June 18, 2022-Coromel Winds and Puerto Balandra

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Protected by Punta Diablo

The incessant Coromel winds have tired us. For the two weeks that we’ve been in the La Paz area these night time winds have howled and Wings has rocked and rolled so that we could hardly get any sleep. And that has been in the supposedly “good” anchorages which aren’t really very good.  Anchorages which are actually calm when the Coromels blow are hard to find around here.

We tried Playa Pichilingue, but the waves looped around the corner and it was rough all night. We lasted four nights there trying different spots. None worked.

We looked at Caleta Lobo but we knew it was too small to offer any good protection.

Then we considered Puerto Balandra.  It looked pretty good on the chart.  We could see that the point on the south side, Punta Diablo, would give excellent shelter from the southerly Coromels and figured it would be calm.

What about Internet? There wasn’t supposed to be any coverage in Balandra, but I thought there might be. We like anchorages that are calm and also where we can also get Internet (for weather forecasts, mostly), so we decided to go to Balandra, find a calm spot under Punta Diablo, and check out the Internet once we got there. Even without Internet we might enjoy a calm place for a few nights.

We motored the 3 miles from Playa Pichilingue to Punta Balandra, tucked up behind the point and set the anchor. The bay looked gorgeous and there wasn’t any wind at all.

In the afternoon, however, the Coromel did come up and it came right over Punta Diablo onto us. By 7:00 pm we had 20 knots and before midnight there were nearly 30. It never slacked off. There weren’t any waves to speak of, so that was good, but the wind gusts were pretty horrendous. I kept my clothes on and slept on the settee just in case I needed to run on deck for any reason during the night, which I didn’t.

It was still blowing in the morning with a cold, brisk, south wind. It was a classic Coromel but in the crystal clear morning light the place was indeed beautiful. We caught a couple of hours of Internet, surprisingly, and updated our weather information. So, except for the night time winds we were pretty happy with Puerto Balandra.

(I should point out that once we got out of La Paz town itself we have not been able to get weather other than with an Internet connection. The La Paz cruiser’s radio net forecasts have been, except for the hurricane forecasts, worthless for a sailor, the regular guy who gives it is out of town and the substitute guy’s forecast is all about how hot it’s going to be in town every afternoon or what the hurricanes are doing, but not much about the wind, and anyway we can't hear the morning net out in the islands.  Other boats have satellite set-ups to get weather but we don’t, so we need Internet.)

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Judy on the Dune

There was a French boat anchored a bit farther in and they seemed to have less wind so we thought we’d move next to them and try another night but first we explored the bay in the dingy. We took one of our computers so we could test the Internet connection in case some location was better than the others in that regard. There weren’t any but before heading back to the boat and repositioning Wings, we went ashore to look at the sand dunes, which was really fun.

That night was better. The wind was less, still no waves, and again in the morning we got a bit of Internet.

The views here are so stunning we have decided that despite the wind we really like it. Puerto Balandra is now one of our favorites; it is such a beautiful place, and with the prospect of calm nights, we are loving Puerto Balandra.

But tomorrow we need to go back to La Paz and start preparing for our return to La Cruz so well have to cut short our stay in Puerto Balandra, and we’ll see you in La Cruz soon.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Puerto Balandra

Post script:

We thought there were going to some calmer nights. Well, there wasn’t. The next night after I wrote this post we got pasted again. The Coromel wind started at 5:00PM and by 8:00PM it was in the twenties. It never slacked off all night and I saw steady to high 20’s after midnight. The gusts, however, were the worst, they hit with sudden force from many directions. This time we had damage, minor damage, but damage. At 1:30 am the dingy blew off the deck. I already taken off the motor, gas tank and oars but we’d left the dingy itself upside down on the foredeck. A racket at 1:30 AM awakened us. What in blazes was that? It repeated itself. I ran on deck wondering, “What the hell?”  I saw our Zodiac dingy over the side of the boat hanging upside down by the ropes I’d tied it with. Apparently not well enough. Judy came up and we horsed the dingy back onto the deck and this time tied it securely. Then I noticed the solar panel. It too had been caught by the wind. Instead of spreading its wings out to the side where it could catch the sun (in daytime) it was now vertical. Obviously the wind had blown that too. And our flag which we’ve flown on the backstay since we left La Cruz was flapping violently, torn to shreds, but still making a terrible noise. With the howling of the wind and the flapping of the flag sleep was going to be impossible. We took the flag down.

