Cedros Island, Mexico

Friday, April 1, 2011

028-20.236 N
115-11.686 W

Ahoy from Cedros Island!

I'm going to write this log in reverse because I just need to record what a fantastic place this is before the emotion slips away from me. We arrived at Cedros island mid-afternoon today and dropped the anchor on the N end of the island. One guide book described this as a "memorable" location, but to me it was absolutely fantastic.

First off, Cedros is a big mountainous island...about 20 miles long and a few miles wide...and is relatively uninhabited. The island rises to over 4,000 feet and is quite dry. The mountains are generally brownish in color, ranging from a burnt umber to a light moss green, and are covered by widely scattered scrub plants. The only trees that we saw were at the N end where there's a very small fishing village. The only other village is on the SE end, but we never saw that due to fog.

We anchored at the N end, which is also a home to a colony of Elephant Seals. The island is very steep as are the waters just off shore. As a result we dropped the anchor in 45' of water less than 50 yards off of shore and we had a bunch of young seals who where quite interested in what we were doing. The shore was lined with seals basking in the sun and the air was filled with the sounds of seals barking to one another. After we got the boat settled in, we dropped the dinghy and went to explore. We didn't go ashore because it was very rocky and there were lots of bull seals that we didn't want to antagonize. However, the waters near the shore were filled with young seals who were quite curious, but kept their distance. They were also guarded by adult seals who kept a wary eye on us.

Once we made it back to BlueJacket we enjoyed being the center of attention for many of the seals who were out fishing. They would circle the boat, jump out of the water, swim on their backs and do all kinds of tricks. At night you could see where they were by the bioluminescence trails that they left. This is clearly a fish rich area as there were lots of dolphins perusing the area and fish jumping out of the water.

Fog would push over the tops of the mountains and emerge from the arroyos (v-shaped canyons) only to be sucked into an adjoining arroyo. It was lovely to watch the fog come and go, especially later in the day when the warm afternoon light lit the fog.

The anchorage is well protected from westerly swell, but depending upon the current direction and winds it can get rolly. We slept in the aft cabin so that we would be athwart ship and less subject to rolling.

But, backing up to how we got there...We decided to take a lay-day on Tuesday and just relax before departing on this leg of the journey. We had been going non-stop since we got the San Diego (and for weeks while at home), so taking a day to relax seemed like a good idea. On Wednesday we departed at 6 AM for Cedros, which was about 235 miles away. Based upon my calculations, we'd be able to make it there in 35 hours if we maintained 6.8 kts, which is the speed that we motor at. The winds were predicted to be less than 10 kts of the NW and we're headed SE, so that pretty much meant that we'd be motoring.

We departed in fog and we were in it until we got to Cedros. It's cold in the cockpit, with temps ranging from the low 50s to the upper 50s and 100% humidity. Everything just drips with water. Visibility at times was probably 100-200 yards, so you rely on your radar to see who's around you. The seas ranged from almost flat to 9' long period swell out of the NW. Without the sails up, the boat just rolls in those conditions.

Thankfully we had a lot of current with us. It averaged around 1 kt and topped out well over 2 kts. I saw a peak of 9.2 kts speed over ground! This reminded me of the Gulf Stream. Due to the favorable current we got into Cedros in the early afternoon. Thankfully Cedros shielded us from the marine layer (fog) which cleared just as we approached the island. It was a wonderful way to end this leg!

As I'm writing this we're on our way to Turtle Bay, which is about 50 miles from here. We've got 1-1.5 kts of current against us, so this will take longer than expected.

-- Geoff & Sue

For the cruiser: We anchored at 28-20.21'N, 115-11.66'W in 45' with good holding.

Log ID: 1426