(To view Album scroll to end)Fathers Day and also the beginning of summer and Adios La Paz. Hurricane season was approaching and so we headed up the Sea of Cortez. Since we liked it so much in Isla Partida, we decided to start our journey there. Felt good to be cruising again and doing nothing but boat stuff, like bottom cleaning, which we do almost weekly. Sounds like a chore doesn’t it? It’s not really and is actually a lot of fun, besides we noticed that we had a new room mate aboard. A little Gobi had moved into one of the through holes.
ISLA SAN FRANCISCO, June 24th: we sailed 22 miles to Isla San Francisco, which lies on the east side of the southern entrance to the San Jose Channel. It is a relatively small pile of lava, an area of irregular shape and about 1 1/2 square miles. A cove with a white sandy beach fringing its shore is formed within the bight of the hook on the southwestern side of the ridge. It offers a nice anchorage with a picturesque view of the rugged mountains of Cabeza de Mechudo, with a painted desert like appearance. The water is absolutely crystal clear and has the bluish color of a swimming pool and just as refreshing. The fuel problem we’ve had for several years just kept haunting us. After all the work Sid had done in La Paz, making inspection plates, cleaning the tank and filtering the fuel, we thought that the problem should be solved, not so. First thing after setting the hook Sid inspected the tank, took everything apart again and after an hour or so found the problem. After removing the pick up tube he removed the check valve and as he did so two worms came wiggling out of there. Sid first reaction was “my gosh they’re alive”, but then he realized that they were silicon. After completing this very hard and sweaty job, Sid had a chance to look at the many trigger fish I started feeding with salad scraps. Would you believe if it I told you, that Sid caught two on LETTUCE? He actually did and they made a great ceviche. We spent a lot of time in the water here, the visibility was just incredible. Also the whole bottom of the bay was covered with some type of eel, we called them the Steve Wonder Eels as they heads sticking out of the hole were bobbing just like Steve Wonders. Our live a board fish was still in the same whole too, we wonder how he’ll take it when we’ll use the wash down pump?! Obviously nothing happened then he was our pet all the way down to Panama.
PUNTA SAN EVARISTO, June 26th: while enjoying our breakfast, we were interrupted by lout bird chattering, nine males were chasing one single female. That poor little bird tried to find refuge on Paradise, made several attempts to land on my head and drove the cats nuts. After all the excitement we pulled anchor and headed 10 miles to the rocky headlands Punta San Evaristo. In the small cove we found some good protection, or so we thought. Around 8 P.M. it was as someone started the heater up, the temperature rose at least 15 degrees and five minutes later a 25 knot gusting wind started sweeping down the rugged mountain. The wind gusted all night long between 20 and 35 knots, jerking the boat back and fourth and not giving us a chance to sleep. The positive side on this, we enjoyed watching one of the most incredible meteor showers. In the morning we realized that we had come dangerously close to the reef and re-anchored which was a good thing, then at the same time the following evening all hell went loose and the wind swept with 45 knots down the mountain. This seemed to be a local condition, then it howled for a third night making us decide to leave.
Our trip to Los Gatos (26 miles), we tried to do some fishing and didn’t take long before the reel started to sing and a nice 30 pound tuna was dancing on the line. While Sid was busy getting the sails down, the dingy out of the way and folding up the bimini, I was fighting the tuna. This is a sailboat and of course everything was in the way. In the process of trying to get the pole around the Backstay, the antenna and other obstacles, the tuna jerked the pool out of my hand and I lost both. I tell you this is the richest and probably only tuna swimming around with a 500 Dollar pool attached, Sid was fuming for the rest of the day!!!
PUERTO LOS GATOS, June 28th: The coast now showed steep rocky bluffs broken by canyons that break through to the shore, ending in sandy beaches to Puerto Los Gatos. With it’s broad white sandy beaches divided by a spur of rocky red cliffs that extend a short distance into the cove. Depending on the position of the sun it would change the color of the rock and gave this desert a dramatic beauty. The cove is closed off by a long submerged reef full off sea life and an abundance of scallops. We were looking forward to finally have a restful and quiet night but again the wind picked up, this time out of the south east and turned this beautiful anchorage into a rock’n rolly nightmare. The next morning the wind ruined my plan to go shelling on the best shelling beach in Baja. It got so rough we had to abandon the anchorage.
AGUA VERDE, June 29th: Agua Verde is 17 miles north of Los Gatos and a little over 90 miles from La Paz. We had an incredible sail and had wonderful time playing with the spinnaker. Entering Agua Verde leads through or around a dangerous reef that extends for 2 miles off shore. We chose the shortcut and sailed through the reef in as low as 12 feet of water with 6 knots and a full spinnaker, we looked good. Agua Verde provides several well protected anchorages off white sandy beaches and high cliffs. With the spectacular green water they say, and picturesque setting Agua Verde is a favorite anchorage for many cruisers. It is pretty picturesque but we didn’t see the green water. Every day we enjoyed great snorkeling trips and found an abundant source of food. “Imagine”, Blondie” and us made plans to go scallop hunting and in no time we had all the scallops we needed for a joint dinner. The snorkeling was great, the parrot fish huge and lots of other colorful tropical fish swam around us and we spent at least 4 hours snorkeling around. After all that time in the water I was starving, but hey now sweat, I found myself some smaller scallops and a rock to sit on and started filling my tummy; Sid couldn’t’ believe his eyes, when he saw me sitting on the rock eating scallops.
LOS CANDELEROS, July 2nd: Agua Verde was very beautiful but we had plans to be in Escondido for July 4th and headed 14 miles further up into the sea to Los Candeleros, spent one night before heading to Puerto Escondido. The scenery in Candaleros was just unreal with a breathtaking view of the whole Puerto Escondido Bay with its many volcanic and rugged looking Islands and the big and beautiful mountain chain Giganta in the background. Very beautiful indeed, especially watching the sun set behind Giganta.
