We started with one blissfully calm day in Refugio, where we managed to get the tape off the windows and go to a neighboring boat for drinks.   That was followed by a day where the boat rolled endlessly from side to side in big rollers.   My coffee even ended up flying right off the shelf at the back of the settee and landing square on my laptop!  Thankfully we got that cleaned up quickly and no harm was done.   The rolly conditions continued into the night but were joined by torrential rain, booming thunder and lightning that seemed too close for comfort!!    Understandably, with the boat still rolling the next morning and a northerly on its way, we decided to depart from Refugio and head to the hurricane hole known as Don Juan.

Don Juan is a good-sized cove in Bahia de Los Angeles and is protected from nearly all directions.   We set the hook later afternoon, with 3 other boats in the cove and decided we were there to stay through Christmas.    That being decided, I restrung the Christmas lights around the lifelines and pulled out our little tree.    We enjoyed three peaceful days, watching movies, calling family and friends for Christmas and generally NOT doing anything boat chore related.   We watched It’s a Wonderful Life, had blueberry muffins for breakfast and sipped Ronpope (the liqueur version of eggnog).   We were blissfully lazy – that is until the head would not flush – ugggh.   A blockage in the hose from the pump to the tank meant for a disgusting and stinky job – the hose had to be pulled, cleared and rinsed out and then reinstalled.    Bleck!!!   The joys of boat ownership I guess.

After three days there, and realizing that it had been nearly 10 days since I had done a reasonable grocery shop, we decided to head around to the village for the day in hopes of stocking up on veggies and perhaps some chicken.   We loaded up all of the garbage into the dinghy, along with our trusty cart and motored around to set the anchor in front of the village.   Thankfully they have a very protected dingy landing spot so we were able to land without drama and loaded all our various bags of garbage into the cart and headed off to town.   We sprinkled our garbage bags in the bins that line the main street and finally, with our cart empty, we arrived at the grocery store.   Sadly, the vegetables were all in horrid condition and there was not much to be found in the way of meat (previously frozen but now thawing meat always makes me nervous!) or cheese.    We finally stocked up on pop, chips and cookies and hoped we wouldn’t starve before we made it back to civilization!   Owen decided we should treat ourselves to lunch and we had the longest wait in history for okay burgers, all the while the wind was building in the bay.   After finally scarfing down our burgers (which arrived nearly an hour and a half after they were ordered!), we had a very wet dinghy ride back against the wind and waves to the boat.   The anchor was up quickly and we beat into ever increasingly bad conditions, wind and seas both building right on our nose, making the six mile run back to Don Juan feel like forever.   We finally made it back to the peace of Don Juan and gratefully got the anchor down again.

The next morning we decided that we had better get moving along, before our boat attached itself to the bottom at Don Juan!!!   We were up early and had the anchor up before sunrise.   We motored out of the bay and around the corner before putting out the headsail only.   We sailed all day, averaging 5-6 knots on headsail alone – it was a glorious day and Solstice Tide was so enjoying spreading her wings and not running her motor!!    About 4 miles from San Fransiquito, the wind started to die as did our speed.   Realizing we needed to charge the batteries anyway, we fired up the engine and motored the last hour into the bay.   We had the anchor down about 5pm, after a long glorious day of sailing.   It was a bit of a rolly night but nothing like Refugio!!!  

We decided that this was as good a spot as any to spend New Years and so, with not another boat in sight, we again settled ourselves in.   We had a few blissfully quiet days at San Francisquito – not another boat came in to share the anchorage with us.   We finally put the dinghy in the water and motored over to the small Caletta just off the bay where we found that indeed another boat had been there all along (we thought we had spotted one on our way in).   The Caletta is the site of an eco-camping set up that was built decades ago and appears to have fallen largely into disrepair.   There were a few buildings left, and it did appear that perhaps a caretaker still lives there, but it does not appear to be a thriving enterprise any longer.   It is somewhat sad as the beautiful white beach and protected waters would make for amazing kayaking, snorkelling, swimming, etc (in warmer weather!).    We hiked around the property and then headed back to our boat.

