April 9, 2008 -- Bahia Agua Verde -- N 25 degrees 31' 22.4"/ W 111 degrees 04' 28"
house battery at 7 am: 12.50 volts; 68 liters of gas purchased for 552 pesos; est. 36 gallons on board; est. mileage from Santa Rosalia, including sailing: 8.5 mpg
24 nm cruised for the day; 286 nm cruised on the trip overall

Well, I have to give Pemex and Singlar credit. They said gas would be available by 10 am, and they were right. While sipping our coffee and listening to the Amigo net weather forecast at 7:30 am (8:30 savings time) I saw the tanker truck drive up the entrance road. He first turned down toward the API offices, and a half hour later rolled into the Singlar Marina and parked next to their large, above ground tank. I got into the dinghy and ran in to find out how soon I could get gas. The Singlar guys said 10 am. They didn't start work till 9 am, and then it took a while for the tanker to connect up to the storage tank and transfer fuel. We raised anchor and motored over to the fuel dock. Sure enough, just after 10 am they were ready to pump me some gas. While getting set up, the gas attendant pointed excitedly toward the water, in front of our boat. There was a lot of thrashing going on. "Roosterfish!" he kept saying excitedly. I grabbed a spin pole and cast toward the action, but was too late. We then proceeded with the mundane, but necessary task of filling fuel tanks. I avoided overfilling the main tank and jerry cans, and figure I took on perhaps 3 gallons short of my 39 gallon capacity. I was very grateful to have tanks full, and the boat ready for the run down to La Paz. While at the fuel dock, I filled the solar shower and porta potty flush reservoir with tap water. We were now well stocked in all respects.

While still at the fuel dock, we talked with a Canadian who had pulled up in a pickup with a bunch of empty jerry cans. We got to talking about manta rays, which can be seen in these waters. As he described his encounters with these remarkable fish, we suddenly realized that the "sea lion" we had seen basking at the surface just after leaving Loreto the day before had actually most likely been a manta ray. We had seen two flippers, which were undoubtedly the tips of its wings. We never saw a nose come up to breath, like a sea lion would have done. This guy said you can get right in the water with manta rays. When you do, he advised looking them right in the eyes, and they might accept you and move in close. Wouldn't that be a thrill!

We got under way at 11 am, and had lunch while motoring south on calm seas. We occasionally picked up a slight breeze, and were able to motor sail part of the way, and even had enough wind to shut the motor down for short periods. I finally got some action with my deep sea rod, which I regularly troll while cruising. We were only doing about 3 1/2 knots motor sailing when we heard the big Penn Senator reel start to zing. I grabbed the pole with visions of yellowtail in my eyes. The pull of the fish didn't seem that strong, however, and when I reeled in enough to see the fish, I was disappointed to see that a slender, 3 foot long shark had gotten a mouthful of treble hook. I carefully shook him free with the aid of needle nose pliers. We got going again, and I again let the line out. At least I knew that my diving lure was attractive to something. A mile or so further on, the reel again sang out. We went through the same drill, only to find another shark fouled in the hooks. This time it was even more difficult shaking him free. I decided to put the rod away, noting that trolling at under 4 knots was the probable reason for hooking sharks. I'll try keeping my speed higher in the future.

Our goal for the day was Bahia Agua Verde, one of the more protective anchorages along this stretch of coast. Since some northerly wind is forecast for tomorrow afternoon and Friday, Agua Verde seemed like a good place to hang out and see what developes. I had planned on at least 1 layover day here in any case. We got in around 4 pm, and found another 5 sailboats and a large power cruiser already swinging at anchor. We were able to find a suitable empty patch of water and dropped our hook. The bobos were waiting for us here, so we put up the dodger and bug netting over forward hatch and cockpit. We were able to enjoy margeritas and munchies in the cockpit without being bothered by bugs. For dinner, we fixed up delicious beef fajitas, with some of the meat we purchased in Loreto. It was an outstanding meal. As we sat in the cockpit, I heard a loud splash. Sandy exclaimed that a ray had just leaped out of the water. I looked in that direction just in time to see a second leap. A ray, about 12 inches across, had leaped completely out of the water and smacked down again. I'd heard that they jump like that, but this was the first time we'd seen them.