I had read about the San Benito islands years before and was fascinated that somewhere so remote could still exist in this day and age where bartering and trading are the main way of life for the locals. I had bought along a few items to trade just for this occasion.
If your not familiar with Baja, I was sailing from the mainland near the top left of the chart to the small islands west of the large island (Cedros) near the bottom left.
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As soon as I sailed off the Pacific shelf into deep water I got my first decent strike on my tuna lure I got at Halfmoon bay a few years back.
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| Albacore tuna on the trolling line. |
I was sailing pretty fast in 20+ knots on a broad reach, so the boat was moving about, making the fishing quite challenging. Bringing the fish up to the stern was pretty easy, but getting it on the deck and killing it proved to be more than I expected as I hadn't landed a fish this big before and I wasn't really sure what to expect.
I decided to kill it with my filleting knife while holding it in a bucket. This took a little more effort than I first thought so I pushed real hard and managed to not only stab thro the fish, but also thro the bucket and thro the cockpit cushions. Of course I did this 3 times before I realized what I had done. Then the blood started to squirt everywhere and lots of it, dark red and thick. I eventually got it top/tailed and filleted on the side deck and then spent quite a while cleaning up the mess with a scrubbing brush and buckets of water.
The meat was a semi clear pink color and you could squash it easily between your fingers. Dinner was going to be good tonite!
The sailing got better and better as the wind held its strength and direction throughout the day. I had the jib poled out and that proved to be a good downwind setup for the Catalina. The boat sustained over 9 knots SOG for hours on end and I was tempted to keep going for my first 200nm day. I got pooped once when a freak wave broke over the open transom and washed all the way up to the companionway doors. I had forgot to put in the perspex screen that prevents that from occurring as I never thought it would happen.
The ocean is really deep in this area, over 15,000ft just west of the islands, that's over 3 miles down to the sea floor! It gave me a weird kind of vertigo just thinking about it.
Later that afternoon, the San Benito islands appeared on the horizon and I prepared to sail thro the Canal De Peck between the East and Center Benito Islands. As I neared the pass it became apparent that the charts were useless in this remote location, they were at least 1nm off. Waves were breaking across the numerous rocks and shoals near the islands and I had my fingers crossed I was taking the right route thro the pass as it was quite narrow.
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| Approaching the Canal De Peck |
I reduced sail and carefully rounded the Center island and relaxed in the lee, sheltered from the wind and swell after a rough passage.
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The recommended anchorage was just south of the fish camp on the West island where I could see one other boat anchored. I couldnt see a clear path to the anchorage so I carefully picked my way thro the thick kelp beds and dropped anchor 1/2nm off shore. All my GPS based charts had me located on land! You don't want to arrive here after dark.
Where art thou, Joe?
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