04/30/2003 - 05/06/2003
An early morning motor-boat ride up from El Gato. The dramatic Baja mountains illuminated by the rising sun.
The 125 foot high White Rock (Roca Blanca and associated reef.
Another Great Sailing Day!
After a couple hours of motoring in the morning, we raised the main and genoa and enjoyed a very slow (3 knot) sail north on a close reach. By noon, the wind wrapped around from the southeast and hoisted the gennaker. For three wonderful hours, Whisper broad-reached northward at 3.5 to 6.5 knots in up to 15 knots of warm breeze.
As we rounded the corner into Agua Verde, we were greeted by several familair boats in the southeast anchorage (AKA the East Bight).
A couple hours later on the same coastline.
The approach into Agua Verde.
Agua Verde
Many "veteran" cruisers describe Agua Verde as their favorite anchorage in the Sea of Cortez. With this in mind and a healthy dose of our own high expectations of Agua Verde, we rounded the corner into the southeast anchorage. There were about five boats already anchored, and several more on the way in behind us. With plenty of swinging room and a comfortable distance from the other boats, we dropped the hook and took a refreshing swim. The water was a clear green (verde) 20 feet to the sandy bottom. So far, so good.
Avoiding the Crowds
Our first indication that this popular anchorage would also be crowded is when the next three boats arrived. The first vessel very politely anchored about 150 yards off of our stern and well away from both Whisper and the nearby reef. The second boat entered and proceeded into shallow water, anchoring a safe distance between two smaller sailboats.
The third boat -- a large ketch, drove into the center of the crowd -- right in front of Whisper, dropped their hook just in front of ours and backed down to within a boat-length of our bow. They did not ask what scope we had out, and they did not look at all concerned with their encroachment onto our bow and into our "space". Duncan assumed the "what in tar-nation do y'all think yer doin'" on the bow (knuckles on hips, head cocked), but to no avail. There was ZERO acknowledgement of our obvious distress.
Agua Verde (green water) sure is!
"The encroachers" invited their friends over for drinks and proceeded to party until dusk.
Although uncomfortable with their position, we did not have the nerve to ask them to move (and they did not offer). Eventually, we rationalized that if everything remained constant (wind, fetch, current), we would be okay -- and they were leaving in the morning anyway...
When we awakened the next day, several boats (including the encroachers) were gone, and it looked like a relaxing day in the quiet anchorage was in store. In need of a few provisions, we went in shore to explore the village.
Robin and Shout with a near empty anchorage in the background as we head shore to find the village.. Whisper is barely visible to the right of the large rock.
"Go ahead, make my day -- I'll be Chorizo tomorrow anyway, so just try me." Hog intimidation tactics. Duncan should try this stance with the encroachers.
Hellooooo! The goats have free run of the place and the surrounding hills. The Agua Verde "goat herding" area is known for its goat cheese.
Cruisers like to spend Thanksgiving in Agua Verde. This coming November's Turkey harvest is fattened for the slaughter. We're starting a "Save the Turkeys!" campaign. More info later on where to send your donations.
The village church -- surrounded by a barbed wire fence. Maybe to keep the goats from wandering in during Sunday services?
The Village
The village is in a wide canyon "wash" between two mountains. We found a small tienda (store) against the north mountain that had basic provisions and allowed us to restock the fridge with some critical items. We visited Maria's family tienda at least three times during our stay in Agua Verde and stocked up with essentials like tomatoes, avocados, onions, jalapenos, potatoes, tortillas, chicken, turkey dogs, cereal, goat cheese, cow cheese, and BHT milk.
The village was very small and somewhat spread out, leaving little feel for what the community was like.
Herman
A friendly, enterprising young local boy (probably 13-14 yrs old) came by each day and offered us both "basura" (trash) disposal service and/or fish, fresh tortillas, or whatever else we needed. He would paddle over on a large windsurfing board that had been converted to its new use as a kayak and trash barge. For these services, Herman always left with a smile and a few pesos in his pocket.
By the end of our visit there, he was utilizing his friend and his friends panga to speed deliveries and pick-ups. He was very sweet and before we left, he gave us his address with a request to keep in touch. In return, we gave him a ball cap and some candy.
Not again! The morning after Lucky Too's arrival.
Lucky Too?
We are not sure how this boat got its name, and we are fairly sure it was in charter during this incident, but again Whisper is anchored upon -- but this time with flair!
For non-boaters, lets just say one of the rudest/dumbest/least prudent actions one might take is to enter an anchorage where everyone there is already anchored with just a bow anchor, then you would proceed to anchor bow and stern right amongst them.
