Moving down the east side of the Baja coast, our next stop was San Juanico. Not much to do here except beach comb, fish, dive, hike and visit the cruiser shrine, but other than that. We wanted to spend only two nights, but then came New Years Eve, so it turned into three. With nine boats in the bay and it being New Years Eve and all, we had to do something. A potluck and bonfire on the beach of course.
By 6:00 that evening every boat had arrived, and the celebration ensued. Mostly just swapping boat tails and advice. Then at cruisers midnight, (9pm) we uncorked the champagne and wished everyone a happy new year. By 9:30 the fire was put out and everyone was safely back on their boat.
There is a tree in San Juanico that cruisers have left mementos of their visit. We on Stray Catz were no different. We found a shell on the beach that weighed about 4 pounds (no exaggeration) so it wouldn’t blow away. We then wrote a poem on it in indelible ink before depositing it among the many other reminders of boats who have passed this way.
One day I went fishing with Jack and Bill from the boats Sea Fern and Tigger. Between the three of us we brought back four fish. Bill taking the prize.
On New Years Day we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and a slight breeze, so up went the sails and away we went.
From Santa Rosalia we made the 10 mile journey over to Isla San Marcos to a little spot called Sweet Pea Cove. With a name like Sweet Pea Cove, how could we go wrong? There were a few small beaches near the anchorage. One with an old fish camp. Anna found many pretty shells and lots of sea glass. It looked like some good hiking up the hillside, but I kept forgetting my boots and my sandals just wouldn’t cut it on the rough terrain.
We did a dive, but there wasn’t anything spectacular. I did finally use the spear gun I had bought in Panama in 2015. Yeah, fish for dinner. But the water is still pretty cold which made for a shorter dive. We had a fire on the beach the first night which was really nice, but even more amazing was the bio-luminescence the next couple of nights. I was throwing some left over food parts into the water and with each splash the entire spray lit up brightly. It looked like a fireworks display. Or more like Tinkerbell touching the water many times with her wand. Each time came another brilliant burst of color. We tried many times to capture it on film without success.
Sweet Pea Cove was a nice, little anchorage, but located just a short distance away is what is now one of our new favorite spots, Caleta de los Arcos. Unfortunately this anchorage has little protection from the prevailing winds, otherwise we would have stayed for a few days. We dinghied through an arch to a beautiful secluded beach. And the underwater world was great.
Brent and I snorkeled around through the caves and arches in awe of the number of fish and the variety of sea creatures in this small area. Anna and Dee Dee found lots of little treasures on the beach before also taking a gander at the beautiful underwater world. I provided fish for dinner again that night. The next morning we woke up to 20 knot winds, so as planned we pulled anchor and headed down to what was supposed to be a more protected harbor. This new anchorage at the south end of Isla San Marcos did not live up to its reputation as protected, so after one night we left and continued on. Sorry Diva, no shore today.
Most everything is working on Stray Catz that is necessary to survive. Our roller furler is broken, so we have no working head-sail. The roller furler is what makes it possible to let out and pull in the jib or head sail without raising and lowering it each time. Once the device is installed, it’s not an easy task to raise and lower the sail without the furler, and not one I want to have to do in dangerous situations. So no jib till I get it fixed. I knew it was going out when we parked Stray Catz, but I kind of forgot about it. And after 17 months it didn’t fix itself.
While anchored in San Carlos, we had fun watching the pelicans on a feeding frenzy. The bay was swarming with these little fish so much that you could see dark clouds in the water. The pelicans were obviously taking advantage and started before the sun was up and fed all day long until after sunset.
We’ve been on a couple of short trips in the San Carlos area and were ready to say goodbye to mainland Mexico and cross to the Baja peninsula. It’s about a 75 mile trip across the Sea of Cortez. Not that impressive compared to some of our other jaunts, but still long enough in open seas to respect the journey. We travel just over 5 knots normally while cruising, so the journey should be under 15 hours. Not something we can do in daylight hours.
We will be buddy boating with our friends on Scuba Ninjas, Brent and Dee Dee who are rather new sailors and a little nervous about an open sea crossing coupled with an all night sail. Scuba Ninjas are very into videos and photos, so be sure to check out their YouTube channel.
We took a nap in the evening and set the alarms for midnight. By 1am we were leaving Bahia San Carlos and headed out to sea. The trip through the night was just what we could hope for, boring. Albeit very cold. When daylight finally arrived we were blessed with a few dolphin sightings, but none who came to play in the bow wake.
Now we are anchored in Santa Rosalia. We’ve gotten to go out and explore the town. This town has some very interesting history. Without trying to repeat everything that’s already written in the guide books I’ll give you a little run down. Santa Rosalia was a major player in copper mining back in late 1800s and early 1900s. French owners of the mine had a major influence on the architecture of the homes and buildings throughout the town.
Mine shafts are seen along the highway through town as well as many structures that are about to collapse. Most of the town would have a fence around it for liability reasons if it was located in the USA.
Of course that only slowed us down from exploring the crumbling structures located in the city. No fence means it must be ok, right? Unfortunately the mining museum and Mahatma Gandhi Library(so named because of a personal visit to dedicate it) were closed for rehabilitation. It would have been nice to learn more about the structures we were climbing through.
We will spend another day here knocking stuff from the to-do list for Stray Catz before heading south along the peninsula.
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