17 May 2022 - Much as we were loath to leave the lovely town of Santa Rosalia and all our new friends in the great crowd of cruisers, we did not want to miss the favorable winds forecast for the next several days to make the long leg to our next destination, Bahia San Francisquito 81 NM away. We are a slow boat if the wind is not blowing a blue norther so we were already reconciled to an overnight passage.

When I first woke up at 0630 we were enveloped in dense fog so I went back to sleep until 0700. Then I made coffee for us and we made ready to depart. Kevin from “Kopai” came by and dropped off a copy of “100 Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Wendi, and said goodbye. He would head south to Puerto Escondido single handed. We said goodbye to James and Tanya from “Stella J” and Jacques and Francoises from “Arpatas” helped us off the dock.

We cast off at the very civil hour of 0950 on the 17th, motored out from Santa Rosalia, hoisted sails and killed the engine. We had fair winds all the rest of the day. Around 1330 a pod of more than 100 dolphin crossed our bow and some briefly swam with us; sailor’s good luck.

Jimena took the helm in the evening as the nearly full moon was up and reflecting beautifully across the sea. During the night the wind blew fairly at about 12 knots. We sailed along nicely for a time under a partly reefed genoa only, having hauled the main down when the wind dropped off to nil earlier. Then the wind died off as is the pattern here. The night was humid and wet on deck but otherwise fine and clear.

Before sun up I watched Mars, Jupiter and Venus rise in the east. Once we approached Bahia San Francisquito we cranked up the engine and drove down to the southwest corner of the bay and anchored. We saw S/V “Peep”, whom we met in Santa Rosalia, anchored toward the east side of the bay.

The night of the 18th was windy and rolly for us at our anchorage, with fairly strong winds out of the south and southwest. “Peep” probably chose her anchorage better.

The morning of the 19th, at sunrise there was fog in the entrance to the bay. An hour later we were fog bound once again. Luckily, we had not planned to move so we could stay in bed and let it fog all it wanted. Later in the day the fog moved out into the channel between Baja and the San Lorenzo Islands, and still later, through the miracle of AIS, we saw S/V “Second Wind” come into the Bay.

During the day we read, Jimena “100 Years of Solitude” and I Melville’s “White Jacket”. In the evening we watched the last episode of “Ozark”, checked the weather forecast and hit the rack, decided on leaving this rough patch for our next destination, Animas Slot.