We reached the point, which was 30 miles away, in four action-filled hours. Which means we averaged 8 knots the entire way (including the monkeying around at anchor pick-up and put down). Our top speed was recorded en route by our gps: 15.8 knots. Ayyy! I think I know when we did that too. (Seasickness index is at a goddamn “Hrmmm” mostly because I spent all my time tracking the oncoming waves and had no time to organize myself to puke.)

It was a very rough and “exciting” ride to Punta Baja and notable in that, while out in the middle of it all, where the waves were all big and spray was everywhere, was a seal. Sleeping! His head out of the water and bobbing UP and DOWN Down down, then Up up, then DOWWWNNNN. Asleep. We know this because we ran over him (we couldn’t help it) and woke him up. He jumped up in the air in fright then sat there staring after us.

Our entry to Punta Baja was extra exciting in that we had to come around after reaching in strong wind with a large swell on our quarter. We had jibed first, then came flying around broadside to the swell and finally turned into the wind as we came out of the swell. Ick. We anchored next to Bogtrotter, who had been with us in San Quentin the previous evening, and whose crew were attempting to surf in the harsh wind. My wind recorder showed 25 knots consistent with gusts to 30 and the screech rose through the evening, then died during the night.

The anchorage is notoriously rolly but we were surprisingly comfortable since it was a large swell with a long period. The next morning, the wind was mild and the swell was very large and slow. We headed out late afternoon in approximately 15-20 knot winds and had a great sail.

We also caught our first “real” fish—a bonito! Katsuo! I promptly made sushi rice in the pressure cooker—a device I’m rapidly losing my apprehension over—and we ate seared sashimi with wasabi and rooster sauce.

The next day we approached Benito Islands but general crankiness and largish swells prevented an anchorage. We headed straight to Turtle Bay, passing Cedros and Navidad.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 26th, 2005 at 5:45 pm and is filed under doings, Mexico, TimeMachine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.