We made a stop in Matanchen Bay with the main goal of going on a jungle tour up the Rio Tovaro. This area was legendary for No-See-Um activity, and this was enough for me to protest a bit about even going here, given my previous experience with No-See-Ums. However, Lady Carolina had done the tour the previous season, so they gave us a full briefing on how we needed to do it in order to minimize the damage done to our bodies by the no-see-ums. Here was the drill:
#1) Anchor as far out in the bay as possible in hopes that the no-see-ums don’t find you. The funny thing is that in this area of the coast it shallows very gradually, and we were in 40 ft of water when we were still 2 miles out. But we did anchor pretty far out, and the good thing (for us) was there was already one other boat there so we anchored on the outside of them a ways, so that they could be the sacrificial boat. (This boat turned out to be s/v Moments, a fun, young couple that we ended up meeting later on in La Cruz). Lady Carolina and True Blue anchored outside of us.
#2) Close up the boat. We closed all hatches, portals, and our sliding salon door before dropping anchor. We suffered in the sauna, but this was better than being eaten alive.
#3) Dress to protect yourself for the morning beach landing. This includes long sleeves, pants, and socks, and tuck your pants into your socks. OK, we didn’t quite follow this advice. First of all, Alex doesn’t even have any pants that fit him except the jeans we bought for Danna’s wedding. Second, I knew it would be a wet beach surf landing, and I didn’t see any reason to get our socks and pants all wet, as long as we got off the beach quickly. Tim, Brenden, and I wore pants that we could roll up for the landing, and then we high-tailed off the beach as quickly as we could. Tim had to linger a bit longer to arrange to leave our dinghy in front of one of the palapas, but he escaped the beach with minimal damage.
#4) Be back to the beach well before dusk, since bug activity is the worst around dawn and dusk. We were able to manage this easily even packing in a full day of jungle tour, bus ride to San Blas, exploring a bit of San Blas, and then taxi ride back.
#5) Do not pay the palapa who watched your dinghy by staying and eating at the restaurant, since it is imperative to get off the beach before dusk. Pay them cash, and get out of there. Check.
#6) When you are back at the boat, jump into the water fully clothed to kill any no-see-ums who have attached themselves to you and/or your clothing. OK, here we deviated a bit as well. We simply undressed on the swim step and bagged up our clothes and sealed it tight, then we jumped in and rinsed ourselves off (except for me, I went straight to the showere and rinsed off there.) We left the clothes bagged until we got to our next laundry opportunity.
So, all of this worked pretty well, and if we had any no-see-um bites at all, it was in the single digits, and manageble. As we were leaving the bay the next morning, True Blue radioed to let us know that they discovered tons of no-see-ums under their cockpit cushions, so although they didn’t penetrate into the cabins, they definitely found the boats and started setting up shop in their cockpit. Their cushions are dark colored, which apparently the bugs preferred. So, we did an inspection of our own cockpit, and they were in or under our cushions, maybe since they are lighter colored, but there was some dive gear on the floor of the cockpit under which we had our own little infestation. Thankfully we got the heads up from True Blue and we were able to exterminate the little devils before they started chomping on us.
We had a great day on the jungle tour with mimimal impact from the dreaded no-see-ums
I have, unfortunately, supported that statistic. I’ve had several minor burns on my arms when moving things in and out of the oven, but I really did it to myself while we were in the anchorage at Isla Isabel. After preparing the coffee in the french press, I managed to spill the entire piping hot contents all over the counter and all over the floor. This was a tragedy on many levels: first, there was now no coffee to drink and I’d have to brew another pot. Second, the contents that spilled everyone included all of the coffee grounds, so an insanely tedious clean up job was required. Third, and here’s where the burn part comes in, just as the hot liquid spilled all over the counter, Exouds pitched in the swell at bit and I lost my balance. For some reason, I caught myself on the counter where the liquid had pooled with the underside of my left wrist, where the skin is nice and tender. It turned out to be a second degree burn that blistered and peeled and took a fair amount of care to keep comfortable and dry and uninfected. But would you believe that I made another pot of coffee BEFORE I cleaned up the mess and BEFORE I treated the burn? I just love coffee that much.
