Author Archives: Christi

Puerto Don Juan Days 2 – 3

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Sunrise, Tuesday August 30

As the sun was rising, a fleet of little fishing pangas came roaring into the bay and stopped suddenly near our boat. They fished for maybe an hour, then roared back out as fast as they came in. We heard several conversations between Americans, so we are guessing that tourists hire the pangas to take them fishing.

Eric had spent Monday evening trying to figure out how to fix the AC water maker. He realized that there was a way to re-set the computer on the AC water maker to keep it running despite the sensor indicating that the water was too salty. On Tuesday morning, he got up early, emptied out the lazarette so he could get to the water maker, took the water maker apart, turned the setting dial behind the control panel, tested it, and then put the water maker back together. He is pleased to report that it worked, and the AC water maker is again operational!

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Bahia San Francisquito to Puerto Don Juan

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Sunday August 28 — Almost every day, Eric spends time obsessively checking the weather forecasts, poring over the cruising guides, and seeking advice on where to take Kosmos next. One of the most wonderful things about the Sea of Cortez is that it is loaded with anchorages. The problem is that most of the anchorages only protect from wind/swell from one or two directions, and in the summer, the wind shifts directions frequently. So, an anchorage may be great for the winds predicted during day, but will be terrible at night once the wind changes direction. It’s been tricky to find suitable anchorages for the weather predicted. What complicates matters it that the weather forecasts haven’t always been accurate. 

After the very rough time in Bahia San Francisquito, Eric decided to bypass many beautiful, but questionable, anchorages and head directly to an all-weather anchorage called Puerto Don Juan, seven miles east of Bahia Los Angeles. It was an eight-hour ride from San Francisquito. 

We are pleased to report that the ride was smooth. The wind was behind us and the seas were relatively calm. We had a couple of stowaways, who made a huge mess when they sat on the boat deck by the dinghy. Can anyone identify these birds? There were tons of them in Bahia San Francisquito. 

We arrived at about 1800. Here is a shot of the bay taken as we were approaching.

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Bahia San Francisquito, Days 3 – 5

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Sunrise Friday morning (August 26)

When we were on Isla Coronados, we’d noticed that someone had put a bucket of water on the shore. Tons of bees swarmed the bucket, but there were no bees anywhere else. One of the things we’d liked about Isla Coronados was the lack of bees bothering us onboard. 

On Friday morning, we tried an experiment. We left a couple of small containers of water onshore to see if the bees would stay onshore if they had water. We also went for a walk to check out the little cave that was visible from the shore. 

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Santa Rosalia to Bahia San Francisquito

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On Wednesday (August 24), the alarm went off at 0500 am. We got up Kosmos ready to go. We untied at 0600, before the first light of dawn. When we were already sweating at 0515 am, we knew it was going to be an especially hot day. Here is Santa Rosalia in the early light of dawn and the sunrise. We couldn’t believe how bright the crescent moon was!

It was an uncomfortable 13.5 hour run to Bahia San Francisquito. The seas were somewhat confused and the waves surprisingly large. We rate the run “very rough” seas by Sea of Cortez standards, but “not bad” by Pacific standards. Quite honestly, the seas conditions were what we typically went out in in San Diego, but we’ve become spoiled by the smooth seas we’ve had lately here in the Sea of Cortez. 

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Santa Rosalia Day 5

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Saturday (August 20) was another cool day. Feeling motivated, Eric removed all the gear that we keep stored in front of the air compressor, then detached the compressor from its mount under the lazarette. He moved the compressor to be under the hatch so that he could stand over it and comfortably work on it from all angles.

He tried to refurbish the third pressure stage. He opened it up and took it apart, only to realize he needed yet another special tool, and this time he didn’t think he could fabricate one. He decided to simply clean it and change an O-ring.

Since the rain had not cooperated, Christi and Keith spent the morning washing the boat and doing other boat chores. It is amazing how much energy and motivation we have when the weather is cool!

In the afternoon, Christi, Keith and Brett went to lunch at a café called Ma’s. Eric was waiting for the water guy and said he’d join us once our water was delivered. Unfortunately, the dock water in Santa Rosalia isn’t up to many cruisers’ standards, so there is bottled water delivery service to the marina on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

After lunch, Christi and the boys went to what we’d thought was the museum. It was closed. Upon closer inspection, it looked like the museum may still be under construction and not yet open to the public. Or maybe the building was refurbished and is not currently being utilized. 

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