Boisterous romp down to Espiritu Santo

We just rolled in (pun intended) from a very lively sail from Isla San Francisco 23 miles south to Isla Espiritu Santo.  We had a quite a group that moved south today as everyone has been holed up waiting out this last norther.  Today it was supposed to ease up quite a bit and then tomorrow settle.  After being out there we realized that the norther was not quite done yet. We had 6 or 7 boats all out there together.  You know what they say when there is more than one sailboat on the same part of the sea?  It's a race!  Luckily it was a fairly short sail because it was ROUGH!  18-30 knots of wind and confused seas with the big ones running in the 7-9' range.  Hang on the to the handrails Harold!  The wind was dead behind us which makes for difficult steerage and is definitely our slowest point of sail.  

So we elected to not run wing on wing and instead long jibed downwind on a deep broad reach.  We had to cover more distance than the other boats which were traveling on a rhumb line direct to the anchorage but we travel faster a little off the wind.  So out we went in what appeared the wrong direction sailing a few miles out of the way and away from the pack.  At about half way we jibed and then headed to our destination.  With the wind gusting in the high 20s we reefed both the jib and the mainsail but were sailing at a good clip, averaging about 7.5 knots.  On several occasions we saw over 8 knots and a few times 8.5 surfing down the faces of the waves.  

As we got closer to the entrance to the anchorage we were clearly ahead of all but one boat, Serena.  She was a fast one and pulled in a good distance ahead of us then the Liahona followed by the others a fair amount behind us.  It was a super fun sail, although a little stressful for me as it was a bit wild.  Marne had a smile from ear to ear and loved every second of it!

For now we are anchored in Caleta Cardonal in a beautiful inlet with shallow, white sand waters to our east at the head of the bay.  Cardonal is about 26 miles north of La Paz and we plan to head that direction in the next day or two.  All is well on board and we miss you all!  Until next time.

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne

Hiding from the wind at Isla San Francisco

So this is day two hiding from the winds and waves here in the protection of Isla San Francisco.  I have sat out a few northers in various locations along the Baja coastline but I don't remember any this strong.  A normal norther is usually 15-25 knots of wind and lasts 1-3 days.  This norther has brought 25-35 knot winds and is now approaching it's third day.  For a little nautical knowledge, 35 knots if officially categorized as a gale. So we have had gale force winds for two plus days now.  Here in the bay we haven't seen more than 25 knots and the water is basically calm except for the little bit of refractive swell that wraps around the rocky point forming the northwest side of the anchorage.  We are happy with our decision to leave San Evaristo when we did as we have gotten reports from our friends who stayed behind that they had up to 40 knots in the bay.  

Even with the wind, Isla San Francisco is gorgeous!  A huge half moon bay maybe 3/4 of a mile long with white sand beaches and huge, red rock cliffs towering up on all sides.  The bay itself is somewhat shallow and is all sand which casts a clear, aqua tint to the water making it look like you are in swimming pool with a bright blue bottom.

Today we hiked up the cliffs to the south of the bay and got some amazing pictures of the boat anchored some 500' below us.  Marne has been a wee bit bored so yesterday she baked some delicious zucchini, carrot bread and today she is currently baking some chocolate, oatmeal bars.  I know...right?  Living in paradise with a gorgeous but sometimes bored cook who fills her time with preparing all sorts of deliciousness!  

Hanging out with friends high above the anchorage.

The norther should start abating tomorrow but we will wait yet another day to move farther south so the seas can calm a bit.  Hopefully Saturday we will move down to Isla Espiritu Santo and then on to La Paz on Sunday before the next gale force norther is expected to blow through on Tuesday.  In La Paz we have a few things to do...check into Mexican permanent or semi-permanent residency, get a fishing rod repaired as well as the speargun, hopefully find an inexpensive option for internet on the boat, and finally, find an electrical expert to source our battery and solar issues.  Everything is working but something doesn't seem right with the amount of input from the large solar array we have and also the batteries seem to be losing voltage quicker than they should throughout the day.  Hopefully we can get that sorted out.

Most likely we will spend Thanksgiving in La Paz.

Out with clout!

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne

Marlin Sashimi in Isla San Francisco

We spent a very relaxing day in San Evaristo with friends today.  The morning started with a 3.5-4 miles run up through the hills.  As we ran up and over the hills that flank the bay to the southwest we looked down at the Liahona and the other 4 boats anchored there with us and thought "who gets this view on a morning run"?  It was beautiful and helps a little with the pain of running, especially in the 85 degrees even early in the morning.

 Sunrise in San Evaristo

Sunset in Isla San Francisco

There is another norther on the way and it was supposed to hit this afternoon so we planned to wait until it started to blow to make the short 9 miles south to Isla San Francisco under brisk winds behind us accompanied by mostly flat seas.  The norther is supposed to blow 20-30 knots for the next two and a half days.  By tomorrow the sea will be pretty lumpy with white caps and building as the days go on.  The wind shifted from a soft east wind to a brisk north wind around 3pm so we quickly readied the Liahona, pulled anchor and headed out.  The sail was perfect!  Fairly calm seas with 13-20 knots of wind off the stern.  It didn't take long to reach our destination as we were moving along swiftly at about 7 knots or so.  

We pulled into a very calm, protected bay and anchored along the northwest shore.  The water clarity for the last week or so has been insanely clear every where we have been.  More clear than I can remember anytime in the last 2 years.  After anchoring we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset with the Gigantas Mountains as a perfect backdrop then prepared our gourmet meal, striped marlin sashimi.  Complete with rice rolls, wasabi, soy sauce, lime and some poblano peppers.  Delicious.  

