Anduril Sailing Blog: Back in Mexico - Troubles Getting Started

There is no complaining. Other morons have it far worse.

Mexico is good at a lot of things and one of them is delivering heat. The kind of heat we are talking about is of the melting sort. Modern society’s hard-working chemists virtuously toil away in their labs, experimenting with exotic hydrocarbons and then suddenly, voila! a wonderful new plastic or glue is born. It looks good in the lab and of course all the MBA types have heady visions of a new product with profits flowing. Then the marketing folks learn of the fantastic new adhesive invented by the clever chemists and work on developing a sharply memorable slogan suitable for the masses, such as “living better through chemistry”.

But the heat that creates things can also un-create them. A summer-stored boat in Mexico is something like a demented chemist’s kiln that has been continuously engaged for 6 months in un-creating all things made of hydrocarbons. Soft glues soften. Hard glues harden. And all glues fail. Adhesive backed Velcro holding cushions in place? Ha! No match for Mexico. Glued veneer strips on millwork? Peeled. Plastic window surrounds? Crumbles. Rubber gaskets and pump seals? Just-get-a-new-one-dammit.

Suffice it to say that on returning to the boat after its summer storage there were a lot of annoyances in the way of things that don’t work anymore, or that need special parts ordered. Five sweaty days were spent working on the boat in the yard making it ready to sail away. Then we splashed the boat and worked for another two days. Leaving Puerto Escondido at last, the “to do” list was longer than would make for a happy skipper Greg. Leaking diesel engine fuel injectors, non-functioning wind instruments, a balky refrigerator, and a misbehaving outboard carburator headline a longer list of some 34 items. But the freezer still works so we can make Margaritas with ice!

As with most sea-going boats, our “to do” list will never be completed. So, ready enough, we chose to get ahead of some weather and bolt north to minimize potential troubles from 4 coming days of strong northerlies. Our trip destination: Bahia Concepcion, which we expect this year will be our most northerly latitude in the Sea of Cortez. Our first stop was Isla Coronados, where after sunset a panga full of marauding Americans visited our anchorage, setting off fireworks and flying their buzzy drone around the anchorage trying to film unsuspecting naked sailboat cruisers as they cavorted on deck. Lucky for us, because we confine all our naked sexy cavorting to below decks, we are safe from red-necked voyeurs with flying-cameras.

Punta Pulpito was next, anchored under a picturesque tall cliff veined with a heavy bolt of black obsidian and providing protection from north winds. A mabula ray used our boat lying at anchor as a stealth tool to mount sneak attacks on fish schooling on the opposite side, transforming as it circled the boat from an underpowered bi-plane into a hungry-for-prey-turbo-charged-jet-fighting fish chaser. The next day we kayaked over to the cliffs and swooshed through a cave-arch as the incoming swell powered us through on the surf. Above, lounging on the cliffs were families of nesting boobies and a magnificent predatory falcon. At anchor we were in solitude, save for one boat, Dolce, whose husband and wife crew we chatted with after recognizing them from last year’s group of Baja Ha Ha boats.

Cruising further north, we saw flying fish, porpoises, other unidentified small whales and were entertained by another circling boobie who was determined to land on our boat, but failed in her mission. We also hooked a small tuna that was promptly gulped up on the line by some larger fish. The smaller of the two pescados was a sad sight when still on the line she was reeled into the stern nearly completely skinless from head to tail. Unlucky little fish had been ravaged by the ripping teeth of said larger fish, who obviously had been unsuccessful in hanging on to their prey against the pull of our fishing line, thus providing another gruesome reminder that being a prey animal in nature really sucks.

To make Bahia Concepcion from Punta Pulpito, a long day motor-sailing was required against a building northerly. Eventually turning the corner into the larger Concepcion bay, we gybed and headed towards our first choice anchorage but found it was too weatherly, so we carried on to anchorage at the better-protected Playa Santispac, where for three days we now swing . Yesterday was a hitch-hiking day trip into the nearby oasis town of Mulege. There we visited the Mision Santa Rosalia de Mulege, built in 1766, enjoyed tacos, shopped for hardware odds and sods and stocked up on groceries.

Back at our anchorage, Ana’s Restaurant provides a satellite connection for 25 pesos/hora, with welcome connection to news of family, world affairs and other business underway back at home. We are two boats, the other a small 29 footer called Amazon Moon, with Larky and Bruce from Oregon aboard. On the beach a steady traffic of RVers and campers drive in and park for a night. Santispac is right on the main Baja highway and a regular way stop for tourists driving both south and north. The drawback to this spot is the sound of heavy trucks whose engine brakes percuss loudly as they descend down the hill to the beach, changing their weighty tune as they then grind up the other side.