I read that you are supposed to have permission from a couple of Mexican entities to go to Guadeloupe Island. By the time we got there, it was too late for one, so we called the other, the Naval Commander, on the radio. But we got no answer.
After anchoring for the night, we motored up the coast. It was pretty cool. We were right next to the rugged shoreline in 70+ feet of water. Then the depth alarm went off and we were in less than 10 feet of water. With long milliseconds of deliberation, we determined that the rocks under the water might be a little rugged too. So we moved the boat out from shore a few feet and continued up the coast.
Hundreds of Guadeloupe Fur Seals were along the shoreline and out in the water. Some of them in the water would just sit there with a fin (flipper?) or tail out of the water. We never did figure out why. Maybe they were sitting there pondering why humans sit on the beach.
There were some sea lions along the way, and possibly some elephant seals.
We passed a canyon that ran into the ocean. At the mouth was a rocky beach. We could see a few small waves on the beach, but it looked easy enough to land on, if we could find a place to anchor. We decided to go hike up a mountain.
We doubled back, dropped the anchor in about 40 feet of water, and it held. It was pretty close to the shore by my anchoring standards. But I rarely anchor closer than 1/4 mile to land. We debated on whether to take the dinghy or kayaks, and opted for the dinghy.
As we approached the shore, we noticed that "waves may be larger than they appear." The dinghy crashed down hard on the rocks off a big wave, denting the aluminum bottom before being swamped by water. One of our better landings, as nothing serious was broken.
Then we saw at a bunch of irate-looking fur seals, along with some other miscellaneous Pinnipedia. One thing we noticed right away is that Guadeloupe Fur Seals are BIG. They were bigger than we were.
We just wanted to walk on by, but the seals didn't realize that. We picked our way through giant boulders surrounding hidden seals. Mike walked by one seal that either got mad or scared or both. The seal came running and screaming at the top of its lungs right at me. At least it seemed like it was coming at me. It had its mouth open and it had giant teeth. Well, they seemed giant.
I finally stepped aside and the seal went into the water. Maybe it was just having a temper tantrum because Mike woke it up. At any rate, Mike went back to the dinghy and grabbed a paddle to punish errant seals. Luckily he didn't need to and we got to keep the paddle.
Eventually we climbed out of the canyon and onto dry land. Very dry land. That place is a desert! We hiked 2-3 miles up a mountain and on to the continental divide of Guadeloupe Island.
There was one gravel road up there at the top of the island.
We never did see any people. But we did see part of a wrecked airplane.
We didn't see any live goats, but there must have been some around somewhere.
After the climb, we headed down to the boat. As we got close, we noticed a helicopter flying along the beach. It circled the boat once and took off. They were probably just making sure The Minnow wasn't in trouble. We whistled and clapped when we got the seals and they meandered away from us quite politely. Then were headed for Ensenada and the US.
We arrived in Ensenada about 4:00.
We had one hour to check into Ensenada and out of Mexico. I barely made it. Paperwork is slow in Ensenada.
As soon as we anchored I took off in the dinghy to shore. I parked at a small dock with some fishing boats tied to it, and went across the street to the port offices -- immigration, customs, and the port captain offices in the same building to make it easy.
But since we didn't have a letter from a marina stating we're leaving, I had to run down the street a couple of blocked and pay a tax, then come back and finish the paperwork. All this, along with stamps, copies, and several et ceteras, took until a little after five. I was happy they didn't make us spend the night.
Finally we left Ensenada for San Diego. We arrived at the Police dock around 7 or 8 in the morning (we went slow so we'd get there in the daytime). US Customs people were courteous and efficient! That was an unexpected pleasure.
Then we called to see if we could get the boat hauled out for bottom paint a few days early. We could and we did!
http://xpda.com/minnow07/sandiego/
All the photos are at http://xpda.com/minnow07
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