On my last trip to the states I brought back a new VHF radio with an AIS receiver. We didn’t buy an AIS receiver because we thought we needed one. The decision path was much more indirect. We decided that we wanted an VHF remote microphone at the helm for easy communications when we are underway. The main unit is inside at the nav station, so when we were underway we would take a handheld out to the helm and leave it there to use. However, the range on the handheld is not nearly as far as the main radio, so that would put us at a disadvantage if we ever needed to make an important call from the helm. Of course, there was no optional remote microphone for our VHF radio model, so in order to make this happen, we needed to buy a whole new radio. In doing the research, Tim discovered that it wasn’t any more expensive to buy a radio with built in AIS reception than without, so why not get the one with AIS.
For those that don’t know, AIS is an automated location indicator. All of the large ships are required to trasmit AIS, and many pleaser yachts are doing it now as well. So, instead of relying solely on visual sightings during the day and radar at night when looking for other vessels, the AIS transmission will tell you the location, course, speed, closest point of approach, time to closest point of approach, and lots of other vessel information as well. So, it’s a handy thing to have to avoid getting run down by a freighter in the middle of the night.
We only have the AIS receiver, not a transmitter, so other boats can’t see us. But at least we can see them. It was fun to have this when we were buddy boating across the sea, because the other boats were were with were transmitting AIS. I’m sure they didn’t appreciate that we were in stealth mode, and they couldn’t see us.
Lady Carolina and Dazzler AIS signals on our chartplotter display
The Sea of Cortez has two crossing points that are most common among cruisers, and they are creatively called the Northern Crossing and the Southern Crossing. The Northern Crossing is between the Punta Chivato/Santa Rosalia area on the Baja side over to San Carlos/Guyamas on the mainland side. Likewise, the Southern Crossing is between the East Cape area on the tip of Baja over to Mazatlan/Puerto Vallarta on the mainland side. We never did make the Northern Crossing, opting to stay on the Baja side the whole time. But on a cold, gray, and rainy morning we left Playa Bonanza on Isla Espiritu Santo bound for the mainland, with hopefully a stop at Isla Isabel in between. This was our longest passage in quite some time, since we came south down the outside of Baja between Turtle Bay and Cabo. Unlike that passage where we were isolated and alone, this time we were travelling in a caravan with 3 other boats: Dazzler, Lady Carolina, and True Blue V. We picked a VHF working channel to monitor so we could easily chat without having to first hail and then switch channels. It was a wonderful passage, and it started out with plenty of wind, close hauled, about 17-22 kts. We were starting to pull away from the other boats, so we put one, then two reefs in the mainsail in order to stay close. On the second day the wind died off a bit, and we all discussed whether we should engine up or stay patient, and we decided to stay patient for now. We agreed that if we didn’t make it to Isla Isabel by nightfall the next day we would just hove to and wait until morning to anchor. Then the wind started to pick up and we started making calculations. We had a chance of making it. We definitely had a chance of making it. So, to hell with everyone else, no reefs in the sails tonight, we are outta here! Although, it turned out in the end that everyone made it, and we only arrived a couple hours in advance. Along the way the boys landed a couple of Dorados so we were looking forward to some cookouts with everyone else.
We pulled into the anchorage around 3pm, and there was one other vessel there when we arrived. I felt bad that we were all showing up to disturb their solitude. It is a rocky anchorage, so we did as the guidebook suggested and attached a tripline to the anchor, and Tim dove down to check the holding. While he was still in the water Dazzler pulled in, so Tim dove and checked his anchor too. Repeat for True Blue and Lady Carolina. Leanne called it Tim’s valet parking service.
Exodus anchored at Isla Isabel
We were all pretty tired the first evening after being on passage for two nights, but the next day we got together and explored the island. We learned why Isla Isabel is called “The Galapagos of Mexico.” Frigate birds and blue footed boobies were everywhere! Talk about photo ops. I was wearing my running shoes with the bright blue coloring, so Carolina tried to get a photo of me with the boobies, but they wouldn’t quite let me get that close. The island is not that big, so we hike around just about all of it. It was an absolutely amazing place. We were fortunate to have good weather and be able to anchor there for a few days.