January 2 found us finally leaving San Francisquito for an overnight sail to Santa Rosalia.  We sailed throughout the night, with winds gusting into the 20’s.   We were becoming concerned that we were going to arrive before daylight.   The wind finally started to lighten in the morning and we fired up the engine about an hour out of Santa Rosalia – only to have it die after a few minutes – the tiny bubbles were back!!!   We fired it up again and again and generally only managed about 15 minutes of run time before the engine would die again.   The sea conditions were getting very rolly and the wind was dying completely – this was not good!!!    Owen again bled the injectors as I continued our approach to Santa Rosalia.   Our plan was to take a spot at the dock for a couple of nights but with the engine issues, we decided to get ourselves into the protected harbour, get the hook down and then figure out where the air was coming in.    With the sail still up, and the anchor ready to be deployed immediately, we lined ourselves up on the entrance and, where I would normally go quite slowly through a narrow entrance with rocks on both sides, I didn’t back the throttle down a bit – we shot through and into the anchorage and got the anchor down – and of course the engine continued to happily hum away!!    We finally decided that we were going to brave taking her to the dock (anchor still ready to deploy) and managed to get her safely on the dock by about 10am.   Once we were checked in and had had a few minutes to recover, we went for a short walk around town so that Owen could procure the parts necessary to build a test pump to figure out where the air was getting into the system.   We got back to the boat and he hooked up his test system, clamped off the lines and put soapy water on all the lines and filters and pumped air into the system – and immediately a giant bubble appeared on the primer pump for one of the fuel filters!!   The culprit had been found.   We have isolated that pump out of the system and, knock on wood, have not had further issues.

We were intending to spend 2 nights on the dock – beside figuring out the air leak, we were having issues with our main bilge pump and the water pump was leaking.   After the second day of work, we realized we really needed another day and booked in for one more day at the dock.   Owen managed to knock off the items on the list, but we still needed to get water and fuel so we were going to be in for a busy morning the next day.    Unfortunately, the next day, we found a red flag flying over the harbour meaning the port was closed – and that remained for 3 more days.    We did take advantage of visiting one of our favorite cities – going for dinner with dock neighbors and wandering up and down the streets.   We got groceries, hit nearly every ferrateria (hardware store) in town and of course made it the bakery.   We indulged in ice cream and pina coladas and still managed to get a few jobs knocked off our list.   We made countless trips across the street to get water and fuel and finally, a week after arriving, we again headed out, making our way further south. 

Unfortunatley there was nearly no wind so we motored, with the occasional headsail assist, to Punto Chivato, right at the north end of Bahia Conception.   We arrived just as the sun was setting, got the anchor down and retired below after a very long day!

The next morning, we had the anchor up about 10am, hoping for some wind to push us down Bahia Conception to Playa Santispac. Just as we were getting ready to lift our anchor, a panga came in right behind us and we watched as they laid a net out from directly behind us to a mile out of the bay. I was sure glad we were already on our way out as, when the wind shifted around and we pulled back on our anchor, we would have landed right on top of that net!!! We were largely denied the wind, only finally able to sail the last couple of miles into the anchorage.  We had come into this anchorage on our way up the sea and found quite a few boats, but almost no campers on the beach.   This time there was probably twice the number of boats, and the campers were cheek to jowl on the beach – it is a beautiful spot but the close quarters seem to belie the reason for going camping on the Baja!!  This was our first time being amongst more than a few boats and it was so strange!!! We just hung out on the boat the next day – occasionally considering putting the dinghy in the water but, as it was pretty blustery, deciding that we would pass.

