We hit the beach this morning...and found a restaurant! I had read that there was a restaurant but figured it had been 86'd in the bad economy...no way Jose! It's right on the beach, full bar and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner...It was part of a Baja Development program funded in 2005...in fact, it also serves as the golf shop for a golf course...that's open (but we didn't see any golfers...
After checking out the restaurant we hiked down the beach to the destination type hotels then went snorkeling on a micro reef just east of the hotels...it still has live coral but it doesn't look too healthy...the Mexican government is also making an attempt to protect the sea turtles, but it doesn't look like anyone is paying too much attention to the rules and their doesn't seem to be any enforcement apparatus...it's a start...
Well, we had a little change of plans...after snorkeling in the afternoon Jose and I went below to read and Danny was reading on deck...about an hour later the boat started to buck like a bronco and I thought some cowboy fisherman had gone by...but it kept up. About the same time Joe and I made for the companionway to check out what was happening in the anchorage...and it was chaos.
By this time there were about 21 boats anchored around us and we were suddenly, out of the blue, experiencing 6-8 foot swells. WWV was burying her nose about every fifth set and the boats around us were doing the same. These waves were coming from the SE, the two exposed compass points of the anchorage.
I went below to check out the latest Gribs files to see if I could figure out what was going on...they showed big SE winds down around Cabo and inside the Sea...but that was 90 miles away and it was only blowing 12-15 kits (from the SE) into the anchorage...Because we were anchored in only 20' (which means we only had eleven feet under the keel) I didn't want to deal with the implications of five or six foot waves.
We pulled the dingy on board and stowed it and the motor in their ready for sea condition... this took about 30 minutes and I figured that would give us some time to see if there were any improvement... there wasn't. About six miles from Los Muertos there is a sister anchorage (Punt Arena de la Ventana) that is exposed to the NW but protected from the SE. I told Jose and Danny to start getting the anchor up and we'd head around Punt Arena and spend the night there...
Danny was on port side manning the windlass switch and Jose was on starboard checking out the anchor chain as it was being lifted...all of a sudden a huge swell buries the nose of WWV and when the bow rises up, Jose is catapulted over the lifelines and is now on the bow of the boat, rising and falling with every wave ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE FREAKING LIFELINES. Danny can't stop bringing up the anchor, I'm on the helm and were about 50 feet from one the boats and coming down on her in a seaway...
At this point, Jose is not looking real chipper so I put the WWV in neutral and rushed to the bow...by now Jose has his legs entangled in the lifelines so at least he's no longer dangling off the bow like a limp towel... With a little maneuvering, Danny and I get both Jose and the anchor on board. Jose is a little worse for wear...I think he sprained his knee when it got twisted in the lifelines, but no other bumps and bruises and he's already demanding concierge service...so I think there's hope for him...
We're now anchored in Bahia de la Ventana...winds are still out of the SE and this anchorage is calm...we're waiting for our Costco casserole to cook...life is good...
Since we had to bail early from Los Muertos, we'll probably head up to La Paz first thing tomorrow...
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