March 31, 2008 -- Mulege seawall -- N 26 degrees 54' 04.3"/ W 111 degrees 57' 15.6"
7nm for day; 170 nm for trip

Beautiful, calm dawn, the glassy waters of the entrance to Bahia Conception only disturbed by the breathing of a small group of dolphins, several hundred yards out from our anchored boat. We again listened to the Amigo net on my SSB receiver while eating breakfast. Afterward, I rowed ashore to burn our trash below the high tide line. I picked up a few more shells, and then rowed out toward the reef for a few casts. I managed to hook and lose one fair sized fish.

We raised anchor around 9 am and set course toward Mulege. A light 5 knot breeze was blowing in off the Sea, off our starbard beam. I raised both sails, and we enjoyed a pleasant 3 knot sail, reaching on the light air. Once again I trailed my fishing lure, in hopes of attracting a yellowtail. No luck with fish, but the sail was most pleasant.

Mulege is situated on the only freshwater river flowing into the Sea of Cortez from Baja. The estuary can be entered by shoal draft boats with care. Hazards include a reef on the north side of the channel and an unmarked pinnacle rock in mid channel, which only shows at low tide. The bar at the entrance is covered by 3 feet at zero tide, just the kind of place Macs love. We eased our way in, following a local panga. Depth sounder read a minimum of 4.5 feet. The moorage is a seawall in the lee of a cone shaped island called Sombrierita. Accepted procedure is to set a stern anchor out, and then secure the bow to the sea wall with a mooring line. Being on the cautious side, I dropped my stern anchor well out from the seawall, and then had Sandy ease the boat in, toward the seawall. I freed up a bow line, and then got into the dinghy, rowed up to the bow, grabbed the mooring line, and tied off to the seawall, while Sandy gave me necessary slack from the stern anchor rode. It all worked very well, except for the fact that, when all was done, I saw that my stern anchor line extended well out into the navigable channel. I worried that a panga would come ripping in and foul its prop on my anchor line. I grabbed my spare anchor, which I use as a dinghy anchor, and set it as a temporary stern anchor, and then retrieved the main stern anchor. I reset it at a more proper distance, and then hauled in the dinghy anchor. After all this thrash, the boat looked properly secured. I installed the sail covers, put up the sunshade, stowed GPS and fishing rods below, adjusted the tilt of the solar panel, and we headed for town.

Mulege is a long mile walk up a dusty road from the moorage. We enjoyed the walk, stopping along the way to talk with the proprietor of an RV park about taking showers in a day or so. Once we got to town we did some shopping, got some ice cream, and walked out to see the local mission, built over 200 years ago. It's built on a hill overlooking the river and town. The setting is impressive, and affords a splendid view of the dense date palm groves which flank either side of the river. The lush vegetation is in stark contrast with the arid, cactus covered sidehills. After our walk, we enjoyed a tasty Mexican dinner at Los Casitas Restaurant, which features a beautiful, landscaped dining patio. It was the perfect setting. Following dinner we caught a taxi back to the boat. Tomorrow, we've arranged to go with Salvador on a tour of some local Baja cave art paintings, left behind by indigenous people thousands of years ago. It should be interesting to see a bit of the inland side of this country.