We were up before the sun on January 13 – motoring out of the anchorage in the dark of night.   We motored up Bahia Conception and finally managed to sneak the sail out around the corner.   We had a great day of sailing with some fairly gusty conditions.   The seas were pretty big, occasionally causing us to roll quite abruptly from side to side but it was not anything we or the boat couldn’t handle.   We finally stormed into San Juanico just as the sun was setting and set the anchor behind several other boats.

As much as we would have loved to have stayed at San Juanico for a couple of days, the weather forecast said we had better move on so, the next day, we lifted the anchor around 9:30 and with the headsail only out, we motored and motor sailed in very light conditions.   We finally started to see more sealife on this trip – to now we had seen only a few dolphins – this trip we saw whales in the distance, dolphins and rays!!!  We arrived at Isla Coronado mid-afternoon.  Of course, the winds arrived just as we did, leaving the anchorage a bit windy for the first couple of hours that we were in.   The next morning, I awoke to realize that all but one of the 5 or 6 boats that had been in the anchorage the night previous were gone – did they know something we didn’t?   We opted to move the boat in closer to shore to get more into the lee of the island and put the dinghy in the water.   We took the dinghy for a motor around towards the north end of the Island, hoping to perhaps see the Blue Footed Boobies that we knew nested there.   On our first trip to Loreto, so many years prior, we had taken a snorkel trip over to Isla Coronado.   The trip included heading around to the north end of the island – we were told to see Sea Lions – unfortunately the conditions were a bit spicy and some of our fellow passengers were not entirely comfortable (actually entirely terrified) – as we had of course seen plenty of sea lions, we advised the guide that if the rest of the group were not comfortable going around the island, we were okay to go back and start snorkeling.  It was only after we got back and talked to the people on the other boat in our group that we learned there were blue footed boobies and they had in fact been spotted.   Keeping this in mind, we really wanted to head around to the north end – unfortunately, the increasing north winds stopped us shy of our goal – we made it roughly to the top corner and then decided it would be safer to turn around and head into the beach.   We went for a short walk in lovely white sand and then headed back to the boat.   By the time we returned to the boat, we were the only boat left in the anchorage and so enjoyed a peaceful night at anchor. 

It was time to get moving along again and so we had the anchor up by 8am the next morning and motored – motor sailed around to Island Carmen, located directly across from Loreto.   We headed to Punta Balandra, joining several other boats in the serene anchorage.   The rollers had gotten pretty intense about 2/3 of the way over so I was glad to have our anchor down and to relax for the afternoon.   We left the next morning, attempting to head over to Loreto for the day.  Instead, we were only about a mile and a half out of the anchorage before we were again hit broad-side by huge rollers.   The wind was also stronger than hoped for so we turned around and headed back to Balandra.   We wanted to be able to enjoy a day at Loreto without worrying about the boat, and this was not the day!!   We put the dinghy in the water and headed into the beach for a walk and a chat with fellow cruisers.

The next day we tried again and this time were rewarded with flat calm conditions.   We set the anchor to the north of the panga marina at Loreto and headed in to explore one of our favorite Pueblo Magicos.   We of course began with pina coladas in the square and then headed out.   We needed to get groceries and were hoping to find a new bilge pump to replace our not-entirely functional one.   Owen also wanted a haircut.  We found some of the parts Owen required at a ferrateria and found a ridiculously over-priced bilge pump (nearly $300!!!   We passed!).   Owen managed to get a quick haircut and then we headed over to get groceries.   With the cart full we called for a cab to take us back.   The conditions were a bit blusterier than when we left the boat and we got a bit wet going against the wind back out to the boat but it was not enough to keep us there for long.   We unloaded what had to go into the fridge and freezer and then headed back in where we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and then wandered around town enjoying the quiet atmosphere!    We finally headed back to the boat after dark, thankfully in flat calm conditions.   We would have loved to have stayed here for days, but the reality is that it is an easy city to visit by air and not such an ideal spot to leave the boat so we knew we had to move along the next day.

