MV Sine Timore

Caleta San Juanico, BCS, Mexico

Once again the Sea of Cortez has turned our hardy sailing vessel into a motorboat.

Yesterday we left Bahia Santo Domingo at first light, around 6:45 AM, anticipating a nice, gentle north wind to waft us southeast. Alas, it was not to be. As we rounded the northern tip of Punta Concepcion, we found ourselves heading into a moderate east wind, around 8 to 10 knots right on the nose. We persevered until we were around the point and could turn to the SE to follow the coastline. As we approached the turn, the winds shifted to come from the SE, proving once again that age-old sailing adage that defines wind as "that which comes from the direction you want to go".

Being the diehard sailors that we are, we launched full sails and attempted to do some close-hauled sailing. We were able to sail for almost a full 1/2 hour at roughly 3 knots in a direction we did not want to go, until the winds died and we found ourselves crawling along in less than 5 knots of breeze. As we had a long way to go and could not waste any more time, we furled the headsail and turned on the iron genny. We motored at around 6.3 knots on very smooth seas for the rest of the day, arriving at Caleta San Juanico around 3 PM (Total distance was about 45 miles). We found ourselves a spot amongst the 8 to 10 other boats here and settled down to bake in the sun for a while. Temperatures over the last few days have been on the rise, hitting the low 30s for daytime highs. In this very protected anchorage with virtually no wind, it felt very hot.

Moments after we arrived, one of the neighboring boats dinghied over to invite us to a potato roast on the beach around 6 PM. Susanne put some potatoes in the oven to bake and created some sort of topping from our dwindling supplies of fresh produce. I got the dinghy pumped up and launched and we made it to the beach right on time. Bocce ball and good food was a nice end to a busy day.

This morning, we find that we are having our usual affect on the cruising fleet as a lot of the boats seem to be on the move, heading out for places unknown. Meanwhile we will stay put for today and explore this bay. Our cruising guide lists it as "one of the favorite cruising destinations in the Sea of Cortez for its assortment of beautiful beaches and geological formations, not to mention the superb hiking, snorkeling and fishing." We shall see!

One interesting note: When we were traveling northward last year, we did not stop here as the winds and seas at that time were quite boisterous from the SE, the one direction in which this bay has little protection. Instead, we had anchored around the corner in a little bay called La Ramada. Now we will get to see what we missed.

{GMST}26|22.13|N|111|25.81|W|Caleta San Juanico, BCS, Mexico|Caleta San Juanico, BCS, Mexico{GEND}