We arrived at Isla San Benedicto in the Socorro Island Group early this afternoon. We made great time covering the entire 330 mile passage in just under 48 hours, without motoring at all. We couldn’t have hoped for better weather. As we raised the sails and left the La Cruz marina behind we continued to get favorable wind shifts taking us clear of Banderas Bay. We stayed on the same tack for the rest of the passage, only making minor sail trim adjustments to maintain top speed.
A part of us didn’t feel like stopping yet. After all, the sailing so far has been amazing and we have a lot of miles to cover to get to the Marquesas. Sometimes the first few days of a passage are the hardest and now we’ll have to adjust again. We are looking forward to the diving and the scenery here is absolutely spectacular.
We’re anchored in the lee of a volcano that towers above the bay. There is no vegetation, only volcanic rock and the remnants of black lava flows bordered by a thin, black sand beach. There are pieces of pumice floating by our boat. The water is clean, deep, and spectacularly blue right up to the island. It really looks like a piece of the moon was dropped in the middle of the Pacific.