Full moon rising over San Jose del Cabo.
Log Book
- Departure time: 9:00am on Friday, December 28
- Arrival time: 2:00pm on Friday, December 28
- Total travel time: 5 hours
- Nautical miles travelled: 11.6 nm
- Engine hours start – end – logged: 940.3 – 941.7 – 1.4
- Gallons of diesel start – end – used: 29.8 – 29.2 – 0.6
- Weather: The forecast predicted 10-15 knots of wind from the N/NW with waves 3-4 feet in
height.
Another day, another passage. In hindsight we should have stayed in Playa Santa Maria another day and relaxed, but for some reason we had convinced ourselves that it was time to move on. Our original destination was Bahia Frailes, but we quickly reevaluated that decision once we were confronted with some uncomfortably choppy seas that engulfed our bow as we plunged into them.
Is this what sailing on the Sea of Cortez feels like? We wondered.
The wind was steady, 13-15 knots right on our nose. With the motor we were only making 2.5 knots (slooooooow), but once we raised the sails we were making about 5 knots. We weren’t able to take the direct route to San Jose del Cabo, but it turned out to be a really nice day for sailing. We overshot the anchorage and tacked back, sideways to the wind. This added a few miles, but it was nice to enjoy a couple of long tacks.
We anchored in 25 feet of water (sand) as close to shore as we felt comfortable. Since we arrived in port so early we decided to inflate the newest member of our fleet and see what land had to offer.
The ride to shore in the kayak (with relatively big swell and wind) put our marriage to the test as we tried to synchronize our strokes, maintain a straight trajectory and land the unstable inflatable without capsizing it on pretty significant breaking waves (ha!). I fell in to the water just trying to get into the dinghy, so I was a lost cause from the beginning.
We debriefed the mayhem on a long walk up an arroyo, past a golf course and luxury homes, to a strange little shopping complex with a coffee shop, where we salved any remaining wounds over
a delicious latte.
The anchorage at San Jose del Cabo was rolly and offered little protection from the swell and wind that seemed to be coming from the Northeast and wrapping around the East Cape. Fortunately the wind and swell subsided that evening as we crawled into bed and remained calm
into the next day.