Sunday Morning April 13 (morning services held with Turbo Ocho tunes, concluded with a rousing rendition of Manana)

Back to Saturday and the 35kt winds… Crew went to shore for some exercise and to eat some blowing sand. Actually it was pleasant and we were able to stop by cabin 16 to visit with our nice internet providers (sorry I didn’t remember names). After reviewing weather on the internet we conclude things are going to calm down this afternoon. Next door neighbor joined us and shared his over 50 years of experience in the Sea of Cortez and Mexico. He gave us details on Double Head cove on the south shore of Gonzaga Bay just south. Looks to be a 10km run downwind and a easy reach this afternoon.

Double Headed cove here we come.. Pulled anchor with wind still gusting and set sail with Jib alone. Perfect timing, just as we unrolled the jib a big gust accelerated us to 7 knots. Big roller ahead when we clear the point east of us providing protection. Gonzaga Bay is huge sandy beach bay just south of Willard with homes and fishing camps. We’ve never visited this beach area but should someday. Bill & I got a big laugh when a big swell hit us port side with Dave standing under a wall of water. It all seemed like slow motion as it landed square on Dave’s back.

Double headed cove has two fingers of water (hince the name) with the south finger going the deepest, probably 300 meters deep and totally protected except maybe directly from the west. Bottom is sand from decomposed granite produced by the eroding shore. We anchored just at the entrance to the secondary channel with a cathedral of rock walls around and patches of white sand beaches. Great find on a new anchorage.

Winds laid down at sunset but we could still hear waves crashing on the beaches outside our peaceful anchorage. We had some dinner crashers hoping for some hand-outs.

Some photos : rocks wall, beach, sunset

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Very peaceful sunset with our protection headland providing a great visual as the sunset colors developed. 40 year old virgin on the big screen after a great dinner. Lots of surface activity as we retired for the night.

Back to Sunday morning.. A quiet night in the anchorage allowed us to get a good nights sleep. We’re off to Isla Smith near Bay of LA down Canal De Ballenas. This is a 61km leg making for a relatively relax sail. 8:30: winds at our back at 18-20kts giving us another spinnaker run.. 8kts and we’re having fun.

Okay, the spinnakers up we’re hauling booty and now we have a hook-up on the fishing pole. Nothing to do but sock the spinnaker to slow us down so we can land it.. It’s a 20′ Sierra Mackerel for lunch. Spinnaker back up. 10:30: Winds are those typical morning breezes and drops to 10 forcing us to drop the spinnaker and motor sail to make progress down wind.. Looks like a 5 – 6 arrival time.

Until the next update.

Lowell for the Gato Loco Crew.

Leg 1 April 11-19, Crew: Lowell, Bill, Dave – Puerto Penasco to San Carlos
Leg 2 April 29-4, Crew: Bill & Clyde (opening for crew) – San Carlos to Puerto Escondido
Leg 3 May 4-11, Lowell, Frankie, Bill, Richard & Kerry (from Australia) in the Loreto area..
Leg 4 May 11-17, Crew: Frankie ,Lowell , Bob & Chris Sanders & Kerry (sailing with us for extra week) (to La Paz)
Leg 5 May 17-24, Crew: Bill & Carlton
Leg 6 – May 24-31, Rick and family in the Loreto area.
Leg 7 – May 31-7, Crew: Bill, Brian, Heather, Roger, Alisa & Carl. Puerto Escondido to San Carlos
Leg 8 – June 13-22, Crew: Lowell -San Carlos to Puerto Penasco

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As usual we should be sending updates from Gato Loco and Pee Wee as we see Baja by land and by Sea.

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