San Felipe to La Paz

We are currently back in Santa Rosalia.  We arrived here Friday October 24, 2008. We left from San Felipe on the morning of October 15th and headed back to BLA. We left at 0130 and arrived in BLA at 2330 that night. it took us 22 hours. It was a choppy ride the first two thirds of the way but smoothed out around sundown as we were passing Refugio on the northern tip of Isla Angle de la Guarda. Even though we came into BLA in the dark we had no troubles getting in safely. We spent Wednesday and Thursday resting and getting provisions then on Friday headed over to Puerto Don Juan which is just about 5 miles outside the mouth of BLA. We went there because it is protected from all sides and is a very calm anchorage. Rick needed calm water to get in the dinghy and stand in it to do the permanent fix on the hull. Rick decided that we would practice sailing off anchor. There was very little wind where we were anchored, just enough to safely sail off. It was fun and good practice. We put up the main, then as we started to move out we put up the jib. We were sailing!! I was steering as usual and having a blast! Just after we passed the mouth we got a little more wind. Then a little more! Then a little more!! Wow!! We hit 7.8 knots! I was still steering and having a blast. Rick however was not. We had decided to hang the dinghy with the outboard on it off the starboard side. We had done it before in calm conditions and there was no problem. But then all of a sudden it was not calm conditions. So, first we lowered the jib to slow down. Then Rick had to lower the dinghy so it was still hanging but actually in the water. That helped a lot but it was already half full of water so he had to climb down into it with a bucket and bail out the water. All this time I am sailing along having a grand ole time!! He said next time he would steer and I could man the dinghy. I said "Next Time!!" I don't think so, we will not be hanging the dinghy in that fashion again thank you very much!! Except for the dinghy it was exhilarating!! And I am getting pretty good at sailing too!!!

There were three other boats there when we arrived but all three left the next day heading south. We sat in Puerto Don Juan for 4 days. Rick worked 5-6 hours straight each day fixing the hole and fixing a problem that had developed with the radar arch. I spent the time cleaning the boat inside and out as it was covered with dirt. While at San Felipe there was construction going on just up wind of us. They were dumping dump trucks full of dirt and rock to form a new breakwater and we were covered!! I planned on hosing off at the dock but as you know didn't have time. I did not get any pictures of Don Juan as we were busy working and I forgot. It is a great place and when we go back next year I will get pictures.

After we finished the work we went back over to BLA and provisioned and rested a day then headed out for Santa Rosalia. We left BLA on Thursday October 23 at 0930. We had the same conditions as the last time we headed out of BLA, little or no wind in the bay but as soon as we got outside we were hit with 20-25 knots of wind. Being older and wiser we 1) did not have the dinghy hanging on the side and 2) did not have all the sails up. We waited until we got outside then put the jib up. Even then the wind kept getting stronger and stronger and we had only gone a couple miles and we had to put it down again. Then, when we got all the way out and turned down wind to head south we were able to put the jib up again and under jib alone we sailed between 6.5 and 7.8 knots!! It was amazing. We had some swells from behind but nothing like we have seen other times. It was an awesome sail! We arrived in Santa Rosalia at 0830 the next day, 23 hours. When we pulled into the slip there were four boats already there that we knew. There were other boats also but not that we had met yet. That's it for now. We will be here a week and I plan on getting more pictures of the town it's self.

Well, so much for more pictures of Santa Rosalia. I guess you'll just have to check out the other page from our first visit or wait until next spring when we head back up there.

As a follow up, I have a picture of the cleat that Rick took off to reinforce. It was the one that started doing the twist at San Felipe when all that wave action was beating us up on the docks. Check out the bolts!!

You can see the bolt laying by it's self has a nice little S curve in it and the chock the line was running through just snapped! It was an interesting time. Rick has now reinforced all the cleats.

We are now in La Paz. We went from Santa Rosalia all the way to Calita Partida on the island of Partida. Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu are two islands very close together with a sandbar connecting them. There is a stream of water in the middle of the sandbar that you can take a dinghy through at high tide. Below is a shot of the sandbar.

 As you can see there is also a fish camp mostly to the right in this picture. It is actually a rather large camp and there is another on Isla Partida.

this is half of the bigger camp.

                                                                    This is a single dwelling on the other side

The water at Calita Partida is very nice. It is still fairly warm, being in the low 80's but we did not get a chance to swim. I think Rick went in the water to check the anchor but we didn't do any swimming.

I tried to capture the vibrant green of the water but it's hard to get it to show up well. Just think of those pictures you see at the travel agencies! It really is that green!

We are now in La Paz. We left Calita Partida (the first time!) Monday Nov. 4 at about 0900. The winds were not in our favor so we said heck with it and went back to Calita Partida! We put the hook down again and hung out until noon and stuck our nose out again. This time the winds and seas were calm so we went for it.  When we took off we were just motoring as there was no wind. After we passed Isla Espiritu we got a little wind and put the jib up. It took us 4 hours and 45 minutes to get to the anchorage at the Magote. We anchored in one spot but the next day decided to move a little. There was a mooring ball that ended up being too close. We really like being anchored out rather then in a marina. Check out the sunset pictures Rick got!

These are just a few of the boats at the anchorage. The sunsets are amazing!

I don't know how he gets such good pictures! I think I will just let him take the pictures from now on!

we will be here in La Paz until right after Thanksgiving. This next week I plan on going into town and taking pictures! Let's hope I really do it! Lately I have had problems remembering to take the camera and take pictures!

