The Journal Of Lost Time
Jan 6 2025
I recently made a post online looking for crew to join me on the next little leg of the journey. La Paz being the sailing mecka of the Baja is a good time to find crew. I meet up with a few local sailors who are excited to get to the mainland but in more of a rush than I am. Another young fella could work but has no experience whatsoever. I meet up with Noémie who reached out on Facebook to crew. It feels like it could be a good match for crewing for the next few anchorages.
To me its time to get a move on southbound so today we pull up the anchor and make the slow motorsail out of the 3 mile long La Paz channel. After arriving at the fuel dock at the end of the channel, the diesel and ague are topped up! What a hilarious moment as the pump employee says the total is $220 pesos ($16/CAN) for the diesel fuel which is 8 litres of diesel used in the past 2 months! We top up the freshwater tanks which takes only a few minutes but he charges us $280 ($20/CAN). I laugh and ask how the water costs more than diesel!? He chuckles and says, “My friend, water is just a wee bit more expensive than diesel.” Im a frugal guy but this is hilarious and at this point, it would be embarrassing to try and haggle for a better deal. Hand him $500 pesos and off we set. Huge smile after having the last of the passage provisioning complete. Pure Joy as the sails go up directly after passing the last channel marker to port.
10 mile sail to Caleta Lobos. Arrival just before dark in this wide open shallow bay. 12’ of water. 80’ of chain. 1 other sailboat tucked away for the evening.
Jan 7
Row to shore. Hike up the mountainside to a viewpoint looking over the very popular Balandra Bay which is the next anchorage to the north of us. Unbelievable beautiful teal bay but has tourists from La Paz funnelling through the beach daily. Glad we are next door south in Caleta Lobos. Worth the hike up to see the bay.
Relaxation at the tiny little bay we are holding up at.
Jan 8
Up early to get prepared. Anchor is up and we are sailing out of the bay by 0800. Full on winds continue throughout the entire day. This next 45 mile leg is one of the bigger ones and having to go north around the tip of this La Paz peninsula (dont know the name?) Then south could be challenging. Our first 2 hours with 15 knots of wind behind the Struggler. Noémie prefers to hand steer to keep control of the boat and is proving to be a great crew member. Great sailor. We make it through the shipping lane fine and slowly make the starboard turn heading south towards Los Muertos.
WHALES!
Sea Turtle
Dolphins
Jumping Rays
We catch a Sierra Fish and prepare for ceviche. Those fish are very tasty white meat. Some of the best yet in my opinion.
Sailing into Los Muertos with 46 miles behind the stern. Reefed main and Genoa as we come in fast under 25 knots winds. The seas are not terribly rough since the wind is coming over the mountains at this point (westerlies). It would be a wild ride out in the Cerralvo Channel right now.
I hear a bang and realize that I’ve ripped the boom vang from the mast. The 4 small bolts ripped directly out of the aluminum. I decide to place the 4 stripped bolts back into the mast and lash it back down tightly with a long piece of skinny dinema. That should keep it in place until the mainland where I can replace the bolts with larger, heavy duty bolts.
What a huge day of pristine sailing. If anyone came out here to get more out of sailing then you better be on your way home. Its perfection. I have not seen clouds like this before on the trip. The sun pierces through an opening and shines onto the multi layer mountaintops stretching as far as you can see. It feels much more like British Columbia on a summer evening compared to Mexico.
We must get to the sand dune shore to celebrate the sail with a sundowner cerveza. We pull the dingy up on the sand and walk up the hill to see the sunset. Halfway through the beer I look out to the bay and in sheer terror see the tiny Snuggler Dingy slowly floating off the beach and out to shore….. Im up and running towards the beach in panic mode. This is not good. The sun has set and darkness typically comes next.. It appears all of the 5-7 boats in this anchorage already have their dingy hauled up on deck (I usually leave mine tired to the back and in the water at anchorage). I run at full speed realizing this is pointless. There are NO fishing pengas on shore and the boats are all in for the night..
Since I wasnt smart enough to bring the handheld radio to shore, my next reaction is to finger whistle as loud as I can continuously, only stopping to grab a breath of fresh air. I whistle for what feels like 3-4 minutes….
It appears Ive made a huge mistake and the Snuggler is a sacrifice to the sea. I can see the white stripe of her drifting by the last boat in the bay… Out of nowhere appears another dingy with someone rowing at full speed! He rows rows rows out to sea and grabs the Snug. 10 minutes of rowing in and a strong shirtless man appears rowing with all his power into the heavy winds. Anndra from the boat… is our saviour. He says “Hey no sweat I heard a whistle through my earbuds listening to a boring podcast so I knew something wasnt right” I offer to drop a case of beer off at this boat the next day and he says No sweat! His engine was off his dingy preparing to leave the next day so he continues his row back to his boat. That was a close Shave! The remainder of the trip reveals my small dingy anchor always being used on shore (especially when tides are rising ;)
Heavy winds into the night.
Ive been following a fellow Canadian sailor Whiskey Soul Devin from Victoria for a few years online and out of nowhere he appears and anchors right beside me! He yells over “NATURE BUOYS"!”
I Dingy over and we enjoy a cold one and swap sailing stories. He has made his way down here from Vic and plans to continue on to Hawaii next month! Legendary.