A blue footed boobie at Isla Isabel
The snorkeling was nice as well. Carolina and I and the kids snorkled near the anhorage off of one of the beaches and the visibility was great and the colorful fish plentiful. For the first time I felt comfortable enough that I wish I had a weight belt. When I have my full wetsuit on it is quite a struggle to propel myself down and then I have to fight to stay down and then I have very little air left and have to shoot back up to the top. Maybe next time I will try with a weight belt. Our last day there we went on a family snorkle in the dinghy around to the other side of the island. Can you say “washing machine?” Needless to say, I did not use a weight belt on that day. I kept worrying about where Alex was and where Brenden was, and it finally occurred to me that they should all by worried about where *I* was. By this time, they are both much stronger swimmers than I am, so it was then that a load was lifted from my mind that I no longer needed to worry about them. And it was with great amusement that I told them later that they should be worried about me.
We had a couple of potlucks on Exodus while we were there in order to share the couple of Dorados that the boys caught on passage. It is pretty much unanimous that Tim cooks the best Dorado on the BBQ. He always cooks it just right so it’s juicy and delicious. Just like chicken.
Dazzler went on ahead of us to Chacala, but Lady Carolina, True Blue V, and Exodus headed to Matanchen Bay near San Blas in order to go on the Tovaro River jungle tour. Lady Carolina had done the tour the previous season, so they gave us a full briefing on how we needed to do it in order to minimize the damage done to our bodies by the no-see-ums. Add link to post about No-see-ums.
Now, to describe the really fun stuff, our day of exploring the river and San Blas… It started with us all piling into a large panga with our own personal driver and heading down (up?) the Tovaro River. It was a winding path through mangroves and tons of wildlife: crocs, iguanas, turtles, and birds, birds, birds. It was amazing! However, Lady Carolina had done it the year before, and Steve kept apologizing to us because it wasn’t as good as last year. Funny thing about that is since we weren’t there the year before we had no context, so it seemed great to us. At the far end of the tour we stopped at a crocodile sanctuary, paid our pesos for admittance, and started exploring. It was basically a small zoo, and was really quite depressing. But there was a cage with a couple possums next to a cage with a bobcat and the curious possums and the bobcat who clearly wanted to eat them could have kept the boys entertained all day. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant with a fresh water pool with a rope swing and I’ll let you guess who had more fun with that, Tim or the boys.
Ready for the river tour
After the river tour, we caught a bus into the town of San Blas. We didn’t get to do much exploring, but we found the central market, and stocked up on a few fresh veggies, including mushrooms. We hadn’t had fresh mushrooms in quite some time, so we promptly sauteed them up that evening with just a little butter and cilantro. Tasty. While we were hitting the veggie market, Tim said they were going to go find a bar and have a beer, and I asked him to take the kids and find ice cream. Just a half block (if even that) away from the market they hit the jackpot: an ice cream shop right next to a bar. We joined them for a drink and relaxed a little bit, then we headed up the hill to the “ruins,” which was really just what’s left of some 17th century Spanish buildings including a church and a military fort. The fort had suffered some damage a few years back in a tropical storm, so they had repaired it, but tried to make it still look old, but it just looked a little cheesy. Overall, it was a fantastic day. I would have liked to have had more time to explore San Blas, and I’ve heard from several cruisers since who actually stay in the marina there, but we were so paranoid about the bugs based on what we heard from Lady Carolina and Dazzler, we didn’t even consider it.
The ruins of an old Spanish church near San Blas
Chacala is a picture perfect tropical anchorage… it was clear we had left Baja and had arrived on the mainland. The northern point of the bay is not very prominent so swell bends around and enters the anchorage. So, we got our first experience with setting a stern anchor. The stern anchor is deployed, well, off the stern in order to keep the bow of the boat pointed into the swell, which is the most comfortable way to take it. We were planning on staying only a day or two, but ended up staying 5 days, and we definitely could have stayed longer. There was light surf, and the boys spent hours, literally hours, in the water everyday boogie boarding. At home they could never stay in that long before their lips turned blue and their fingers and toes went numb. Tim and I spent one full day as a beach day where all we did was lounge around on the beach without doing any boat chores or repairs. We also spent one full day as a computer day, and I went crazy after Tim showed me how to embed photos in my essays using html. On one of the radio nets someone told us about a crater at the top of the hill above the anchorage, so Tim and I made our way up there, and the crater itself was only slightly interesting, but the views from up there were amazing. One of our last nights there, we had a wonderful dinner out, just adults, and it was the closest thing to fine dining we’ve experienced since being in Mexico. The wine was flowing and the shrimps were plentiful.
