San Carlos

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

027-56.862 N
111-3.369 W

Ahoy from San Carlos, Sonora!

This is probably our last stop before we pull into Guaymas to get the boat hauled. Sigh... In reality that's OK as the heat and humidity have definitely arrived. I don't know what it's doing on the Baja side, but on the mainland side it's hot and humid. During the day it's in the mid-90s and it only gets down to mid-80s at night. On top of that it's humid, with dew points in the mid to upper 70s. Where is that hot, dry weather that we had on the Baja side? I guess that it's the fact that the winds have switched from the NW to the SE which brings humidity from the Pacific.

Another thing that has changed is the water temperature. It's now up to 84F which personally is getting too toasty for my tastes. Unfortunately the water clarity has dropped precipitously due to a bloom of something. I had really hoped to get some more dives in, but with this visibility, I really have no interest.

As a result of the heat we decided to pull into the San Carlos Marina where we could plug into power and turn on the AC. San Carlos was just a few miles from Bahia Algodones, so it was a quick jaunt here. Bahia San Carlos is very deep bay with high hills/mountains surrounding it, so it's very well protected. That's good and bad as the protection also means that cooling winds have a harder time making it into the marina.

The marina itself is well maintained and there are lots of supporting businesses around the area. Unfortunately the main town is a lengthy walk away down a major road that doesn't have sidewalks, so we've just hung out in the immediate area. There's also a Marina Seca (dry marina) here where boats get stored for hurricane season. Boats get hauled out of the water and then driven about 1/4 of a mile to a huge storage yard where they're stored in a dirt yard. BlueJacket will be stored in a similar yard in Guaymas, but on a concrete pad.

We've been using our time here to get BlueJacket ready to be hauled in Guaymas. The mornings are cooler, so that's a good time to do outside work. When the heat of the day descends, that's a good time to work on projects inside of the boat. By 3 PM, we're generally done and head to the pool. One would think that the pool would be cool and refreshing...nope...not down here! It feels like it's in the mid-90s, so it's like taking a bath. And if you want to take a cold shower...think again. The cold water may as well be coming out of a water heater. Ah, it'll be nice to get home!

The San Carlos area is clearly a destination for lots of Americans. It's relatively close to AZ and NM, so you find lots of people from these states who store their boats here and drive down. When we were on the Baja side, you had the people from CA, OR, WA and BC doing the same thing. Lots of Americans also have homes around here and as a result there's a lot of English spoken here.

We'll be headed to Guaymas either today or tomorrow and we expect the have BlueJacket hauled on Monday. Then we'll fly home on Thursday. Until then we're just going to working away in the heat.

We hope that everyone has a great 4th of July holiday and we're looking forward to seeing friends when we get back.

-- Geoff & Sue

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For the cruiser:

As stated, Marina San Carlos is well maintained. Dockage is $0.91/ft/day including power. The only issue that I have is with security. Access to the docks is controller via key card, but there are lots of workers on the docks who get let in by other people. Starting before 8 AM you'll have people knocking on your boat asking if they can work for you. Since we're on the boat, it's not a problem, but I would be worried if I stored the boat here. On the weekends there are lots of young people hanging out in the parking lots drinking. Considering all of the security that they have, it's surprising that they allow that. Cool showers can be had by going to the air conditioned marina office building and using the showers there.

We checked out Martini Cove via the dinghy and it was packed with a constant stream of motor vessels crammed with people drinking and snorkel boats. Not a place that I'd want to spend the night, especially on a weekend. Snorkeling was marginal.

We snorkeled at Isla San Nicholas and we weren't impressed.

For restaurants: Club de Capitanes (across from Tequilas) was our favorite. Mike, the owner, is a wealth of information and is quite friendly. Ruby's Wine Bar allows inside smoking and the pizza that we had there was only OK. The Embarcado at the hotel was unmemorable. The Marina Cantina served a good lunch (split a sandwich).

Marine supplies can be (expensively) purchased at Star Marine.

Log ID: 1462