After spending one night in the marina in Mazatlan, we left with Aeolian at first light on Tuesday morning, April 4. We sailed and motor sailed north for nearly 50 miles, hoping to then head southwest and have favorable winds as we headed to Bahia de los Muertos. In the early evening, just before it was time to tack over toward Baja, we caught a fish. Once we tacked, we suddenly had challenging seas, stronger winds and a fish to deal with. I was frustrated because I was having trouble keeping the boat’s momentum up. We should have been able to sail fast in those winds, but the seas just kept slowing us down. As I fiddled with the boat, Kip heroically cleaned the fish and got it into the refrigerator.
Shortly after that, Aeolian called on the radio and suggested we turn our motors on if we didn’t want to see multiple sunsets at sea. So we motor sailed most of the rest of the passage. That night was a long one, with high winds and uncomfortable seas. But nothing broke and Kip had no complaints.
The next day was more of the same, although things always seem less intense during the day. We arrived in Los Muertos in the late afternoon and put the anchor down. After a good night’s sleep, we went with Jane and Jerry in their dinghy to shore and had lunch at the restaurant, mainly to use the Internet. Afterward, we walked along the beach before heading back to our boats. Jane and Jerry joined us for fish dinner that night on the boat.
The next day, we headed to Playa Bonanza, on the east side of Espiritu Santo. It was windy when we got there, but settled down by evening. We had dinner on Aeolian, because they had caught a fish that day. The next morning, I swam to shore and had a nice walk along the beach and over a saddle that revealed a beautiful view of the west side of the island as well as the anchorage we were in. We left around noon to motor sail through the shallow, narrow San Lorenzo Channel to the west side of Espiritu Santo. We anchored in Bahia San Gabriel, without knowing that anchoring was prohibited. We had a quiet day and snorkeled on a small reef there. In the evening, while Jane and Jerry joined us to celebrate Kip’s birthday, a Coromuel wind came up. It was just the beginning of a long night of high winds and huge wind waves. We couldn’t wait to get out of there, so the next morning we hoisted the anchor and sailed north to Caleta Partida, a more protected anchorage. There, we lounged around, swam a bit and then went over to Aeolian for cocktails with Ken and Dotty from Dream Weaver, after getting a tour of Dream Weaver’s onboard motorcycle.
Then next morning, we said a temporary farewell to Aeolian as Aldabra headed south to La Paz. We had light winds so attempts at sailing were futile. But when we entered the La Paz channel, we had lots of wind. So much so that I found it hard to find the entrance to Marina La Paz, and entering seemed risky in those winds. So I anchored right next to Redwood Coast II. Don then took me into the marina in his dinghy, where we discovered another boat in my assigned slip. After talking to the office to ensure that the boat would be moved, we went back out, pulled up anchor and entered the marina and our slip without any issues.
