Day 8
Solitude and crew left Asuncion at 4am for Bahia Tortuga. The sea state was like a pond for their eight hour motor sail. They were anchored and topped off with fuel from a local delivery panga by 1:30pm. There are six other sailboats and three sport fishing boats in the bay with more boats coming in. It seems all are watching the weather and getting ready to make this last push up to Ensenada. The crew is not getting off Solitude today and will rest up to be ready to pull anchor at 2am. They made a dinner of chilorio (if you know Chata, you know), sautéed with potatoes, onions and peppers on flour tortillas; a combination we learned from a local woman in La Cruz last season. It is tasty!
Day 9 – A long, tough passage.
Solitude left Bahia Tortuga at 2am and planned to go around the west side of Isla Cedros and then cut up to Baja mainland and stay along the coast into Ensenada. The sea state on the outside of Cedros was incredibly rough, big swell and 30+ knots of wind on the nose. Ralf got soaked by a big wave and water started coming in through two of the dorade vents. It was then that the crew decided to adjust course and come in through the lee of Cedros instead. With the protection of the island, the waves let up a bit as they came to the other side of Cedros and turned north from the bottom of the hook in the last bight of Baja into Bahia de Vizcaino. The wind and waves picked up again as they rounded Cedros, but have eased and shifted since coming around from the west side and the wind is now in their favor. I received a text around this time from Jim saying he was glad to be on an Island Packet, he would not want to be in these conditions on a lighter production boat; although it’s rough, they really are not pounding too much. They made 4.5 knots through this lower section of Bahia de Vizcaino for most of the day and took a few big waves over the boat. One wave came through the dodger openings that protect the cockpit and ran down below inside the boat. They are now closing the companionway to avoid any more water coming in. The wind and waves did not let up overnight. The crew has their watches rotating every two hours and Jim’s watches for the rest of the trip are 6-8am, 12-2pm, 6-8pm, and 12-2am.
Day 10 – A long, tough passage (cont’).
Solitude and crew are fighting a strong current and continue to battle head on into wind and rough seas. Their progress is very slow, moving forward only about 2.5 knots. At this point they have underestimated the time it would take to get through this large bay that forms the first bight of Baja and are about 10-12 hours behind what they initially planned. At 5:30pm on day 10 they were still miles from the top of Bahia de Vizcaino. In addition to the strong current, they are having to tack a lot more than they realized. While other passages of this trip have been challenging, the last 24+ hours have been by far the most demanding on the crew. However, all are in fine spirits, pushing through, and prepared for a second night out in rough seas.
Day 11
At 7:45am Solitude and crew dropped anchor in San Quintin and have fully cleared Bahia de Vizcaino! The windlass isn’t working (this is the equipment used to let-out and lift-up the anchor), and Jim is hoping it will resolve itself once it dries out. They have taken on a lot of water the last two days and the solenoid is very wet. To say they are relieved for this stop is an understatement. They made it through the final push of heavy weather in open waters and now plan to hug the coastline into Ensenada and on up into San Diego and Los Angeles. Finally the engine is off, the boat is still, and the crew is resting, cleaning up and drying out. They will leave for Ensenada in the morning.
SV Solitude 