I awoke at 6:30 and attempted to listen to the Amigo and Sonrisa nets. The radio reception was poor this morning so it was hard to hear the reports of the other cruising boats that checked in to the net. Each of the boats on the net normally reports their radio call sign, boat name, name of their crew, boat location, and often the local temperature and weather conditions.
Matt and Rachel stopped by at 8:30 AM in their dinghy and we rowed to shore for a hike. We hiked to the highest point on Isla Coronados which commanded a good view of the anchorage and the surrounding islands and mainland. After descending the peak, we stopped by the beach in the adjoining cove of the island. It was a beautiful white sand beach with turquoise blue water. The beach was breath taking. We rowed back to the boats at 12:30 and Matt and Rachel decided to return to spend time on the beach. They decided to spend another night at Isla Coronados.
I departed for Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante (Dancer Island) at 1:00 PM. Since I was making fresh water with the water maker, I decided to take a shower in the cockpit. It was very refreshing after the strenuous hike.
I arrived at Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante at 4:00 PM. There were two other boats in the anchorage. The anchorage is fairly small and there was another boat nearby, so it took two attempts to find a good place to anchor. The first attempt left me too close to the boat that was already anchored. The informal rule about anchoring is that newly anchored boats must select a spot to anchor that is not too close to an already anchored boat. If the anchorage is small or relatively full, finding a spot to anchor can be hard. You have to find a spot that is relatively clear of other anchored boats. You must also picture what the anchorage might look like after a wind shift. Quite often the wind blows from one direction during the day and from another direction at night. You really want to avoid anchoring in a spot where you have room when you anchor during the day, but not in the middle of the night after a wind shift. If the situation turns bad, you may be forced to raise your anchor and re-anchor in the middle of the night. That can be hard to do in darkness.
After anchoring, I started talking with the skipper of the boat anchored nearest me. He invited me over for cocktails. After inflating my dinghy, I rowed over to their boat “Kamala” to join them. Kirk and Mary Miller are from Santa Barbara, California. They brought their Tartan sailboat down the coast last year and this is their second year in Mexico. They have visited much of the Baja Peninsula including the Midriff Island which are quite far north in the Sea of Cortez.
They keep a car at Puerto Escondido which is about 3 or 4 miles from here. That allows them to stop in Puerto Escondido and use their car to go shopping. This is a big convenience because there is only a small grocery store in Puerto Escondido and it only has a limited supply of goods. The car allows them to drive north to Loreto where shopping is much better. They could take a taxi from Puerto Escondido to Loreto, but that is expensive. It costs $40 US for a round trip.
Kirk once served as the captain of “Lady Washington”, the “tall ship” of the State of Washington. It is a fairly large square rigged sailboat that is used for sail training.
I enjoyed talking with Kirk and Mary and seeing their sailboat. The Tartan is built in Ohio and, like the Valiant, it has a cherry wood interior. It was a nicely built boat.
The moon is full and it is a calm and beautiful night.
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