Looking at the forecast, the day after Thanksgiving was the only possible day to sail south so off sailing we went. From the anchorage the sea looked calm, not the 13-15 knots forecast. But once out of the protection of the bay we found it truly was blowing. We had a sporty sail south to Isla Coronado moving along at a good clip and seeing a maximum speed of 8.2 knots – no record just a sweet downhill ride.
The prudent thing would have been to anchor on the south side of the anchorage. But silly me I thought we could tuck inside tight in the large crescent bay. Once anchored we found the 4-5 foot swell was wrapping around, knocked down to 2-3 feet with 18-22 knot winds. Blerg. And now going to the south side of the anchorage would require thirty to forty-five minutes with 4-5 foot waves on our beam, not great. So we voted to suck it up, which we did for the next twelve hours. Around 11pm the swell and winds subsided and we were able to sleep well after a tiring day.
The next morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise and calm conditions. First up was a climb to the peak of the volcano I had made earlier with Mike. A little rain the morning with cooler temperatures. Add in some cloud cover and today’s trek was much more enjoyable than last time, with views that were just as spectacular. Back to the dinghy we noticed dolphins in the bay. So off we went. I talked Julia into jumping in the water with the dolphins. I got ahead of the pod, she jumped in and with my directions swam towards them. They weren’t in a playful mood so she only got a glimpse but totally worth it.
In the afternoon Julia took a kayak out for a paddle while I recovered from the mornings activities. Those damn dolphins struck again, drawing me into the double kayak to paddle my ass off to keep up and watch them surface just a few feet from me. Regrouping on the boat Julia had similar success with another pod. We could see the abundant bait fish that had drawn the dolphins in. Such a lucky chance encounter.
The next morning before we left it was off on another paddle, this time together. A mile later we were on our own private beach. An escape from the mega-yacht that pulled in as we left Strikhedonia. True to form, soon the jetskis were out and annoying us by powering all around the bay as high speeds. Ugh, every time. Since the wind was starting to come up were began our paddle back. Of course the wind made this more of a challenge but that was forgotten as a pod of dolphins began jumping near us as they played in a panga’s wake. The panga driver was putting on a show for his customers by driving in circles making waves that the dolphins took advantage of to jump and play. Another lucky chance encounter.
Paddling up to the boat we went through a slick of sludge. The fucking mega-yacht opened their holding tank in the anchorage, illegal, sending their poop into an enclosed bay. Assholes. Disgusted, we headed out of the bay and down to Ballandra on Isla Carmen.
No Comments