Ensenada Grande

We weighed anchor at 10 AM and motored along the coast to Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida. We chose to hug the coast and pass inside several island in order to get a good look at some of the bays on offer to passing boats. We found crossing the gap between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida interesting. The two islands are so close that they are almost joined. We looked down Caleta Partida, as the gap is called, and could see the sand bars on the eastern side. It looks like an interesting place in real life as well as the chart and Brenda and I plan to anchor there on the way back.

We motored into Ensenada Grande and the gap leading to our planned anchoring spot seemed impossibly small from the distance. Nevertheless we persevered and dropped anchor at noon in 6.6 meters of water onto a sandy bottom about 400 ft from the southern cliff and 750 ft from the eastern cliff. We had our usual anchoring post mortem and I agree that I should proceeded another 300 ft before dropping anchor - but we are here discriminating between perfection and practical adequacy. Our position was 24N33.50, 110W23.88. We were the only boat in the bay and had the place to ourselves, including the southern beach which we termed with usual humility our private beach. On the northern side there was also a beach with what appeared to be an eco tourism base of operations: modern tents, plenty of kayaks, palapas and cane furniture, and toilet facilities. However, the place looked deserted so we assumed that there was a caretaker somewhere inside taking it easy.

Not long after dropping anchor Brenda expressed the desire to see a turtle. I replied that if anyone could spot a turtle in that bay it would be her. Twenty minutes later she saw her first sea turtle in the Sea of Cortez, going up for air with its tiny head and large trailing shell, then eventually disappearing into the depths for a while. Brenda also saw manta rays leaping out of the water and coming down with a large slap of their wings.

After the usual lunch followed by siesta we took off for the beach at 3.30 PM. That turned out to be a magnificent experience. The beach was gravelly with a fast-rising bottom that made for an easy landing. Behind the beach was a pool of water, the end of what appeared to be a water course when the heavy rains came. To the right was a cliff that gave great protection from the sun.

The swim was great, with its gentle water protected from the 15 kt easterly wind by the cliff. Because we had the place to ourselves I made the heroic decision to spare my underclothes from the ravages of salt water and went snorkeling au naturale. The first 20 meters of the bottom were rocky but thereafter I had a sand bottom falling away to the depth of Pachuca's keel remarkably near the edge of the water. Along the way I saw many colorful tropical fish that would not be out of place (aesthetically speaking) in a home aquarium.

Toward last light we saw an expensive "two domer" power "ship" arrive, laying their anchor after their second try just out from us. (I love watching other people anchor. I become an instant expert, secure in the knowledge that I am infallible. In this case I told Brenda that they had not laid down enough chain and soon saw that the anchor was not biting when they went into reverse. Sure enough, they raised their anchor, went forward, and did it better the second time.) Later that evening two women in an inflatable kayak from that boat paddled by. One of them asked about Pachuca's Aussie flag. She was an ex-Aussie lass raised in Canberra, then moved to Sydney, and now living in New York.

After dinner it was a glorious night with a gentle westerly wind massaging the skin better than any human could possibly do, and the canopy of stars dominated by the constellation Scorpio which Brenda described with its "little tail" and the scientific me responding that the "little tail" spanned many light years.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com