Back at Isla Partido

We left Puerto Don Juan this morning at about 11 am and returned to Isla Partido for a day or so on our way to San Carlos. In case anyone is confused, there are two Isla Partidos in the Sea of Cortez. We have been to both of them twice. One of them is near La Paz, and we were there earlier in the summer. This Isla Partido is near Bahia de Los Angeles, which is in the middle of the Baja penninsula. We were here the first time right after we left Santa Rosalia, and now we are here again. We had good luck fishing here the last time - we got two triggerfish. So tomorrow is devoted to fishing, and the next day we plan to leave here and push on to San Carlos. This plan may be subject to change because there is a hurricane in the north pacific - Hurricane Hilary. It is not supposed to come up this way, but there may be some wave action that would make our passage across the sea uncomfortable, and if so, we will wait a few days. This is a really nice anchorage and we have it all to ourselves, not even any pangas. So that means we get to swim naked, and you know that we love to do that.

Yesterday while still in Puerto Don Juan, we went fishing and caught a yellowtail. I was really excited about that - we haven't caught one of those yet and they are really good. It was a team effort - I hooked it and Mike reeled it in while I dealt with the other pole we had out. Last night Mike cooked two filets in olive oil and garlic - to die for - and tonight we are having sashimi with soy sauce and wasabe. The fish was a small one - maybe five pounds - but it will be at least three meals for us, and maybe four. I can't really remember how much we have left at this point.

Before we left Puerto Don Juan this morning, we went clamming and got two big bags of them. Right now they are hanging off the side of the boat (in mesh laundry bags) and while we were underway we had them in a bucket with a sea water dampened towel covering them. We are hoping and praying (at least I am, Mike is not concerned about it) they last until we get to San Carlos, where we plan to have a big steamed clam party with our friends on Sundancer, who we are meeting up with in San Carlos.

Today we motored the entire way. We have been having a lot of problems with our engine, but the amazing thing (at least to me, anyway), is that the more we use it, it seems to be getting better instead of getting worse. I admit I know nothing about engines, but I have had a lot of piece-of-shit cars in my day, and my experience with car engines is that while a problem may develop slowly, they get progressively worse, not better. In the past, we could not run the engine over 1500 rpms without getting smoke and at times a runaway engine, which is where is speeds up without increasing the throttle. But as we use it more and more, it runs better. Today we had it at 1900 rpms consistently for several hours, and at times we went to 2000 rpms with no problems. I don't understand it, but I do know that this engine was basically unused for 10 years while the boat sat at a marina, and I think the only use it got was when the former owner ran it in the slip for a few hours. I read in the engine book that this kind of diesel engine does not like to be run at low idling speeds. So we think maybe it just needs to be used, and until recently, we did not use it much. So today's trip seemed to do it good. We plan to have it looked at in Mazatlan in November, so here's hoping there is nothing seriously wrong with it.

The other new thing that we learned is that there are some SSB (short wave) radio nets we can participate in without having a ham license. We have been listening to several for a while but until now had no idea there were some that do not require the license. Mike will likely get his license when we are in the US this November, but until then, it is nice to have one we can talk on. They have a lot of good weather information and other stuff of interest to cruisers.

Well, it is time for me to make dinner - which in this case means to fix the salads and cut up the fish. I already made the rice in the pressure cooker when we first anchored. So everyone who might be reading this - hope your day is/was a great one!

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