OK! As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men!! No pictures of La Paz.....AGAIN!! Oh well. Next year.

I do have a few pictures just not of La Paz it's self. We met up with Ron and Karen on Aegean Odyssey and Richard and Rebecca Sandel who had flown down to La Paz along with Rebecca's daughter Kim. Along with Charlie and Sharon we all went out to dinner one night and then to the big Thanksgiving day dinner that club Cruceros puts on. So I do have a few pictures from those events.

From left to right around the table: Charlie, Sharon, Me, Rick, Karen, Ron, Richard, Rebecca and Kim. We had dinner at the La Ponga restaurant at Marina Palmira in La Paz. Both Charlie and Sharon and Ron and Karen had their boats there. We really had a great time catching up on home news from Richard and Rebecca and on Ron and Karen's latest adventures. It was an awesome night.

Next we had the annual Thanksgiving day dinner, also held at Marina Palmira. The marina does an outstanding job of setting up the tables and canopies. It was beautiful. The club provided all the turkey and gravy and cranberry sauce and the cruisers provided the rest. What a FEAST!!! There were over 250 people there. It was a little tight at the tables but we had a great time.

                 The guys of course had the arduous job of holding our table!

            The place is just beginning to fill up.

                                         The serving tables and ticket takers!

DINNER AT LAST!

And here is the gang minus Sharon who is taking the picture. We have decided that Sharon and I should alternate taking pictures so we each get in some of them. Also shown here at the very end is a couple that last year published a great cruising guide to the Sea of Cortez. I covet having one but have not justified the cost as yet. I don't remember their names right now.

The day after Thanksgiving was a Friday so we took that day to get ready. We topped off the water tanks and gas jerry jugs and got a few groceries. I made a few phone calls home and we were ready to go.

On Saturday we upped the anchor and started out. It was 0930 and we were only going to either Ballandra or Calita Partida to wait for the right winds to head over to Mazatlan. We thought that we would make Calita Partida which is the farther of the two but once we got out in the channel the winds came up from the north so we were beating into around 15-16 knots with gusts to 18. Tigger does not go to weather!! At times we were only doing about 3 knots. We made it to Ballandra and decided that we would stop there, it being the closer anchorage. We went in first with CaST Away right behind us. We went over close to the north side to get as much protection as possible as the swells were pretty bad, rocking us around a lot. I was on the helm and Rick was on the bow ready to drop the anchor. I was watching the depth finder and when it hit 9.9 ft. I swung to the right away from the shore. It then showed 11-12 ft. Rick was getting ready to drop the anchor when I felt a bump. I didn't know what it was but thought that a swell had hit us hard on the beam. WRONG!! We were aground!!!  The depth finder never showed below the 9.9 that I had seen before I turned and was showing 10+ feet! Never the less, we were aground.

This is Mushroom Rock in Ballandra. We were trying to anchor close to it for protection from the winds.

                                      Coming in to anchor

As you can see by the motion of the boat the swells were up!

 I'm on the helm now and Rick is on the bow.

 

HARD AGROUND!

What we finally figured out was that the depth finder is on the starboard hull and there was a very sharp sand bank that ran from the north shore out into the middle of the anchorage. So........I did not misread the depth finder and the depth finder does function properly.

The first thing Rick did was grab one of the small anchors and jump in the water. He carried the anchor out until he was in neck deep water. I put the end of the line on the main sheet and got ready to crank it in as soon as he got it in place. The port stern was the main part of the hull that was aground. All this time the swells are still banging away at us, on the beam as you can see. The swells were pushing us farther onto the sandbar so we had to get that first anchor out to hold us from going farther in.

Needless to say I was a little nervous with him in the water. When he first jumped in the water only came up to his knees. The waves had pushed us farther up onto the sandbar. We only draw 4.5 feet! So, once he got that anchor in place I started cranking it in. We had hoped that it would pull us off but the wave having pushed up farther on we had to do the same thing with our main anchor off the bow. Rick walked it out into deeper water having to pull the chain out then walk the anchor out. The poor man was exhausted by the time we were off! While we were working on this first part Sharon took this great pictures for us and Charlie got anchored and got his dinghy in the water. He rowed over and kept an eye on Rick in the water and on both lines going to the anchors so that when we finally got ourselves off we wouldn't run over our own line and fowl the prop.

Here you can see Rick hanging off the main anchor. The angle was so sharp the chain kept jumping off the roller so he had to hang on it to keep it from jumping off and I would use the windless to pull up about a foot at a time until the bow came around.

                    FREE AT LAST........

FREE AT LAST...........

THANK GOD ALMIGHTY WE'RE FREE AT LAST!

And I mean that last with all my heart! I hauled up the main anchor and Charlie took the line for the auxiliary anchor while Rick was on the helm. And man did we get out of there fast!! We didn't even anchor there at all, we went back to a little anchorage called Calita Lobos and anchored there. It had more protection from the wind and no swells. We ended up staying there until Monday morning when we took off for Mazatlan.

you can't see it but we are both wearing big grins!

As groundings go I guess this one really wasn't all that bad. The saying goes that if you haven't gone aground you've never gone anywhere. I don't about that but I guess I would have to say that I am glad to have gone through it for the experience but hope to never go through it again. As groundings go it could have been a lot worse. We sustained no damage to the hull other then having the paint sanded off and no one got hurt during the process.

So, time to move on to Mazatlan!