Puertocito Caleta de Enmedio-Puerto Don Juan

21 May 2022 – It was not a difficult decision to pick up the anchor and bug out of Caleta Enmedio for Puerto Don Juan as soon as we could see what we were doing. The swell must have calmed somewhat as all of us got a little sleep. But I got up around 0700, made the coffee and readied the boat, then we hauled up the anchor and were underway before 0830.

Leaving Puertocito Caleta de Enmedio astern

We skipped our next planned anchorage at Punta El Soldado and motor sailed in light winds all the way to Puerto Don Juan. Of course, the wind got up just as we were entering the bay, but that mattered not. The bay is a superb anchorage, completely enclosed. We found S/V “Peep” already there once again, and S/V “O’Boy” whom we had seen in Santa Rosalia as well.

There was a German boat named “Muktuk” out of Hamburg in front of us. In the afternoon an Amel ketch named “Hanoah” out of Dover, DE came into the anchorage and just after them S/V “Naida” came in and anchored just NW of us.

The anchorage at Puerto Don Juan

The anchorage was large, beautiful, and still as a mill pond. We ate dinner and then slept like logs that night.

Puerto Don Juan “The Window”

We slept until 0700. I unpacked and inflated the dinghy while Jimena made us breakfast then we dinghied over to “O’Boy” and met Pete while Katie was below. We chatted about the wx and he said he would write down for us what he got the day before we depart. He also said a boat was dismasted in a 65 kt gust a day or two prior while going up to Puerto Refugio, where we are headed. We will have to have a serious look at weather before we go.

We dinghied on to the careening beach (called thus because in the days before marinas in the Sea of Cortez, this gently sloping beach was where boats came to careen and clean their bottoms). We hiked around looking at some burned out boats on shore. We also saw a couple of coyotes and met and chatted with the crew from “Peep”.

Coyote near the careening beach, Puerto Don Juan

We are getting into the areas of large tidal swings and the tide went out leaving our dinghy well ashore. As we were leaving we met Harry and Jen from S/V “Solla Sollew” whom we first saw in San Juanico. They had their cat “Tuxie” ashore running loose, something we could never do with the Michin, lest he jump ship. Harry helped us carry our dinghy back to the water then we dinghied back to our boat.

We took solar showers and I shaved, then we checked wx and made the decision to head to Isla Mitlan day after tomorrow, Puerto Refugio the following day, and finally the long push into Puerto Peñasco the day subsequent. Sailing and navigating up in this part of the Sea of Cortez is made the more interesting due to the scant wx info, the local wx effects and the large tidal swings. Puerto Peñasco reputedly has the second largest tidal swings in the world behind Nova Scotia.

On our second full day in Puerto Don Juan I got up early, fed Michin then went back to sleep. Decadence! Jimena and I finally got up around 0700 and had coffee in the cockpit watching the morning unfold. All around us we could hear the cannon ball splashes of the pelicans diving for fish, the smaller splashes of the terns diving for their breakfast, and the screams of the seagulls who wanted some o what the others had caught.

Jimena made us pancakes for breakfast then we dinghied over to “O’Boy” and chatted with Pete and Katie, thence by “Honoah” where we spoke with Roger. Roger has done some serious sailing. He said “Naida”, who had just left, was a Canadian boat crewed by Ken and Ann.

We went on to “The Bathtub”, a shallow spot enclosed by a bar where we beached the dinghy and got out and hiked a bit. Out the entrance to Puerto Don Juan we could see the extinct volcano marking Isla Mitlan anchorage and our future.

The First Slave at the Bathtub, Puerto Don Juan

We dinghied back to the boat, rinsed and packed up the dinghy for the last time this leg of the adventure, and generally began making the boat ready to depart on the morrow. Then we all took naps. After a delicious dinner of ham and smoked mussels with rice in the cockpit, we read for a little while then racked out at 2130 to be ready for tomorrow.