Ensenada la Gallina Second Day

I had a restful night although I must admit that I was very sensitive to changes in the wind and I was up several times during the night checking the wind and the boat's position. At one time the wind was coming from the south at about 12 kt then it became easterly and at dawn is was from the north at about 15 kt. I am pleased to report that the 45 lb plow anchor must have bedded in because the anchor alarm did not go off and I could see from a record that I had been keeping of our position that the movements of the boat had indeed been within the scope of the anchor. This was a serious concern because dragging only 50 meters would put us in peril from the rocky southern shore of the bay. Arnold had expressed amazement that I had laid out close to 40 m of chain for only 4.5 m of water but we had room for a large scope and Nick back in Western Australia had told me that the chain does no good stowed in the locker and to ... well ... let it all hang out.

We tuned in to Amigo net on HF 8.122 MHz this morning and heard Don Anderson predict north winds of 25 to 30 knots running down the length of the Sea of Cortez starting this afternoon. On that basis Arnold and I decided to stay put at this bay, given that it would provide protection from "northers". Over coffee I mulled things over and decided to deploy the 50 lb Swarbrick "fisherman" anchor. I assembled it and hooked on a 5 meter trip line with a white float, hung it over the starboard roller, fixed the cross piece, and told Arnold that we were ready to drop. At mid morning during a lull in the wind we started the engine (Yep, started with no problem!) and motored just pass the embedded plow anchor and about 30 meters to seaward. I then lowered the Swarbrick and while Arnold backed the boat I carefully laid the 8 meters or so of chain, followed by 25 meters of white rope. Thus I had two anchors out (technically constituting a "mooring") and I knew that I would be able to sleep soundly even if the wind hit 40 knots.

In the afternoon Arnold spotted a huge dark shadow working its way past the boat. It was a dark fish that must have been half the length of Pachuca. It just meandered along peacefully showing no dorsal fin and doing no diving. The only thing that we could think of was Whale Shark because we know that there are plenty around. We saw our friend pass by the other side of the boat later as re worked his way back to where he had come from.

At about this time we were joined in the bay by a small but very modern catamaran flying the Canadian flag.

Then Arnold and I deployed the Zodiac and headed for the end of the bay which was shallow, fringed with mangroves, and full of aquatic birds having a great time diving for fish. We motored to within 100 meters of the shore then paddled in the shallow waters past the collection of different species of birds living in harmony bound by their common goal of feasting on fish. I found the excursion interesting and was pleased at the close look of the bay's shoreline and ecology. However, it was a disappointment from the perspective of spear fishing. The water was shallow, murky, and the only fish that we saw were small ones.

By 6 PM the predicted strong winds had not arrived. Indeed it would have been a pleasant day sailing into a 10-12 knot wind through a calm sea. We decided that if the strong northerly failed to eventuate by the morning we would make one long tack to the Baja Peninsula then tack back and work our way to Isla San Frncisco 24 nm away. This would position us near the beginning of the San Jose Channel between San Jose Island and the Baja peninsula, and the prospects of good snorkeling and spear fishing at San Evaristo and Puerto Los Gatos.

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