I have wanted to go sailing in Baja for a while now so I took two weeks off in November and flew down to La Paz for some sailing with David Reichel.
I flew into San Jose Del Cabo on Monday, Nov 5th and took the bus to La Paz.
Tuesday: Dave flew in and wished me a happy birthday. We ran some errands, had some dinner and got the boat ready to launch.
Wednesday: We launched the boat with a new outboard and ended up anchored in the middle of the channel when it died 100 yards from the dock. We spent awhile trying to get it started until Dave was smart enough to check the manual and find that we had forgotten to turn on the fuel valve to allow fuel into the carburetor. After opening the valve, the new 6hp four-stroke purred, and we motored over to Marina de La Paz.
Thursday: We were up and headed out the channel. We decided to keep sailing and made it about halfway down Isla Partida before stopping for the night. I chose an anchorage with southerly protection for the nightly Corumel winds but they died after dusk, and instead we bounced all night on chop from the north.
Friday: At dawn, we had nice wind to Los Isolotes and had fantastic snorkeling with the sea lions and a group of Ecology students from University of Denver. After playing with the fish for a couple hours, we headed to Bahia Candelleros for the night. Again, the Corumel wind failed to appear, and instead, after dark, a light chop came in from the north, causing us to bounce around all night. However, as the sun set we had gorgeous calm sunset, and when it was dark were able to spot what looked like a nebula in the eastern sky.
Saturday: Was a mellow sail down along the west side of the island. We went swimming with a giant school of Yellowfin Tuna, were attacked by little flies, saw a bunch of turtles and a couple of dolphins, and were followed by a group of large powerboats who decided that we knew the best spot to anchor. That night, the powerboats came and crowded us until after dark when the Corumel wind finally decided to fill in and threw up a steep onshore chop. The powerboats left for more soporific anchorages, and we spent a restless night bouncing on the big chop.
Sunday: We spent the day at Bahia Ballandra and Palaya Tecolote. At dusk, we sailed around the corner to our favorite anchorage that was glass calm all night and only had one other boat. In the evening, there were thousands of fish jumping all around us, and we were lulled to sleep by the owls calling to each other along the shore.
Monday and Tuesday: We sailed back to La Paz and tried to coordinate getting the boat hauled out. I had contemplated having the boat repainted, but it seemed to be all the local shops could manage just getting an appointment to haul the boat.
I ended up choosing to haul at Berkovich boat yard at the entrance to La Paz, and Wednesday morning I powered over early in the morning. I dropped my stuff ashore then took the boat out to a mooring, cleaned her up, swam ashore, changed, and headed to the bus station. I caught the 12:30 bus to Cabo where I flew to LAX on Alaska Airlines and then caught the red-eye to JFK.
Overall, it was a great week. I had a blast sailing with Dave. He put up with my crap and was always willing to sail even when there was no wind. I can't wait to go back!
March 11, 1999 sailing with s/v Vela between Frailes and Muertos in Baja.
March 17, 1999 Lin and Larry Pardey at our watermelon and wine party on the dock at Marina de La Paz
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