Blog Post 28 - Sea of Cortez - La Paz to Agua Verde

SAVARONA
JIRIG & TERESA NERSESYAN
Wed 2 Mar 2016 16:16

Blog Post 28 – Sea of Cortez Cruise – La Paz to Agua Verde

1/18/16 – 1/22/16

25:31.42 N – 111:04.40 W

 

 

 

We are finally going to do it! We are ready to take off on our cruise up the Sea of Cortez. We have been looking forward to this moment for a long time. When we started to dream about this trip and the many nights we spent in our bed, me on my iPad and Jirig on his computer, both of us doing research, this is the part we dreamed about. It is a cruisers paradise. There are over 400 uninhabited islands in the Sea and each is unique in its own right. We took off early in the morning on January 18th, the boat was ready, our food lockers, fridge and freezer were full and we were ready.

 

Everyone we met told us we were crazy to head up the Sea during the winter. Most cruisers to Mexico sail down the Pacific side of Baja and then head over to the mainland for the holidays. They go as far south as they plan to go along mainland Mexico and then in the early Spring they start heading back north and head up the Sea of Cortez in March-May when the water and the air is much warmer. But we did not have a choice. We would not be coming back this way. If we wanted to cruise the Sea of Cortez we needed to do it now before we headed south towards Panama. 

 

Winter manifests itself in Baja and the Sea of Cortez in the form of “Northers”. Northers are actually caused by a ridge of high pressure over the 4 corners region of the US. It is the same weather phenomenon that causes the Santa Ana conditions in Southern California. In a normal year the Northers will blow here for 2-3 days and then the next 7-8 days are nice. This being an El Nino year all of that went out the window. The Northers raged this year. Instead of blowing for 2-3 days they blew for 5 or 6. It blew more often than not. The wind blows in from the north and hits the narrow channel of the Sea and it becomes a wind tunnel. It also whips up the sea and the waves something fierce. The waves have the entire length of the sea to build. By the time they get to the southern part of the Sea the waves are raging. We knew all this and went anyway. We wanted to cruise the Sea. We knew our boat could make it but now it was time for us to step up.

 

This was to be what cruisers call our “shakedown cruise”. A shakedown cruise is where you shake out all the kinks on your boat and with your crew. It had been 2 ½ months since we dad come down the coast and we were rusty. The point of a shakedown cruise is to push everything to the limit to see what it can stand. On a boat there are three critical systems that I call the three W’s. Waste. Water. Wattage. If any of these systems breakdown things can get very uncomfortable very quickly. We planned on pushing these systems to see what they could handle. Not to mention the sails, rigging, engines, generator, water maker, auto pilot, refrigerators and freezers and all other critical systems and equipment. As I am an ice freak the ice maker must be included and tested as well.

 

 

La Paz to Caleta Partida – Our first stop out of La Paz was back to our old friend Isla Espiritu Santo. We were headed to Caleta Partida. It is a large anchorage that sits right in between 2 islands with a very narrow channel that runs between the two. Its geologic history is volcanic as it is the crater of a large extinct volcano. Over thousands of years the crater eroded below the level of the sea losing its western and eastern edges. What is left today is a stunning anchorage with high sloping walls and volcanic rock inside the cove.

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As soon as we arrive in a new anchorage the first thing we want to do is get in the dinghy and go ashore. From where we were anchored you could not see the narrow partition between the two islands,  which we wanted to explore to see if it was possible to take the dinghy through there.. There was a small beach with seasonal fishing camp, now abandoned for the season. It is a pretty rough life in a fishing camp, no electricity, water or plumbing. But they do have satellite dishes and solar generators!

 

Caleta Partida to Isla San Francisco - The next morning we were planning on heading about 20NM to Isla San Francisco. It is a small island that has one of the most famous anchorages in the Sea of Cortez, called ‘The Hook’. It is a tiny little island with a very distinctive crescent shaped bay that looks like a hook attached to the island. Whenever you see pictures of the Sea of Cortez you will inevitably see this cove in one of them. It is a magnificent crescent shaped bay with fine white sand that contrasts beautifully with the aqua marine blue water. It was here that we made the first, of our many, mistakes. We had forgotten that we were towing the dinghy behind us, so when we stopped the boat to anchor the dinghy caught up with the boat and the 30 foot line that we tow the dinghy with proceeded to get wrapped around one of our propellers. Jirig had to jump into the cold water (72 degrees is cold by SofC standards) with his mask, snorkel and knife to free the dinghy line from the propellers. No easy task…….It took a good 45 minutes. Note to self: when towing the dinghy behind the boat always pull the dingy forward and tie it to the side of the boat when ready to drop the anchor. That was supposed to be Nico and my job.

 

We were only 1 of 4 boats in the cove. We anchored off to one side and settled in for a BBQ.

