December 14, 2016, was breezy and whitecappy but we had ourselves a short and easy downwind trip of 7 miles from Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose, south to Isla San Francisco's most popular and sheltered anchorage, The Hook.
As is typical at The Hook when the breeze is in the low 20s, about 9 boats were at anchor when we blew in at 0840, but during the day several of them left for a downwind sail and others – including Kia Ora – arrived for a sheltered spot to see the sights. We took advantage of all the shuffling to reanchor in about 25' of water close to the bluff on the northern side of the anchorage. We showed a comfortable 10 knots of NNW breeze while out in the channel winds blew in the high teens to low 20s and kicked up whitecaps all day.
The next day the breeze eased up so that we enjoyed plenty of snorkeling in the small cove just to the north around The Hook's northern point. The snorkeling itself was excellent but swarms of jellies and strings-of-pearls left their marks. Note to self: when jellies are about, wear a full-coverage Lycra suit underneath the shortie wetsuit. And protect the parts of your face that aren't covered by mask and snorkel. Later that day GB went dinghy fishing but his only luck was hooking a succession of 2 barracuda, each of whom he of course released to live and fight another day.
At about midnight the wind backed to the SW and increased to the low teens, making The Hook either uncomfortable or untenable, depending upon how long this particular Coromuel was forecast to last.
These conditions continued through sunrise on December 16, so Kia Ora and we abandoned The Hook at the same time to make for an anchorage with much better shelter. About three miles offshore and south of The Hook, southerly winds increased to the high teens and we began taking green water over the bow. Kia Ora continued southbound, presumably betting on the fact that the Coromuel would taper off as the day progressed. In contrast we decided to go easy on ourselves. We turned about and headed downwind for San Evaristo, 15 miles back to the north, which we knew boasted shelter from all directions except easterly.
We anchored comfortably in San Evaristo's north lobe (see map), where the breeze was a very pleasant 5 knots. Overnight, we found that San Evaristo's north lobe had better shelter from southerly winds than we had experienced at The Hook. Sometimes it makes sense to backtrack…
m [map, via bajasmart.com real estate]
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