Lucky Too arrived an hour or so after dark and entered the anchorage. Elena, the nearby boat shined a flashlight on their rig to let the other boat know where they were. Depth perception can be way off in the dark of an anchorage. After our experience the night before, we were in no mood to be anchored upon again, so we blazed on our spreader light, which illuminates all of Whisper's foredeck. There would be no question about our proximity tonight.
Politely, Lucky Too stayed at the edge of the anchorage and dropped their bow anchor. We breathed easy as we assumed their anchoring activity was over. Lucky Too's primary tender was a large Whaler with dual outboards. They fired it up and proceeded to back up into the center of the anchorage -- right between Elena and Whisper, and right over Whisper's anchor. Robin asked, "You don't suppose they'd be stupid enough to drop a stern anchor right there do you?". Before Duncan could say, "No one would be that stupid", we heard the splash, the clanking of chain, and the anchor rode as it rushed off the Whaler and the mother ship started pulling it tight. Slowly, the stern of Lucky Too was pulled well into the swinging circle of Whisper.
After a failed attempt to communicate to Lucky Too's skipper in Duncan's Spanglish (sola-men-tay proa ankla, trentay cinco! -- or, only bow anchor, 35 metres!), it was clear that no one on board Lucky Too spoke English or Duncan's Spanglish. They just shrugged and looked around at each other. "No habla Englese" one said, and they proceeded to clean their fish and have dinner.
We considered moving, but it was late and we were tired, so we decided Duncan would maintain an aggressive anchor watch to ensure Whisper did not swing into Lucky Too. Duncan slept all night in the cockpit with the anchor alarm set at 45 feet. It went off many times during the night and at one point, we were within a boat length of Lucky Too's port side. During all of this, they remained oblivious to their error -- the boat was dark while crew and guests slept serenely in air-conditioned comfort -- genset running all night.
Duncan was glad to see daylight. At first sign of life on Lucky Too, he jumped in the dinghy and proceeded over to try again to explain what they had done wrong. By that time, Whisper had again swung away, leaving three boat lengths between us. This time, it was clear that the skipper or mate did speak English today -- and he explained that he was more than 30 meters away from us, so he was just fine where he was. He also said, no worries -- they would be leaving soon.
Within the hour, we moved over to the west bight anchorage. Two days later, Lucky Too was still there -- and the only boat in the anchorage.
Clockwise from top -- Doug and Pat on Sonsie. Chris and Chris on Spirit Wind. Fun was had by all!
Rendezvous!
One of the reasons we stayed around in Agua Verde was for a rendezvous with friends Christian and Christine (Chris & Chris) on Spirit Wind (a beautiful Valiant 40 that won our class in the 2002 Baja Ha Ha). Spirit Wind was on their way south after only a day at Loreto Fest. They were heading back toward Puerto Vallarta, where they will leave Spirit Wind for the summer.
Pat & Doug on Sonsie, also friends from the Ha Ha, were in the neighborhood as well and we had not spent much time with them since the Ha Ha. We originally met Pat and Doug in Port Townsend in October of 2001 -- at Carol Hasse's sail repair seminar.
Agua Verde would be our rendezvous point for a few days of fun with friends.
Snorkeling Agua Verde
We explored Agua Verde with mask and snorkel and decided this is the best Sea of Cortez snorkeling so far. Chris and Chris went with us and got cold early because they only wore shorty surf suits. The water was still a bit too cold for shorties. Robin and Duncan were cold after about an hour and a half, but we saw some cool fish and got a few good photos. We look forward to the rumored 85 degree water in June!
The beach at the west bight. Occupied by fishermen and a few campers/kayakers. Snorkeling was better at the opposite side of this small bay. We swam from one side to the other -- a distance of about a quarter mile.
At just over 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the 3 mil wetsuit was a requirement.
One scallop and one urchin, to go. Not really, these guys were left undisturbed. Note the tiny black urchins all around in the crevices.
A starfish explores the crystal clear shallows of Agua Verde.
Hiking Agua Verde
We also explored Agua Verde on foot, climbing the nearby hill to a rocky desert outcropping where great photo opps were rumored. It was an easy hike, but the scenery was breathtaking. We spent over an hour just "looking around" the area.
First order of business. Hike to the top of that hill and get our photograph taken with Whisper in the background. Click, Tick.
Chris, Robin, and Chris. Great photo opps up here -- with breathtaking subjects! The scenery is kinda pretty too...
The tiny north anchorage on the other side of Punta San Pasquel.
The nice "southeast" anchorage or east bight. We spent our first two nights over here. It appears Lucky Too scared everyone out of there!
Another fine Baja panorama. La Serena, Whisper, and Spirit Wind (behind the tree) enjoy the beautiful Agua Verde west bight anchorage.
"Okay, what do you want to bet these guys coming in anchor right on top of Whisper?"
