(via satellite)
We left San Jose de Cabo this morning after spending a couple of days in the marina there. It is a nice town with a somewhat touristy old town center surrounded by real local neighborhoods.
Now we are in Bahia de Frailes, tucked behind a massive rock headland to shelter from northerly winds. The weather forecast is for a pretty strong blow tomorrow and Thursday. This spot is really well protected with our oversized ground tackle it should be a pleasant couple of days of walking the beach, swimming, snorkeling and, as always, boat chores.
The trip here was not pleasant. The wind was blowing 15-plus knots on the nose. Intermezzo's tacking angle is over 100 degrees, so sailing directly upwind for any distance is depressing as we lose a noticeable portion of the ground we gained as we change tacks. It wouldn't be so bad if the tacking angles weren't so prominently displayed on the chart plotter track. We sailed for a bit, going nicely through the water at over 6 knots, but making less than 3 knots velocity made good (VMG) to our destination. So we turned on the motors.
The wind wasn't the worst of the conditions. It was the chop. Square, closely spaced waves, not big but big enough to cause constant pounding and shipping of water over the bows. I made the mistake of assuming that Renee had closed the forward deck hatches, only to discover that the were not fully dogged down. We got the port berth matress and bedding pretty wet and had quite a bit of cleaning up to do after we anchored. I doubt we'll make that mistake again. The nice thing about sailing in the desert is that things dry quickly!
The benefit of motoring is that we have hot water. Taking a hot shower on a boat in a remote anchorage is true luxury!