In the morning the wind was still blowing and we saw several boats which had ducked into the bay around us during the night. Apparently it was worse outside.

At 9:00 AM the wind shut off like someone threw a switch: 20 knots to zero instantly. Around us our new neighbors were upping anchors and heading back on their way to whereever they were going when the wind interrupted their plans the night before.

At noon we left too, we’ve had enough.

 

June 10, 2022-Kids Achieve Critical Mass

A young girl squealing with delight suddenly leaped from the newly arriving boat and started splashing towards the nearest other boat among the small fleet anchored in Aqua Verde. At the same time a second girl, on the other boat, also squealing with delight, jumped from her boat and started swimming towards the first.

They met in the middle and shrieked and hugged. It was clear that they were happy to see each other.  

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Kids Swarming

This was our introduction to the gathering of cruiser kids, soon to achieve critical mass, which was happening in Aqua Verde.

Before nightfall there were 10 boats anchored in the northern lobe of Aqua Verde and most of them were “kid boats”; boats with kids aboard. They had been travelling around Mexico for weeks and had met at anchorages where they had established many close friendships. What happened when they got together was a joy to watch.

After launching their kayaks and paddle boards they all migrated towards one or the other of the boats. When four or five kids got together things were sort of quiet, but when there got to be about six or more things exploded and invariably there erupted a flurry of gleeful and excited voices and frantic splashing, the sounds of which echoed off the rocks surrounding the anchorage. The gatherings turned into spontaneous water based versions of King of the Mountain.

Aboard Wings the screaming and squealing that echoed off the rock walls surrounding the bay was amazing and we loved it.

One day, on the beach, they had a Pinatta for a girl’s birthday and when the stuffed donkey was finally bashed to the ground the mob just swarmed on it. The adults just backed away. On another occasion they had a scavenger hunt where they had to get clues from each boat in the anchorage, including Wings, and the paddling and squealing as they went from boat to boat seemed like an aquatic Oklahoma Land Rush.

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Judy

When the kid fleet resumed its journey north Wings sailed south, to Isla San Francisco and then on to Evaristo, both favorites of ours, and finally to La Paz. As we neared La Paz we started to encounter a mob of a different kind: Party boats for charter. In each anchorage we were surrounded by large powerboats which came from La Paz for a couple of days or nights loaded with party goers. They were all intent on having a grand time, and we were subjected to loud music, jet skis, and the all night running of gen-sets. Each yacht had uniformed crew as servants and fancy dinners were served on the upper decks to owners and guests who all dressed for the occasion. We watched as plates and trays of food and fine Champaign were carried up and down the yacht’s stairways.

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Isla San Francisco

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Now we’ve made our way to La Paz itself, the home base for all these charter boats. At first it seemed like La Paz hadn’t changed very much from when we first visited here in 1997. The dusty streets were paved over and the small houses replaced by towering condos, but it was recognizable. Now we see that suburbs have popped up and there are shopping malls and more traffic. The marinas have been populated with rows and rows of those big fancy powerboats, and the marinas are full. It is a good thing that we are not looking for a marina berth now, they are all taken. La Paz is absolutely the busiest port we’ve ever been in. The radio traffic from boats to the Port Captain fills the airwaves all day and into the night. But we’re happily anchored out in the Mogate and we can go ashore whenever we want in our dingy. Of course we can’t wash Wings so the grime from three month’s cruising is just accumulating, and the crowds and prices in town seem to be increasing, but we can survive all of these things, and the multitudes of pangas which whizz by each morning and night, as well.

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Parked in Panga Highway

So that is our routine now: Stay anchored in La Paz, or nearby, relax, ignore the hubbub, and fix some boat projects (we could tell you some stories). There has been some socializing, we’ve met some of our cruising friends here and made some new ones, but it’s all been pretty relaxed.

We’ll be back in La Cruz soon.

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Fred & Judy, SV Wings, La Paz