Punto Chivato & Bahia Concepción

[Kyle]From Santa Rosalia, we sailed south to Punto Chivato, at the northern end of Bahia Concepción. The wind was up and we had a fast sail to the anchorage. We saw our first other sailing cruiser converging on us along the way, headed to a different and further anchorage. It was a monohull flying tanbark colored sails. We fiddled with our sails as best as we could, but they ended up winning the ‘race’. How humiliating, a catamaran with new sails being beaten by a monohull with old-timey sails!

The 'race' ended early as we clearly were not all headed to Punto Chivato

We had intended to stay a couple of nights at Punto Chivato, but it was really windy when we arrived and the anchorage was a long way from shore. We even considered skipping it completely, but it was pretty far to the next stop and the wind was supposed to be worst right then. We decided to anchor for a while and see if it abated, which it eventually did. We picked up a new forecast, which indicated we would be exposed to strong south winds if we stayed the second night, so we decided to leave early the next day for a spot with good protection at the northern end of Coyote Bay, nestled deeper into the larger Bahia Concepción.

Moving deeper into Bahia Concepción to find a calmer anchorage

When we got there, we found no space, so we moved south to Coyote Beach. Coyote Beach was further, which meant we would have to go further the next leg, but it was better protected and had more room. For this anchorage we were the first to arrive, making us conspicuous to the RV campground on the beach.

We found a gap with no campers and landed the dinghy on the beach there. We started with a walk south towards a warm spring that was marked on our chart. Of course, we didn’t get far before we were drawn into a conversation by a Canadian couple hiding from the winter up there. We chatted a bit about our respective journeys and then asked about the warm spring. No good, they said. The vultures use it to clean their food. However, there’s a trail to a nice viewpoint that’s worth taking.

While we were climbing the trail, we noticed the first of the other boats that were moving over to Coyote Beach for the next days blow. We took a bunch of photos and then headed north to the other end of the bay along the road. There wasn’t much to see except for more campers until we got to the highway. There, we found a small store and not one, but two outdoor restaurants. Only one was open - Bertha’s, so we put in an order for lunch. It was very good and bigger than we expected. We left very satisfied.

Exploring around Coyote beach

We wanted to be back aboard before the forecast wind picked up and made it difficult to launch from the beach, so we rowed back to Begonia. Once back at the boat, I decided to rig the sailing kit and have a sail around in the Pudgy. I wasn’t the only one. Two of the other boats in the anchorage, now totalling six, also set up sailing dinghies as well as a few of the RVs on the beach. There also appeared a bunch of identical open sailing ketches that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I left them behind and sailed around the corner into the next cove before the wind picked up and I decided to return to Begonia to get the dinghy up and everything secured for the storm.

In the wee hours the next morning, the forecast wind and rain started. A look outside showed us and the other five yanking impatiently at our anchors as the wind buffeted the bay. As the storm passed overhead, the wind briefly changed unexpectedly and we were all blown toward the beach. As we and one of the boats nearest us got to the end of our respective rodes, we got pretty close to each other. We were just about to start engines and find somewhere safer, when the wind started blowing off the beach again and we all were slowly blown back to our original spots.

The wind and rain pretty much assured that the boats in the water and the RVs ashore would all be having an indoor day.