April 4, 2008 -- Layover day, Caleta San Juanica
house battery at 6 am: 12.41 volts; weather, clear and breezy

I rose at 6 am, and after coffee and a couple of granola bars, I climbed into the dinghy to try my luck fishing. I motored over to the lee of the pinnacle rocks at the edge of the anchorage and jigged, but got no bites. I then moved out the the entrance to the bay and tried in deeper waters, with the same disappointing results. I tried several jigs and lures, but nothing worked. Finally, I put on a silver flatfish and trolled my way back toward the boat. As I neared the power boat anchored several hundred yards to our stern, I reeled my line in and was surprised to find a long, snakey fish snagged to one of the treble hooks. It was about a foot long, but I never felt it bite. I decided to hang onto it, for use as bait. I motored over to the power boat, and said hello to the captain and his daughter, whom we'd met yesterday. He'd offered the loan of a hacksaw so I could cut the spur off a conch shell I'd found at Bahia Santa Barbara. I thought it would make a good conch horn. I made the cut, cleaned out the opening, and gave it a blow. The horn sounded a loud, clear blast. The two aboard the power boat were surprised at how well it blew. I let them try, but they couldn't get any sound out of it.

I returned to our boat and Sandy presented me with a freshly baked granola/banana crisp. It was delicious, and made for an excellent late breakfast treat. By this time the forecast NNW winds had picked up strength, and were whipping across the anchorage. We boarded dinghy and went ashore, for a foot exploration. We walked the beach to our south, enjoying the varied rock formations. Pelicans and ospreys were taking advantage of the strong, steady winds by soaring above the sheer cliffs on the edge of the bay. I climbed a tall hill which afforded a great view of the entire bay. We then struck out inland, on a steep, freshly graded dirt road, apparently created to access newly subdivided lots. Change is in the works for this area. We circled back by road, ending up near where we'd beached the dinghy. We returned to the boat and had lunch.

This afternoon I did my version of 'dumpster diving', which involved hauling out all the contents of the king berth, so I could access the 9 large plastic tubs which contain our meal supplies. We'd begun running out of provisions in the smaller working tubs, which we store under the forward settee, and it was time to restock. Sandy had prepared a list, and she checked things off the inventory list as I retrieved various items from the bins. It's kind of like going grocery shopping in a dark, horizontal closet. With that chore completed, I motored over to ANU, to show Gail and Howard our new cruising guide. They really liked the format and presentation.

Before dinner, we went ashore again, to look for Apache Tears. These smooth, shiny obsidian spheres can be found in a gray, ashy rock formation just beyond the beach. We chipped away at the soft, crumbly rock, and managed to dig out several dozen. They're jet black, and quite pretty.

Dinner tonight was spaghetti, made from a sausage and sauce mix that Sandy had cooked up from scratch at home before the trip, and then dried in the oven. She soaked the dried meat and sauce in water, to rehydrate, and then served it over angel hair noodles, garnished with grated mozzerella cheese. It tasted great, and was quite easy to prepare. The rehydration wasn't quite complete, and next time we have spaghetti on the menu we'll allow more time for the rehydration.

The winds, which had blown strongly all day, finally died down at dusk. After dinner we had tea in the cockpit, under a star filled sky. The only artificial lights visible were the anchor lights of the 5 neighboring sailboats.