Sailors Run Sea of Cortez Part-2 July 26 2014
When we visited last I was trying to find out if I actually owned 20,000 shares in the Rosalia mine, well !guess what I do. The really good news about this is the shares have already increased 20% in value so we will see how long it takes me to go broke on this venture.
Debbie is back in the New Mexico having fun with grand kids and family. She actually seems to be doing just great as I’m a little taken aback that she hasn’t wanted to give that all up and get back here sailing. Oh well, there are still three long months ahead so I’ll just sort of hold my breath.HA-HA.
Now I had sailed back to the South to attend a big cruisers Fourth of July party at El Burro Cove, sponsored by the local weather guru Gary from the Sonrisa-Ham net. The party was amazing as always, with thirty boats in attendance and over 100 people,it definitely had all the chemistry for a great party.
Alex our Pyrotechnics guy was in his element,I mean right at the start of things early on in the day, Gary had fired up his ether-powered potato gun lobbing rather large potato parts far out into the fleet of boats, I don’t know just how deadly that thing is at close range but I know one round whizzed right by Alex’s head and somehow I feel he might have some idea. Alex not to be out done grabbed up his flare pistol and shot a flare right down the beach, it was then that I found myself praying the range might be less than what it appeared because that flare was heading for a straw house on the beach. Now, I’m sure Alex had done all the calculations because the flare dropped just outside the front door into the sea.
Alex however had just began, and had much more in store for us party goers, as within the hour he fired yet another flare this one out away from the houses and towards the highway. It seemed safe as there is seldom any traffic and as it turned out the flare fell short of the highway into some dry brush. Yep!you guessed it-we now had a fire going on! Alex charged at the fire with a piece of wood somebody commented that hey!now he’s going to add wood to the fire, which was doing quite well on its own.
Well, Gary is no dummy as he just happened to have several Bombadarios [fireman] standing by with a truck and tank of water with hoses and pumps. I’m pretty sure Alex just wanted to make sure they were alert and ready for the big show, Alex had all set up for the evening. It only took about twenty minutes to get the blaze under control and I seen the color blossom back into Gary’s face, and yes, the fire was now out much to Alexi’s satisfaction. It was now definitely time to trade that flare gun of Alexis in for an ice cold Pacifico beer.
The party was fun and I met lots of interesting cruisers. The evening fireworks went off without a hitch, and Gary must have cooked 500 hot dogs as he had the stove going all day and half the night. The cruisers made it a real pot luck and there was plenty for all to eat.
The next day I sailed out of there early as that bay is very hot with 100 degree water and 100 degree air on more days than I can stand.
It was on my sail across the North end of San Marcos Island that I had possibly my most amazing nature experience.
The first thing I seen was a huge sword fish about 8-10 ft long come flying up out of the sea then crashing back in with a tremendous splash.
The next thing I know my boat is surrounded by a pod of about 60 dolphins that are slapping the water with their tails, all the time circling my boat fishing I believe. They stayed around me for a good thirty minutes, and then I suddenly notice three pilot whales off my port bow and they swim contently across my bow and then for the remainder of this miracle of 10 miles I’m treated to manta rays flying right out of the water, some times 10 feet into the air and it’s not just one or two you can see three or four of them in the air at once,it’s times like this that you just almost have to pinch yourself to see if this is real or a dream.
Debbie and I spent several years in the Atlantic and Caribbean and never seen anything even close to what was going on here, on this particular day in the Sea Of Cortez.
The Sea of Cortez has some of the most amazing sunsets and it has a lot to do with all the amazing cloud formations that can occur on any given day and they are sometimes statically charged creating lightning and Chubasco wind storms. [A storm that comes on rapidly and may be packing 60 knots of wind but normally subsides after less than an hour]. The pictures say it all
I have been making more baggy wrinkle’s to hang in the rigging for chafe protection for my sails. These things only cost about one dollar in material to make but each one takes about three hours to complete. I now have twenty two of them in our rig and I think that is going to get the job done for the big upcoming adventure.
You don’t see these on very many sailboats but not many sailors’ sail for months on end with their sails plastered up against their rigging either. Chafe is the sailor’s silent enemy at sea.
Start of making baggy wrinkles using the samson post on the bow of sailor’s Run
Start of more creation of one Baggy Wrinkle
Coming along & is starting to look like a nice Baggy wrinkle
Where else to do my project,but in Paradise
Sailors Run’s rigging with it’s 6 new baggy wrinkles put in place
This is the rigging I made & use for going up the mast that is in the one slide,to install the baggy wrinkles
On another interesting note here is a picture with a million year old petrified clam sitting on the top of the cactus.
Well Debbie and I wish you all the best where ever you are and hope to share more anchorages or special places with you all in the not too distant future..
Your Amigos, Jeff& Debbie