March 26, 2008 -- Anchored in Posada Conception, N 26 degrees 45' 31.7"/ W 111 degrees 53' 29.8"
Distance cruised today: 22 nm; total distance for trip: 143.5 nm

After yesterday's long run and late dinner, we took our time getting started today. I found the cockpit dripping with a dew that would have put Puget Sound dews to shame. I took advantage of the moisture and chamoied all the surfaces I could reach. It was almost like giving the boat a wash, and I was able to get rid of a lot of salt and dirt. We enjoyed our coffee in the cockpit, in bright sunshine. It looked like it was going to be a very hot day. Appearances, however, can be deceiving.

We raised anchor around 8:30 am, and motored out of our sheltered nook in front of the Punta Chivato luxury hotel. As I worked out into the main bay I started picking up a sea breeze off the port side, and I set both sails. We were sailing in light air, but it was off the beam, and we averaged about 3 knots across most of the bay, a distance of 8 nm. It was a very pleasant sail. About half way across, we sailed into a fairly dense fog bank, which seemed very out of place here. I had to put my wind shirt on, and I folded the bimini back, to be comfortable. Visibility got down to a hundred yards or so at times. As we approached the mouth of Bahia Conception proper, the wind off our port beam began clocking to stern. I adjusted sails, and began speeding up, now averaging over 4 knots. Continuing south, down Bahia Conception, we soon were sailing directly downwind. I swayed out the main on the starbard side and hooked up my new preventer line. It worked great, and I was able to do it all from the cockpit. I went on deck and rigged the whisker pole to the genoa on the port side, and off we went, wing on wing. We averaged 5.5 to 6 knots for several miles. The fog lifted and revealed the stark mountains that flank the east side of the bay. As we sailed further into the bay, with the two shorelines constricting somewhat, the wind began to strengthen, and I became uneasy about our wing on wing setup. That feeling was reinforced as a shift in wind tried to gybe the main. Fortunately, my preventer did its job, and the main was unable to slam all the way across. I got the main refilled on the starboard side, but decided to shift to just one sail. I gave Sandy the helm and went forward to remove the whisker pole and roll up the jib, prior to dropping the main. As I cut the jib sheet the main came across again. The preventer did its job once more, however the boat was being overpowered, and lay ahull to the wind. We had no choice but to fire up the engine in order to regain control. We motored into the wind, and I was able to furl the jib, drop the main, and then come about and resume sailing on just the jib. It was a bit messy, but we managed. Wing on wing makes for great sailing, especially with whisker pole and preventer helping out, but in a strengthening wind, it can make for problems. With just the jib out, we were still doing better than 5 knots. When I was able to alter course toward Santispac I reset the main, and we clipped along on a nice reach, again doing better than 6 knots, but under a lot more control than our wing on wing sleigh ride. All in all, it was a great sail, covering over 20 nm.

We motored the last half mile into Santispac, which is a nice sheltered cove with a pretty beach. Numerous RV's are camped on the beach, and the place is known for Anna's, where the guide book says we could buy groceries, ice, and take showers. All of the above were on our needs list. I put the kicker motor on the porta-bote for the run into the beach. I test fired her up, and she ran fine. We climbed aboard and I started the motor. We got about 100 feet and the little outboard quit. No sputtering, it just quit. I gave a couple futile pulls, and grabbed the oars. Once ashore, we walked up to Anna's and found that they close on Wednesdays. Guess what, today is Wednesday. Just my luck. Back to the boat I rowed. After tying up to Chinook I checked out the kicker. What do you know, she was out of gas. I thought I remembered the tank being over half full, but oh well. I started filling the tank, and spotted gas dripping off the bottom of the carburator. Float problems. I've been there before. I removed the cover and managed to fix the problem, but not before dropping one of the two little carburator screws overboard. Fortunately, I located a replacement in my stainless nuts and bolts box. I test fired the motor. She runs fine now, and no more leaks.

Time for dinner. I was setting up the barbque when she uttered those terrifying words. "Mike, the stove didn't light". It's been working just great. I immediately suspected the exhaust tube. Often, after a good sail, it loads up with water, and that proved to be the problem this time. Once I drained the water out, she fired right up. We seem destined to be having late dinners, but in this case, dinner was well worth waiting for. Sandy fried up sliced onions and little Mexican squash in butter flavored oil, with key lime and a great Mexican pepper spice mix for flavor and just a little snap. I barbqued sirloin tip steak, sliced very thin. It had been marinated and tenderized, and it was superb. We finished the evening in the cockpit, under a very black sky glittering with stars, sipping our after dinner tea. For entertainment, I got out my underwater light and gave it a try. Little shrimp like critters swarmed around the light, and needle fish darted around. You never know what will show up. The water is extremely phosphorescent here, and it's finally beginning to warm up. The water temperature here reached a high of 66 degrees F today. I think we'll be able to do some snorkeling soon.