PUERTO ESCONDIDO, July 3rd: Puerto Escondido (Hidden Harbor) is a perfectly landlocked and secure harbor in any weather. It is a spectacular setting enhanced by the steep walls of Sierra de la Giganta rising in the background. We’ve been here several times on our land trips and enjoyed it every time, but being here on Paradise, gave it a total different perspective. Puerto Escondido is know to be a hurricane hole and is a favorite anchorage for cruisers and many even leave the boats here during hurricane season, while spending the hot summer in the US. Although checking in with the port captain is a hassle, as you have to rent a taxi to the airport. Since we only stayed for three days, we didn’t want to go through all the hassle and waste a day checking in and one for checking out so we anchored just before the entrance to Escondido, which they call “the waiting room”. Until some years ago Puerto Escondido’s Entrance was only passable at high tide, boats waited in the now called Waiting Room for a safe passage. Some boats that draw too much still wait here until the tide is high enough to get through the entrance. It is a relatively small but very deep cove surrounded by mangroves, which houses birds and of course mosquitoes. Since it is a small cove it isn’t unusual to see the stern of boats right up to the mangroves. We weren’t that close but close enough to hear the birds as if they were nested on our boat. Sure was a treat for the cats
On 4th of July a caravan of cars, vans and trucks, loaded with about 50 cruisers, headed to an unusual place to celebrate Independents Day. First we drove towards Loreto, then onto a dirt road and 7 miles into the desert. All we saw was dirt, rocks and cactus, then as we came over a hill we where surprised to find a lush oasis filled with mango-, fichus-, orange- and palm trees in the middle of the hot and unfriendly Baja desert. In the middle of it ware a picnic area and a large inviting round pool to jump in, play games and splash around and was especially a treat since it was fresh and not salt water. The scent of delicious food from the fire pit was in the air filled with guitar and harmonica music and the laughter of everybody having a great time. This was by far the best 4th of July we ever celebrated and after a fun fulfilled day everybody returned to their boat with a big smile.
ISLA CARMEN, July 6th: a convoy of several boats “(Blondie”, “Deja Vue”, “Laughing Buddha”, “Holding Pattern”, “Spirit” and “Pantheon”) left Escondido very early to avoid the port captain and headed to Bahia Marquer, which is a small inlet with a short sand beach on the 6 mile distants. To celebrate the grand escape we had a fun hors’doeufre party on “Pantheon” that night. (Weeks later Sid found a business card of Pantheon, we had met him two years ago in the parking lot of the CCC Store in La Paz. The world just gets smaller and smaller!)We’ve met so many cruisers already and is amazing what you can learn from each one. I now make my own yogurt with powdered milk and taste wonderful on corn flakes for breakfast. One of my favorites since we don’t have a freezer is: I buy a whole side of fillet, trim all the fat of, cut it into desired pieces and fill them up in a tall glass char. First I pour the char 1/4 full with any vegetable oil or any other type. Place each piece slowly into the oil, to prevent air from getting trapped between the meats. Place piece by piece into oil, until all the meat is completely covered. Close char with a loose fitting lid, so that eventual air can escape. This way the meat will last up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator, plus it gets more tender as it as it ages.
PUERTO BALLANDRA, July 8th: an 8 miles sail brought us to Puerto Ballandra, and just a bit further to the north on Isla Ballandra is a small, snug and well sheltered anchorage and is located between two moderately high promontories. The two headlands are connected within by a sweeping arc of sand along the shore of the bay. There is a rusty wreck of a half sunken vessel just off the beach and by the mouth of an arroyo which opens onto a sandy beach there are two small mangrove-bordered tidal lagoons. You know what that means, mosquitoes, or worse yet no-see-ums. The snorkeling was quite exciting as we landed in the middle of a giant bait ball of Beralettis. Amazing how they do the same movements at the same time, like a ballet. They disappeared as fast as they popped up and then we were facing about 40 Jack Caravels of each 20 to 25 lb. wow!
The coast from here between the low bluff westward of Islas Coronados and Punta Mangleres is, with the exception of the fertile valley and plain of San Bruno, generally bold and rocky with high land rising to heights of 2000 feet immediately behind.
COLETA SAN JUANICO, July 9th: we motored and sailed 26 miles to the most spectacular anchorage of Coleta San Juanico, a large open cove about 1 1/2 miles across, with many semi-separated beaches and coves. The best anchorage is on the north side with several detached rocks, some submerged and some projecting above water and area with just sand stones imbedded with fossils of shells. We anchored between the pinnacle rock and the sand stones, just picture perfect, but of course photos never do justice. This is the most beautiful anchorage yet and just 20 minutes after setting the hook, Sid already speared two pargos. We spend a few days’ kickin’back, snorkeling, hiking fishing, exploring and filled our bellies full with big rock scallops. We also spent some time ashore to explore the famous Cruisers Shrine a huge tree filled with mementos from cruisers. Not just the tree was filled but also the surrounding area was full and from the distant it looked like a pile of trash. Up close you see all the little treasures cruisers left behind, including their names, very unique. Of course Paradise found a spot in the tree as well.
Unfortunately the humidity increased to 98% percent and the wind changed direction from north to south and it didn’t take long for the swells to get bigger and uncomfortable. We lasted one night in this condition, pulled anchor and moved around to COLETA RAMADA, which was now protected from the southerly wind. From here we hiked back to the Juanico side to collect some Onyx. After an hour or so of digging in the rocks, we came back with quite a collection, from small to relatively big size pieces. That was a lot of fun, but not as fun looking at us how filthy and dust covered we were.
