Bahia Conception

On the morning of June 30, Eagle, Hotel California, Seychelles and Interabang left La Ramada and began a forty-five mile passage northwest to Bahia Conception.  A light wind pushed on the extended mainsail as we motor-sailed with two fishing lines in tow.  Several miles past the mountainous rock at Punta Pulpito, a nice sized dorado hit the cedar plug.  Trisha was very excited to see the beautiful bright green fish as I hauled it to the stern and grabbed the gaff hanging from the radar pole.  The fish was jumping and fighting wildly.  After a failed gaffing attempt the fish suddenly made a twisting lunge out of the water and slipped the hook.  We didn’t get another bite the rest of the day.  The good news was that a flock of boobies soon arrived to provide entertainment.  About twenty birds flew all around the boat and hovered over our fishing gear occasionally diving and tugging on the lures.  Luckily, none of the birds got hooked.  One booby landed on our bow pulpit and put up quite a battle as Trisha tried to persuade him to leave.

The wind piped up considerably as we altered course to the west and began rounding Punta Conception.  Interabang was flying along at seven to eight knots.  Once clear of the point, we sailed past the boats anchored in Bahia Santo Domingo and continued south into the bay.  We navigated our way through the shallow water with one eye on the depth sounder.  There were several stretches where Interabang’s keel was five feet from the bottom as we made a long curve west around a big shoal to Playa Santispac.  We found a spot to drop anchor and once the boat stopped moving we were slammed by the stagnate hot air.  Veteran cruisers had told that they were never as hot as they were in Bahia Conception and now we were getting first hand experience.  The water temperature had increased to 88 degrees and the heat was suffocating with no wind in sight.  We headed to shore with Hotel and enjoyed a meal onshore at the local restaurant.  At dinner, a young man joined our table – he had ridden his bike from Canada all the way down to the Baja peninsula!  After dinner we wilted in the cockpit.  After midnight it was still not cool enough to go below and get in bed.

We came to Bahia Conception for the annual Fourth of July party in Burro Cove.  The party is hosted by Gary, a gringo resident who provides the cruisers with the weather forecasts on the morning radio net.  We had heard stories about the hazardous after-party fireworks show, so Hotel California suggested that we drop the hook out of the line of fire in nearby Coyote Cove.  The wind came up and helped a little with the afternoon heat, but the water was too warm for swimming.  By the morning of the Fourth we were tired of being hot and not so interested in doing a potluck.  We decided to celebrate the Fourth by heading to Santa Rosalia.