Sea Reach Adventures

SPECTACULAR SEA OF CORTEZ PART II

April 25, 2012

Escondido to Bahia Salinas – 21 nm

We left Escondido at 1100h, a little concerned with our steering. It had become quite stiff following a somewhat lengthy manoeuver in reverse while trying to locate and pick up a suitable mooring buoy on our arrival at Escondido. We hoped that overtime it would work itself free again. The autopilot was working well and not having any difficulty with the situation but it was a concern for hand steering.

We arrived in Bahia Salinas on Isla Carmen late in the afternoon with just two other boats anchored in the very large bay. We went ashore on the dinghy for a walk on the beautiful beach and made our way to where a new resort has been developed on the beach in front of the old abandoned town-site. A former salt raking settlement, it was no longer in use but has a permanent caretaker and staff for the resort. We went in search of the caretaker to ask permission to visit the old town-site and salinas but were greeted with much apologies and a sorry – no, lo siento. The resort is privately owned and they were expecting 50 clients to arrive later that evening. Any other day would have been okay. No problem, we actually already had a good walk around the grounds before getting a chance to ask permission.

Bahia Salinas was going to be our jumping off point for crossing the Sea of Cortez to Topolobompo, a distance of 110 nm miles to the entrance to a wide bar with a dredged channel and then another 10 nm to the actual port. We prepared the boat for the crossing and brought the dinghy on board. We would cross the next day, weather permitting.

April 26/27

Bahia Salinas to Topolabampo – 120nm

We listened for the weather on the Sonrisa net at 0800h and asked for a relay to hear Garry’s predictions more clearly plus some specifics for the area we were going to cross at. He forecast 13-15k from the NNW veering to the W later that night. Winds likely to be higher as we approached the other side 18-23k. The winds would be on the beam for the first half of the crossing and on the quarter for the second half. Seas 3-5 ft. Sounded pretty good to us. We of course had never crossed the Sea of Cortez before. We set off at 1000h with the wind about 10k but it didn’t take long until the 13k predicted winds from the NNW kicked in. We were soon breezing along at 5-6k on a beam reach. The seas were flat. There was some cloud cover and cooling winds. Life doesn’t get any better than this! As we moved further out into the sea we could see the full stretch of the islands we had visited on our way up. What a marvelous sight. Time to be truly grateful. As the afternoon progressed the winds picked up to 17k and we put one reef in our large main sail and trimmed the genoa. We were making good time. We plotted our progress and were making 9-11nm to the good every two hours. As the evening light faded we were treated to a colourful sunset with tones of grenadine and orange layering to produce a luscious skyline.

Sunset on the Sea of Cortez

The winds continued to blow between 15-18k at times gusting to 20k. This made the windvane quite unreliable and we had to adjust it quite a bit or hand steer. In the end we reverted to using the autopilot. Our battery bank was in good shape so it presented no problem. The seas became very lumpy throughout the night. We put a second reef in to slow the boat a bit, and settle the motion. She was now making 6-7k and we didn’t want to get to the other side before daybreak. John took the 2100-2400h watch and I took the 2400h to 0300h watch. John then took the 0300-0600h watch. Neither of us got much sleep. John reported the winds going up to 23k during his early morning watch – just as Garry had predicted. All was well but the second half of the trip had been less than comfortable due to short choppy seas. This is what one can expect from the SOC – and now we know! We arrived at the outer channel marker at 0900h. We could see breaking waves at either side of the channel. There were two cargo ships on moorings waiting for a pilot boat to bring them in. As we progressed down the channel we were surprised to find depths of 18 to 20 feet in the outer margins of parts of the channel. We usually try to keep out of big ship traffic lanes so were staying close to the edges. Clearly those big cargo vessels would need to steer a careful course even within the channel.

We had heard that anchoring was good in Bahia San Carlos between the ferry dock and behind the shrimp boats. We were also hoping to leave the boat at Marina Palmira, a recently built marina at Topolabampo. By now we were looking forward to a few hours sleep. I tried hailing the marina on channel 16 and then on channel 22, the channel used by cruisers. No response. (we later discovered that they monitor channel 68. Hmm just like Canada and the U.S.) I tried to do this a few more times as we came in the channel. We could see on a hand drawn chart of Jack Williams where the yacht club was and the narrow channel leading to it. The Jack Williams cruising guide is an older guide so the information is not always up to date but there isn’t a hidey hole up and down the Baja that this guy hasn’t checked out at some time! We followed some more markers that seemed to be heading that way and did find a motor yacht club but no one was around and it looked pretty full. We decided to retrace our steps and go into the main port. Now this is the part where retracing one’s steps is crucial – especially with sandbanks lurking all over the place and water a murky green so no visual clues unless there is actual surf breaking. We convinced ourselves with the help of our inaccurate electronic chart (no high level paper chart for the port on board) that we had cleared the sand bank area and didn’t need to go through the last channel goal post. We knew it was not deep but at least 10 feet so when the depth sounder started to decrease to 5 feet I wasn’t too worried. We were almost at the main shipping channel again. Then suddenly 1.6 ft then 1.4 and that’s when we discovered exactly how far offset our depth sounder is – we ground out at 1.6-1.4 ft. We couldn’t believe it. We felt cheated by the chart – but mostly by our own foolishness. We looked at our watches – 1150. High tide was at 1210 in La Paz.