BAHIA CONCEPCION, July 13th: time again to move on. 43 miles later we anchored in Santo Domingo the tip of Bahia Concepcion just across the Bay of Mulege. After arriving we watched some thunder clouds building up, one in particular started to make loud rumbling noises but within minutes the cloud was gone, another was building up already again at the same spot and you could see it grow within just minutes, then an other and another and by nightfall they had all dissipated. Early the following morning we moved on to Santispac, tucked in the bay and hidden behind a hill and surrounded by many little islands, a very pretty area. Another place we looked forward to from our car trips. We met up with “Aztek”, and just after we had anchored, we heard Jenny on the radio calling if anybody was driving into Mulege. Not even a second later Nancy “Not a Care”, answered and offered a ride into Mulege, so minutes later we all went shopping. “DEJA VUE” and “WINGS” caught up too and once more we were a big happy family enjoying a relaxing dinner at Ray’s Restaurant on the beach. We ate the biggest and juiciest Burger ever seen anywhere!The night was very hot, I’m sure glad that Sid added a Fantail onto the boat (two 12 volt fans mounted onto the bimini frame). We stayed cool all night long sleeping in the “Cockpit Fantail”. Early at 9 a.m. “Nanuk” called us on the radio. Who is “Nanuk”! André and old friend of LA was on his way back to LA and spent the night in his van in the parking lot over the cove we were anchored. Just as he drove off, he recognized our boat. Small world again! Of course we invited him over for coffee and breakfast and enjoyed his company for a couple of hours before he took off. After he left, Sid and I went for a snorkel out by the reef in-between the two islands. Not even in the water for 5 minutes, we had a big bag filled with steamer clams. They were all over the place, waiting to be picked, incredible. The reef itself was the most lively we’ve ever seen, everything on and around it moved. What we thought to be a rock, turned out to be either oysters, scallops, or mussels. After “working so hard” getting these clams we decided we deserved a nice lunch at Ray’s and headed to the beach that was around 2 P.M. We met some really cool people from Australia and didn’t realize that the time jumped to 8 pm must have been the Cuba Libres. It was time to head back anyway a huge black wall of a cloud headed over the anchorage, which reminded me of the violent summer thunderstorm we had in Switzerland as a kid. Immediately we removed the sunshade, bimini and anything that wasn’t attached. As darkness approached we could see some lightning bolts shooting out of the cloud. The storm was more to the north of us, so we weren’t too alarmed. While Sid fell asleep in the cockpit I went down below and woke up after one hour already. It was so quiet and still outside, almost felt eerie. I still don’t know what brought me to go on deck take the wind scoop down and to close the hatch. Then the hatch wasn’t closed for 5 seconds as an enormous wind gusts almost knocked me on by butt. We had gusts up to 50 knots for about 15 minutes. Each gust wildly tossed the boat from one side to the other. So this is what a CHUBASCO felt like, not fun I tell you. Glad we took everything down and also that it only lasted 15 minutes as they can last up to an hour with gusts up to 75 knots, no thank you. After the wind an incredible lightning show followed with a few rain drops. We actually hoped for a lot more rain, but we enjoyed sitting under the welcoming few drops. Around 1 A.M. the sky started to clear and within minutes, there was no sign of any storm at all, except our anchor had dragged about 100 feet.
The next day we learned of Tropical Storm Celia, then about 100 miles south of Cabo traveling rather fast with 15 knots per hour and threatening to head up the Sea of Cortez. For us it was already too late to make a run north. The wind was blowing already and we started getting some swells. We decided to move to a more southerly protected anchorage just in case Celia should make it up the Sea. We went across to ST. BARBARA COVE. It took us 3 tries of anchoring before we finally hooked. The bottom was covered with shells. One time bringing the anchor up a shell was actually stuck on the point of the anchor. Flexible Flyer anchored in Coyote it took them even 6 tries before they were safely anchored. Then the good news, Celia was heading NW and was declining. Although the Weather forecast still showed thunderstorms all the way through the Sea of Cortez, Arizona and California we decided to stay put where we were. The evening was quite entertaining with all the thunderstorms around us. I stayed up almost all night to watch. None of the thunderclouds made it we stayed under a clear sky of twinkling stars. Although the next morning we woke up with a heavy cloud cover which let up a bit. Around 2 in the afternoon, we were sitting in-between two giant black and threatening looking clouds and we could hear the roar of thunder. Funny though they split and went around us on both sides, merged together again and about 3 miles later over Santispac let lose. All the little islands between us completely disappeared. It rained so hard over there, that the boast couldn’t even see each other. I was ready for the rain too and standing on deck with brush in my hands to scrub the deck. But no such luck we only received about 50 drops. By 5 PM the storm was long gong and it was so quiet and calm we caught ourselves whispering to one another. It was the most spectacular sight, the hills wet from all the rain looked now very dark brown and were an incredible contrast to the now soaked shrubs and trees glowing in a bright green and was reflecting in the water like a mirror. There was a herd of 7 cows walking along the beach one with a bell we could hear clearly with and frolicking birds in the background. We were lost into this peaceful nature display as we were rudely interrupted by the grinding noise of our anchor chain. Were we dragging? How could that be, there was no breeze or current or anything that could cause it. We both thought that it was rather strange and went on the bow to watch the chain wondering what the problem was. Then we heard this loud “pffffffffff” and a huge turtle popped up right next to the boat took a deep breath of fresh air and disappeared again and the grinding noise started. The turtle was rubbing its back on the chain to get read of barnacles. We must have watched spectacular nature display for at least one hour.
It felt safe the next day to move back to Santispac as the wind had died but as soon as we set the anchor the wind came up again out of the south sending bit swells our way. All the boats pulled anchor again and found shelter behind the island in the middle of the Bay.
SANTA ROSALIA, July 22nd: there was not much wind out there and we had to motor the 49 miles to St. Rosalia. Off the Point of Punta Chivato, we anchored for about 1 ½ hours, went ashore and tried to locate some friends, Red and Nancy who we met 8 years ago as they are camping here every year. Unfortunately, they weren’t here this time. (Days later we learned through some friends that they just had left, but would return in October). It was a nice stop, met some guys from Bakersfield and we noticed unfortunate how this once very remote place started to turn into a Gringo-City with all the villas built where once just sand dunes were.
St. Rosalia has a very interesting history. In 1866 ore and copper was found and turned this into one of the most productive Mining-Town around the world. The copper and ore find is not as great anymore, and after being shut down for many years a company resumed the mining. The glow of the fires at the smelter and the twinkle of electric lights at the mine works can be seen again at night, which sends terrible fumes over to the Marina docks.
The Town itself reminds me of Avalon in Catalina Island with it’s narrow streets and the small wooden houses. In the upper part, by the Hotel Frances, you’re reminded of all the hard work of mining, several machineries are displayed on the street. The Marina is relatively small and for as small as it is, it’s a very busy port and rather on the dirty and smelly side. There are 10 slips available for cruising boats, for $10.00 a day, including electricity and water. Also showers, two laundry machines, sometimes working and sometimes not and two commercial refrigerators filled with ice cold beer and sodas. We all made jokes about the filthy showers, that you have to put gloves, a raincoat and shoes on, then run around to get wet, but do not touch the walls! Well, it’s a shower! Then there was the “PALLAPA OF KNOWLEDGE” overlooking the Marina, were the cruisers mingle in the hot afternoons, cooling down with a brewski.
