There are over 8 billion people crowding onto the land surfaces of this planet, but there was no sign of life along the wide span of the mainland we could see across the Salsipuedes Channel at sunset. Anchored at Salsipuedes Island, our charts and the lack of AIS fixes confirmed that.
Sal Si Puedes – Leave If You Can
The name of the channel probably refers to the ferocious tides that wash through the passage leading north to the Bahia de Los Angeles, the Bay of Angels. But by now, as we linger on in this Never Never land and delaying our passage south, the name itself seems to have cast a spell on us.
The Bahia already lies two days sailing behind us. It is a favoured summer retreat for live aboard cruisers in the Sea of Cortez and sure enough at least 30 boats spent the hottest months scattered through the 100 square miles of islands. Many we already knew from other anchorages or boatyards elsewhere in the Sea of Cortez.
Village life
Every Sunday dozens of us would come together at the only village in the bay for supplies from the local shops. Once a week a truck would drive 6 hours across the dry mountain range of the Baja peninsula from Ensenada, the nearest city heading north, to sell fresh vegetable on the main road.
The small settlement reminded us of Great Barrier Island with small shops, no ATMS or cellphone coverage and every one befriended or related. And just like our old home, it was popular for deep sea fishing and visiting the conservations parks. We even found a conservation programme for school pupils reminiscent of Sea Education Aotea who Marea is still working for remotely. The Vermillion Centre run by Meghan organized that and so we invited them to visit New Life for a fun day out.
After Sunday shopping there would be social time at Guillermo’s restaurant where cruisers landed their inflatable and used the free Wi-Fi. Here Nico would often meet visiting and local children playing on the beach. We could also get online orders delivered by Alejandro, the so-called “Uber driver” coming down from Ensenada once or twice a week.
Stormy times
Apart from avoiding the worst of the oppressive heat further south, the Bahia was also out of the typical pathway of named hurricanes coming up from the north. When Hilary threatened to get closer, we joined a couple of dozen other boats in an enclosed bay to prepare New Life and ride out the storm winds, and afterwards, to share our storm stories.
But the village did not get off as lightly as we found when we returned next time, with debris from floods piled up on the streets. Many homes were affected also, locals told us.
If hurricanes normally give the Bahia a wide berth, the fearsome Chubasco night time storms do not. Most of the time the lightening on the horizon just remained a threat. Last year when we had passed through here we did get caught a few times just north – twice while at anchor and also under way. The 50 knot winds produced a lot of noise and adrenalin but no real damage.
The Chubasco season was nearly at an end when on a night time run in the Salsipuedes channel lightening appeared. With our engine out of action temporarily we could only try to steer away from land before we got caught, just after midnight, and for two hours were repeatedly knocked over and tossed around. We lost gear overboard, the inflatable came off the davit damaging its tubes, and the boat electronics drowned in water that entered.
Off course, when daylight came, the boat was in a mess.
But New Life proved a strong boat. Late the next morning we limped back into a nearby bay where friends were at anchor. As we entered we heard on our VHF handset that boats across the area were already looking for us, because we had not been heard off since the storm.
Still trying to leave
By now it has cooled down, our heat rashes are gone, and most of our sailor friends have already left, heading north to haul out or south to continue their travels. The sheltered cove of Don Juan, the abandoned resort at Punta Pescador, the volcano, the white sands of La Mona and the lighthouse sandspit where we used to anchor with other boats will be mostly empty now.
It’s already been nearly two weeks since we said goodbye to the friends we made at the Bahia Village. But there is still time to enjoy some more of the spectacular diving and spearfishing we have been enjoying for the past months. But soon we really must leave and head south.
New Life needs to come out of the water once more for a long list of jobs to complete before we are ready to cross the Pacific. We will need to drive to the border to collect more supplies we already ordered. And there is still so much of Mexico not to miss before we head out in March next year.
But before we go, we should really visit the next bay along one more time, We can leave after that …
