Hopping in the time machine, let’s head back to 17 Dec 2023. We departed Puerto Peñasco after a simple rigging repair and a few days in a slip. We set off on a 41-hour, 179nm trip south to Don Juan, which is in the Sea of Cortez in Baja by Bahia de Los Angeles.
Some things to note about Don Juan…in other countries it would be described as a fjord. It’s a natural hurricane hole with an opening about 1/3 mile wide. There’s a window in the canyon walls on the west side that beautifully frames a (hopefully) dormant volcano, Volcán Coronado.
This time of year, no one is really up here.
When we arrived in the middle of the night, we thought we’d head in, using our previous tracks, and with the high likelihood of the bay being empty so really the least amount of worries that one can have with anchoring in the dark. And it was DARK. Clouds, no moon. You couldn’t see anything.
We didn’t enter. I typically helm while Mark acts as eyes on the bow and Chief Anchoring Officer. I started out following the track, somehow got confused, and had to abort entry to Don Juan. We ended up heaving to until sunrise. We dozed on and off in the cold cockpit. The temps would have been in the 40-50s, luckily, we had zero wind and sea state.
You can see the heave-to pattern with green triangle track. That was us drifting and dozing.
At first light–which is the photo at the top of this post–in we went. Dropped anchor deep in, with the window view of Volcán Coronado (image below). Ate. Slept. Rest. Had several No Bones Days. We spent Christmas here, alone. It was wonderful!
Window View to the Volcano
We eventually got neighbors including Janice from Kaya III. Janice kayaked over to us one day and introduced herself. She’s one of those people who you instantly feel comforted by, like just talking to her feels like getting a warm, motherly hug. We would spend more time with Janice and her husband at future anchorages.
Yes, for those 12 days in Don Juan, we didn’t step foot off the boat! Didn’t launch Trixie the dinghy. We just embraced truly being home after 6 months of land travel, life on the hard, and a Mexican apartment. We experienced the southerly end of a few of California’s atmospheric rivers with rain and so much wind.
One night, we were honored to have coyotes yipping and howling. I tried to capture it with phone, the video below is that recording. You can’t see anything, which will help illustrate just how dark it is in Don Juan! But you can hear them and hear their yips echo. It was so so cool!
After 12 days of relaxing, hiding from northerlies, and doing a few small projects, we decided it was time to move on. Maybe get on land again soon. Off we went on another long passage to Santa Rosalia, cruiser friends, New Year’s, and Mark’s birthday.