The Chacala skyline
When we left Chacala our intent was to round Punta de Mita into Banderas Bay, but the wind direction compounded by the affects of the geographic point caused us to have to stay one uncomfortable night on the north side of Punta de Mita before finally making our entrance into Banderas Bay.
This last month in the Sea of Cortez we visited a lot of the same anchorages and a few new ones, but it was like we were in a different place altogether. The weather was much cooler allowing us to go on the many hikes we wished we had gone on before. And the landscape was green! No longer the barren dessert we experienced on our way up north. We even had to switch our tables back and put our big table back inside because we were finding it too cool to have dinner in the cockpit. It was all the same, only different. Looking forward we can’t wait to see some truly new and different places as we make our way across the sea and down the Mexican mainland.
While we were still out at Ensenada Cardonal, I let the cat out of the bag while chatting on SSB with some of our friends that Tim’s birtday was coming up. Wow, did that snowball. By the time we got into La Paz, it turned out that Tim’s birthday celebration was actually going to be a bit of a reunion of the BLA summertime crew. We were planning to go to The Shack (awesome burgers, Negro Modelo on tap) and when we got a head count the morning of Tim’s birthday and we had over 20 people, I thought we should go down and give them a head’s up that we’d be coming. The Shack had moved locations since we had last been in La Paz to a nice spot on the malecon, although some people saw it as if they were selling out or something. I figured as long as the burgers are still good, I’m all over it. So, Tim and I walked down there, and my heart absolutely sank when we realized they were closed and found the sign that said they are, in fact, closed on Wednesdays. Wednesdays! Who closes on Wednesdays? We needed a plan B, and fast. So we got on the horn (aka handheld VHF) and called around to get some input, and we ended up walking to the location where The Shack used to be. There’s a new restaurant there called Fuego y Lena and they have pizza and burgers, so we thought that would be perfect and made a reservation. I think we made the owners day by saying we’d be bringing 20+ people there that evening. After getting that taken care of Tim and I ducked into the restaurant Stella, and did what we used to do all the time while traveling, but seem not to make time for anymore. We just sat there and had a drink. Or 2.
The birthday dinner at Fuego y Lena turned out great. The food was slow to come out and some people got a little annoyed, but I have no problem dealing with that sort of thing as long as everyone’s pleasant and enjoyable. After dinner, the kids, including Steve, ambushed Tim with shaving cream as he was leaving the restaurant. It was pretty funny, and unfortunately I don’t have any of the photos of it. The kids actually thought they were buying silly string, so they didn’t intend for it to be quite as messy as it was. But all in the name of fun and games.
We had a little bit of fun the morning Tim arrived back in Puerto Escondido. It was very windy (20+kts) and there was actually a fair amount of fetch in the main anchorage. I was doing dishes and just happened to look up to see our dinghy floating away towards the fuel dock. I quickly called to the boys and Brenden was all over it. Right away he stripped down to his underwear and asked, “mom, should I jump in?” I thought for about 1.5 seconds considering our options before giving him the green light to jump in and go get it. As he’s swimming out there I had visions of La Paz, and asked Alex where the dinghy key was. Luckily it was in the dinghy. Brenden started it up and got it back to Exodus and with laughter shared with us how his underwear came down when he jumped in so he had to stop swimming to pull them up. It’s usually Alex’s role to be johnny on the spot to save the day, but this time Brenden stepped happily stepped into that role. It was fun to see.
