5/7/2011 - Mangle Solo... or not

We got underway from San Evaristo this morning about 10:00 AM. There was no wind to speak of. Once we got out into the San Jose Channel, we started to experience swells from the SSW. They caused the boat to roll from side to side as we were taking them almost on the beam. It dawned on me that the anchorage at Mangle Solo, being completely open to the south was probably going to be kind of uncomfortable. So, we decided to save the Cardon cactus forest for the trip back down this fall when the predominant winds should be from the north.

We adjusted the GPS and set our course for Puerto Los Gatos, almost 30 miles to the north. We hadn't originally planned to stop at Los Gatos because there were anchorages just below it and just above it that we wanted to check out. But the one below, Timbabiche in Bahia San Carlos is open to the south while Los Gatos is open only to the east, providing better protection.

It was a motorboat ride as what little wind we had was directly from the north most of the way and only a few points off of north the rest of the way. This got me to thinking and I'm pretty sure you know how dangerous that can be. If the wind is from the north, maybe the SSW swells in San Jose Channel were a local phenomenon and we can go ahead and anchor at Timbabiche. We adjusted our course once again.

Saw a whole bunch of manta rays jumping out of the water along the way. As far as I know, no one really knows why they do this. To rid themselves of parasites on their skin, to evade predators, just for the pure fun of it? Who knows? Sure is fun to watch although it would have been nice if they'd gotten close enough to get a decent picture. Lulu got a couple of shots. Maybe she got lucky.

We arrived at Timbabiche and had the anchor down and secure at 1700. It's very hot. Little to no breeze. We finally jumped in the water to cool down. Worked great but it doesn't have any long term staying power. Good place to practice some of our "stay-cool" techniques which will be very important as the year progresses.

We're currently anchored with s/v Sea Change, s/v El Tiburon, and s/v Tequila Mockingbird. Tomorrow we'll go ashore and explore around Casa Grande, the remains of an old house built during the height of the pearl industry days in Baja and subsequently let go to ruin. There's also a lagoon to visit and, possibly a small village of sorts.

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