We hoped it was still rising in Topolobampo. We tried the old push back push forward with the engine routine. Not a budge. The wind was behind us pushing us deeper into the sand/mud. We put out the genoa and the boat heeled and twisted. We tried the engine again. The magic 1.6ft appeared and we started to move back towards the goal posts but then got stuck again bump-bump dead stop. This time the wind is in our nose so John can hoist the main sail. Lots of wind now, more heeling, more pivoting and suddenly we are moving again 1.6ft – 2ft. John starts to sail the snot out of the boat toward the goal posts. We’re through! We stay headed out towards the big ship channel buoy until we are in its lane then turned back towards the port using the middle of the main channel all the way with a good 40 ft under the keel. Phew!

New name for Topolobampo is Topolobumpo.

One of the docks at Topolobampo

Large tanker slipping silently by Sea Reach at anchor

It was 1400h when we finally had the hook down just out of the way of the ferry dock and behind the shrimp boats. We could see the Port Captain’s office in full view but decided to sleep for an hour before going over (It’s easier to check in in person in case no one speaks Ingles because we can always do our mime and dance routine if our vocabulary falls short). We were in plain view of a navel ship at one dock and huge tankers that glided by us lead by the pilot boats, enroute to another dock. We hoped as Jack Williams had promised that we would not be in anyone’s way anchored where we were. After a catnap we lowered the dinghy and made our way to where we had spotted the Port Captains office. It was 1530h on a Friday. Of course it was closed. The notice said that it was open Monday to Friday 9a.m -2:30 p.m. We had a pretty good idea where the marina might be based on our earlier scouting so we headed off on foot and with a bit of help from passersby found the marina and the manager Raphael. He was quite charming and very happy to accommodate us. Of course we would have to make our way back up the dreaded channel again. We decided to stay at anchor for the night and told him we would see him the following morning. He showed us the slips and we had pre-arranged which one we would come in to.

We had a wonderful night’s sleep. We did not hear the ferry that was scheduled to leave at midnight though we had heard it come into the dock at 2100h just before we packed it in for the night. We also moved our quarters from our usual quarter berth to the V-berth. For some reason we had taken an early shine to the snuggle double quarter berth that functions more like a cabin but has a smaller berth. Well, so long quarter berth, we’re now going to sleep in the V-berth and use the quarter berth more as a dressing/storage area unless we have guests. Then – depending on what size they are – we may have to arm wrestle them for the V-berth.

The next morning after a leisurely start we headed out of the inner harbor located at Bahia San Carlos and gingerly approached the narrow channel leading to Marina Palmira. It’s all good if you stay between the goal posts with a least depth for us of 7 feet below the keel. (make that 5.4 ft below the keel) Marina Palmira has space for about 40 yachts. We are the only sailboat there. Most of the yachts are Mexican owned with a few U.S. flags. There is a very good restaurant close by and we had an excellent meal prepared by chef Ricardo who came out to greet us and discuss what we might like to eat. Our server had good English (turned out he spent 4 years at high school on Vancouver Island, courtesy of his Mexican born aunt) and translated for Ricardo as necessary. John’s Spanish is coming along very well. I can understand quite a bit but am reluctant to dive in with the conversation. He showed us some gigantic shrimp and wondered if we wanted them prepared in garlic, or perhaps tequila. When we told him we did not want our food prepared with alcohol he agreed whole heartedly and told us he didn’t drink either and then told us he was a boxer preparing for an upcoming fight. He would prepare them with his own special sauce especially for us on the bar-b-que. Whatever he prepared them with they were delicious – rico. There was only one other couple there so we had terrific service. Tonight the place is packed. There is a wedding party and a live band blaring out the traditional regional music with great gusto. We’re eating on Sea Reach but we may as well have bought tickets for the show.