hour, although the seas did not calm down quite as fast. As far as we know, only one boat had an anchor drag and they were able to get re-anchored OK. Two boats left altogether to find a less-exposed anchorage. The talk was postponed until the day after the party.
The "Full Moon" party was a hoot. A lot of people dressed up in wild costumes and created some very inventive "floatees". There is a lagoon at one end of the bay here. The water flows in and out of this lagoon whenever there is a high tide (such as we have during a full moon). So the whole idea is to get onto some kind of raft (floatee) and let the current send you into the lagoon just before high tide; then out again about an hour later, just after high tide. There are prizes for the most inventive rafts and costumes. High tide on the day of the party (Monday) was at 2:15PM, and the weather actually cooperated (no Chubasco). In the evening everyone gathered on the beach for a pot-luck supper and prize awarding ceremony. This is sort of the culmination of the entire summer cruising season here in the BLA area - there were about 50 people at the event, and everyone had a great time.The next day (Tuesday) we attended the rest of the talk on cruising south, and in the evening experienced a little taste of an "Elefante" wind. These winds come from the west, over the peninsula, and last for several hours. Fortunately, from that direction the anchorage has no fetch and there are no big waves - the winds were steady at around 15 to 20 knots, never really getting much higher - this was much less traumatic than the Chubasco. Reportedly the winds were a bit stronger at the BLA village, which we understand is normally the case.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we decided to stop pressing our luck and finally left la Gringa. With more westerly and NW winds forecast for the next few days, we just made a quick trip into the village (about 5 miles south of la Gringa), had a late breakfast at the Costa del Sol restaurant, got some important paperwork done on their internet connection (we have to renew our boat insurance), and then left for the very protected anchorage at Puerto Don Juan, where we knew we could have a very restful night without having to worry about wind from any direction! Don Juan is the only real hurricane hole in this area.
Last night, we were kindly invited over to a fellow Canadian cruiser's boat for a supper of clams and brownies. While sitting out in their cockpit in the evening in the calm, with a perfectly clear sky above, we saw a sight that will stay with us for a long time. We witnessed the death of either a meteor or a piece of space-junk that was truly spectacular. An object that traveled across the sky, visible for about 15 seconds, leaving a flaming trail of green, then yellow and red, till it seem to break up before our eyes.
In summary, I guess this sort of exemplifies cruising. There are times when things seem to be going so bad that you wonder why you are out here. Then something happens that makes you wonder why everyone isn't doing this. Eventually we will figure out which camp we are in.
{GMST}28|56.5|N|113|27|W|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico|Puerto Don Juan, BC, Mexico{GEND}
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