Carrizal was also a treat. This small bay (19 05.771'N,104 26.252'W) is only a few miles from Manzanillo, the largest port on the west coast of Mexico, but there are no houses or other signs of development with the exception of a single small grove of palm trees. There was one other boat anchored there the night of our arrival, SV Hemisphere Dancer, a Hardin 45 ketch owned by a very interesting couple named Larry and Mel. They have been cruising for a couple of years now and always anchor out, avoiding marinas entirely. They intend to cruise Mexico for another year or two, then continue on around the world.
Early the first day we saw numerous schools of fish just under the water, all nipping at the surface. Ensenada Carrizal is ringed with coral, so a bit later we took the dinghy to the shore nearest NS to snorkel. Swimming amidst the schools we had previously spotted, we also saw a number of other brightly-colored and feathery-gilled species. Because the water was a bit murky, it took some time for the eyes to adjust and really pick out the colors and other features. Impressive, nonetheless. The best part of this snorkeling adventure was that we were just a couple of hundred feet from our boat at anchor. After Sally freed the dinghy anchor from the rock its rope was snagged on, she was able to swim back to the boat about as fast as I rowed.
After snorkeling, we showered with one of the new sun showers that our friend Brooks Burford had brought to us from Portland. For those not familiar with this particular amenity, a sun shower is a large tough plastic bag, clear on one side and black on the other. The top has a handle from which to suspend it and from the bottom runs a hose with a small shower head and valve. Filled with water it lies on the deck clear side up, and the sun heats the water inside. When we were ready to shower, the water was actually hot -- nearly 110 degrees farenheit according to the temperature gauge on the side. With the bag suspended from the solar panel arch on the stern of NS, Sally and I took turns showering in the cockpit. Four gallons sufficed for the two of us, without completely emptying the bag. Because we felt somewhat chilled after our time in the water, the hot water was a great pleasure. Having experienced the bursting of four previous sun showers before they could be put to use (possibly inferior to the Stearns models Brooks brought us), we are being extremely careful with the new ones.
The first evening in Carrizal, the wind was coming from the head of the bay, while the swell was coming from the opposite direction. Since NS was lined up with the swell, there was little rolling. Later on, however, the wind shifted around and NS was taking the swell on the beam. A bit more roll than we would have liked, although both Sally and I slept well enough. The next evening I deployed for the first time our new Magma roll stabilizer, an example of what is often called a "flopper stopper." It hangs down into the water from the end of a spinnaker pole, which positions it about eight feet outboard. Flopper stoppers work by providing very little resistance to motion through the water in the downward direction, but much more resistance to motion upward. As the boat rolls in the direction of the flopper stopper, the device sinks into the water, and when the boat tries to roll back the other way, the flopper stopper impedes the motion. It worked very well. I think we will be using it a lot in the future.
The second evening in Carrizal there were five boats in the bay. Norwegian Steam and Hemisphere Dancer were joined by another ketch, a trawler-style power boat and a twenty-seven foot sloop named Altair. We saw Altair a month ago in Yelapa and met Christian, her owner, when he paddled over in his kayak. He had brought the boat down the coast from Bellingham and was intending to head for the South Pacific. When he paddled over to NS this time, we learned of a possible change in plans. Christian met a French Canadian girl while he was anchored in Melaque just north of Barra de Navidad, spent a great week with her, and now is seriously contemplating parking Altair somewhere and following his new friend back to China, where she has lived for the past nine years. The adventures of youth!
Carrizal was such a beautiful quiet place that we stayed one more day and night than we originally intended. It seemed a shame to leave just after we had worked out the best place to snorkel and the ease with which Sally could swim from the boat. The second day we employed our Advanced Elements inflatable two-person kayak, which was the first time I had used it. The kids had tried it several times, first in Seattle, then in La Paz, but this was a new adventure for me. Even though it is an inflatable, it seems to move quickly and easily through the water, quite different from the pathetic rowing performance of inflatable dinghies, including ours. We explored the shoreline and then snorkeled in the coral, seeing even more and different species of fish than we had the day before.
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| View of the Las Hadas Anchorage from the Paradise Restaurant (NS is leftmost boat) |
The next day, as we undertook the short seven-mile trip to Bahia Manzanillo, we saw the most breathtaking sight we have experienced so far. A couple of hundred feet off our starboard beam a huge creature launched itself into the air and did a barrel roll. It was a breaching humpback whale. I am not sure if there was one whale or several, but before the display was over there had been six complete out-of-the water breaches. Incredible! As we continued to watch, the whale(s) rolled over and over in the water and then beat the water with its tail for a minute or two, until it dove beneath the surface, probably trying to escape the whale-watching craft that had come zooming close to it.
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| The Fantasy Architecture of the Las Hadas Resort |
Today we took NS into the marina to fill up her diesel tank. The wind was blowing very hard pushing us way from the dock. We tried three times to get in, and then a woman from one of the other cruising boats who happened to be on shore and noticed our predicament came down to the dock and took a line from Sally. The fuel dock is in terrible condition, with many cleats half rusted away or about to fall off. Even when NS was tied up with bow and stern lines and a spring line, she kept surging first towards the dock and then away, moving about four feet on each cycle. Luckily we have a lot of strong fenders, which I quickly deployed.
After leaving Las Hadas, we motored north into the next bay, called Bahia Santiago, where we are now anchored at the north end. With the wind from the north, this is well protected. We plan to leave early in the morning for Tenacatita, hoping to cover the 36 nautical miles and get anchored while it is still daylight.
Our current (March 9, 2011) position at the anchorage in Bahia Santiago is 19 06.439'N,104 23.635'W.
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