Ciao for now.

SV Liahona

FISH ON!!! Striped Marlin

The first billfish has been caught and boarded on the Liahona!  We left Agua Verde at first light this morning to make the 44 miles down to the little fishing town of Evaristo along the Baja coast just north of La Paz by about 5 hours.  We have had 3 days of strong north winds, a norther, and it has left the seas a bit lumpy.  We sailed early in the day for the first 4 or 5 hours then the wind began to die down around 11am.  So we left a headsail up and cranked up the diesel burner to get enough speed to get into Evaristo before dark.  Just after lunch I went down below to get a snack and Marne started yelling that we had a fish on.  Then she yelled "it's a big one, and it's jumping"!  I came running up top to see a billfish dancing on it's tail about 80 yards behind the boat.

We scrambled to get the reacher in, shutdown the motor and get in the other lines so we could battle our fish.  He was jumping like crazy and dancing across the water shaking his head violently trying to rid himself of the hook.  He was spooling line like crazy!  By the time the boat lost most of her speed and the fish had tired some, he was probably 300-400 yards behind the boat and we could barely see him.  He hit on the lighter pole with the smaller reel so I was worried about losing him.  As I barked out instructions, Marne handled the boat like a master and positioned us perfectly so we had the fish off the port beam, although a LONG ways out there.  After about 40 minutes or so we had him beside the boat and then started trying to figure out how to handle him.  After some pro videography, Marne grabbed the rod and muscled him up next to the side of the boat so I could get the gaff into him.  

BAM!  A perfect gaff and he was ours!  We hauled him on deck, threw a tail rope on him, cut his gills and cleated him off the stern.  We are so pumped right now!  It is a blue striped marlin about 7' long and maybe 60-70 lbs.  After all of the excitement we called in to Evaristo, talked with the little restaurant on the beach and they are going to cook him up for whomever wants to join the party.  I can't say how perfectly everything went and how much of a BOSS Marne is!  She did everything perfectly.  Catching and landing a billfish on a sailboat does not happen very often.  If we would have been sailing at 4 knots, he wouldn't even have been interested. Or if we were sailing faster we would never have been able to get sail down in time to actually reel him in.  He would have completely spooled the reel.  

As you all know, I could go on for pages and pages but suffice it to say that we are super excited and looking forward to a great dinner on the beach tonight with friends and anyone else that wants to join.  On a closing note, the last billfish caught on a Liahona was in 1980 aboard my dad's original Liahona.  This one's for you pops!

Until next time...gone fishin'!

SV Liahona 
Bret and Marne

Cave paintings in Agua Verde

This morning we got up and headed off with 4 others from sailboats here in Agua Verde to find the "cave paintings" about 4 kilometers up the beach from here.  After getting directions from some locals we finally accepted the offer from a family on a small ranchito along the way to take their 12 year old son Enrique as our guide.  It is a good thing we did because it was a two hour hike criss crossing trails along the coast to the base of the hill where the cave paintings were.  It was worth the hike.  Two large caves about 30' deep and the same across, situated about 200' up the rocky hillside were the keepers of this, supposedly, ancient art.  Painted on the side of the cliff, between the two caves are about a dozen or so red hand prints.  Above the hand prints there are several others that appear to be a hand print that was drug downward along the wall leaving long, red streaks and at the bottom the where the streaks stopped, a hand print.  The prints are somewhat small, looking to be the size of maybe a 12-16 year old child.  Supposedly they are hundreds of years old.  Looking at them, one would not necessarily doubt that.  However, who knows, maybe they are the marks of some Mexican kids that got into their dad's red house paint and wandered up into the hills and decorated their "club house".  Kind of doubtful since it is in the middle of no where but it leaves me wondering. So any curious ones out there maybe you could Google "cave paintings Agua Verde BCS" and see what you find out.  I would love to know what the "pros" say about the origin and age of these paintings.  If you find any info, please email back and share.  We have some awesome pictures that we hope to post later.

A view from inside the cave

After the morning exploration we took the dinghy around to the beach in front of the village to get some groceries and allow Marne to see some baby goats that we were told about.  The little store, which is basically a little metal shed in someone's back yard, just received fresh goods yesterday.  We bought a few items including several beautiful bunches of bananas that we promptly peeled, thirded and put into our solar food dryer on the back deck.  A quick stop to see the 4 day old goats, ok, they were pretty cute, and then we were off.  However, not without some excitement.  With the strong winds blowing there was quite a wind chop swell surging on the beach.  It was a bit tricky but we managed without incident.

At 4pm today the 7 boats here in Agua Verde are getting together for a pot luck.  We were going to do it on the beach but with all the wind the Machado's (the pro surfer Rob Machado's parents) offered the spacious aft deck of their catamaran to hold the festivities.  Marne prepared a 5 layer bean dip and chips complete with home made sour cream that she learned how to make from half and half and vinegar from her "Galley" cookbook.  Yes, she is learning to cook with substitutes, minimal ingredients and minimal cookware.  

The only other noteworthy event today was when I thought I saw a sea lion swimming along side the boat.  It didn't take long before I realized it was a dog!  Keep in mind that we are anchored about 100 yards off shore and the water is a bit stirred up with all of the wind.  I jumped in the dinghy and came to his rescue putting him in the dink and giving him a lift to shore.  I have no idea what he was thinking or where he thought he was going.  About 30 minutes after dropping him on the beach he swam by the boat again but proceeded over to the shore.  Strangest thing I have seen in a while.

Ciao for now.

SV Liahona
Bret and Marne