This is a good place to provision, although the assortment was very limited and there was not much on cheeses, sour cream or yogurt. Since only a very few stores have refrigeration we were picky with where to by certain items. It was very helpful to know that when the ferry arrived from the mainland the stores would be replenished with fresh veggies and other items such as the daily products. Of course the whole town was running to the stores and buying up all the fresh stuff. I found the most efficient way to shop was to walk up town and go into every store memorizing what they received and where it looked the best and on my way back I knew what I needed to buy in each store and mostly ended up with everything I needed. From all the provisioning the beer was the easiest one to get. Of course we found some excellent eating places again, but our favorite was the hot dog stand in front of the church, bacon wrapped hot dogs “EXQUISITOS” with lots of different condiments to choose from, I turned into the cruisers hangout. Besides we learned some history of that church. Church Iglesia Santa Barbara is a unique pre-fabricated metal church, designed and built by Carl Eiffel for the Paris Exposition of 1889, re-built in Brussels, and subsequently taken down, shipped to Santa Rosalia and re-assemble in 1895.
ISLA SAN MARCOS, July 31st: after a few fun fulfilled days we left for Isla San Marcos, about 9 miles south of Santa Rosalia. Isla San Marcos is a large, dry and barren island that lies off the coast midway between Punta Chivato and Caleta de San Lucas. The Island is about 5 1/2 miles long and is quite hilly rather than mountainous. It is the only island in the gulf on which there is an industry of any considerable proportion, having an extensive gypsum mine. The village is probably the cleanest anywhere in Mexico, every few feet along the streets was a trash can. The gypsum company seems to take good care of its employees, every little house had at least one air conditioner and the one and only store had a computerized register.
The islands west side is curved and there are no coves to tuck into, but it is very well protected and the whole island is in view. And what a view we had. Mother Nature was very kind to us and provided us with a neat treat every day, with schools of Mantas swimming, flying or somersaulting by, or the Finback Wales blowing air just a few feet next to the boat. Never a dull moment, always something to awe about. Originally we didn’t plan on visiting this island, as we had that close call with Celia in Santispac, we were listening to all the radio calls from Isla San Marcos and they didn’t sound like they felt very safe here. Well, we got talked into it and we didn’t regret one moment. The snorkeling was just fabulous and Sid speared a fish every day. The first day we snorkeled in the vicinity of our boat, Sid speared a nice size cabrilla. Unfortunately the cabrilla wiggled himself off the spear and took off; I followed him, while Sid set his gun up again. While I watched the wounded fish I noticed a rather big moray eel swimming almost underneath me and I swam a few steps back and pointed it out to Sid. He tried to get the cabrilla, but the moray eel wanted him as well and got a bit aggressive, needless to say, the eel won! We found us some more cabrillas, sculpin, scallops, and limpets and, and, and…And these incredible caves on the north side of the island! When snorkeling from one cave to the other, the snorkel would touch the ceiling and it was just enough room for one person to go through at a time.
At night our cats had fun chasing moths the size of sparrows. Always surprising that none of my cats have gone swimming as of yet. We had the beautiful and quiet anchorage for 5 days to our self, before Blondie and Spirit joined us. With them unfortunately came also bad weather. Another tropical storm “Frank” was threatening the Baja Peninsula and was125 miles away from us. Frank brought a pretty good thunder and lightning storm with refreshing rain for the first day. For the following day we expected the worst and prepared for it, but luck struck again and we had nothing but sonny weather. The storm churned the water and left snorkeling with no visibility. No being able to snorkel we decided we had enough of the island and started heading north. We stopped one more time in St. Rosalia for some minor provisioning!!! Had to have some rum! We arrived at a little past 3 PM and left fully stocked at 7 PM, including doing two loads of laundry, and headed 86 miles north to Punta San Franciscito and caught up with our buddy boats. The currents are very unpredictable and we had to keep a close eye on the compass and GPs reading. One moment we did 7 knots over ground, the next only 2.3, and as we were 8 miles away from our destination the tide changed and added 2 1/2 hours extra to finally round the point and actually anchor. We had a nice crossing, with a beautiful moon rise and lots of spectacular lightning from across the mainland.
PUNTA SAN FRANCISCITO, August 12th: we remembered this place too well, when we camped here on the lonely beach two years passed. It was so memorable, because of the many coyotes. One wasn’t too shy to come almost next to us as we were sitting on the beach enjoying a cocktail. Later on that particular night we did some coyote fishing. We tied a piece of pork rind on the fishing line, no hook of course, and tossed it behind the bushes, set the pole on clicker and stuck the pool into the sand next to our truck. At around 2 o’clock in the morning we awoke the bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz sound of the reel, which was fun. It was nice to be back but this time on Paradise.
Punta San Franciscito is a fairly big bay and provides good protection. The prior year some boats road out hurricane Nora with no problem. Since we expected a Northerly due to Hurricane Frank, we anchored on the NW anchorage. The next morning we got rudely awakened by rollers hitting us on the beam. All of us moved to the SE anchorage, where it was a lot calmer. From here we went snorkeling just around the corner. The water was a little on the murky side, but there still was a lot to see. This was the first place too, to find kelp, sea grass and a neat looking white coral. Hundreds of Stingrays where hidden in piles under the grass or just leisurely swimming amongst us. The rocks were full with purple, violet and royal blue flowers, reminding me of Violets. Lobsters?! They were all over the place, some of them walking around on rocks while others piled up under rocks. There was so much sea live we didn’t know anymore where to look. Our buddy boats had caught some lobster over several days, but kept complaining how small they were and yes they were small. Sid caught a big one and as we got back into our dingy, we were not just happy and proud of that BIG Lobster; we were so excited that we decided to show it off with our buddies. Sid started the engine and took off with full throttle. SPLASH!!! I didn’t know what hit me, but all of a sudden I went flying through the air, ending up under water facing several trigger fish who were staring at me just as surprised as I was. Then I popped on the surface and saw Sid frantically trying to stop the wild gone dingy. I still didn’t know what happened, other than that I was left in the water and Sid was going around in circles and his eyes wide open. From the excitement over the lobster, we forgot to bring the anchor up, stupid Gringos!!