No, not again!!!
Okay now, let's all watch in complete disbelief as yet another large motor yacht anchors on top of Whisper. Are we magnetic? Do we look easy to intimidate and squeeze out of an otherwise uncrowded and serene anchorage?
This boat proceeded to pass Whisper from about 20 feet away and anchor right in front of her. When we got back down the hill and expressed our concern to the skipper on his position and scope, he said he was fine, he'd (maybe) invite us over later for a drink, and (maybe) he'd tell us where the secret (shhhhh!) hot spring is. He stayed for two hours and left. Whew!
"Luis! donde esta Wheespir? Ahhh! perfecto! aqui!". Another boat violates Whisper's space. Only half-jokingly, Duncan said he was taking this picture for "insurance purposes".
The Agua Verde Social Scene
We shared some great potluck meals and "heavy hors d'oeuvres" dinners with both Sonsie and Spirit Wind. Robin made a great ceviche with a wonderful Cabrillo (fish) that Herman brought to us. Chris' Rum "Boo Boo's" and vodka tonics with ice were real treats.
Since we use our main (big) freezer as a fridge and beverage cooler (an optional non-freezer setting), we seldom have ice for what Duncan calls "grown-up drinks". We made ice for these special friends and this special occasion. We fill small plastic "cube bags" with water and freeze them -- each bag makes 18 small round cubes at a time! Thanks to Marianne on MR Destiny for educating us on cruiser icemakers as well as giving us several ice maker bags.
We needed at least one example of courteous motor-yacht anchoring. Here we have two. Celebration and Four Seasons have taken up residence in the anchorage without crowding anyone!
Goodbye for now...
We enjoyed our visit with the Chris's (or affectionately referred to as Dos Chreeeses), and arranged to catch up with them this summer in Santa Fe. They are now exploring the back roads of the US and Mexico in their new Sportmobile -- a tricked out cross between a Monster Truck and a Volkswagen Van. Just kidding Chris, jeeez, lighten up.
Doug and Pat are trucking Sonsie back to the Pacific northwest where they will continue to cruise their home waters. We will look them up the next time we are in the northwest.
Sonsie headed north, Spirit Wind headed south, and after a day alone, we were ready to move on.
An awesome Agua Verde sunset!
Time to move north
We have a few more alluring anchorages awaiting us northward, so off we go. The rough plan says to explore Puerto Escondido after Loreto Fest ends, then proceed to Isla Carmen and points north.
Our next stop, for a beautiful day sail and a wonderful day and night will be Candeleros Chico -- a small anchorage just 12 miles up the road.
Ahhhh. An empty anchorage -- small enough that there isn't room for anyone else!
Candeleros Chico (AKA Candeleros South)
We headed north at 8am on May 6th and motored for about an hour. The wind built in nicely and by 9:30am, we were clipping along under main and genoa doing over 6 knots in less than 10 knots of wind. With these light winds, there were no waves and Whisper just whooshed along toward her destination.
By 11:30am, we approached the small and very empty anchorage. An afternoon of skinny dipping, fishing, and relaxing was followed by a great evening. Duncan didn't catch anything, so we barbequed the chicken purchased at Maria's tienda.
Taking a break after a rough afternoon of swimming. Time to start fishing for dinner!
Happy Campers
Late in the afternoon, three kayakers approached and our solitude was briefly interrupted. A mom and daughter (with their "local guide") paddled into the anchorage and announced proudly that they had just paddled over from Isla Carmen. We could see Isla Carmen off in the distance, and it was an impressive accomplishment.
They proceeded to set up camp and prepare for a quiet evening sleeping on the beach under the stars. We took a mental note of this, thinking if we every came back to the Baja, kayaking would be a fun way to explore it. Maybe all those Monterey Bay Kayak Company lessons will come in handy some day?
Candeleros Chico, and one of the canyons that spills into it from the mountainous Baja.
After dark, awesome phosphorescent critters lit up the water around the boat. Each one would spin, spitting out a glowing stream of "stuff" -- creating 10 inch diameter "spirals of light" on the surface. Hundreds of spinning pinwheels of light surrounded Whisper. It was very cool, but it was definitely a "you had to be there" moment.
The calm is broken...
Our day of flat calm and light wisps of wind through the anchorage was interrupted by an evening wind storm. At 9pm, the wind plowed down out of the mountains and threatened to push Whisper back out into the Sea.
Between 9pm and 1am the next morning, we saw the wind build to almost 30 knots. We let out more scope and slept fitfully. When we awakened the next morning, it was flat calm. These "thermal effect" winds are fairly common, and we read they were a possibility in Candeleros Chico. Although we didn't get much sleep, we thoroughly enjoyed this anchorage and would go there again.