Outbound to San Francisquito

Glad I don't have to say San Francisquito more then a few times a year.  I have been trying to say it right, but have a hard time with the abrupt transition between francis and quito. 

Its about an 80 mile run, and will bring us to within 50 miles of  Puerto Don Juan, which is the hub we will circle around for the next 6 weeks.  Don Juan is a great hurricane hole, it is a small bay, virtually surrounded on all sides by land.  The geography of the place is ideal for hiding out from the killer storms.  There are 10 or 15 other anchorages within a short distance of Don Juan, plus there is a small village in Behia de Los Angeles where we can provision and refuel plus there are two internet stores. 

I would probably not spend much time there if it were not for hurricanes, but I am looking forward to getting there.  Its the destination we have been heading toward since leaving Puerto Vallarta back in May, plus it becomes cruiser central for all the folks who are spending the summer on their boats.  It can become quite social.

We will leave probably early Monday morning, about 2a.m. so that we can get into San Francisquito before the normal starting time for Chubascos.  Delaying departure until 2a.m. also gives us the chance to make sure there will be no Chubascos in the early morning hours, prime time for them to arrive on the Baja side of the Sea of Cortez, having travelled across the Sea from Sonora.

You can check out the web site we will be using to make the go/no go decision.  The address is http://eebmike.com/.  Scroll down to the first color chart.  That shows current thunderstorm development, which give rise to chubascos.

Santa Rosalia has not improved much over the last year.  The big mining project that was turning it into a boom town has seen some reversals.  The city budget does not seem to include any clean up crews.  It is very very dirty.  We know several Mexicans who are cruising up here who are embarrassed by the mess and the locals acceptance of it and their propensity to toss liter almost everywhere except in the garbage cans that are fairly common through out town.

Its a shame the mine is not putting much money into the city coffers, I think if they had the money they would keep it cleaner.

One neat thing about Sta. Rosalia this year is the absence of cruisers.  There are only four boats with crew on board.  There are may 20 boats that are being stored here w/o crew.  As a consequence there are very few gringos in town.  Its kind of nice for a change.  Three of the boats are leaving tomorrow or the next day, so gringos are going to be quite rare here.

Will check in again from the village in BLA.