ISLA LAS ANIMAS, August 15th: on our way to Isla Las Animas we caught another nice Dorado. The island lays 17 miles NW of Punta San Franciscito, one of several islands positioned closed together. Very isolated and very beautiful, too beautiful too last! We were the only boat on the island and anchored in a small and gorgeous cove. We did some snorkeling around the whole island in the afternoon and found a most incredible spot overgrown with a lot of different kelp with beautiful tropical fish playing amongst. We even saw a big sculpin sitting on kelp, thinking he was hiding from us. Although the water wasn’t as clear as we hoped for it still offered a lot of neat things to see. We also found a few caves, which were incredible and so different from the San Marcos. Back to too beautiful to last, just after four o’clock wile relaxing in the cockpit with a cocktail we got attacked by no-see-ums. We tried to fight them of with lots of repellent to no avail. Around 9 PM some small swells started rolling in from the north, gradually getting bigger and of course hitting us on the beam. All night long we got tossed back and fourth robbing us of our earned sleep. At the same time there was not a breath of air on this island, but yet the swells were huge. One of our buddy boats was 12 miles from us on little Isla Partida, they had the same situation, plus 30 knots of wind. Needless to say we left very early the next morning to escape the swells and the nasty no-see-ums and headed over to Punta Las Animas.
PUNTA LAS ANIMAS, August 16th: 26 miles further NW, we anchored in a cove protected from the still heavy swells. Not far behind us was Spirit. A few yards to the East from us was a little lagoon which had a little opening through the rocks to get into it. Sid and I snorkeled our way through it to find a sandy lagoon, it felt like entering a large swimming pool. We saw a few very good size pargos which were trapped in the lagoon due to the low tide. Also all sizes of stingrays hung around and we found lots of live sand dollars. They feel like velvet and have this pretty burgundy color.
One day, we watched a couple coyotes prowling along the beach we were in the dingy at the time and got pretty close without disturbing them. It was really cool because they seemed to watch us too. Back on the boat we kept watching them one strolled along the beach and not far from us laid under a bush and took a nap. Between lots of snorkeling, wonderful dinners on each others boat we had a great time
BATTLE OF THE BEES: once upon a time, there was a bee colony in a small and pretty lagoon in Punta Las Animas. On one morning early one bee woke up before everyone else did and decided to go for a little adventure flight by himself. He took off and flew over the pretty lagoon, across the cove and saw this beautiful boat called Paradise. He flew over to the boat to check it out and found the middle hatch open and entered into it. Oh, boy, was there a lot to see and as he approached the galley counter he noticed this bag full of lemonade powder. He took a few bites and excited hurried back to his colony. “Hey guys, wake up, wake up and look what I found!” - “Wow!” - “Yummy!” - “Cool!” - “Where did you find it?” - “Is there more?” everybody screamed. All the bees got so excited and asked him to lead them to the boat. Off they went, over the pretty lagoon and across the cove to that beautiful sailboat called Paradise. Through the middle hatch into the galley……Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The second morning as I woke up I heard this loud buzzing noise in the galley, got up and went to check to find at least 30 bees buzzing wildly around. They were all over the place and it took me quit a while to either get them out or swat them with the fly swatter, which wasn’t easy. It seemed like two would leave and four more would arrive. Sid noticed that they came in through the middle hatch and so he closed it. It worked; we got rid of them, well at least for a little while, until they discovered the open forward hatch. So we closed that one as well. The next morning we had the same problem again, but this time at least 50 bees swarming around. The old routine again, closing the hatches and this time Sid lit up one of those coils to repel mosquitoes, which makes a fair amount of smoke and chased the bees out. On the third day we left and funny, Spirit, which hadn’t experienced the visiting bees yet, got attacked by them just after we left and abandoned the anchorage as well.
EL QUEMADO, August 20th: we headed 8 miles further north to Quemado, a beautiful and large sandy cove with a resident Coyote protecting his beach by barking at any dog that arrives there. One of our buddy boats Irie had two German Shepherds on board and the coyote actually liked to play with the dogs unbelievable. Other then that this was probably the least eventful anchorage of all not even the snorkeling was exciting.
DON JUAN, August 23rd: lies just 3 miles around the corner and is a very well protected cove and hurricane hole and we met up with all the other cruisers in this area, a total of 14 boats. The same day we had a potluck on the beach with a guest speaker “JEFF” from the Turtle Research Center in Bahia de los Angeles. It was very interesting, not just was he talking about turtles, but other wildlife in this area and the area it self. Last Years El Nino brought a lot of changes to this area. Last summer the over 90 degrees water killed off all the fish which littered the beaches, causing the birds to loose their feeding grounds. Result was only a few birds remained in this area. This came to Sid attention as well, not just that, the fishing wasn’t as good as it used to be either. Don Juan was one of our favorite anchorages, mainly of its protection and the beaches. In less then 5 minutes I could fill up a bucket full with steamer clams which grew plentiful here. We ate so much; they came out of our ears!
BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES, August 26th: Just 9 miles to the West is Bahia de los Angeles a small settlement occupying the coastal flat at the bight formed behind the long arm of the sand spit, Punta Arena. The village is nestled at the foot of a rug barren mountain and its several dozen houses and buildings are surrounded by a scattering of green foliage, with an incredible view over the beautiful bay with its many islands. The bay offers a rich source of food for turtles and whale sharks.
While provisioning and exploring the little town we also visited the Turtle Research Center, which was a real treat. They were just in the process of cleaning the tanks and told us to hop in and pet the Turtles. Boy, they didn’t have to tell me twice to hope in. What beautiful animals, 7 green turtles and 2 loggerheads.
Later on that day we had another incredible treat. A whale shark was feeding in our anchorage. We were already in our dingy to head ashore for dinner as we spotted this enormous creature. It was really exciting as we managed to get right next to it and I was able to touch it several times. If it wasn’t for being all dressed up for dinner, we would have jumped in to the water to swim with this unusual, beautiful with leopard like white markings on the gray skinned creature. What an eventful day, we talked about it for hours and hours.
The Bay of LA still had no electricity and was run by a generator which would turn off at 10 PM sharp every night. I was told that within one month they should have electricity. Of course where there was no power, there was no phone either, no phone no email either. Actually they had two phones (radio phones) for the whole village, but not suitable for computers, so no emails for a while.
ISLA CORONADO or ISLA SMITH, August 29th: also called “the volcano island”. From Bay of LA you can recognize the island by its big volcano. I remember it as the “smoking volcano”; every time we visited this area a white cloud would hover over the peak it making it look like the volcano was blowing steam. We anchored just before Isla Mitlan which is a very protected and scenic anchorage at the foot of the volcano. During our stay, which unfortunately lasted only a few days, we enjoyed a lot of snorkeling. Although the water still wasn’t very clear we saw some incredible fish including a gold spotted bass and also found lobster.
Steve on Spirit made some fish jerky which was really good, although he made it for his dog. The next Trigger fish we caught we made our own fish jerky and came out really good, what a treat. That was our trademark from then on. I believe our receipt is still going around from boat to boat in Mexico.