Jan 11
What a pleasure to meet Noémie from Belgium. She takes off just like she came in. Her plan was to try and find transport back to La Paz but we get to the beach and see a camper van pulling the steps up and turning on to drive away! We run towards the slowly moving van. The van stops and out comes a young women from Texas. She has a dog, a cowboy hat, and a great smile offering Noémie a ride back to La Paz. It took us no more that 30 seconds to find a ride back. Great fun hanging around good crew and teaching and learning this boat. From here on out it will be a solo sail.
11:00. Hunker down and strap everything in for a ride. We are off. First solo sail off anchor. My process for leaving is as fallows.
Prep boat for passage, ready all running rigging lines, remove anchor chain snubber, lift the mainsail fully, climb to the bow and lift the anchor. Once the hook is up and secured down, you run back and steer the boat out of the anchorage. Clearing all those friendly sailors and any other obstructions. Unfurl the mighty Genoa and the rest is easy 24 miles downhill to Los Barriles
Practising napping. My technique (as a seasoned sleep walker) is to rest on the back bench of the cockpit. I lay down with my PFD on and my strap secured to the backstay. On my chest is an alarm set for every 30 minutes. I drift off for 5 -10 minutes and awakened by the sound of the rigging and sail most times before the alarm has time to ring. I press reset and the process starts over … and over.
Heavy winds coming into a veery popular kite boarding and foiling town. Speedometer flashes a new record of 10.5 knots surfing down the big waves. Pure Joy. I have heard from a few people its not even worth stopping here unless your “into kiting and partying”. Since Im obviously into wind and sailing and having a few brews once and a while, this sounds great. I sail close to shore in this very unprotected long beach and sail through HUNDREDS of kiters and every kind of wind surfer you can picture. They weave in and out off shore and closer to there beach. I take the opportunity to join them! Full sails up under a bright hot sun shining down. It’s 3:00 and I glide through them all. So many of them rip within feet of the boat and send a huge wave and smile. One older lady even yells “welcome to town!” Every one of them look happy to see me! What a real treat to experience this. Not another sailboat in sites for miles. In fact Im the only boat I see here haha (I later discover that this day was the best wind day in weeks and everyone in town was out enjoying it)
I find what looks like there could be a tiny bit if coverage from a pier, I drop the sails and slide nose to the wind and drop out 100’ foot of chain. Im anchored in huge swell with zero coverage.
Anchor beer. Read
Jan 12
Up early to a much calmer sea state. Very little wind but still some swell rolling through. Comfortable enough to row to shore. I am greeted by 2 older men staying in the resort on the beach only a few hundred feet from me. 1 man eagerly wants to talk sailing and asked if I came in under sail and no motor!? He explains hes a sailor in the past from SF. The other 80 year old man says he was once a sailor and offers me a rids to the supermarket! I reply “I don’t even know where the market is but thats where im going”
He drops me off and brings me back. I spend $150 on a few bags of groceries… Feels like Im back in Canada for pricing.
The plan to leave first thing in the morning disappears with the breeze and I sit poolside at the resort having a few Coronas. I’ve come to realize that if you make friends with the fine employees at the resort bars you gain full access to the wifi and showers quickly.
Jan 13
31 mile solo sail from Los Barriles offers rugged coastlines, heaps of good wind, and bluebird skies. I round the point to Barriles and a mother and calf Humpback whale are jumping inside the anchorage exactly where I plan to drop anchor. I cant believe the site. No other boats so I tuck as far up as I can get under a huge grey rock cliff with flat puffy features.
15’ of water. 100’ off chain.
I meet a funky lady named Abby on the beach with 2 dogs and a cat!? She’s eager to tell me all about her Santiago home 1.5 hours into the mountains on an endless dirt road path. She comes here to spear fish and get the dogs out. She’s camping in her truck box and demands she will show me a hike tomorrow. Since Im not in a rush out of here I agree to the nice idea of a ride in a truck with a few animals and a secret beach.
Jan 14
Beach day
Her secret beach was actually the place I wanted to try and hitch to while here. Cabo Pulmo Reef is the only hard coral reef in the Baja and has been protected since 1995. Anchoring or visiting by boat is prohibited to help preserve the sensitive coral. I have read about the area and excited to explore. The heavy winds and nasty seas prevent any swimming but the walk along the rocks to a beach with huge round rocks is unreal. I’ve never seen such round rocks in lines so randomly stacked. Great place to see the sea. (Not a great day to forget the phone and camera)
Late afternoon and I’m feeling nervous. I walk the dirt path of campers alone looking for a starlink satellite on the roof of any camper. I slide into a campsite and start chatting with a kind couple from British Columbia, Canada. I ask to purchase some wifi from him and he replies with a smile “you can just have it my friend”. I explained I just sailed in and would Iike to check the weather before setting sail across the Sea of Cortez. The 160 mile journey to Mazatlan lies shortly ahead. He must have sensed my small amount of anxiety for the upcoming quest, so he invites me to sit outside and we have a great 1/2 hour chat about how him and his wife come here every winter to spend 5 months a year in this very bay. I often wonder how any person could stay in one place for 5 months while “camping”! I wonder if this restless spirit will ever be able to settle. Wont be any time soon at this rate. They appear happy together.