In The North Of The Sea!

We have finally reached San Felipe and are getting the boat ready to leave her for 3 weeks while we go to the US on our holidays! We have spent the previous week in a bay called Bahia Willard where we have been trying to do a few boat chores but the weather has been so hot. The water was 32C so even that didn't cool us very much. We would have liked to have got more done but we were melting just sitting still!

On our way here we stopped at a lovely bay called Don Juan which is very protected and for most of the time we were the only boat there. The day we arrived a pod of Dolphins was in the bay and stayed for the whole evening. Then we saw a number of Coyote, including a family of 5. This was also the first time we have really heard them calling. At both Don Juan and our previous stop in Las Animas we were fascinated by the Boobies fishing. When tuna came in to feed, hundreds would appear and dive bomb the water, 20-30 at a time. It sounded like gun fire. Its amazing how they can dive from such a great height in such shallow water and not kill themselves.

We have had a number of good sails with a decent wind, though most trips we have to motor part of the way until the wind appears mid morning. The flat seas are good for seeing fish feeding and Dolphins playing. On our trip to Bahia Willard we saw a number of Whales. One pod of Pilot Whales came very close to the boat and stayed with us for quite a while. It was the closest we have ever been to Whales and was amazing to see. We have also seen Humpback whales feeding by lunging through the surface water to catch small fish. Huge clouds of spray show just what a powerful animal they are.

In Don Juan we also had our first Chubasco which are sudden squalls which can happen over night. The wind increased from nothing to 40 knots and blew for over 2 hours. We were fine except we had to get our sun shade down which was not easy and unfortunately, it now needs to be repaired more than it did previously!

We are considering going to the mainland side of the sea on our way south and stopping to paint the side decks as the sun has taken its toll on the wood. On the whole, we have been disappointed with the Sea of Cortez and are not worried about revisiting any of the anchorages. They are all starting to look the same and there is very little to do as hiking in these temperatures is just not possible. The desert seems to look best at sunrise and sunset so we have got hundreds of photos of reddish rocks at sunset!

We are really looking forward to our trip to the US and hope that a break from Mexico will renew our enthusiasm!