Cut fish into thing strips
Place in bowl and cover with soy sauce
Squeeze garlic into sauce
Add red pepper flakes and any other seasoning desired
Let soak for 30 to 45 minutes and hang up in sun on monofilament. Let completely dry. If they are not dry by evening and the nights are tamp take inside and hang up
Again next day until fully dried.
BACK TO DON JUAN, September 2nd: Hurricane Isis started heading up the Sea of Cortez and it didn’t look all too good for us. Every boat in the vicinity, moved back to Don Juan and prepared for the worst. On our trip back to Don Juan, we encountered some dolphins, which playfully swam along side the boat. These were the biggest ones we’ve ever seen. There was mama dolphin with her baby (half her size, about the size of a regular seen dolphin) and mama was pregnant too. Trying to hold on to her was a remora, a little fish that eats parasites of other fishes; I’ve never seen it on a dolphin before.
Fortunately Isis didn’t make it, even more incredibly we didn’t get one drop of rain, nothing. We couldn’t believe when KFI 1070 Radio reported what heavy rain San Diego was enduring from Isis, since we were between Isis and San Diego. Sid figured out why Isis never made it, spelled backwards it says Sisi. There was a lot of partying going on after the hurricane scare. One particular was really memorable, all the 17 boats in Don Juan, met for the Isis potluck on the beach, everybody had to bring a clam dish. To this day I still don’t know which of the dishes was best, the clam ceviche, quiche, bread, pasta, chowder or the wonderful clam fritters, it was probably one of the tastiest potluck we ever had, Most of the boats took off again, but there was already another system hovering over Cabo which made our decision to stick around, wait and see.
One of the days in Don Juan Steve and Marsha (Spirit) were over for cocktail, when the water all around us started to boil. Took Sid just a few seconds to grab his pool, jump into the dingy and trying to catch whatever fish it was. Bingo, within a few casts a 20 pound rooster fish was hooked. This fish was so strong it started pulling Sid in the dingy around the whole cove Steve had to go to the rescue with a hook and net. You fishermen probably think why even bother with that fish nobody eats them, in one of our books it says that rooster is excellent and so we tried it. It wasn’t bad at all, bit oily, wouldn’t exactly call it excellent, but it was tasty and the fish jerky we made from it went to Spirits dog Cindy.
Our18 year old dingy started to develop a problem, we could watch it falling apart. Sid kept gluing and gluing it back together. The bow had a whole and was loosing air rather fast. Took us quite a while to find the whole but we did, it was from our Trigger Fish we caught a few days prior. Sid fixed that but the dingy kept falling apart anyway; time to get a new one.
On the 8th, we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and it couldn’t have been in a better place in and on Paradise somewhere in Paradise! The new storm system was still hovering over Cabo and it didn’t seem to be a threat anymore and we decided to head out again with a quick stop in Bahia de los Angeles for re-provisioning. While I was shopping Sid was doing his routine checks on the boat and found oil in the bilge water and immediately checked the engine for a leak. All he could find though was a busted air box. It bothered him though not being able to find the oil leak and decided to do an oil change and as he pulled the oil bottles out of the bilge, he noticed that one of them not even opened yet was only half full. Guess he found the oil leak after all.
ALCATRAZ: it was a short 14 mile trip to Alcatraz, excellent sailing condition and we had the absolute perfect spinnaker run. Each anchorage has its own beauty, this one had unbelievable clear water, a breeze was blowing everyday and every evening the wind turned west and was blowing hot air up to 30 knots. (One night at 11 p.m. we hung fish strips for jerky out to dry and within 4 hours they were dried to a crisp.) On arrival we were checked out by two turtles and during our stay visited by little birds. They tried to find a cool and shady spot on the boat, much to the disturbance of our cats! Boy they sure where in frustrated heaven. In heaven because of the birds, frustrated because they were too slow to catch them!
We read that all crab are edible, it just depends how much work you want to go through. On our next beach snorkels caught two crabs, but let the female go and only took the male home which made the most delicious crab omelet with hollandaise sauce, what a feast! Food wise we really couldn’t complain, the sea was as plentiful as a delicatessen. We found giant scallops, big sea snails and on one of our food foraging trips, I wasn’t even in the water for 30 second when I saw a huge sculpin in just 3 feet of water. Sid said they don’t get any bigger then that. What a delicious fish!
PUERTO REFUGIO, Sept. 16th: Everybody was raving about this place, so we decided to sail the 26 miles to the northern end of Isla Angel de la Guarda in Puerto Refugio. This is a bay of spectacular and forbidding beauty, with several fingers and islands that provide well protected and choice anchorages and unfortunately No-see-ums! The view really was quite spectacular, but the heat was unbearable, we all were lying around, while the cats were panting we were sweating like waterfalls and almost panting, it was time for a jump into the water to cool off. Fat chance the water was so warm I almost felt I was taking a bubble bath. The water here was known to have this incredible visibility but we found very murky. On our almost 2 hour snorkel we had the same group of about 30 good size cabrillas, 3 golden groupers and at least 60 trigger fish following us everywhere we went. We started to feed them with scraps of the scallops we collected. We didn’t really cool off but it was better to be in the water then in the stifling heat on the boat, poor cats. We knew about the no-see-um problem here and were ready for with netting up over every hatch. I even put my black fly suite on but still didn’t trust them went down below for several hours until it was save to come out again and spent one hour in the cockpit before going to bed. In the morning I counted at least 30 bits on me anyway. At 8 AM a panga with local fishermen came over to the boat trading fish for fresh water and tortillas, we also gave each a cold beer and some candy. The heat was so extreme already even the local fisherman couldn’t stand it. After the trade we got the hell out of there, back to Alkatraz were it was a lot cooler. Besides the heat, we didn’t want to deal with the no-see-ums either. Later we heard that two members on “Tatanka”, which by the way left Refugio just as we arrived, had 350 and 400 bites on them. I felt pretty lucky to have ended up with only 30 bites, because those little critters are absolutely horrible. The trip back was pretty rough. The wind was blowing out of the south, had a current of 2 and up to almost 3 knots and the wind blowing towards the current, which turned this into a 4 foot choppy mess. Oh, well, can’t just always be great!
