After swimming with the whale shark in Bahia de los Angeles, it seemed our only bucket list item for here had been checked off. And, believe it or not, it was actually starting to get cold. We couldn’t believe it, considering that just a couple of weeks ago we were debating putting the boat back in a marina and renting a hotel room to escape the heat. It seems the northerly winds had arrived early this year, dropping the air and water temperatures into the low 80s, over 10 degrees cooler than when we first got back to Baja.
The drop in temperature not only caused the whale sharks to begin their migration south, but the cruisers seemed to follow suit and were also heading south to warmer waters. We spent a few more days with our friends on S/V Volare at an anchorage called El Alacran, a south facing bay with a small eco-resort along the shoreline. The resort had a few playful dogs that followed Eitan and me along the beach for an evening walk. The resort also had decent wifi, which we were allowed to use when guests weren’t around. After heading in to check weather one afternoon, Jason and Colette said conditions were favorable for them to start heading south, so the following day we said our goodbyes after being together for the past couple weeks and they were on their way.
While most of our cruising friends were headed south, Eitan and I were heading east, back across the Sea of Cortez. Eitan had a friend’s wedding to attend in Southern California at the end of October and his flight was booked out of Hermosillo, on the mainland side of the sea. Although El Alacran would have been a good take off point, we were low on fuel and food and needed to head back to town one last time to provision before making the crossing. Luckily, one of my dad’s oldest friends, going all the way back to high school, happened to be in town and offered to take us to the gas station and grocery store, saving us from lugging the jerrycans and groceries back and forth from the boat. At dinner that night, my dad’s friend asked about our plans for crossing and we mentioned the first stop to be an island called Salsepuedes. He said we should be careful there because the name literally translates to “get out if you can”, giving me little peace of mind for our anticipated anchorage.
We didn’t get much sleep that night, mostly because of the noisy 20+ knots of wind, causing all kinds of rattling on deck. After that first chubasco, we got used to stowing everything on deck at night just in case the wind picked up. We had little risk of dragging the anchor or losing anything overboard but the howl of the wind and swinging around the anchor left us restless. We departed early the next morning to head to Salsepuedes. It was a bit of a rollie ride, so we decided to stop one more night in El Alacran. There was also a hurricane forming to the south and projected to hit Mazatlan in the coming days, so Eitan wanted to check weather once more to make sure it wasn’t forecasted to travel up into the Sea of Cortez and be a problem for us.
We finally headed out the next morning. Although the wind was forecasted to be 20-25 knots, we only saw a gusty 10-20 knot winds. This was incredibly frustrating because we either had too much sail out or not enough and we constantly had to adjust the sails to maximize our progress. We typically reef (reduce the sail area) when the wind is upwards of 15 knots, because too much wind can make it difficult to steer and overpower the boat. It seemed the wind played with us all day long and just as we began taking out the reef, the wind would pick back up again and we would have to put it back in. Ugh!!!
We finally made it to Salsepuedes in the early afternoon and it was a much smaller anchorage than what appeared on the map. The reviews of the places said a maximum of 3 boats, but it hardly seemed big enough for one at only 200 feet wide. We threw out a stern anchor to keep us from swinging into the rocks on either side and got settled in as the wind continued to blow. Eitan dropped me off onshore to do a little exploring and I found little shelters all around the island, presumably from fishermen being stranded there overnight or during foul weather. The island has twin, mirrored bays and it was interesting to see the surf break forming in the windward bay opposite from us.
Luckily the wind died down a little overnight, but it also changed directions by morning and it would have definitely blown us onto the rocks, had we not had the stern anchor out. But this gave us a new problem. How would we get the anchors up without getting pushed onshore? Eitan thought about it for a few minutes and we discussed our options. In the end, we put a float on the stern anchor rode and threw it overboard. Then, I helped Eitan get the main anchor up and then I hopped in the dinghy to grab the stern anchor while Eitan maneuvered the boat to hold position. Finally, I had to get the dinghy up on the davit while Eitan pivoted Sierra Wind in the tiny bay for our departure. Departing was a bit stressful, but fitting for an island called “Get Out If You Can”.