Those that knew me well at home may remember that I turned into quite a health food nut the last few years. Well, “health food nut” makes it sound a little more trendy than it was. More accurately, I became a bit of a fresh, whole, organic food nut. I almost never froze anything, instead I shopped every couple days, at whole foods on my way home from work. I had a weekly supply of fresh organic produce delivered to our door from a local farm coop, including all kinds of dark, leafy greens. And I rarely, rarely, rarely used anything canned or boxed. I cannot exaggerate how much that has changed now and how hard of an adjustment it has been for me.
So, now I have to fess up to all the things that we have on board that I wouldn’t have gotten within 10 feet of back home. These are in order of when I relented and started accepting them: powdered milk, Bimbo white bread (think wonder bread with even more preservatives), canola oil, canned fruit of all sorts, iceberg lettuce, canned veggies of all sorts, margarine, canned meat (chicken and beef), and bagged bacon.
I started using powdered milk almost right away for baking and in my coffee. I’ve only stooped to using margarine once or twice when I couldn’t find real butter. I started using canned chicken only just recently in soups and casseroles. I haven’t actually used canned beef or bagged bacon yet, but we have it on board and I’m sure they will find a place in some recipe at some point. The iceberg lettuce has kind of a funny story… when we went shopping with Lady Carolina when we first arrived at BLA village, they picked up a head of iceberg lettuce, and I totally turned up my nose at it and made fun of them for it. A few nights later Carolina brought over a salad and we could all not get enough of it. I couldn’t believe how much I missed salad, even one made of ice berg lettuce! So, after that I have started picking up a head of it every now and then and I have to humble myself before Carolina each time.
We, OK mostly me, have an aversion to arriving in an anchorage when it’s still dark. Especially a new anchorage because there’s not a chance you can spot rocks under the water, but any populated anchorage has it’s risk because unfortunately, not all boats turn the anchor lights on at night. When we were on passage to Punta Chivato and I got up for my night watch I did a quick calculation of what time we would arrive given our current speed, and it would be about 2 hours before daylight. I mentioned it to Tim, who was seriously unconcerned and heading to bed. As he was walking away I asked him if he’d help me reduce sail so we would slow down, and his response was no. When I asked what I should do then, he said, “I don’t care, do whatever you want, you can always just zig-zag.” Thanks, thanks a lot.
We stowed all of our food, gadgets, and boat parts that we had hauled back across the border and bid farewell to San Felipe. We were going through Lady Carolina withdrawals and needed a fix, so our initial plan was to zip down the Baja as quickly as we could to meet up with them again. We planned a two night passage down to Bahia San Fransiquito, and I was more than just a bit concerned about getting sea sick again after being at the dock and on land for so long. Luckily, we all faired pretty well, but this time we decided to stick closer to the coast to avoid the craziness of the middle of the northern sea. The passage itself was uneventful other than landing a couple of dorados, which are always tasty when Tim cooks them on the BBQ. It seemed wierd to bypass the BLA area altogether after making it our home over most of the summer. I strangely found myself wanting to go say good-bye to our laundry lady (who was also named Deanne, by the way). We met her son once, and he’s in grade school, younger than Brenden, and he wants to be an engineer. I was able to tell him in Spanish that I was also an engineer, and his face lit up. So, before we left I had every intention of taking him some of our science related school supplies (magnets, pulleys, thermometers, etc.) but never got around to it. It seems that even the cruising life is conducive to letting all of the mundane everyday tasks get in the way of taking care of the really important things. I need to continue to work on that.
We were the solitary boat at Bahia San Francisquito, which was quite a bit different from the last time we were there. The weather was pleasant, and there were no bugs, so we even enjoyed a shore excursion and walked along a short ridgeline to some caves. The sand on the beach was not too soft, not too packed, and the slope of the shore was not too steep, so I enjoyed a couple of awesome runs on the beach. Once even in the middle of the day! Summer was clearly over. After that, a wonderful overnight passage brought us to Puta Chivato. There were following seas and strong winds such that we kept 2 reefs in the main pretty much the whole way there. On our way up the Baja Peninsula we stayed the night on the northern side of Punta Chivato to take refuge from SW winds, and this time we stayed on the south side to escape a northern blow. We hunkered down for a couple of days here and waited for the norther to blow through without even venturing ashore.
