Puerto Don Juan-Isla Mitlan

24 May 2022 – after gnashing our teeth and rending our garments over weather, especially after hearing of a sailboat dismasted going to Puerto Refugio in a 65 knot gust, we picked a favorable looking forecast window and decided to roll the dice and go up the slot to Isla Mitlan and thence to Puerto Refugio.

We got a call from Katie on “O’Boy” passing us one more day’s wx forecast, then we upped anchor and motored out of Puerto Don Juan with much regret. Puerto Don Juan was a fantabulous anchorage where we would love to have stayed several days more. But “…time, tides and formation…: as our Navy friends say.

There was very little wind or wave on our way up to Isla Mitlan and it was only a couple of hours so we motored the entire way, dropping the hook and settling in before 1100.

Isla Mitlan anchorage ahead at the foot of the extinct volcano.

The anchorage was just beautiful, lying at the foot of an extinct volcano with Isla Mitlan blocking the channel side. It was serene and calm despite an east wind having gotten up. Jimena saw a sea turtle swimming in the anchorage, and we watched the pelicans, terns and gulls up to their usual antics.

Isla Mitlan anchorage looking at Isla Coronado

Late in the afternoon Harry and Jen on “Solla Sollew” pulled into the anchorage. Just a bit later “Peep” pulled in and anchored as well. Harry went out in their dinghy and caught a mess of Yellowtail. Jen hollered across to us and offered us some, but we had to decline because A) we haul out in two days’ time; B) we didn’t have freezer space to keep it; and C) our dinghy was packed for an early departure tomorrow and we could not ask them to bring us the gift, which I am sure they would have done. We felt bad turning down fresh Yellowtail.

The night was peaceful and calm and we slept like the proverbial logs. After all of our gnashing and wailing, it is just as Cap’n Fatty says: “worrying about things which haven’t happened is like paying taxes on money you haven’t earned.”