1:00am pee break interrupted my sleep, s I worked to get back to sleep we started to get a bit of wind. Nothing concerning, just a light breeze. It was however enough to make falling asleep a challenge. Speed forward an hour and it is blowing much harder. What the hell, the forecast was no wind until 9:00am. I waited another half hour before waking up Jack.
Last year rounding the Santa Domingo point, we had a wave crash into the cockpit and I did not cherish a repeat. So quickly we prepared to depart and just before 3:00am we were underway. The waves had not built yet so it was up and over rollers and rolling side to side as we made the long 180 degree arc and into deeper water. By 4:00am it was mellowing out and we were pointed downwind. Jack took the first watch and hit my bunk for a short nap. The rest of the passage was relaxing, I made the right choice get going and to save us from getting beaten up later in the day.
9:45am anchor was down in Punta Pulpito. During our scouting the area Jack had chatted with SV Big City Fish who spent the night here, Rick asked, “How’d you get here so early?” Jack had the perfect response, “You know, up before the sun.” With that I grabbed another nap.
Time to explore, in the kayak we paddled to shore and followed it around to a few sea caves and interesting geologic formations. There was a surge so we had to keep our distance but we could see the cave went way back. After beaching the kayak on the rocky shore we walked to a huge obsidian vein in the hill protecting the point. There were so many Apache tears! I found a cool one that was very shiny with a wave pattern. Not content, we followed a road a ways before bushwhacking to the shore on the opposite side of the land spit connecting the Baja to the hill. This was the windward side and the waves were impressive. Coming closely together and crashing. In the distance we could see SV Nibi who hunkered down in Santa Domingo after we bailed. They looked to be having a spirited sail south. At least it was following seas… A bit more exploring before we hiked back to the kayak.
After a siesta, hey I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night so don’t judge me! We chatted with George (SV Believe) a single-hander. He is from Bozeman where my daughter goes to school so it was fun talking to someone who has lived there since the 70s. The sun was working its way down so after George left us we dropped our dinghy to explore further shore line. First south which was exciting as there were tons of rocks barely covered making for some tight maneuvering and careful motor work to avoid damaging the propeller. The we zipped over to the hill protecting the point. Not as rocky but still some spots we needed to be careful. More sea caves over on this side but also exposure to the wind and waves. Eventually we came up to a nasty looking area of exposed rocks with waves breaking. Time to turn around. On the slow ride back to the boat Jack spotted a spotted eagle ray who jumped a few times for our enjoyment. With that our adventure was complete and it was time to get working on some dinner.
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