Isla Carmen offers a multitude of wonderful anchorages – we actually had not realized how many – and so, we next headed around the north end of Carmen, and down to Bahia Salinas.   Salinas is a huge bay, and the site of a former salt mine.   The salt ponds are all still there – though they seemed to perhaps be flooded out during the winter storms – we had seen pictures of pink water at the ponds but sadly did not see that ourselves.   We did explore some of the old buildings and equipment and the immaculately maintained church.    A couple of the buildings have been restored and there is now a high-end hunting lodge on the site.   There has been a program to reintroduce big horn sheep to the island and, though I can’t entirely understand how a preservation project leads to a hunting lodge, that seems to have been the genesis of the lodge!!  On the dinghy trip back to the boat, we tried to find the shipwreck in the middle of the bay – we were motoring around in circles when we suddenly realized that it was right under us!!!!   It is a fairly large ship and apparently makes a great dive and snorkel site.   We did see lots of fish there – were the water much warmer, and time more on our side, we may have stayed another day to be able to snorkel there.

We next made our way further down Carmen, anchoring near the southern tip for the night.   This left us ideally situated to make a short run to Puerto Escondido.   The laundry was piling up and we were getting short of water and fuel so we went into Escondido to take a mooring ball for one night.   We got the laundry done after a bit of a wait (even when they are over-priced, if there are only 3 machines, there is likely to be a wait!).  Though we were determined to avoid it, the lure of the restaurant proved too hard to resist so we headed back in for supper.  

The next morning, we were at the fuel dock before they opened and had the boat filled with diesel and water by 9:30.   We had a fairly long run to do so wanted to get underway early!   We sadly ended up motoring most of the way to Agua Verde under grey, somewhat threatening skies and nearly no wind.   We arrived at Agua Verde mid-afternoon and anchored in Pyramid Bight with several other boats.   Though we loved Agua Verde on our first trip, the dark skies meant we didn’t get to enjoy that green water.   We did have the most breathtaking sunset there – I had poked my head up just to take a look-around and literally said wow! at the amazing red sky.   We would have loved to have stayed here longer but it was starting to feel like more than time to get across to the mainland and we still have a long way to go! 

Keeping that in mind, we headed out the next day for a run down to Los Gatos – it is only when the wind is a bit stronger and the conditions fairly rolly, that you really notice how unprotected Los Gatos is!!    We would have loved to have gone on a hike here – the red rocks are so cool – but the wind started howling right off the beach nearly the minute we set our anchor and getting the dinghy down didn’t seem like a good idea.    Thankfully the wind that afternoon and evening was primarily from the west, meaning that, though we did get some wrap around swell, the conditions were not too awful.   It was a bit rolly in the evening and I was not unhappy about setting out early the next day.

And it was early – like up at 6am, anchor up at 6:30.   We had a 40 mile run to do to get to Isla San Francisco.   There were some really strong northerlies heading our way, and Isla San Francisco felt like the best place to wait that out.   We were barely out of the anchorage when we realized that two of the other boats that had been anchored with us had also set out – it was not a race by any means as SJ quickly motored past us, but it is always fun to be in the company of other boats.   We actually saw more activity on the AIS then we had seen the entire way down the sea.  The forecast had called for 10-12 knots from the north or north west all day so we had high hopes for sailing.   The reality was that we had little to no wind for the first 26 miles and what we did have was right on our nose.   The seas were very lumpy from the winds that had blown the previous evening so it was a fairly uncomfortable start!!!   We were finally able to sail for about the last 14 miles, once the wind had backed and filled in with a vengeance!!   It was sometimes some spicy sailing, taking pretty big waves on our quarter.    We arrived at the anchorage at about 3pm, with our main still up and coming in hot to anchor!!  The winds had definitely started to pick up!   