Exploring ashore at Bahia San Francisquito
The next stop was Punta Pulpito, and after we left Chivato the winds died down completely and we ended up motoring. We almost aborted the passage by waiting out the calm up at Bahia Santo Domingo, but Tim and I both really wanted to keep heading south and we really wanted to stay at Punta Pulpito. So, we sucked it up and burned the diesel and pressed on. It is a matter of pride among some in the cruising community to use the engines as absolutely little as possible, but Tim and I balance that with other factors and we don’t let a stubborn need to conserve every ounce of fuel or to impress others constrain our behavior. We don’t use our engines much, but we will if we want to. Punta Pulpito is where our race down the Baja came to a screeching halt. As soon as we got there we were awed by the striking point (called “the pulpit” for a reason) with a vein of obsidian running through it. The other quite noticeable aspect was how green the surrounding landscape was. Clearly, this area had received some rain over the summer and was showing signs of life that hadn’t been there before.
Punta Pulpito
Initially, we were the only boat in the anchorage, but we were eventually joined by a power boat called Amiga with a really nice couple on board whom we played a game of beach bocce ball with. Here, we heard the “crazy fish” belly flops for the first time in I don’t know how long. It was like coming home to something familiar and comforting, those crazy rays. The water was crystal clear, and although I didn’t snorkel I paddle boarded around the edge of the anchorage and enjoyed the water from above. Tim went out and caught 4 langostas (lobsters) so we enjoyed that on the BBQ like old times, not quite as fun as with Lady Carolina, though. Tim and I left the boys on board for an afternoon and hiked up to the top of the pulpit. It wasn’t a very strenuous hike, and the views were absolutely amazing! On our way up the coast we had stayed on the north side of Punta Pulpito (Bahia San Nicolas) and we could see that entire bay from way up there. We had intended to stay at this anchorage only a night or two and then head down to San Juanico, but we kept hearing on the SSB nets that there were something like 17-23 boats there, so we extended our stay at Pulpito a bit longer. Our last night we were abruptly awakened by another boat making VHF calls at 3am. They had come into the anchorage to avoid some weather, and they were calling their buddy boat to let them know. That’s totally the kind of thing the radio is for, so no hard feelings or anything, but that was our clue that it was time to move on. We were clearly back in cruising civilization again so we might as well embrace it and join the crowd at San Juanico. You see, it was the time of year that everyone who left for the summer starts coming back for the fall and winter cruising seasons. A lot of people keep their boats in San Carlos, so we were getting caught up in the traffic of the people crossing the sea from San Carlos to the Chivato and heading south.
The view from the top of Punta Pulpito. Bahia San Nicolas is visible to the right.
San Juanico was as nice as we remembered, but due to the prevailing northern winds we weren’t able to stay in our favorite little cove on the south side. Instead, we pulled up in the middle of all the traffic and dropped anchor on the north side. Here we did quite a bit more paddle boarding and spear fishing, and one afternoon when I was feeling a particular need to get off the boat, Alex and Brenden humored me by taking me on a dinghy ride to view the sea caves. (The same sea caves I had kayaked to from the opposition direction months before.)
We motor-sailed down to Isla Coronados, and although we could see a couple boats positioned over on the south side of the island, we decided to drop anchor on the north side since the forecast was for a shift of light winds around to the south. We went ashore almost immediately to scout the head of the trail that led up to the peak of the volcano. The next morning we set out for the hike, and it took us about 3 hours to get to the top and about 2 hours to get back down. The trail started along sand and desert shrubbery, and then progressed along reddish rocks. At that point the trail was marked by rock piles, so you had to keep a close eye out in order to stay on the trail. When we reached the base of the final slope up to the peak, it was a much steeper dirt trail again with taller desert shrubbery, tall enough to scratch your arms and your face, if you were not careful. It was a hot day, but not suffocatingly hot, and we carried enough water and snacks to see us through. We paused at the top just long enough to eat our PuBJa’s (PB & J sandwiches) and soak up the views from all directions. Tim and Brenden raced down the steep part of the trail, while Alex and I took our time and meandered a bit. We meandered so much we found ourselves off the trail and Tim had to come back up and call out so we could move towards his voice. So, we failed survival skills 101 (not even 101 more like the pre-requisite) but thanks to the half of our crew with more aptitude for, well, staying on a trail, we all made it down safely. At the bottom we enjoyed a quick soak in the crystal blue water and also noticed how the beach had changed since the last time we were here. Before, it was a steep shore with coarse sand and lots of seaweed and natural debris strewn about. This time it was a much more pristine beach with a more gradual slope and finer sand. It would have been fine for running this time, but I didn’t take advantage of it. We left the anchorage that afternoon and sailed for Nopolo, where we stayed one night and enjoyed a lazy evening and morning soaking up the internet from the resort.
