Ramada Inn

La Ramada, BCS, Mexico

Today's journey was sent to make us feel humble again.

We left Puerto Ballandra around 8:30 AM with a brisk SE wind blowing. This made taking the anchor up more challenging than usual but promised some nice downwind sailing to our next destination at Caleta San Jaunico, some 26 miles further north.

As soon as we got out of the bay, the winds dropped to less than 7 knots making sailing pretty much a no-go for us - we need at least 10 or 15 knots of wind to get any speed out of our old tub. Just to add insult to injury, once we were out of the lee of Isla Carmen, we encountered some large short-period swells that made for a very rolly ride. We had gotten lazy over the last few passages and did not bother to bring the dinghy up on deck. Instead it was hoisted in our less than perfect davits. With the lumpy seas, we managed to dip it in the water a couple of times, something we have not done since our shake-down cruise in northern British Columbia.

We had the main up the whole time to try and deaden the motion and we did try to sail for about a half hour when the winds did peak at close to 9 knots, but this just made it worse with the sails flogging from side to side with the rolling of the boat.

The winds remained light until we were closing in on Caleta San Jaunico. This is a rather large bay that looked as if it might have some shelter from the south winds. Unfortunately, once we could see it, it did not appear to have any shelter from the large seas that were now rocking us about. We elected to go on for a couple more miles to a small, better protected, bay called La Ramada. Getting the mainsail down with the boat pounding into the waves and wind was a bit of fun, but we managed OK - we are just a bit out of practice.

La Ramada proved to be everything we were hoping. Great protection from the SE winds and seas and only two other boats here so we were able to find room to anchor without any problems. If this weather persists, we may just stay here another day. The weatherman was predicting some let up in the winds and waves for Monday. So for now, we are checked into what we cruisers call the Ramada Inn.

{GMST}26|22.82|N|111|25.83|W|La Ramada, BCS, Mexico|La Ramada, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Bee LLandra

Puerto Ballandra, BCS, Mexico

Short trip today, covering about 16 miles from Puerto Escondido to Puerto Ballandra.

 We sailed with both the main and genoa for 3 hours, with a light south wind, achieving speeds between 1 and 2 knots. At this rate this would have been an overnight passage so we turned on the engine and motored most of the way. Puerto Ballandra is a pretty bay on the north end of Isla Carmen, an island about 9 miles due east of Loreto.

We set our anchor in what we thought was over 20 feet of water but when the boat swung around we find we are only in about 10 feet now - still should be enough although it seems awfully shallow to us sailors used to the deep waters of British Columbia. Fortunately here the tides are only about a 2 foot range right now (That will change dramatically as we make our way further north in the Sea of Cortez).

We think the bay should be renamed as Bee-LLandra. As soon as we were anchored they started coming over from the land to check out our fresh water supply. At this point we seem to have gotten the majority of them out of the cabin and have all of our screens in place so hopefully we will have a quiet night. We will be out of here first thing in the morning regardless.

{GMST}26|1.1|N|111|9.95|W|Puerto Ballandra, BCS, Mexico|Puerto Ballandra, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Domestic bliss

Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

The days here in Puerto Escondido are starting to follow a pattern of sorts.

In the morning, after a very calm night, we wake up to a perfectly clear blue sky.  The temperature is already in the high 20s and quickly builds to the low 30s.  In the late afternoon the heat rising over the land starts to create some towering fluffy-looking cloud formations, which sometimes turn darker and we can hear distant thunder, although no rain as yet.  The winds have been very light, usually from the east or southeast, not amounting to anything much.  Although the humidity is only around 50 or 60 percent, it still feels pretty humid to us and we spend a large part of our day just sitting in the cockpit or down below with a fan pointed at us, reading and slowly melting.  We can't really go swimming here in the polluted waters of the mooring field so that is not an option.

Laundry day got delayed by a day (we just didn't feel like it).  Last night we got down to work and defrosted the refrigerator and today did the laundry, washed up the dishes that have been accumulating and restocked our Diet Coke supply (The little store right at the marina actually has flats of 24 cans of a variety of pop and beer - definitely catering to the gringos in the harbour).  Tonight we are going to walk to the little resort hotel again for supper.

We paid for one extra day on the mooring and are now ready to set sail tomorrow.  I guess I should check and see if the engine still works...

