Day 1709
Position: 20°14'N 105°35'W
Underway from Ipala (near Cabo Corrientes toward Cabo San Lucas)
Miles YTD: 3660
Miles since day 1: 29884
This morning we'll sail past Cabo Corrientes as we make our way toward the Baja Peninsula and Cabo San Lucas, a 48 hour trip. Bob, if you're reading this will still be around, look for us to arrive at Cabo around 7AM on the 6th we'll be anchored off the beach.
It seems a sailing lifetime ago that I last sailed past Cabo Corrientes back in 2006. We were outbound from Puerto Vallarta headed for the Marquesas some 3000 nm distant in the South Pacific. Subsequently, I've sailed nearly 25,000 nm, but wow that 3000nm trip in 21 days was and still is a significant sailing milestone. Actually, I've sailed past Corrientes four times in late 2005 with Casey as crew. Winds were in the mid-twenties and we had some amazing surfs with boat speed bursting up to maybe 14 + knots. This was on my boat s/v La Vie a Beneteau First 405. Thankfully the weather is benign at Corrientes this morning.
On our current voyage we have 2312 nautical miles to go to the San Juan Islands in Washington State... which seems both like a heck of lot and very little in the scheme of what we've done already this year.
Last night we anchored at Ipala, a tiny little cove just south of Cabo Corrientes. The anchorage is pretty small, rolly and crowded with local fishing pangas and some aqua culture buoys. Waves crash on the rocky shore and pound on the sandy beach, luckily we managed the best anchoring spot as no other cruising boats were there to share the limited space. Would have been fun to take the dink to shore for dinner if the beach landing were more tame and we had wheels on the dinghy to assist in getting through the surf and up the beach.
Lots of turtle sightings in the last day or so of travel. Resting turtles are pretty easy to spot as they float high in the water with plenty of shell exposed. Often a small sea bird will sit atop the shell. The combination of the two I've coined a 'birttle' a bird on top of a turtle. The water has been clouded with algae and making water with our Spectra Catalina 300 water maker has involved more frequent prefilter cleaning due to this high concentration of algae. At one point I even shut down the water maker as we were concerned that it might be a 'red tide' algae bloom that could contain harmful toxins. Further research on the topic indicates that the reverse osmosis water maker membrane would NOT allow the algae to contaminate the final product (drinking) water. Even so why take the chance.
The weather is cooling appreciably as is the water. In Tenecatita the water temps had fallen to 70F a substantial contrast to the mid 80's we'd had since Panama. This AM water temps have fallen to 65F as have the overnight air temperatures. Burr! I guess we are now out of the perma-sweat tropics and back into the land of shirts and socks! I even dug out my slippers and beanie hat the other day and admit I even slept with beanie on the last few nights.... it's going to take a while to adapt back to cooler weather.
I joke with Kathy that our current weather seems a bit cool, but it's likely better than most days of summer in the Pacific Northwest. Too bad this isn't a joke!
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