We enjoyed another few days in Alcatraz without any bugs. The wind was blowing from the west with up to 30 knots and provided us with a very welcoming cool breeze. It got even cool enough during the night for us to bring blankets out. In the mean time we turned into the biggest crab hunters and between Spirit, Blondie and us we had some pretty good gourmet meals like Bouillabaisse.
September 21st, we decided that it was time to start heading back towards St. Rosalia to beat all the other boats to a slip. The marina had only 10 slips available, the anchorage wasn’t good and not big enough for all the boats heading south. It was time to go and we headed first back to Don Juan.
September 23rd we left Don Juan at 4 AM for our 120 mile trip back to St. Rosalia. The wind was blowing out of the NE at around 15 to 25 knots, enough to have to reef the main. It was pretty lumpy going against the tide as the wind blew against it as well. Sunrise was absolutely beautiful and as we rounded Punta Las Animas the water calmed down as the tide was going with us now. For most of the day we had fair winds and a good sail. Around 3 PM the wind completely shut down and the old iron jib had to take over. We wished for a breeze since we wanted to sail and our wish was granted at sundown, with much more then we had wished for. The wind picked up rather fast and didn’t seem to be steady. Sid decided to reef the main again and just on time. The wind built up fast and blew now 30 knots and turned this sail into a restless and very long night. With 4 to 6 foot cross swells, very close together, it seemed to get worse and worse. Earlier that day, Blondie had an accidental jib and could no longer use the main, must have been really bad for them. Rounding Punta el Cabo before St. Rosalia was the worst we were tossed around like in a washing machine and even doused with a good size wave into the cockpit. It was really weird though, just as we rounded the point, it calmed down immediately and was absolutely calm and flat, so we reported this to the boats traveling behind us. Relieve for everybody! By that time it was 1 AM and two more hours before our ETA. Just as we started to relax and get comfortable, the wind started howling at once. It was now on our beam out of the West and sent sprays of water into our cockpit, so much for the calmness and dryness! Again, we informed the others. Not just was the wind blowing, but the dust that the wind brought from the desert was stinging our faces and eyes and was unbearable. It was a sand storm and we felt like being in the Sahara. We were 4 miles from shore; the dust was so bad we couldn’t see the lights of the houses. Then arriving in St. Rosalia, nothing, not a breeze. The last hour was the longest and never ending hour ever. Getting into the marina at night was a little tricky, especially finding the slips. The slip we chose to pull into at a last second I noticed a sunken panga which was barely visible in it, wow, that was close. At 3 AM Paradise was safely docked and could want the following boats of that sunken panga in the slip.
We really needed a new dingy its condition was getting worse. Our buddy boat needed some boat parts as well so Peter and Sid decided to take the bus up to the States and do some boat shopping. Bonnie and I stayed with the boats.
While they were up in the States having fun shopping we took a trip to a site seeing tour. The Sierra Guadalupe East of Mulege contains the largest number of known prehistoric mural sites in Baja California. La Trinidad, one of the best trips, involves a canyon site near Rancho La Trinidad, about 29 km (18m) west o Mulege. The sight at La Trinidad involved a challenging canyon hike of around 6.5 km (4 m) that included several river crossings and some required to swim across or along though passages with steep walls on either side. The trip began with a scenic desert drive to Rancho La Trinidad a large goat and cattle ranch at the foot of the mountains. After arriving at Rancho La Trinidad, we hiked about 800 meters to a four-meter (12foot) stone dam, which we climbed to enter Cañon La Trinidad. These are reportedly the headwaters of the Rio Mulege, though the river drops underground before resurfacing near town. Once inside the mouth of the canyon, we made one river crossing before reaching the first and largest group of murals. Among the many red and black animals representations on the canyon walls was a large ocher deer silhouette, considered one of the best prehistoric deer paintings in Baja. To reach the second group of murals we crossed the river several more times. This was the high point of the trip, diving into that nice and cool fresh water. The canyon scenery is spectacular, with cactus and wild fig trees clinging to the sides of high tuff, volcanic ash cliffs. The background from the canyon looks like tropical Hawaii with trees, shrubs and undergrowth of varying heights that create a canopied effect. Driving along the Baja Peninsula seeing just desert, you’d never expect to find something like a rainforests here, so beautiful and untouched. Back at the Ranch they fed us lunch with cheese was just made on the ranch. It was so delicious; we bought 2 kilos for only 20 pesos.
Judy on Amazing Grace and I did some walks together to get some exercise. We usually walked to the cemetery way above St. Rosalia where we had an incredible view over the whole bay and San Marcos Island, but more it was interesting to see this humungous cemetery, the whole hill site was covered with agent graves. We were amazed to a grave of a guy who was born in 1859 and get this; he died in 1979, which makes him 120 years old!!! Next to him was his wife’s grave, she died a couple years after him, but there was no record of her age, she must have been so old that they forgot her age?! Wow, 120 years old that would put me to the year 2080! Sid said, the City of LA would never recuperate from how long they had to pay for his pension! I like that one.
Still amazed how little things cost here. I bought 2 salad cucumbers, 2 big tomatoes, 1 Bunch of radishes the size of 2 in the US, 2 jalapeño peppers,
1 big zucchini, 12 eggs, 4 small packages of spaghetti and a one-pound box of Corn flakes and paid 49.50 Pesos, US $ 4.95. Amazing!
I also went to get my haircut at a salon, as the hairdresser was she asked if she could braid my hair. Off course! I couldn’t believe, when she only charged 30 Pesos = 3 Dollars!!!
October 31st HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Sid and Peter were still in Los Angeles shopping. I went shopping at ISSSTE which is the Government store with reduced prices and the only store in St. Rosalia selling liquor. It was payday, of course it was the end of the months, so the whole town was in the store shopping, and there was a line of at least 20 people in front of me to get to the register. So I started to chit chat with Ana the lady in front of me, or at least I tried with the little Spanish I knew. She told me that there was going to be a Fiesta solamente para mujeres, for women only and invited me to join. A Halloween Party, hey I love Halloween?!!! Back at the boat, I tried to talk Bonnie into going with me, for all I saved two Halloween costumes just in case. Bonnie declined but I went anyway and I had so much fun! The Mexican ladies sure know how to party. There were at least one hundred women and the costumes, just incredible. The place was nicely decorated with all self made huge spiders, ghosts, witches, pumpkins and lots more. The entrance was a long black tunnel. The women noticed right away, that I wasn’t from around and immediately took care of me introducing me to everybody. A couple hours later (midnight) as I tried to go home, they wouldn’t let me go. It’s customary to party until at least 4 am in the morning, so I stayed a little longer. The next day walking through town any women I ran into said hi to me or waved across the street. Of course I didn’t recognize anybody without the costumes.
