Return to San Carlos

On Sunday, we set sail at 5:00am leaving Dog Bay for the 60 mile sail back to Las Cocinas to anchor over night and then sail an additional 30 miles back to San Carlos with the goal of arriving Monday around 1:00pm to return the borrowed navigation books.

A smile at 4:30am and back to Nescafe instant coffee. It surely is not the caliber of Starbuck Via, however, we are just grateful for some form of coffee at such an early hour.

Weather reports touted north northwest winds at 15 knots. This thrilled us at it mean the wind would
be pushing us the entire way. Well, weather reports tend to be wrong at times...like this time. There
was no wind so we motored and enjoyed the sunrise. Sailing in the dark was easier this time as the seas were so calm. 

Several hours later it happened…DOLPHINS…and hundreds of them! We could see them in the distance in front of us and some of them turned right towards us. Being witness to these gorgeous beings truly is a breathtaking experience.

The video doesn't do justice however it gives you an idea of how close they came to us.

The dolphins were jumping all over and a few launched themselves completely out of the water!

DJ Suz was on board with the Bose system and iPod rocking the sea! Thanks to M&M for the iPod!

Here is one of the more notable landmarks due to the red color unlike any of the other mountains.

It took us 11.5 hours to arrive at Las Cocinas. Our arrival was met with northerly winds making the bay choppy. We attempted to anchor in the south bay however we were unable to secure our anchor. After four unsuccessful attempts, we headed to the north bay, a much smaller bay, however this bay protected us from the wind and choppy seas. It took us three more attempts to set our anchor. An hour and a half after arriving the anchor was set and we were relieved!

This is what one looks like after a day like this…tired, crazed and dazed!

The north bay of Las Cocina is home to small fishing village as described to us by others. The village consist of three dwellings and one operable panga.

To the other side of the north bay are two newly built and empty restaurants with a trailer in-between with that appears to be a man watching over the structures. We learned a few bays over a dozen cabanas were built to support a resort style living and the empty restaurants here were to be linked to the resort. Like many of the plans to develop these parts of Mexico it often does not come to fruition.
Many speculate corruption as the culprit.

The evening rewarded us with an incredible sunset and moon.

San Carlos bound and still no wind as promised by the weather report. We took advantage of our auto pilot and Poncha took in some stillness while passing San Pedro Island.

She also read up on Jade's electrical system. Not the easiest system to comprehend.

While passing San Pedro Island the dolphins were out in full force. These were a smaller species than the ones we saw the day before and they were everywhere swimming, jumping and feeding. As I was admiring them with the binoculars Poncha gasped which caused me to look up just in time! She had
spotted a whale! We both stood awestruck as the whale breached and its fluke swung majestically into the air and disappeared back into the sea.

Five miles from San Carlos the wind arrived! The sea was full of white caps. We clocked the winds
around 20 miles per hour!

Here are two pics showing the difference in the seas...

Without wind.

Wind at 20 mprh.

As we approached the marina the winds were picking up. 22 mph. 25 mph. Our senses heightened as we wondered if we could make it into the marina. As we turned towards the bahia which you pass before entering the marina there were more whitecaps than we had ever seen and the winds were gusting at 27 mph! We knew this was too much to handle and turned Jade around to seek an alternate place to anchor in hopes the wind might die down enough to allow us back into our marina slip. Well, this was not the case. The winds stayed strong and we struggled for FOUR long hours trying to set our anchor! Oh the joys of being novice sailors! We tried numerous places to anchor, two different bays, a cove and the bahia. The winds were so strong we could not keep Jade pointed into the wind which is where you want her when you anchor.  Exhausted and running out of options and daylight we headed to the fuel dock as sailboats dock there to wait out the winds before moving into their slips. As we rounded the corner we saw a 50 foot boat at the fuel dock leaving no room for Jade. Once again, we turned her around and retuned to one of the bays determined to set anchor. After a few more attempts and 30 minutes of daylight left we did it! We've never been so tired and spent!

The next day at 7:00am with calm seas and a slight breeze we pulled up anchor and Poncha guided Jade perfectly back into her slip at the marina! The best return to slip Poncha has done thus far!

The remainder of the day was spend washing clothes and washing Jade.

Jade performed beautifully over the past ten days. There are now just a few things to tend to like refueling, replenishing our water supply, provisioning up and working on a few more projects. We hope to take off again very soon….this time for weeks!