Now where did I leave off? Oh that’s right. We were just leaving Isla Estanque heading south to Bahia San Francisquito. It was a 44 nautical mile hop south. This passage meant that we would officially be leaving the Bahia de Los Angeles area until next season. We departed the anchorage, grateful for the protection and comfort it provided us the night before. The winds hadn’t picked up yet, so we were once again motoring, charging up our batteries, laptops and electronics as we went. It didn’t take long before the winds filled in and we were able to sail.
We had about 20kts of wind on our stern with following seas to go with it. Little by little the seas began to build and Perspective started to get tossed around. Perspective didn’t care. She carried on beautifully, the stern getting picked up by the waves and happily gliding down the troughs until the next wave came a few seconds later. As the hours and miles passed by, the conditions continued to build, with us seeing up to 29kts. Brad and I already had a reef in our mainsail and it was time to start reefing our headsail to get the boat under better control. Things got smoother once Brad took the helm and relieved our autopilot of its duty. It’s at the helm where you truly feel what is happening with the boat. Is she balanced? Do we need to reef (reduce sail)? In this case, all was OK and Brad was able to predict the upcoming swells and counter steer to them which made for a less rocky ride. The crew definitely approved!
Along the way we “raced” another boat on the horizon. It’s what you do when you see a boat going the same direction as you, you race. This particular boat happened to be a catamaran captained by a couple that we met in Puerto Penasco. We gave them a call on the radio and it turned out they were heading to the same anchorage as us. On this passage we maintained an average speed of 6kts and maxed at 10.2kts while surfing down a wave. It was a great sail, even if I was nervous for a lot of it.
There are a few anchoring options in San Francisquito and based off the conditions we opted for the west anchorage. We settled in, made dinner and went to bed by 7! I woke up the next day excited to explore the shoreline with the camera. About a year ago, in the backyard of Brad’s childhood home, I became bird/nature obsessed. I found myself getting lost behind the lens observing life happening before my eyes. Fast forward to now, I was super excited to see a familiar place with a newfound appreciation for it’s critters that inhabited the shore. We recently upgraded to a new camera body and purchased a couple of zoom lenses. I call the largest lens the “bird bazooka”.
Eventually we gathered ourselves, the dog and the camera gear to head to shore. We heard coyotes crying the night before so we knew we had to keep a close eye on Sydney so she wouldn’t get lured away. It was not a problem once she got ahold of her stick and got into fetch mode! Brad kept Sydney entertained as I wandered the shoreline looking for victims to shoot with the bazooka. I was in heaven! There were tons of fly catchers landing on beautiful perches, butterflies happily fluttering along and hummingbirds chirping. There was a lot of life here in this desert arroyo. I slowly made my way to the end of the beach and found myself at the local watering hole. A roadrunner quickly caught my eye and I was surprised that it hung around, completely unafraid of my presence! Beep Beep! There were herons, kingfishers, gulls and an osprey all within bazooka range. Eventually it was time to go back to the boat and I could not wait to explore this area more over the length of our stay!
The winds picked up and we found ourselves moving across the bay to another anchorage. This would be our daily routine, moving from one anchorage to another in search of comfort. This was Sydney’s preferred spot because there was a small sandy beach nearby without coyotes. It was also next to a proven spearfishing spot which made Brad pretty happy too! Speaking of spearfishing, Brad prepped all his gear and we took a spin to the nearby spot. I snorkeled as he hunted and searched for a delicious cabrilla, a type of sea bass to shoot. It only took one shot and Brad speared our dinner. He cooked it up with fresh garlic and that delicious “everything but the bagel” seasoning on top. Have you tried that seasoning yet? It is delicious and can be picked up at Trader Joe’s or any of the stores in the spice section.
We spent a total of 5 days in Bahia San Francisquito, continuing to play musical anchorages. Both of us were pretty darn happy just to be back in the water. We kept our eyes on the weather and noted a good window coming up, it was time to make our move down to Santa Rosalia. While I wasn’t stoked to be leaving, I was stoked to be heading towards civilization and a grocery store! I had been feeling a little stressed as I watched our vegetable supply dwindle down to half a zucchini, half a carrot and half of a cabbage. As a bonus, we would be meeting up with a couple of our cruising friends that were in Santa Rosalia! I’ll tell you all about our stay in Santa Rosalia in our next post! Take care, stay safe and have a great day!!! Happy Holidays from our crew to you!