No Two Anchorages Are The Same: February 5th - 9th, 2024
On our way to Punta Mangles.
After all of the different types of anchorages & ports that we had been in, we thought that we had seen the status quo of what the Sea of Cortez had to offer. We were proven wrong once again. We left Puerto Escondido, & all of it’s conveniences, then headed north to Punta Mangles. It was actually just a stop for the night before heading up to San Juanico. We do know that we could have just gone all the way to San Juanico in one day but we decided to stop at Punta Mangles & see if there would be any wind the following day so that we could actually sail.
San Juanico wasn’t too far from Punta Mangles. We got excited when the wind came up & we could put out the sails. But then it died. And then it just about over-powered the sails. And then it died again. And then over-powered the sails again. This went back & forth every few minutes. So, instead of going crazy, we decided to motor. -Good thing because the wind got up to 30 knots & the waves got up to 6 feet. -In which we had to eventually head directly into to get to the anchorage. Of course the weather calmed down about half an hour after we anchored.
It actually calmed down enough that we were able to take the dinghy to the beach & take a walk. The sand was buttery soft & the water felt so nice on our feet. The weather was still a bit overcast & therefore it wasn’t quite warm enough to jump in, but pretty close. Even Zephyr didn’t mind getting his paws wet.
San Juanico is also a camp spot for people driving down through Baja. We met some campers but they didn’t seem to view us as equal or worth talking to. Kind of weird. Is there really that much of a disconnect between camping & sailing?
Scenes from the lovely anchorage of San Juanico.
The following day, the sun came out. Not the absolute warmest of days, but it was sunny enough to make it worth getting into the water to snorkel. The snorkeling was awesome but I didn’t last half an hour. Too cold for me. I should have put on a proper wetsuit instead of just my neoprene shirt & pants. (This reminds me that I need to get on with buying a much thicker wetsuit so that I can snorkel for a decent amount of time.)
Matt continued to snorkel after I went back to the boat. He decided to spearfish this time & caught a triggerfish! Pretty awesome! We were not going to go hungry this week! Zephyr was especially excited!
The following morning I woke up & was about to do the dishes after breakfast when I saw a weird thing on the galley sponge. This tiny little thing. About the size of a dime or maybe smaller. I couldn’t tell what it was though. I held the sponge up to Matt & he said, “It’s a baby octopus.”! What?! How did a baby octopus get onto the sponge that was by our sink?
We put it in a cap of a bottle or something like that & put some sea water in there. Matt could see that it still had a little bit of a pulse. We were hoping it was just sleeping or whatever octopuses do when they don’t move much. So cute! Unfortunately he didn’t make it. We watched him & after a few hours, we could tell that he had gone to the sea on the other side.
Teeny tiny octopus we tried to save.
So, after the funeral for our little octopus, we decided that an afternoon hike would be what he would have wanted for us.
We got our hiking clothes on & dinghied to shore. First stop was the Cruiser’s Shrine. I don’t know when it was started, but when cruisers anchor in San Juanico, it is pretty much a requirement that they leave a token at the Cruiser’s Shrine. We didn’t have much to offer but left our card inside a bottle. So, if you’re ever in San Juanico at the Shrine, take a look for it. Hopefully, on our way south we’ll have something a little more substantial to leave.
San Juanico land exploration.
The Cruiser’s Shrine Tree
After looking at all of the fun stuff at the tree, we went on our hike. We went over the hill & ended up on the north anchorage side. -Ramada Cove. -Which is protected during southerly winds. Not on this day though! It was the exact opposite of the calm water where MerSea was anchored.
Beautiful beach & a fun running playground for Zephyr! Man, he’s gotten a lot of good exercise on this trip!
What a fun place - San Juanico! A little tight, as far as protected spots go, but there is plenty to do. However, strong winds were heading our way, so we knew that we were going to need to get going up to Santa Rosalia. -Which is a protected marina. Getting there meant a few long days of sailing or motoring. Therefore we would be stopping at Santo Domingo in-between. And that is where we will pick up in a couple of weeks!
Sometimes, I let Daddy cuddle with me.
Thanks for reading! Come back next week for another video. -Where we go to the magical anchorage of Nopolo! Until then, wishing all the Mothers out there Happy Mother’s Day!
