On Wednesday (February 1), we awoke to a sunny, beautiful morning. However, we were dismayed to see that the rain had left the boat covered in mud, just as been the case in Santa Rosalia. What the heck was going on with the rain in Baja?
Instead of washing Kosmos, we decided to take care of the dinghy first. Eric got the dinghy down and gave it a good wash down, including eliminating the copious amount of sand that had accumulated inside. He also cleaned the dinghy motor.
After mulling it over overnight, Eric decided that he was not going to try to adjust the belt. on the dive compressor, so he put dive compressor back together.
On Monday (January 30), the wind shifted again. We knew that the rolling in anchorage would increase and soon it would become comfortable. It was time to move again. We also knew that there was a storm coming. We’d decided that we wanted to ride the storm out in a marina. We were excited to be able to procure a “real” slip at Costa Baja, complete with water, power and pump out!
We pulled up anchor at about 0830, right after One World did, and followed them towards the La Paz area. It was a 6.5 hour ride to Costa Baja. We were in small 1 – 2 foot (.3 – .6 meters) head seas, so it was mildy uncomfortable. The day started out mostly sunny with some clouds, but as the day wore on, the clouds steadily increased. By the time we arrived, it was mostly cloudy. The temperatures were cool, but not cold, in the high 60s Fahrenheit (about 16-ish Celsius). Thanks to the wind, we did need our heavy jackets to sit outside when the boat moving. Eric saw two whales while he was on watch, but he didn’t get a close enough look to tell which species they were.
At the turn off into the channel to Costa Baja, we saw that the world’s biggest sloop was on the fuel dock. When we’d booked the reservation, we’d asked about getting fuel on the way in, and the marina had told us the fuel dock was booked for the day. Now we knew why.
Sunrise on Saturday, January 28. The island in the middle of the photo is Isla San Francisco.
This morning, the wind was light and the anchorage was totally calm. Ahhhhh. We were so happy to have a break from the constant motion. The temperature was a bit warmer, too, so we didn’t need the heavy jackets when we went outside (the wind was still bitter cold, but there wasn’t much wind). The water was also amazingly clear. We could easily make out fine details in the sand below the boat. The downside to the wind dying down was that there were quite a few bees flying around the boat.
In the relatively early morning, Keith went to shore with the kids. He said they mostly played on the salt flats. Christi and Eric stayed aboard to get Kosmos ready for sea. As the forecast had predicted, in the late morning, the wind picked up from the south, a direction from which this anchorage was not protected. The anchorage immediately started to get rolly.
We were pleased to see that the wind had calmed down significantly. However, it still at about 16-knots sustained, so it was still windy.
The four boats had all agreed to go to Punta Salinas (also called San Ysidro) on the southwest side of Isla San Jose this morning. According to the cruising guide, there were ruins of an old salt mining operation that sounded interesting. We’d wanted to go there before, but we’d heard that bitey bugs were a big problem there. Now that bitey bug season was over, it was the ideal time to go.
Since it was only a 45-minute ride, in the morning, we took our time getting ready to go. We were last ones to leave. The ride over was uneventful. It was 56-degrees Fahrenheit (13-degrees Celsius), the sun was totally blocked by dark clouds, and the wind was bitter cold. Christi was freezing as we anchored, even in a heavy jacket. The first shot is looking northwest, at the tip of the point that protects this anchorage. In the distance is Baja. San Evaristo is just north of what you can see of Baja in the photo.
The wind was pretty much the same as it had been yesterday. One World called us on the radio and told us that he’d heard that if we went around to the reception desk and asked to eat, they’d open the restaurant for us. He offered to pick us up in his fast dinghy at 1100.
