Puerto Los Cabos to Bahia Los Frailes (Nov 13-15, 2011)

We motored from Puerto Los Cabos to Bahia Los Frailes. Our AC battery charger was still not working and we needed to charge our batteries.   During most of the passage the wind was on our nose at 12-14 knots. We arrived at the bay at 2:00PM. Eight or nine sailboats boats were already anchored in the bay, including seven Baja Ha Ha boats and the mega yacht with the helicopter.

s/v Pearl from Olympia, WA (Bob, Sharie, Sydney, Annie, Salty (the dog)

Mega Yacht with helicopter (landing on deck).

S/V Bella Star was 10 miles behind us as we made our way to Bahia Los Frailes. After we anchored, I called Bella Star on the VHF to tell Aaron and Nichole that the bay was beautiful and the water calm hoping that they would decide to make a stop here. They thanked us for the information but continued on to La Paz, saying they’d stop here on their way back.

Weather changing, storm moving in

It was really hot that afternoon, so Cindy and I got our snorkeling gear together and jumped off the back of the boat to cool off. Alex had a cold and decided to stay on board and sleep. We were anchored in 25 feet of water and I could see our anchor chain clearly from the surface. I dove down to the bottom to see how the anchor was set and was happy to see it had dug into the sand clear up to its shackle.  While we were swimming around the boat a couple from s/v Maura’s dream paddled over to us in their kayak to chat for a while. Later, we climbed back aboard Cool Breez’n and watched the helicopter takeoff and land from the deck of the mega yacht. We lounged in the cockpit for a while, and then Cindy began to cook spaghetti and meat sauce for dinner while I wrote an update for our blog. 

During the evening the clouds continued to thicken and the winds picked up. Before going to bed I took the precaution of putting the wheel back on the binnacle and putting the key in the ignition in anticipation of heavy winds and rain that were forecast. At eleven o’clock I got out of bed and brought my pillow and blanket up to the cockpit to try to sleep. It was too humid and hot in the v-berth. I just began to doze off around mid-night when the much anticipated rains began. Within an hour it was raining so hard I couldn’t remain in the cockpit without getting soaked and the winds had increased to 20 knots. Cindy woke about the same time I did and started to close the ports and hatches to keep the rain out. She told me I was getting wet and should get below.  I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t. I woke up and sat in the cockpit for a while to see if the anchor was beginning to drag.  The boat closest to us appeared like it had drifted closer to us but after a while I convinced myself that it had not and went back to bed.

In the morning I woke by 7am, tired but still could not sleep any longer. I wanted to see if the rains would turn the desert green. It took about a day for green to begin to appear and by the second day Cindy said the mountains looked like they were covered in “green velvet”.  We noticed that the mega yacht sailed south and a few sailboats had left heading north to Ensenada Los Muertos or La Paz: six sailboats including ours remained.  

As the morning wore on we pumped up the dingy to see the fish camp and go snorkeling. We felt like we were really getting into the part of the Sea of Cortez that we dreamed about: warm temperatures; clear blue water; white sand beaches; and very little development.  Another wonderful day in the tropics!

La Playa

One of the many fish camps along the coast

Rugged mountains and wide, empty beaches are a common sight

The night before leaving Bahia De Los Frailes (Bay of the Friars) we had pork chops, cuscus and cactus for dinner. After eating Alex worked on his algebra homework while Cindy and I had a glass of wine. Later that evening I heard a dull thump against the hull and grabbed a flash light to investigate. I couldn't see anything that might have made that mysterious sound but I did see several bright blue trumpet fish swimming at the surface. As I looked deeper into the water the light revealed bigger fish swimming below. One fish was about a foot long with large bright, luminous eyes that looked like the headlights of a car.  I called Alex on deck to show him all the fish around the boat. He and I spent the next half hour searching the water for denizens of the deep.  After a while I got tired and went to join Cindy in bed: Alex remained on deck. When Alex came to bed he thanked me for showing him the fish. It was a good evening and one that we’ll remember for a long time.