We passed a couple of really nice looking anchorages along the way but it was pretty obvious that they'd be victim to the same coromuel-whipped waves as Bahia San Gabriel had been. Maybe we can hit them on our way back next fall when the dominant winds should be from the north. We also got attacked by bobos along the way so maybe the anchorages wouldn't have been good even without the coromuels.
As we made the turn into Caleta Partida, we were first struck by the number of huge mega-yachts anchored there. Next we were put off by the amount of wind that was funneling through from the Sea of Cortez on the island's east side. Let's see: east wind during the day and southwest winds at night. Hmmmm. Well, at least that should keep the bobos at bay. But, we've had enough extra wind for now so we did an about face and continued north.
We passed a tiny little cove called El Cardoncito that is supposed to be large enough for one or maybe two small to medium sized boats. I was tempted but ended up passing it by without even sticking my nose in. Ensenada El Cardonal came next. It's a nice deep (meaning length from front to back, not water depth) bay but is wide open to the southwest and so, would provide no protection from the coromuels. Just around the corner was tiny little Las Cuevitas, another one or two boat inlet. Regretting passing El Cardoncito by, we decided to check this one out. Slowly we approached keeping one eye glued to the depth sounder. The closer we got to where we thought we should anchor, the more nervous I got. Seemed like we were awfully close to the stone walls. Finally lost my nerve and about-faced again. Next stop: Ensenada Grande.
Ensenada Grande was just around the next bend and looked like it should provide at least some protection from wind-induced seas. There are three lobes to the anchorage but we wanted the southernmost as it would provide the best protection. There were quite a few boats already anchored when we got there, including a mega-motoryacht, but there was plenty of room. Right now, as the sun is going down, we're sharing the anchorage with 8 other sailboats and 3 motor yachts, and there's still room.
This is another one of those picture postcard bays. White sand, turquoise water, red cliffs. We rowed the dinghy around a little bit this afternoon and, as we passed another boat, we asked if they'd been here last night and, if so, how was it? They had and they said the wind blew hard but the water never got rolly at all. Be still my heart. Could it be? Is there actually a good night's rest in our immediate future?
If tonight is nice, we'll probably stay here a few days. We want to do a little hiking and I have a couple of items to work on: install the new water filter, re-bed the mooring cleats, and fix the gas leak on the outboard. I guess we'll just wait and see how it goes.
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1 comment:
Steve and Lulu, Ensenada Grande is where we spent Christmas. We were anchored there for 5 nights and had a lovely stay. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. The most boats at any one time was 5 sailboats (including us).
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