Trapped at Isla Estanque

Friday, June 17, 2011

029-3.866 N
113-5.670 W

Ahoy from tide lock Isla Estanque!

I'm getting to write this because we tried to leave at 7 AM this morning on a falling tide and couldn't make it over the sand bar at the entrance to the anchorage. Unfortunately it was a falling tide, so we have to wait until it come back up. So, Sue & I used this time to get caught up on projects, including writing this log.

Yesterday we left Ensenada el Quemado and headed E across Canal del Ballenas (canal of the Whales) towards south end Isla Angel de la Guarda. We've been having SE winds, which have been bringing warm, humid air from the Pacific and when it hits the cool water of the northern Sea of Cortez, it often turns to fog. If it isn't fog as it blows over the water, it turns into fog as the wind rises up over the hills and mountains of the islands. Such was the case as we approached Isla Angel del la Guarda as it was encased in fog as shown in the above photo. Thankfully it cleared as we rounded the end of the island and encountered tidal rips.

Tidal rips are where currents of varying speed and/or direction bash into one another creating rough water. As we were rounding the tip of Isla Estanque we had about 3 kts of current with us and fairly flat seas. At one point there a section of very rough water with very steep, white-capping waves where we suddenly had about a kt of current against us and we got shoved all around. The picture to the left clearly shows this with lots of white caps on the left and flat seas to the right. Looking at the charts these appear to be areas where the suddenly changes and you can only imagine that there are huge up welling of water at these points.

After we proceeded through several of these tidal rips, we headed into a bay where it appeared that we would have good protection of the SE. Shortly after anchoring we discovered that the SE swell passing through the gap between Guarda and Estanque and made a right hand turn, causing us to roll big time. I dropped the dinghy and went to look for another anchorage. The guides talked about an anchorage called "The Pond" on Estanque.

The Pond virtually had 360 degree wake protection and quite good wind protection. However, there's a shallow bar at the entrance and the guides suggest exploring it first by dinghy to see if you can get in. We could, so we moved over there and had a flat anchorage. The only downside to the anchorage was that there were more Sea Gulls in one place than we've ever seen before. This makes for a very noisy anchorage as they call to one another all night long. The water is also quite cloudy probably due to the number of birds, so we didn't get in.

One of the interesting things that we saw were these low stone walls (photo on left) which had been erected by fishermen to provide shelter from the wind while they sleep. We watched some of them come in and use them and were amazed at the tough life that they lead. These guys spend all day (and part of the night) diving for lobsters and octopus and then sleep on a bed roll or cardboard on rocks in the open. What a life! The next time that you think that you've got it tough, think about these guys! We actually ended up giving them 5 gallons of water.

I thought that I had calculated the depths so that we could get out first thing the next morning, but I hadn't taken into account that we wouldn't have enough light to see the channel, so when we tried to get out basically before we had sunlight, we were bouncing over rocks, so we backed out and are now stuck until the tide comes up.

So, will Geoff and Sue be stuck in "The Pond" forever? Who knows? Tune in next time to find out!

-- Geoff & Sue

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For the cruiser:

Note that the picture of the entrance to The Pond was taken near high tide. It looks MUCH narrower at low tide.

We first anchored on the west side of Bahia Wilard at 29-03.420N 113-06.563W in about 15' MLW. We dragged for a while, but finally caught and help well. Due to swell, we moved to The Pond.

The Pond: Entrance to the channel is 29-03.726N 113-05.563W. Have good light and stay in the blue/green sand channel. Go right along the rocks on the SE side. Once you're over the bar, center yourself in the channel. We anchored at 29-03.866N 113-05.670W in about 20' MLW in sand over rock.

Note that you need to give Isla Estanque a lot of room when going around it as shallow reefs come quite far out.

Log ID: 1457