April 30, 2008 -- Yellowstone Beach, Isla Monserrat -- N 25 degrees 42'37.7"/W 111 degrees 02' 34.6"
House battery at 7 am -- 12.42 volts
29.8nm for the day; 536.6 nm cruised on the trip overall

We pulled out of Puerto los Gato at 9 this morning, but not before receiving one final visit from our friend Manuel. His panga motored into the anchorage around 8:30. Apparently none of the crewmembers on the other 4 sailboats anchored in los Gatos were visible, as Manuel passed them by and headed straight for us. He waved and called out "buenas dias Mikay". I greeted Manuel and told him how much we enjoyed our dinner of lingusta and cabrilla last night. He beamed, and then asked us if we could spare any gasolina, in trade for some fish. I told him we still had plenty of fish in the frig, but offered him the 2 1/2 gallon jerry can of gas anyway. In respect for his pride, I asked if he'd take our basura (rubbish) as an exchange. He said "Si". He then pointed halfway down on the gas can, not assuming that I meant to give him the whole 2.5 gallons. I told him to pour it all in. He was most grateful, and asked us where we were headed. I told him Isla Monserrat. We wished each other well, and then we were off.

We closely paralleled the coast, enjoying the morning light as it played on the multihued cliffs along this stretch of shoreline. The winds today were forecast to be southeasterly, however, in the morning we had a light westerly land breeze. Occasionally, when we cruised past a low saddle in the mountains, the breeze would freshen, but with the short fetch between us and shore, the going was smooth. We tried sailing, but the wind was too erratic and fickle to give us much help. We reached Punta San Marcial at midmorning, and set course for Isla Monserrat, about 10 miles offshore from the main Baja coast. Monserrat is a seldom visited island about 6 miles in length, with anchorages at both the north and south ends of the island. I figured that, with the predicted southeast winds, the north anchorage at Yellowstone Beach would offer decent protection from wind and swell.

As we started out on our 4 mile crossing to Monserrat we passed very close to several groups of manta rays. Their dramatic leaps into the air never cease to amaze. About midway in our crossing we encountered progressively uncomfortable swells, coming out of the west. The Baja coast arcs to the west north of San Marcial, creating more room for swells to build. The morning land breeze had blown stronger in this area, due to lower topography in the adjoining mountains. Our northerly course put us right in the troughs of closely spaced swells, which kicked treated us roughly. By this time the southeast wind had finally come up, briskly, but the westerly swells kept coming. We decided to duck around the south end and run up the east side of the island, where we'd be sheltered from the swell. That plan worked out well. We ate lunch on the run, rounding the rocky north end around 1:30 in the afternoon. Yellowstone Beach proved to be a marginal anchorage, protected from the southeast wind, but rocking with refracted swells. We anchored and rested for awhile, and then went ashore for a walk, and to get off the rocking boat. While walking ashore we debated whether to stay here for the night or make a run for Bahia Candelero, some 10 miles distant. We initially thought to cross over to Candelero, but after getting back on the boat and glassing the seas to our north, decided we'd stay here instead. We were both too tired to try dealing with a couple hours of rough seas. We pulled anchor and reset in the east corner of the bay, where we had best protection from refracting swells. I'm feeling uneasy about being here, but that's how things have developed. The wind shows no sign of easing, with darkness now settled in. It's shifted a bit to the southwest, and if it swings much more, we'll have westerly swells all night and a lee shore behind us. The anchor is well set in sand, with lots of scope out, but I'll probably not sleep very well tonight.