Winter Solstice Musings & Mirages

San Jose del Cabo had the perfect marina to regroup for two nights – fuel up, scrub the salty boat, fill the fridge, do the laundry.  It was quite the fancy marina, as we tucked between mega yachts feeling small and dirty, fancy art sculptures along the marina sidewalks. 

I wanted to do my own laundry, but they had a rule that you could not hang out clothes on the line for “visual clutter” and there were no laundry facilities; the only option was to pay for someone to do it.  I admit we handed over our sheets.  We walked the 2 miles to the Port Captain, where we checked in/out, then through the lovely town square, decked out for Christmas. 

We were delighted to find a small nativity for our boat.   I hung up our Christmas stockings, brought from home, and Cora and I found a palm frond to use as a Christmas tree, though it has gotten a bit battered from the winds (just like us).

We enjoyed a whiskey toast with other cruisers before saying Bon Voyage for a while, some going north into the Sea, some crossing to the Mainland.

Just out of the marina, we had a huge strike on our fishing line.  We all felt sadness when it got off at the boat, as it was injured and the biggest mahi we had ever seen.  It took a while before Calder recovered enough to wet his line again, but he was quickly rewarded with another lovely large mahi, thankful we had not angered Poseidon too much. 

Just before sunset, we anchored at Bahia Los Frailes with its stunning rock wall and walkable beaches.  We woke surrounded by a smack of jellyfish and a small crew of fish cleaning the bottom and sides of our boat; they can have that job.  Quite coincidentally, we found ourselves celebrating Winter Solstice on the Tropic of Cancer. 

The next day was playtime with the crew of SV Kamala, hiking about, playing in the sand, discovering the remains of hatched turtle eggs, and getting pummeled by surf.  The dinghy landing and launch were interesting with so much surf, but thankfully not so interesting as to write more about it.

After breakfast, we pulled up anchor and started north; this entire East Cape and the Sea of Cortez has predominantly north winds, which can make for bigger seas and wind on the nose.  However, when we woke, the Captain reassured us of an easy passage (the seas did look calm…from a distance) and encouraged us to pull anchor before getting the boat ship-shape and food ready for the passage.  As the seas built up to a frolicking 6 feet close together and items started falling, Cora curled up feeling seasick, and we ate goldfish crackers for breakfast and lunch; we were all reminded of the lesson (we already knew!):  Always have the boat and crew ready for the worst possible seas and weather before heading out.  It’s good to be humbled regularly; cruising is stellar at this.    

As we moved up the East Cape into the Sea, we were treated to some of John Steinbeck’s heady mirages as told in The Log from the Sea of Cortez.  “As you pass a headland it suddenly splits off and becomes an island and then the water seems to stretch inward and pinch it to a mushroom-shaped cliff, and finally to liberate it from the earth entirely so that it hangs in the air over the water.  Even a short distance offshore one cannot tell what the land really looks like.  Islands too far off, according to the map are visible; while others which should be near by cannot be seen at all until suddenly they come bursting out of the mirage (Steinbeck).” 

The highlight of the passage, in addition to Chris’ singing skills to Jimmy Buffet, was when BOTH fishing lines started whirring at the same time.  Calder and Chris both hauled in wonderful mahi-mahi.  Our fridge and freezer are now full; we can’t keep up and are glad we have guests visiting us soon!

We’ve been reading The Log from the Sea of Cortez incrementally, as we pass the same areas of Steinbeck’s journey.  Last evening, the words from the pages jumped into our winds and seas.  We were reading about the stretch of passage that we were in:  “The wind seems to grow instantly out of the evening and the sea with it…” but could not continue to read, as the wind seemed to grow instantly out of the evening and the sea with it!  Gusts up to 33 knots off the land, a heavily reefed main sail, we anchored all 250 feet of our chain in Bahia de los Muertos. 

Up at 6am to pull anchor at first light, we felt some apprehension about the infamous 27 mile long Cerralvo Channel, notorious for funneling winds and currents.  Initially with 15 knot winds on the nose, winds mellowed and we were treated to an overall calm enjoyable journey, manta rays leaping out of the water, as the kids and I swung our legs off the bow taking it all in. 

We have officially arrived in the Sea of Cortez at last!