Ensenada de Los Muertos

23 59.098 N, 109 49.724 W

Today we got up early and left Los Frailles. The winds were light so we motored. Unfortunately the autopilot was acting up and we are getting a rudder response error. It got more frequent as the day went on to the point that we were hand steering most of the way. So we were glad the winds were light and so were the seas. After we anchored, Rich took a look at the hydraulics in the lazarette and in the binnacle. There has always been a small leak in the lazarette and he did not see any other leaks or more than usual output. The binnacle was topped off as well. We are theorizing that there were some air in the lines which was causing the problem so Rich would turn the wheel from over hard on port to over hard on starboard with the plug loose in the binnacle to let our any air. After doing this, the movement of the wheel seems more uniform but we will not know until we are moving and not at anchor.

About two hours after we anchored the winds picked up and so did the seas so we are hobby-horsing in the anchorage which is not fun. As a resulted we have decided to wait dinner for a while, hoping it will settle down. The gribs seem to give that indication, we hope they are correct.

Ten years ago we anchored in Ensenada de Los Muertos with some new friends we had met on the Baja Ha-Ha in 2001. The boats were Windarra, Kiapa, Saperlipopette, Aristos, Silkie C, The Great Escape and Siesta. We gathered on the beach for a potluck and snorkeling. Pete of Kiapa fashioned a flag of sorts out of sticks found on the beach. We called ourselves the Los Muertos Yacht club. Later Sue of Aristos made burgees of bright purple cloth with the image of the sticks in silver. We met later in La Paz and even had a cabbage salad contest. The title of commodore went to the person lucky enough to be given the purple sash. The only rule was that if a member of the yacht club caught you in port not flying your burgee, you had to buy them a drink. We still have our burgee but it is looking awfully faded.

We continue to hope that the seas will calm down and that we may go snorkeling tomorrow, just as we did ten years ago.

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