After bailing on the plans to find whale sharks in La Gringa, we turned to head back south to an anchorage called Pescador. Despite having 25 knots of wind on the nose while heading to La Gringa, the winds quickly calmed down to 6 knots the farther south we got. In Bahia de Los Angeles, the western and northerly winds can funnel in strange ways through the nearby mountains causing weird, concentrated wind patterns. A couple hours later we entered the beautiful bay of Pescador and were surprised to find four other boats already there, including our friends on SV Volare, whom we had met in Barra de Navidad in March. Pescador is a beautiful anchorage with plenty of sandy beaches and a few old cabanas from a failed development.
A couple more boats arrived by the end of the day and Eitan put out a call on the radio saying we would be at the beach for sunset drinks if anyone was interested. We had a great gathering of about 16 people onshore with a few dogs and it was nice to make some new friends. We even got a few offers to help us finish our sun shades using an actual sewing machine, since we had only hand stitched them to get by. We ended up spending three nights in Pescador, the longest time we had spent in any anchorage for quite a while. Days were spent working on boat projects, finishing the sunshades, fixing up paddle boards, snorkeling, and hanging out on the beach with a good book. I should also mention that Eitan finished the water maker project and we finally had plenty of fresh water to rinse off with, no longer needing to be ultra conservative with our water use. Eitan rebuilt the motor for the original water maker and got it working again. He also installed the new water maker that was given to us in Loreto. We now had dual, redundant, plumbed and working water makers!
We would have been content hanging out in Pescador with all of our new cruising friends, but I didn’t want to give up on swimming with whale sharks just yet. Eitan and I headed back to the village to check wifi and pick up some groceries, then finally made it up to La Gringa. The bay was lined with car campers and was a bit busy for our taste. It also wasn’t very scenic compared to some of the other places we had been. I took the drone and flew it around the bay, hoping to spot some large shadow swimming in the water. Spotting something, I called for Eitan to get the dinghy ready but then realized it was only a school of rays. I checked with the drone again later that day and the following morning but it seemed there were no whale sharks present in the bay.
We decided to head out to a nearby island called Isla Smith and anchored near an old volcano. We got a call on the radio from Jason and Colette on SV Volare saying they were headed our way and would join us at Isla Smith shortly. Jason was originally from southern California but had been cruising Mexico for the past 5 years and Colette is Canadian, but had been living in Mexico for some time and joined the boat about a year ago. We spent two nights there, having dinner on SV Volare the first night, then we hosted the next night, serving up the fresh fish caught by Jason earlier that day. While joining us onboard, Colette taught me how to make pita bread. They are writing a cookbook and we spent a week with them learning how to hunt some local food and they shared some of their favorite recipes with us.
After a couple nights at Isla Smith, the wind was forecasted to pick up from the west and we needed to move to a less exposed anchorage. We decided to head back to La Gringa once more in search of whale sharks, but were once again disappointed. I began to fear that we were, in fact, too late in the season and they had already migrated south. We had heard they follow the warm water and the water temperatures had already dropped to the low 80s. We also heard other speculations about how they were more prevalent around the full moon or in leeward anchorages.
After a couple nights in La Gringa, we followed SV Volare back to the village to check the weather once more. Just as we were scoping out a place to anchor, Eitan said he thought he saw a whale shark. I rolled my eyes, thinking he probably just saw a sea lion or dolphin but grabbed my mask and snorkel just in case. When I came out on deck, there was a 20-foot whale shark in front of us! Eitan told me to prep the anchor so he could drop it by himself and he would get me close enough to dive in. I jumped in and swam over as fast as I could, determined to not let this one get away.
I swam as fast as I could to catch up with this giant shark. It was peacefully swimming along, feeding along the surface of the water and meandering about. Its gentle cruising speed was about as fast as I could swim with fins on but I did my best to swim along beside it. I was in awe at the sheer size of this magnificent creature. At only 20-feet long, this would be considered a small whale shark and I couldn’t comprehend the actual size of a full grown one. It was amazing to swim beside it and study the intricate pattern of spots and strips. Occasionally, I would get a bit to close as it turned with its tail coming just a few inches from me. I accidentally touched the tip of its tail, which felt like rough sandpaper, and could see it flinch with surprise, like it hadn’t seen me there. Afterward, our friends asked if I had ridden along on its dorsal fin, but pestering the animal this way just didn’t seem right. After anchoring, Eitan swam over and got a few pictures of me swimming beside it. It felt very serendipitous that we got to swim with one of the last whale sharks in the area before its migration south. What an incredible experience and another item to check off my bucket list!
