December 17, 2016: the conditions remained calm in San Evaristo's north lobe but GB got skunked again with dinghy fishing all the way around the rocky point and back again. He reported that out in the channel the winds were blowing from the SW to S to SE in the mid-teens, much like they had blown for the prior 3 days. Could be why the fish weren't buying what GB was selling. It began to seem as if this were not the typical Coromuel situation where such winds pick up overnight and slacken during the day. Meanwhile, the forecasts on the two SSB cruisers' frequencies we follow in the Sea of Cortez – the Amigo net and the Sonrisa net – had both called for "a three-day blow" on December 15 that they now said would lead into another, northerly "three- or four-day blow" to be immediately followed by a steep pressure gradient that would bring even stronger winds for an additional three or four days. It could be breezy well into Christmas. [Photo of San Evaristo via.]
Under these circumstances we strategized an exit from San Evaristo. We happened to chat with an expat/permanent resident of San Evaristo who had been sinking three or more private mooring buoys here and there; he suggested that whether north- or southbound, if the seas are up it's a good strategy to hug the Baja mainland and cross the channel south of Cabeza Mechudo to get to or from Islas Partida and Espiritu Santo. We started out following his idea, but we found the conditions much lighter than forecast. We were able to make directly for Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida, a location some 28 miles SSE of San Evaristo with plenty more anchoring room and (theoretically) shelter from more wind directions. The strongest breezes we encountered underway were in the low teens between Isla San Francisco and Isla Partida, but they moved all around the compass.
We arrived in Ensenada Grande shortly before 1400 to find the center and north lobes completely empty and a 300' corporate yacht filling up the south lobe. We dropped anchor in about 26' in the north lobe while two incoming charter boats took the south lobe by squeezing inland of the corporate yacht.
Ensenada Grande's north lobe remained comfortable during the next three days of mostly-northerly winds to the high teens/low 20s. At anchor the wind and seas remained generally calm with only a few periods of punchy gusts to about 17 knots. The day we paddled over to explore the south lobe, we discovered that the corporate yacht had hidden yet another sailboat from view: our friends on Kia Ora!
I slipped and fell on our stern swim ladder one day while climbing into my kayak. Banged my right leg and ankle in spectacular fashion but the growing golf-ball-size lump on my shin did not deter me from some successful seashelling along the north lobe's beach. Protip: in my experience this particular beach is unique in the Sea of Cortez because it is full of the tiny white shells of Olivella inconspicua. They are the color and size of grains of rice and they are lovely. I have never found them in such numbers anywhere else – including Ensenada Grande's two other lobes. [Photo via gastropods.com.]
We had been expecting to make La Paz for Christmas, but the weather forecasts for sustained winds in the low-to-mid-20s for the next 7 days suggested it would be wiser to stay put until a better outlook came along.
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