Gato Loco 2010 Leg #6, Thursday – Mulege to Isla San Marcos

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By Lowell | June 4, 2010 | Category Baja 2010

Thursday morning in Mulege is a true “dead calm”… not a breath of moving air, ocean waters like “glass” on Apache Lake at 6am in July. We are just shy of renaming this Leg the “Gato Loco Motoring” leg. Well, ok, we did get some true sailing in. BUT, today looks like motors all day. We head out of the Mulege harbor, turn north for our next section of the trip, motors on. We’ve spent the entire Leg wondering where the sea life is… and BOOM. A massive pod of dolphin appears just ahead of us! They are moving slowly, seem only somewhat interested in what we are doing, and meander all around us. These are the first two to approach us.

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After these first two take a close run at us to check us out, more appear. Finally we get some some cool photo ops!

Linda is snapping photos non-stop in hopes of catching some great shots.

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And it works… lots of fins, a tail here and there, and even the beginning of a jump!

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We see one or two of the dolphin with the main pod start to slap their tails on the water, almost like a call to move on. That’s exactly what happens. As most of the pod moves off Gato Loco, a last couple of curious ones slip by us one more time. Not sure how clear this shot is on your screen, but it’s our favorite, as we can see the nose and face of this dolphin underwater, as well as what’s above water. We finally have seen what became commonplace for previous Legs ths year… a dolphin pod. We had feared we wouldn’t see any! Very inspiring to have seen them.

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With the fun and pleasure of seeing so many dolphin, we settle back in for the rest of our morning travel segment up to Punta Chivato. The rookies have heard alot about the hotel here, but of course, have no idea what to expect. Here we see it off in the distance, the photo also shows how calm the water is as we head for the point.

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Arriving here we can see that it is an amazing spot for a hotel and private homes. An airstrip is just behind the resort, thus this seems to be more of a “fly in” hotel/resort location, and have heard that may Europeans make it here. The hotel main area is in the center of the complex where the arches are, with rooms and suites spreading out waterfront to the left and right. Looks pretty from here! Margaritas and lunch await!

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On the hotel patio, we pick a waterfront table, we’re the only guests on location (hey, it is Thursday… a work day, right?). Sitting here with a margarita and our lunch we all agree that this doesn’t suck. The view you see here is only one fourth of the panoramic view from this location!

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Across the patio on the west side is the anchorage we chose. Nice shot of Gato Loco on anchor. Note the row of private homes that spread across the beach in the background. NICE, very nice! Seems the only guests on property were a couple from Italy.

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This place deserves a few more photos, as you simply can’t describe it and convey to someone how pretty it really is. Pool looking into the hotel area, pool looking out over the ocean & Gato Loco, and rooms overlooking the ocean as well.

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Ok, back to the boat… we walk the sea-wall across the front of the hotel property like a marching line… easier than in the soft sand, which is pretty hot by 1pm. The hotel restaurant & bar didn’t open till 12noon, then they didn’t fire up the generator for electricity till 1pm. So, it’s now about 1:30pm and hot!

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Back underway on Gato Loco, surprise!… the afternoon breezes came up and provided another opportunity to up the sails and drop the motors. Winds come up to about 10 knots again, we are able to make about 6 knots speed. Good news is we stay on sails only for nearly 2 hours, making for a pleasant afternoon on our heading for Isla San Marcos, an anchorage near the end of our Leg. WHAT!? This is almost over already? I could do this for weeks!

Dave & Bill team up to get our sails up.

Dave & Bill, making it happen.

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Underway with sails full, main, jib and screecher, we get some good speed going in what is fast becoming rougher waters. Not too far from Punta Chivato we see more private homes, out here in the middle of NOwhere… Who are these people!?

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Nice shot of all three sails, looking straight up from underneath (in the trampolines up front).

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And of course, Bill has everything well under control. Leg 7 has great sailing to look forward to!!

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Later in the afternoon, we are finally arriving at Isla San Marcos and the spot Bill has chosen for our anchorage. We’re actually slightly north of Santa Rosalia, but Bill has found a really nice spot to anchor. This photo is looking back south from where we had just come from as we turn towards our anchorage.

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Bill is doing his thing, readying the boat for anchor. He does this well. We’ve been almost perfect on schedule the whole trip.

We’ll get off the boat for another snorkeling opportunity here, which is once again an enjoyable stop. Warmer waters here make is easier to stay in longer (ok, I’m a wuss when it comes to cold water… 78 degrees or more for me only!).

As the day winds down, winds calm, waters calm, a spaghetti dinner and more of our hearts tournament awaits. We seem to keep forgetting to shoot photos after sunset, but Bill grabs a camera just BEFORE sunset here as the anchorage offers an amazing sunset photo given the small lighthouse, the small island it’s on, the ponga boat in the background and the landscape itself. Below are his just before and just after sunset photos. Not bad! We all agree that this trip has gone way too quickly, one more day tomorrow with hopes of seeing some more of what The Sea of Cortez has to offer. Not sure what that is, and that’s ok. Tomorrow will hopefully surprise us! Well wishes to all from Ellen & Dave, Bill, Linda & Larry!

Hearts tournament tonight, then crew out! Manana!

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