LIVING IN THE MOMENT

A rare pic of Falcon at dawn, taken by Dr. James Smithson from his uncle's boat

Though the fickle winds sometimes mean we motor or stay put, other days it couldn’t be better.  Last Wednesday was one of those days. Sea Rover II and Falcon VII left Bahia Coyote just after breakfast, hoping the predicted southerly blow would push us the 50 miles to Santa Rosalia before dusk.  What a day it was, the best of our sailing season!

Moments after we weighed anchor, a dozen huge dolphins charged towards us, each pivoting 180° just in front of our bow, as if choreographed, so they could play in our bow wave.  For over a half hour more and more dolphins joins in, including one meter long baby sticking close to its parent.

I leaned as far over the pulpit as I could, wishing I could stretch enough to touch those beautiful creatures who seemed so excited to be there.  One in particular, with visible scars all down its back, stayed longer than the rest, twisting to look up at me every few seconds.  I swear there was eye contact! It was a great way to start the day, which got better and better.

Falcon VII and Sea Rover II sailed north together under perfect conditions.  Shorts, tee shirts, sun and sea life. What could be better! Jim spotted a mass of boiling water off our port bow where a school of squid were being chased by something big.  We changed course and heated it up til we were screaming along, beam reaching at 6 knots in flat water.

Pelicans hoping for a quick snack, having spotted fish below the surface.

 Huge fish, possibly dorado, were feeding on the terrified squid.  Their distinctive colouring of vibrant green, yellow and turquoise were easy to spot just below the surface.  We were towing a fishing line and hoped just one smallish dorado would take the bait but...no go. Darn!  We're running out of fishing time!!!

Sea Rover II leaving Bahia Concepcion under sail

We both flew our spinnakers for hours.  This is Sea Rover II gaining on us.

By early afternoon the winds increased slightly as we changed course to the northwest and eased the chute for a glorious warm weather sail.  Massive sting rays jumped a metre out of the water while humpback whales in the distance spy hopped before crashing back below the rippled surface.  We stayed in radio contact with Gary and Karina on Sea Rover II, who were enjoying their afternoon under a multi-coloured asymmetrical spinnaker and mainsail.

Falcon VII under spinnaker heading towards Santa Rosalia

Towards late afternoon the winds lightened up but we still flew our blue on blue spinnaker til we reached Santa Rosalia’s breakwater.  What a day!  We flew the spinnaker for a total of 8 hours under the best conditions imaginable and couldn’t have been happier.

We spent a pleasant week in Santa Rosalia last year, exploring the remains of their copper smelter, hiking the hills and enjoying really great bbq’d chicken. See our February 2014 blogs for more photos of Santa Rosalia.

View towards the marina and points south from one of the many hills

The mining museum sustained considerable damage from
Hurricane Odile last September.  Artifacts had to be relocated inside.

The old marina used to be here before Hurricane Odile, which sunk this boat.

Nature meets industry where remains from the smelter share the garden space.

The outside of the restored power generating station.

On Good Friday we joined other cruising friends to watch the annual re-enactment of the Passion Play in Santa Rosalia’s town square. Hundreds of Mexican’s joined the procession after the play, which wound through town before heading up a steep hill that led to a prominent cross overlooking the harbour. Very interesting. Some of the cruisers followed the entire procession.

We had a sumptuous cruisers’ potluck at the Santa Rosalia Marina Fonatur on Easter Sunday, where close to 20 sailors from all over the world shared dinner and swapped stories of our travels.

Our BC cruising buds at Santa Rosalia's town square
 Top row: Jim, Tricia with Debra and Rob (Avant)
Middle row: Gary (Sea Rover II) and Scott (Kialoa)
Bottom row: Karina (Sea Rover II) and Tanya (Kialoa)

We'll be prepping for cruising to Guaymas on Tuesday, a 78 mile crossing of the Sea of Cortez.  We hope the wind gods are in our favour but, no matter what, we’ll enjoy another day on the warm waters of Mexico while we live in the moment and embrace our adventure.

Happy Easter
Jim and Tricia Bowen
S/V Falcon VII
     

BAHIA CONCEPCION REVISITED

We sailed into Bahia Concepcion on March 25, where we found Avant anchored after four weeks of cruising separately from us.  We all hitchhiked into Mulege, a small town 14 miles to the north. A young Italian couple on vacation picked us up and we enjoyed our trip to town, speaking in a combination of English, Spanish and Italian.  Once there we reconnected with friends Sue and Suzanne, who met us last year at Bahia Santispac and stayed in touch ever since.  We invited them to Falcon VII for lunch, which turned out to be a great time. Though we’ve only connected a couple of times we feel like we’ll be friends with these ladies for years to come.

We motored and sailed further into the bay and anchored behind Isla Requeson for a quiet evening.

Leaving the anchorage before the wind came up

Jim and I took advantage of great winds and sailed further south within Bahia Concepcion where few cruisers bother to go, anchoring near a deserted three mile long beach.

This sharp slash in the dawn sky welcome a new day of adventures

Jim looking south in Bahia Concepcion from his vantage point.

The only people we saw at the south end of the bay were these fishermen.

The next morning we took the dinghy to shore for a walk and three turkey vultures patrolled our approach, wings spread wide.  Kind of creepy!

A fresh water lagoon meandered through the desert.  Oh to have a kayak!

The main highway could still be heard running along the far jagged hills

Thick scrub grew, fed by the fresh water lagoon

Just stopping for a drink

There was so much firewood at the south end of Concepcion that
we figured you could have a campfire every evening.

Southerly winds took us back to Bahia Coyote where we anchored for a few days along with four other friends heading north.

Avant, Falcon VII, Sea Rover VII, Kialoa and Victoria at anchor
in Bahia Coyote

We’re all heading to Guaymas on the mainland within the next week, where we’ll all have our boats hauled out for the summer season.  Though our arrival dates in Guaymas vary, our cruising up the Sea of Cortez has coinciding perfectly.  Along with Rob and Debra from Avant, who were part of our “Class of 2013”, we cruised with Karina and Gary on Sea Rover II out of Vancouver, Scott and Tanya on Kialoa out of Saltspring Island and singlehander Phil on his sailboat, Victoria.

Kialoa in the fore ground. Tanya and Trish had a great swim at San Janico. 

Bahia Coyote is one of four close-by anchorages where dozens of RVer’s gather all winter long but they vacated before hundreds of Mexicans descended for a week to 10 days, setting up wall to wall tents to spend Semana Santa, a week long holiday celebration leading up to Easter.  Colourful nylon dome tents and campers lined the beaches in all the close by anchorages.  Families lounged at the water’s edge in camping chairs, adding to the craziness of swimmers, kayaks, paddle boards and skidoos.  Vendors walked their tiny ice cream carts along the shoreline, playing Alley Cat over and over.  Taco and hot dog stands did a booming business.

A kids' carnival getting ready to set up on the beach at Santispac.

The road ran behind the tents, with a constant stream of campers arriving..
Ice cream trucks played luring music all day to attract customers.

 Whale sharks often swam by, easily spotted (no pun intended) in the warm shallow water. They were about 20 feet long but seemed unphased by the crowds!

Thanks to Debra Zhou on Avant for this shot of a whale shark
swimming right beside Avant.  Karina (Sea Rover VII) all
followed another whale shark on her paddle board.

 As dusk fell nightly extended families gathered around campfires, laughter wafting over our boats.  At dawn we could hear more laughter as a new day at the beach began.

The waters and weather are warm and life is good.

Jim and Tricia Bowen
S/V Falcon VII