Back to Sid and Peters shopping trip to the States. They left on September 30th and took the chicken bus up to Ensenada from there they rented a car. Since Mexican border was checking every car thoroughly and only $50 worth of goods could be brought across duty free everything above had a 20% charge, so the boys were very selective with the shopping. The question also was how to bring everything back since they took a bus. That problem was solved as Rich Baur a friend from our Yacht Club was bringing his boat to Ensenada and offered he could bring all the stuff down for them. I don’t think he had to tell them twice, before he knew it his boat was loaded up. But then a problem arose, Rich couldn’t find a slip in Ensenada. Not knowing how long it would take for Rich to find one and the boys having spent 16 days shopping already they decided to head back to St. Rosalia and wait for the OK. October 29th, they finally drove back to LA helped to deliver the boat to Ensenada, arriving on November 2nd in Ensenada.
We have the greatest friends in the world I tell you. Rich Baur helped the boys bringing the stuff into Mexico. Sara Lee and Barry gave Sid their truck to drive everything from Ensenada to St. Rosalia. Sparky drove along with them. Roseland flew down to Loretto to help Sparky drive the truck back to Los Angeles. Unfortunately the next day when I called Janet to tell her when to expect the boys back, she had horrible news for us. Sparky and Roseland drove over a cliff in El Rosario, a very hazardous stretch of road just about 40 miles before San Quentin. Thank God the guys were OK, although pretty banged up. From the looks of the totaled truck, they were very lucky they survived. Sid had a terrible few weeks after that, blaming himself for not driving. But you can’t change fate. To make sure that everything was going OK with the insurance, we stayed an extra few days in St. Rosalia.
November 12th, everything with the truck was handled and Sid felt save to leave and headed out for a 24 mile sail to Punta Chivato. Well, that’s what we thought. We sailed out of the harbor and within minutes we had to pull the jib in and reef the main. The wind already started to blow again out of the north. Usually a northerly lasts for 3 to 4 days with a brake of about 4 days. Not this time, the brake was for only one day. Within just a short time it turned really messy, although the trip only took us a bit less then 5 hour instead of 6. We had a very confused sea with 8 to 10 foot swells, only 8 feet apart, square waves or four by fours, as we call them. Sid had a horrible time steering the boat, while I was feeding the fish. It was quite a relief for both of us to finally pull in to Punta Chivato in one piece.
Through Blondie we met Jim and Mary “Moony Base” who live in a most beautiful house on the beach of Punta Chivato. Jim flies a Moony plane which is docked near the house. They are the nicest people and opened up their house to us. We spent every minute with them and we girls took over Mary’s kitchen, she never once had to cook a meal. She sure enjoyed that quite a bit and so did Jim as our meals were just delicious. While we cooked the guys had a wonderful time watching football.
The view from the house was magnificent. Looking out of the window your eyes wandered over a giant patio to the gazebo covered with colorful blooming bougainvilleas, beyond the beach out to the anchorage where Paradise gently was rocking, from there across the blue bay to Mulege and in the background the beautiful desert and mountains. Just picture perfect.
Since we had a new and bigger dingy we had no room on deck anymore for our two kayaks and since Jim and Mary always wanted some we made them a good deal and left them in their care.
This was a very memorable stop including the night of the 16th/17th, with a big meteor shower, the biggest one in 30 years. I had the alarm set for 2 am, put some warm cloths on and went on deck, watching the spectacle. I wasn't even watching for 3 seconds when the most incredible shooting stars lit up the sky. According to the radio we were able to see 100 of them per hour. No kidding! I sat out from 2 until 5 am. The falling stars all had very bright tales, which glowed up to 30 second after the final explosion. I even saw 5 at the same time. Two parallel together. Some just exploding, one was so bright it lit everything up like day light. It was just amazing. This only happens every 33 years, a long time to wait. Unfortunate I couldn’t share this with anyone, they forgot to watch and Sid was too tired to stay up. At least he saw a few.
We had one more get together with Spirit and Moony Base on Paradise we headed of into the South on the October 19th. We left Punta Chivato early on and with a northerly blowing we had the greatest 54 mile sail south to Coleta San Juanico.
For the first two days we were all by ourselves in the anchorage, colleted some more onyx and also tide a PMYC flag with our names on it into the Cruiser Shrine
Nov. 23rd Time again to head further south before the winter weather started, we left early for Agua Verde, a 53 mile run south. The weather was just beautiful, actually too beautiful, we only had enough wind for about three out of the ten hours traveling time. The iron jib did most of the work. As we sailed by Puerto Escondido, I heard Ocean Quest on the radio and immediately tried to get in contact with them. Instead “MacNab” responded. Who was “MadNab”, after a little talking I figured out who it was. Dona and Alan and their son John, we met in Muertos six years ago while camping. Alan had asked Sid all kind of cruising questions and said that someday he wants to do the same. Well they’ve been doing it already for two years, wow.
This time in Agua Verde we anchored in the north protected side. This side is so much more beautiful. The water in deed is very green, an emerald green with red hills in the background. A desert with green shrubs and cacti on red sand. The reflection in the water was incredible and even more so by sunset. To the south across the bay of Agua Verde are Palm Trees along the beach, with the colored village houses behind and a tall mountain in the back ground. If I knew how to paint, this would be it.
The village is small and very primitive. No running water, electricity, etc. The houses are built with ply wood and are in very poor condition. The village people live by little. There is one store in town, which is also the house the owners live in. Onions, potatoes and tomatoes can be found, maybe some apples, but the rest is just canned goods, crackers, flour and sugar. There also was a little restaurant, although I don't think I would eat there, with no fresh running water this would be the perfect place to catch the critters. What I was looking forward to was the goat farmer, who sells excellent goat cheese. Unfortunately all the goats were pregnant and they don’t milk them during that time.
We stayed in Agua Verde over Thanksgiving (our Turkey was a very tasty amber jack) and then drove the 50 miles to Isla San Francisco, where we got our first rain in a long time. Sure was nice to have a clean boat for a change.
Nov. 28th Our last day traveling in the beautiful Sea of Cortez. This sure has been a wonderful, adventurous and unforgettable summer.
We returned to La Paz but a new adventure yet was waiting for us: The Mainland of Mexico!
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