Spinnaker ride into Conception Bay

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By Lowell | April 28, 2013 | Category Baja 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, April 26th – Isla San Marcos

Los Arcos sea caves as we set anchor for some sightseeing and swimming.

Duck.!!

Entering the big arch at high tide is a little tight.

 

Lowell’s hole shines behind the amazed crew.

Water temp is on the cool side but okay for swimming.

 

Always a nice stop. Water visibility at 40’. Lynnie wanted nothing to do with the large eel on the bottom near the arch entrance.

Sweet Pea, our anchorage for the night, is just 3 mile south.

 

Lynnie is a happy sailor after a dolphin rodeo went by our anchorage and then a huge finback whale surfaced and did a tail up dive as we were watching the sunset. 

 

 

Light house and  Baja across the channel make for a perfect sunset.

 

 

 

Then the moon rises over Isla San Marcos

Tequila and Lynnie’s dice game was the evening entertainment. Cussing was the best way to roll good numbers and I got a good laugh out of everybody when I added “sorry Mom” after a big outbreak.

 

 

Saturday, April 27th.. Another peaceful night with no drama. Today’s forecast is for north winds again. We’re hoping to stop by the resort at Punta Chivato for lunch and then on to Playa El Burro and dinner at Berta’s in Conception’s Coyote Bay.

 

Passing by the Gipson mine we see a big catamaran setting on the beach. Not sure how it got there.

 

Craig’s pass south of Isla San Marcos provides a good dolphin rodeo show. The picture on the right both dolphins are out of the water together and checking us out. The water clarity around San Marcos is great.

Bummer… The resort is closed up.. No lunch but the wind is up out of the NE at 18 so it’s going to be a great sail into Conception.

 

 

 

Motors off on a reach at 7kts. Going to be fine afternoon.

Shortly after departing Chivato a huge pod of dolphin join us for 30 minutes. Lots of great pictures. I got my GoPro camera dip stick out and took some cool underwater video sliding it down the front of the bow. The dolphins seem to be curious about the camera and wanted to be in the movie. When I get to better internet I can upload something to Youtube. Pretty amazing.

As you can see, we didn’t suffer not having lunch at the Chivato resort. Pinto fish tacos. We’ve already used up on propane tank with all the good cooking on board.

 

 

 

 

Fine afternoon indeed.

Spinnaker up as we enter Conception Bay and the wind continues to build. Too much fun.. We sailed deep into the bay only dropping the chute to make a hot reach into El Burro. The anchorage is windy but should back down as the sun dropped behind the high mountains to the west.

Wow, My meal plans aren’t working out so well. Bertha’s is closed. That’s a first. Later we ran into the owners who had to go to La Paz for medical reasons.

 

 

The locals in the panga camp recommended we go across the street to Carlos’s restaurant which is where the night begins to get interesting. Jeffrey & Lynnie pose with Jacqueline, the owners young daughter, our waitress. Very good meal and the margaritas are yummie with fresh squeezed limes and a bit strong as we found out. This is when I begin to “Blame it on Jeffrey”. We had 1, nice. We had our 2nd, should of stopped there. Jeffrey wanted a 3rd and I couldn’t let him drink alone. By now we have meet Brian and Molly from Colorado at the table next to us and Jeffrey has bought them 2 rounds for margs. Some locals having dinner inform us that this is the last night for Ana’s restaurant / BAR at playa Santispac and it’s going to be a huge party.  Brian and Molly are driving a rented jeep full of gear but assure us that we can cram 6 people in so off we go, none of us in any condition to drive.

 

Yep the tip about the big party was correct. There’s probably 50 cars scattered on the beach and the place is full. We’re feeling no pain and Jeffrey is still buying drinks. So this story will become hear say at this point as I don’t remember much. I know Lynnie and I hit the dance floor and didn’t stop until they drug us out. The live band had everybody moving. Jeffrey today tells me that the bar was running out of booze and the owner pictured above was pouring from all his top shelf bottles since it was the last night. We finally pilled back in the jeep and somehow made it back to El Burro were Lynnie and Jeffrey fell out of the dinghy and might have been lost at sea except we were only in 6” inches of water. Apparently we had some trouble navigating back to the boat when I had the dinghy in reverse instead of forward.

Sunday morning and we’re hurting sailors. Lynnie can’t find her flip flops and as you can see in this photo, taken as we returned to El Burro, she has no flips on her feet. BUT as I write this I noticed I’m not wearing any either.. Dam where are our FLIPS…

Off to Mulege today..

Until the next Update… The recovering Gato Loco Crew.