Adios, Esperanza! The new autopilot has been installed, a full day project of equipment installation and wiring by Jim and the marine electrician. We are ready to head out for mainland Mexico. We did a final provision of fresh produce and said farewell to the driver we met when we first arrived in San Jose del Cabo. He gave us a contact in San Blas, our next stop, should we need anything. We will miss you, Edgar!
We saw dozens of whales on our way off Baja and had a close encounter with one that came 30 yards off the bow. We caught one bonito before reeling in our line as we headed into rolling waves and prepared for steady wind and rough seas for the next 24 hours. We had sustained 25 knots of wind with gusts over 30 the first day and night of our passage, Solitude was doing a solid 7-8 knots surfing down waves. Along with the fantastic wind and forward progress, we also had rough seas with 10-12’ consistent waves and the occasional 15’+ rollers. Waves were breaking over the bow and into the cockpit. The swell settled on day two and Solitude is thoroughly covered in salt as well as the crew. A very exciting passage. Around 4pm we passed the Prison Islands and shortly after sunset Isla Isabel, a national park, before arriving into Matanchen Bay around 6am the following morning.
Matanchen Bay
We set anchor and got some sleep. With a little rest we went to shore and walked the beach. As we walked we noticed the tide went out within a matter of minutes and in the same amount time came back in, all the way up to our dinghy and floated it off the sand. It was bizarre to watch and the only thing we could figure was this could be the remnants of the tsumani from the volcano eruption near Tonga earlier that day. The weather is much more humid here compared to the dry desert of Baja. Matanchen is a large, shallow, calm bay in the winter months and during summer hurricane season turns into an exceptionally long surf break. The mosquitos and jejenes (no see ums) are hard to avoid here. The locals burn coconut husks to a smolder to keep them away and small plumes of smoke can be seen all over the shoreline and in the lush, jungle hills. Matanchen is also the spot to buy banana bread. The street side stands have impressive commercial ovens lining the back of their open-air operations. We walked the dirt road following the beach on the backside of the palapa restaurants and stopped in for lunch before heading back to the boat. We swam and fell asleep early.
Chacala
A short, 22 mile hop down the coast, we stopped in the small anchorage of Chacala. We caught a jack crevalle on our way into the bay. It was a tiring fight! We let him go and headed in to set our anchor. There were ten other sailboats in this small, rolly anchorage making it challenging to find a protected spot. We launched our two man kayak and went to shore for a walk around the small town, beach and campground area. We met another couple on an Island Packet 380 from Seattle around our age. They are headed to St. Croix in the Caribbean through the Panama Canal and plan to cruise for the next few years. We spent one night in this tropical Pacific anchorage and headed out for Banderas Bay in the morning.
SV Solitude 