It was fairly rolly when we woke up the next morning – the wind was more north-west than north so we were getting a bit of wrap around swell (the anchorage is very open to the west).  Once a few boats had headed out, we took advantage and moved in closer to the beach, getting us out of the worst of the swell.   We weren’t sure if we wanted to launch the dinghy in the crazy gusty conditions (nothing like have the wind grab it while it is suspended in mid-air on a halyard to be lifted over the rail!).   However, as I was working on cleaning some of the stainless stanchions, I dropped a plastic scrubby into the water and couldn’t leave it there!!!   We quickly got the dinghy in the water (yes a gust came just in time to whip it out of Owen’s hands!) and retrieved the scrubby.   As we had the dinghy in the water anyway, we headed to the beach later that afternoon where we met cruisers on another boat that had come down around the same time as us.   We joined them in a beach walk, exchanging war stories from our first year in Mexico!    We spent the next day on board, with strong gusty winds blowing all day – thankfully the conditions in the bay remained relatively calm – just a very slight bit of hobby horsing occasionally.    By day 3 we were again itching to get to shore and, realizing that we would soon have a long stretch of not being able to stretch our legs, we decided to do the ridge hike.   The climb up to the hike looked steeper than it was and we managed to scramble our way up fairly easily – the tough part came when we went to head south along the ridge – it is a long drop down on the east side and the path was getting fairly narrow – add to that my insane fear of heights and winds gusting high enough it felt like we could get blown off, and we ended up opting to head back around more to the north and then down through the salt flats.   The ridge is an ideal place to get a glimpse of the horseshoe shaped bay with its gorgeous green water.  

While checking in on emails and social media, I was surprised to realize that we were approaching the one year anniversary of our heading across to the mainland – it seemed that we might make that jump on the same date.   The weather gods, however, had other ideas.   The forecast was calling for a strong blow to occur, probably some time in the middle of our 2^nd night at sea.   We would be facing 30+ knots of wind – keeping in mind that the winds have been blowing for nearly a week and the sea state is a bit untenable already, we decided to take a more cautious path.    We pulled the anchor about 10am on day 4, headed south to Isla Partida.    We motor sailed for the first hour in order to charge batteries and then, with just the headsail out, we sailed through big, lumpy seas – often sliding down the side of a wave sideways – averaging 4.5 – 5 knots.    We sailed almost right into Ensenada de Cordenal.    We had been in this bay a couple of times last year – actually making a quick run down here when the conditions in Grande became too wild – so we knew that we would be comfortable here – even as the winds continued to blow.   

We were up before the sun the next morning, pulling anchor by 5:50 am and motoring out of Cordenal.   We had high hopes for being able to sail the entire 52 miles to Los Muertos based on the forecast.   Surprise, surprise, the forecast was again wrong.   Instead of a steady 10 -12 from the NE, we motored into light wind from the South East!!   We were nearing the bottom end of Jacques Cousteau Island, and the mid-point of our mileage before the wind began to fill – and fill, and fill!!!    We were finally seeing 18 gusting to about 25, with the seas building to about 6 – 8 feet in close repetition.   We wind was of course now coming from dead behind our course, meaning we were gybing across the waves – never my favorite thing!!!    We finally shot into Muertos, taking huge waves over the side (and right into my face more than a couple of times), dropping the anchor in pretty steady 20 – 24 knot winds.    We managed to get the mainsail put away and the cover on and had just dragged ourselves below when the rain started!!!    It was a howling, rolling night – I was woken 3 different times by rain coming in on my face (every time the rain stopped I decided it was too stuffy to have the hatch closed and surely, it had rained itself out – not so much)!!!

And now here we sit – wind is blowing 18-22 and the sea state in the anchorage is miserable – I am guessing it is more so outside!!!   We are trying to decide whether to pull the trigger and head out for the mainland now, or wait until things abate a bit – knowing that if we wait we could see no wind for the crossing.  It is a tough call – it will be a “spirited” sail if we go now… but if we don’t and we have little to know wind it will be long and frustrating!!!