It took us about 4 1/2 days to get from La Paz across the Sea of Cortez into the Pacific Ocean to La Cruz. The first day we were able to anchor in Ensenada de Los Muertos (the Bay of the Dead) just as it got dark. The weather was a little unclear so we decided to wait a day in Muertos, then in the morning the weather forecast seemed better so we headed out across the Sea of Cortez. Pretty soon the winds built to 24 knots and I was wondering if we’d made a good decision as the boat rolled with short period swells from the port aft. By nightfall the winds had calmed down and I turned the motor on. It ran for the next 2 1/2 days. At one point we considered stopping over in Mazatlan but ultimately decided to continue straight through to Banderas Bay (where La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta are located).
We had one other stopped planned. There’s a group of islands off the Mexican coast, the smallest of these islands is Isla Isabelle, also known as the Galapagos of Mexico because of the wide variety of sea birds, iguanas and fishing grounds nearby. We planned to spend an afternoon in an anchorage to time our arrival in Banderas Bay in daylight. As we approached Isla Isabelle we were slowly dropping our sail when we noticed that we were about to get tangled up in a long-line. Long-Lines are a type of deep-sea fishing gear consisting of a long main line anchored to the bottom to which shorter lines with baited hooks are fastened. With no desire to dive on a fouled prop we quickly put the boat in reverse and managed to avoid any serious problems other than the fact that we didn’t know where the end of the line was. We traveled almost 3 miles before we found the end of the line and were able to cross. Following the line back once we’d crossed it, we began to see whales. The photo is of a mama whale who poked her head out of the water to get a look at the boat that was getting close to her and a calf. This pod of whales was crossing in front of our bow and was so close that we had to put the boat in reverse to avoid running into the pod. Humpback whales are so big and strong that we’d certainly come away with damage from even the most casual contact from a fluke or tail.
We anchored for lunch and put the dingy in the water to explore around the island and we were rewarded with our first glimpse of the Blue Footed Booby. They have feet like a duck but their feet are very distinct because they are a very vivid baby blue.
The moon hasn’t been rising until after 1am so our night time sails have been very dark. You don’t know what dark is until you’ve been out in the ocean without the moon. You have to trust your instruments. We only saw a couple of fishing trawlers and a crew ship on the whole journey. It seemed like we had the ocean to ourselves.
After one more night of motoring in the dark, we finally arrived at noon in Banderas Bay tired and glad to be in a new place. . . La Cruz.
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