We did the short hop to Puerto Don Juan in calm weather and beautiful sunshine, surrounded for a long part of the leg by a huge pod of dolphins. Hard to count, but a rapid estimate calculated from counting a small section of the pod and extrapolating gave me about 300 animals.
For sure there were a lot of them, divided at first in 3 large groups that all converged on us before playing with us for quite a while. It was probably the largest dolphin pod we have ever seen during our cruising so far.
Eventually all good things must come to an end and they started heading more towards land then us, so we watched them for another good 10 minutes before they were too far.
The entrance to Puerto Don Juan is narrow but easy to navigate: Just stay in the middle. Once inside, the bay widens in a large circle that could accommodate dozens of boats in the shallow waters, protected from virtually every side. Puerto Don Juan is about as good as a hurricane hole as you can find in the region, but luckily we were just using it as a quiet anchorage, and not a storm refuge.
Shore access is easy from multiple beaches, and there are a number of dry river beds that make exploring inland a little easier than in most places.
Everywhere we looked we could see coyote tracks, to Princess' delight.
Then it happened: As we landed the kayak ashore we surprised a nearby coyote, who stood up lazily, took us in, and decided to simply walk away. Princess wanted to chase it, but of course we have her on leash and didn't let her. Some husky howling ensued.
That was the start of our coyote encounters. From then on, almost every walk ashore was another occasion to see up to 4 coyotes closer than we'd ever seen them. Close to sunset they'd often call each other with their typical howls, meet up happily before going fishing for discarded fish on the shoreline.
Numerous time we sat on deck with our binoculars and enjoyed the spectacle, feeling as if we were witnessing a TV documentary from the BBC live. What a treat!
One evening 3 pangas came in the bay, beaching in a side lobe. We couldn't understand what they were doing, but clearly they were busy with fishing gear.
Later, we explored that side lobe with the kayak and were dismayed to find dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of discarded small shark heads.
Looking it up I found out that shark fishing is allowed in these waters, except from May to July. Whilst the activity is legal the fisherman know it is poorly viewed by the general public, so they tend to discard the heads and other bits in remote places rather than in a busy port in front of everyone.
I realize everyone must try and make a living, but am glad that fishermen (especially further down south) are having better options now, by taking tourists to visit the incredible places they inhabit. In a way it was a comfort to see a few tourist pangas also come in the bay some days.
Days went by. We got a couple sailboats come in and leave, and we got to catch up with Australian cruisers we'd met in Santa Rosalia, sharing a soft drink on board.
Puerto Don Juan is only about 6 miles away from Bahia de L.A. village so on a calm morning we decided to head to the village to go for provisions. We anchored close to the main boat ramp, launched the dinghy and dropped Di ashore with a cart and a shopping list.
We hadn't used the tender in over a year, so it was nice to see the Tohatsu engine come to life first try, as it has always done since we bought it years ago.
Di walked to the nearby grocery, armed with a portable VHF since our phones do not work in this region. She test called me a few times, and again when she came out on her way back to the ramp. Princess and I jumped in the tender and went to fetch her.
Transferring the many bags on the tender, we managed to break about 40 of the 60 eggs she'd just bought. Oh well! Fewer eggs in the coming weeks. The rest of the provisions got back on Enfin safely, and after raising the tender back on deck I made way back towards Puerto Don Juan while Di got busy storing everything inside.
One evening, as we were on deck listening to the coyotes yap and howl we saw a huge bright light in the sky, and for a second we wondered if we were seeing a UFO.
It did look like a rocket though, and after querying the internet I confirmed we'd just seen a Space X rocket taking off from California, on its way to put Starlink satellites into orbit.
What a day. What a place.
I did my best to photograph some coyotes, but as usual since I only have a phone and no sophisticated camera, my efforts didn't yield great results. Still, I did get a few distant shots where the coyotes are recognizable, so they will make great souvenirs of our magical encounters.
We'll be heading North again in a few days. We're reaching the northernmost destination that we want to explore on this side of the sea and soon we'll be starting our climb down towards lower latitudes.
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