“What's on the other side? The
other
side!” An adventurous traveler must see it for himself.
This was the day many boats had been
waiting for: calmer seas to make the crossing from La Paz to the
Pacific coast of Mexico on the opposite shore of the Sea of Cortez.
For us and two other Ha-Ha boats, Resolution and Sand
Dollar, the initial goal would be Isla Isabela, a World Heritage
Site full of seabirds and iguanas and with excellent snorkeling
reefs, about 310 nm (~62 hours at 5 kts) from La Paz and 40 nm from
the coastal town San Blas, our next planned stop. Isla Isabela is
tricky because the anchorages are open to swells and have rocky
bottoms which can make setting an anchor securely and later
retrieving it from the crevices challenging. Plus, fishing nets and
long lines surround the island for miles out offering another hazard
by fouling propellers and rudders. We decided to at least pass by and
check it out for calm seas and if it appeared too rough to stay, we
would proceed to San Blas. Word from others on the mainland from a
few days earlier was that the anchorages were too rolly to stay.
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| Perfect sailing across the Sea of Cortez |
We sailed the first 31 hours in pure
bliss with a perfect wind NNW 13 to 20 kts. Once set, we barely made
sail adjustments.
Resolution caught a fish the first morning
and called to let us know it – our reputation for being unable to
catch a fish was known to them! They dropped back while doing fish
prep. We had our hand line out the entire day and didn't catch or see
a single fish which means to date, no fish dinners had materialized
while underway.
True North and
Sand Dollar buddied the rest of the way, keeping within
a few miles and VHF radio contact.
Sand Dollar,
from Seattle, has a unique history: the family bought their
40' older boat for a
dollar, spent six years rebuilding it
from the inside out, and now have their beautiful
Sand Dollar,
named by the kids: 14, 12 and
10, out for a year's adventure. It is a work of art and a
labor of love. Lucky family, neat kids, and a great bonding
experience.
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| The Sand Dollar kids |
Our crossing coincided with a full
moon. Such a welcome change to be able to see the water so well in
all directions. We could see the
La Paz Star, a huge
freighter, coming towards us during the night and tried to raise them
on the radio see if they were aware of us but to no avail. We changed
our course to get out of their way and they passed just a quarter
mile away! The following day and night, no other boats came anywhere
close.
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| La Paz Star a little too close at night |
It was calm with just a 3 kt wind so we motored. Meanwhile,
the wildlife sightings had begun.
Sand Dollar reported that a
frigate landed on their anchor and stayed with them the whole night.
This was still 100 miles from land! They also had a whale sighting
just 150' from their boat. Dolphins swam with our boat and shortly
later flocks of birds indicated that we were getting closer to Isla
Isabela. About 30 nm from the island we saw what first looked like
fishing buoys scattered throughout the water but they were turtles,
dozens of them spread out over a wide area, many with birds catching
a ride on their backs.
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| Seabird hitching a ride on a turtle |
Then, finally, land ho! The fuzzy outlines of
the distant islands appeared. We were anxious to arrive before dark!
As we got closer, there were a couple of fishing boats. One directed
us around his boat in order to avoid his fishing nets. Of the two
anchorages at the island, we checked out the one at the south end
first, a kind of gloomy looking place with just one sailboat. We then
went to the east side, smaller anchorage to find eight boats and
dropped our anchor at the north end with two tall rock pinnacles
against a pink sky as the sun was setting, and two boats adorned with
Christmas lights. Spectacular! We set the anchor at 1740 with a trip
line for recovery insurance. We had completed a significant sea
crossing safely.
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| East anchorage, Isla Isabela |
December 20-23: Isla Isabella
and Chacala
The first night in the anchorage was
dead calm. In the morning we were anxious to check out the
blue-footed boobies on the beach and hike the trail to the crater
lake but the surf was a little rough for a safe beach landing.
Instead we snorkeled over to the two rock pinnacles with the
Sand
Dollar kids. Lots of colorful tropical fish kept everyone easily
entertained. Later in the morning,
Resolution arrived. They
had not been able to get to the anchorage before dark so they hove to
in the perfectly calm sea offshore for the night to arrive by
daylight. By afternoon, the surf had died enough that we made our
break for shore. Gregg shuttled crews from
Sand Dollar and
Resolution to the beach with perfect timing through mild surf
for each landing, losing no one overboard. It's tricky! Ashore,
colonies of blue footed boobies walked the beach, some doing the
mating dance, and others sitting on nests of blue eggs on the ground
while their partners stood guard nearby. They are quite used to being
around people and were unafraid of us.
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| Very blue-footed boobies! |
We hiked the trail to Crater
Lake, the caldera of an extinct volcano now filled with water,
encountering yellow and green footed boobies and frigates along the
way. Surf can change abruptly so even while ashore, we kept watch to
make sure we would be able to leave before it became too rough
In the evening, Sand Dollar
hosted Resolution and True North for drinks and dessert
while discussing plans for the following day. Resolution would
stay another night. Sand Dollar would proceed to San Blas to
tour the crocodile estuary with another kid boat. We chose to go on to Chacala, just
55 nm away. Then we would all meet a couple of nights later at La
Cruz. Lightning to the east lit the distant sky and a strong north
wind gave us a very rolly second night at Isabela. Being open to the
ocean, I got up several times during the night to check our position
with respect to the landmarks and make sure we weren't dragging our
anchor...we weren't!
We were up early, retrieved our anchor
easily, and left Isla Isabel for Chacala at 0630, followed by five
other sailboats leaving for San Blas. We raised the sails with a good
13 kt wind for several hours, then doused it when the wind died
later. It was a relaxing day with many breaching whale sightings and
pods of dolphins swimming alongside now and then. We constantly
scanned the water for fishing lines and while we spotted the
occasional float, there seemed to be no visible lines attached. We
had our hand line over the stern rail and had been paying no
attention to it when at last, fish ho! We caught a skipjack! Gregg
promptly cleaned and filleted all 3 pounds of it for dinner.
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| Our first catch of the entire trip! |
We
arrived at Bahia Chacala about 1815 just after dark. There were two
other sailboats in the anchorage, one without lights. Festive music
from the palapas ashore was very inviting though we did not attempt
to find the dinghy landing that night.
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| "Downtown" Chacala |
Morning light made it easy to identify
the two sailboats in the anchorage,
Winterhawk and
Unleashed.
We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving in La Paz. Rick from
Winterhawk putt-putted over in his dinghy for a morning
greeting and to catch up with each other's news. The previous night
when we saw lightning in the distance from Isla Isabella, they were
directly in a heavy rainstorm in the Matanchenga anchorage just
outside of San Blas. Seeing Chacala in the daylight convinced us we
needed to stay the day and another night to check it out.
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| Coconut vendor, Chacala |
Plus, both
Winterhawk and
Unleashed would be staying. We rowed our
dinghy to shore early in the day to walk the few streets of boldly
colorful houses, small hotels and waterfront restaurants. A couple of
mercados lined the main cobblestone road with good-looking produce
and beautiful beadwork made by the Huichol Indians from nearby remote
mountain villages. We found a place on the beach selling fresh
pineapple, then stopped for a bite to eat.
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| Chacala's beautiful beach and palapas |
Later in the day we met
Winterhawk and
Unleashed
where they were watching a Seattle Seahawks game (ie, football). We
joined in for some pizza and returned to our dinghies just as it was
getting dark. We three boats would be leaving early the next morning
for La Cruz.
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| Unleashed, True North, and Winterhawk in Chacala |
