We have finally left the Guaymas area after two weeks of
preparing for the crossing, our plan was to pull out of San Carlos just after
noon, and arrive the next day in Bahia Concepcion at sunrise. Once everything
was ship shape, we left. The seas were very calm and we had around 12 knots of
wind, it couldn't have got much better. One of the greatest things about the
Sea of Cortez is the sunsets out at sea, and that night we got it. Once it got
dark we were cruising comfortably with both sails up, no engine at seven knots.
My first shift was 4:30 to 6:30 PM, then we had dinner and after I slept from
7:00 to 9:00 PM, once I got up my shift was 9 PM to 3 AM, so I had a long night
ahead, the way I like to spend my crossings is get food and blast Coldplay all
night, this is how I make some of my best memories from our trips. At one point
the win died so I had to start up the engine, but once it picked up again I
adjusted the sails, killed the engine and we went flying over 7 knots. Where
ever you are in the Sea of Cortez, once night comes the sea fills with
phosphorescent, these are a very small plant or algae that when disturbed
lights up in a green turquoise colour, if you have seen Life of Pi you would know
what it is like, when the whale breaks through the surface. But it is much
cooler in person then through a TV, especially when there is something in the
water.
During the crossing at around 1 in the morning we were joined by a group
of dolphins, by this time the phosphorescent were very strong, so the dolphins
swimming next to us were not grey or blue, they were green. It looked like
something from a dream, these green dolphins just swimming next to the boat, it
is something you really can't picture as impressive as it really was. The boat
would also pass through the occasional school of fish, but it wasn't only the
water being lit up that night, all around us there was lightning the whole
night coming from different places every hour. We ended up arriving ahead of
schedule when it was still dark so we had to sit outside the bay for a while
until the sun rose. We anchored in Santo Domingo in Bahia Concepcion, from the
boat the area didn't look like much but the sunset again was incredible.
I
decided to go see how the beach was, and it was definitely not what I was
expecting. The beach was wide and long white sand, the water was crystal clear
and warm, it was definitely not what we thought it would be like from the boat.
That night we had a fire on the beach with the two other boats there, Harmony
and Rosalita, we cooked food on a grill and then ate as we talked with sunset.
The next morning we set off for our next destination further south, San
Juanico.
We rounded the point of the bay and started heading south. I was
making some noodles down below, my dad was also down below so I stuck my head
up to look around and make sure everything was ok, but when I looked up I
caught a glimpse of something. I continued to look and then I saw it again, and
we were heading straight for a blue whale.
We put the boat into neutral and
slowly drifted to where it had just been, after a while we realised that the
whale was circling us, we put the boat back into forward and eventually it took
off, throughout the trip we saw the occasional blue whale, and then a pod of
pilot whales. We arrived at the next anchorage 8 hours later, I went for a
kayak ride, went fishing and caught a puffer fish, ate dinner (not the puffer
fish,) then sat down and rote this blog, now I have to go do the dishes so bye.
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