We still had a few hours until sunset so my partner in exploring, Nico, and I took a hike around the island. We get out water, our handheld GPS tracker and our VHF radio to communicate with Jirig and we are all set. I just love the idea of exploring an uninhabited island. There are no trails you just make your own. We check out the flora and fauna and look for signs of life. We check out rocks, the plants, hunt for shells; everything we can find. I kept looking for flowers. Daniel got me a beautiful one bud vase that hangs on the wall for Christmas and I wanted to find a flower for it. I know it sounds crazy but there are flowers in the desert. There just are not too many of them. When I did find the rare one I could not bring myself to pick it. Nico kept saying, “No Mom, you can't pick them, there are not enough of them”. The one thing we did not consider was that we were hiking into the desert with no trail. We both had on aqua socks and shorts. Every flipping plant, bush, tree or shrub in Baja has thorns! Note to self: Never walk into the desert with Aqua socks and shorts! We were full of scratches and thorns. At times on our return trip we were crawling on the dirt to avoid the thorns with our backpacks above our heads to protect us…..

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Isla San Francisco to Puerto Los Gatos – We had originally planned to stop in a little fishing village called San Evaristo on the Baja coast. It was only 6 miles away. It was such a beautiful day, the sailing was good so we decided to keep going. The new destination was Puerto Los Gatos cove. There was some bad weather coming and we wanted to get to an anchorage that had good protection from the north winds and swells.

 

Puerto Los Gatos is a spectacular cove. It is surrounded by unique rock formations with striated lines of color running through them. It reminded me of Red Rocks, a state park near Boulder, Colorado that has stunning red rock cliffs and canyons. It has a sparkling white sand beach with a fish camp at one end. The wind had started to howl so we set a stern anchor just to keep us from swinging or dragging the anchor.

 

In the morning we took a hike up the rock formations in the north of the bay and got some spectacular pictures and videos of the view from the top. We had only planned to stay overnight but the winds were forecasted to get worse so we had to stay put. By the early evening the winds were 20-25kts from the north and swells were wrapping around the point into the anchorage. We were glad we had decided to stay. It is a deserted cove, there was nothing there but reef, rocks and beach. I found one of the best shells of my collection at the high tide line along the beach during one of our beach combing expeditions.

 

We were stuck there for 3 days while the wind raged out in the sea. Finally on the 3rd day we were able to head north again. We were the only boat in the cove for all three days. Good thing I always carry tons of food. We want for nothing. The next stop was Aqua Verde.

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Puerto Los Gatos to Agua Verde – The ride north was pretty rough. The winds were steady at 18kts and the seas were 6-8ft. We only had a short way to go, just a few hours, so we braved it.   Our boat is a beast! It handled the winds and the wave’s just fine. Then came our third mistake or should I say, my mistake? We have 4 heavy wooden drawers that are in a closet in our bedroom. The shutter doors to the closet have 2 metal latches that are both supposed to be engaged and locked while underway. I must have forgotten to lock the bottom one and all of a sudden we hear loud bang downstairs. Nico investigates and comes back up to the cockpit to say that 2 of the drawers had broken and had come crashing through the doors to land on the floor. All my clothes were scattered all over the bedroom floor. There was nothing we could do about it while we were underway so we just kept going. Note to self: Make sure the latches on the closets are latched and locked before we take off! Just stupid mistakes. That's why they call it a shakedown cruise.

 

Agua Verde is the quintessential Baja anchorage. It has a little bit of everything. You cannot even see the bay entrance from the ocean you feel like you are going to run ashore with the boat. At the last minute you see the narrow entrance to the bay, dotted with large rocks and little islands. There are a few anchorages in the bay, it can accommodate a lot of boats. We chose to anchor (or should I say Jirig did, as I never get to decide such things) in a cove that faced a little spit of a sandbar that connected to a large outcropping of huge rock that were surrounded by a reef.  We have heard that there is fantastic snorkeling and diving here and we were not disappointed. You could just dive off the boat to go snorkeling. There is a small fishing village of about 200 people. Most are fisherman. The village is not right on the beach or visible from the anchorage it is set back a bit. There are 2 small tiendas (stores), a school and a goat dairy. There are herds of goats wandering the town and nearby countryside. Agua Verde is where the landscape starts to change from southern Baja. It is much lusher here and the desert has a lot of green grass, shrubs and wild flowers. There is a fresh water source here that comes down from the mountains and as a result people have settled here for thousands of years as evidenced by the petroglyphs in caves just a short hike away. In the estuary where the river meets the sea it looks like a jungle. There are numerous types of palm trees and marsh grasses growing so close together you can hardly get through them as you try to follow the trail that keeps disappearing in front of you. You never think you are in the desert it is so lush and green. 

 

I have always had a fascination with cemeteries, especially ones in foreign countries. The way a culture handles the dead is very telling. I had heard there was a hike to an old cemetery near here so I just had to go. Jirig and Nico wanted no part of it so I went by myself. It was abandoned but had some pretty cool grave stones.

 

We liked Agua Verde so much that Jirig and I jokingly took a hike to the best spot in the cove and took the GPS coordinates so we could come back here and build a house one day. This is the first one of many I am sure we will take.

 

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