{GMST}25|49.2|N|111|18.6|W|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Going to town

Loreto, BCS, Mexico

Just in case anyone out there thinks that we have nothing but perfect sunny days all of the time, we can now confirm that that is not always the case.  For the last few days we have seen some clouds, especially in the mornings.  It even threatened to rain - we felt a couple of drops.  OK, it was not enough to force us to actually close the ports or anything, but it was definitely rain.  Unfortunately not enough to wash the dust off the boat.  When we started thinking about it we realized we have not seen any precipitation at all since leaving Ensenada on January 1st - this would be the first rain, if we can call it that, we have seen this year.

During this inclement weather, the temperature struggled to get to 30C degrees.  And it cooled off to about 27 at night.  The overcast skies have made our solar panels struggle to keep up with our power demands, but they are almost holding their own.  Lately we have had to resort to pulling our boom way out to the port side to allow more of our panels to be exposed during most of the day.  Our bimini does cause a bit of a problem when the sun is getting lower in the sky, often shadowing one side or the other of our two largest panels, but given the choice of power or shade, we opt for the shade.

Today, with the possibility that the sun would not be beating down on us relentlessly all day, we took a bit of a road trip.  We negotiated a round-trip by taxi to the town of Loreto, some 25 kms north on highway 1 (We use the Canadian method of bargaining - we ask how much; they tell us, and we say OK).  600 pesos - pretty expensive but cheaper than renting a car for the day.

Loreto is a very touristy little town with hotels and restaurants and bars and such, but definitely off season right now - not too many people about.  We did visit the historic mission church, "Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreta", located near the center of town.  From there, everything of interest is within about a 4 block radius.  The pedestrian-only cobblestone streets are pretty cool.

We did the obligatory walk along the seaside malecon and paid a visit to the local supermercado (supermarket) to pick up a few things that are not available in Puerto Escondido.  Note: it is possible to sail to Loreto and anchor by the town, but it is an open roadstead anchorage with little protection from winds from any direction - really only good for a day trip.  It just seemed easier to visit here by car.

Tomorrow will most likely be a laundry day, and then we should be out of here the day after that, heading ever northward to escape the threat of hurricanes.

{GMST}26|0.6|N|111|20.5|W|Loreto, BCS, Mexico|Loreto, BCS, Mexico{GEND}

Deserted desert

Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico

Hot, hot, hot...

Sue slept in cockpit last night - it was a bit cooler there.

The deal here in Puerto Escondido is that there is a large, very protected, bay that you can anchor in or take one of the mooring balls supplied - the price is the same regardless.  Of the over 100 mooring balls, only about 20 or 30 are being used, so it is easy to find a vacant one.  Where we ended up is a lot further away from the marina office than most other people, not so much because we wanted the privacy, but more a result of our complete incompetence with grabbing a mooring ball from the boat (in my defense, there was a slight breeze blowing that made it difficult to keep the bow close to anything for any length of time).  We just kept trying until Sue finally snagged one and we decided it looked perfect - so here we are.

This morning, we took the dinghy over to the office and did the paper work - it will cost us about 8 dollars a day to stay on a mooring here.  As soon as we had finished paying for a week's stay, we ran into a cruiser who advised us that if we anchored in the inner harbour it only costs 1 dollar a day.  Maybe next time. At least we don't have to put up with any close neighbors where we are now.

We hiked up the road towards highway 1, about 1/4 of a mile to an RV park, hotel and tienda.  Until we rounded a corner in the road and spotted the buildings, we were pretty convinced that there was no civilization to be had here - it doesn't get much more desolate looking than this.


Indeed, even the marina development is pretty sparse.  They have created an extensive grid of really wide paved streets complete with street lights and utilities - it looks like runways for small aircraft.  It is all for sale and there are absolutely no takers so far.  I guess this is all very new and will no doubt catch on in the next few years.

When we got to the RV park and hotel, it was like finding an oasis in the desert.  Beautiful grounds surrounding a pool and a very nice restaurant.  We took the opportunity to grab breakfast at a very reasonable price before checking out the mini-market and hiking back to the marina. I think we will be back here for supper tonight and probably for a few more breakfasts as well.

We were back to the boat by noon as the temperature was hitting about 33C.  This would actually not be so bad but the humidity makes it feel worse - and this is supposed to be a desert!  We can hardly wait until the real heat starts in the next couple of months.

 

{GMST}25|49.2|N|111|18.6|W|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico|Puerto Escondido, BCS, Mexico{GEND}