At the top of the volcano at Isla Coronados
We had a gusty sail from Nopolo to Puerto Escondido, and we dropped anchor quickly. We could see Lady Carolina way out on one of the mooring balls but the dinghy was up, and we suspected they still weren’t back yet. We headed to shore to try and catch the tail end of the much publicized yacht club anniversary pizza party, but we ran into some acquaintances who told us we had missed it, but that we really didn’t miss much. As we were chatting our handheld VHF lit up, “Exodus, Exodus, Lady Carolina.” They’re back! We helped them empty their car, and they had to be just as creative at loading their car as I had to be. Unfortunately all this was happening around dusk, and we got thoroughly munched on by the all the mosquitos. Everyone was pretty tired, so we had an early night, but the next day we all ventured up the road away from the harbor, across the highway, and up into what is known as “Steinbeck’s Canyon.” Wow, what a hike. Unlike our previous hikes that had been along trails, this was really more like boulder hopping, with a stream running down the middle. The boys had an absolute blast, and they all showed their mountain goat skills as we got higher and higher and had to be creative about finding routes to keep moving up. On the way back down we stopped at a small pool, and Tim started undressing. I was too far away to hear the conversation between Steve and Tim, but soon Steve started also undressing. In their underwear, they moved over to the edge of the rocks above the pool, still bantering back and forth but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. A countdown commenced, and holy crap, they jumped in. Surely, they each thought the other was bluffing? Well, either way, that broke the ice, and pretty soon all the boys were taking turns jumping in and having a fantastic time. I think that hike goes down as one of the boys’ favorite days of our trip so far.
Steinbeck’s Canyon
Lady Carolina left Puerto Escondido the same day that Tim left to fly back to LA. Tim would be gone for 5 days and the plan was to hook back up with Lady Carolina in La Paz after that. But in the meantime, the boys and I hunkered down for several days by ourselves in Puerto Escondido. I enjoyed some runs along the road in the cooler weather and we all enjoyed hanging out at the Portobello Restaurant losing ourselves in the internet. We rented a car for a day and did some provisioning in Loreto. I ran around to every store and then found we had some extra time, so we relaxed and enjoyed an afternoon in Loreto, one last time.
We left Puerto Escondio within hours of Tim returning, and we had another overnight sail down to Isla San Francisco. We made really good time, too good actually, in that we arrived a couple hourse before sunrise. We had been to this anchorage before, so we ventured in and chose a spot well away from the other boats. However, we were well exposed to the wraparound swell, and had a couple of rocky rolly hours of sleep before the sun came up. After that we moved and tucked in a little better amongst the other boats, and we were much more comfortable. We had a great time exploring ashore, looking for agates again and meeting some kayakers who were camping on the other side of the island. The winds were howling on that side and the sound and smell of the surf reminded me of the very familiar Pacific Ocean.
On Thanksgiving we sailed down to Isla Partida, to pretty much the only anchorage we hadn’t been to before, Ensenada Cardonal. This is a mile deep anchorage with a beach that shallows very gradually. We had the anchorage to ourselves and enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner of BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, some sort of veggie, I’m sure, and apple crumble for dessert. We hiked across the island the next day. It was a very easy, short hike, and we found the strong NE winds on the other side of the island again. We spent a couple cold and gray days at the anchorage, and when the boys were bored they decided to put a treasure in a jar and leave it in a cave up on a hill on the north side of the anchorage. Then they made a treasure map with clues and put in in a bottle and down the road when we were underway they threw the bottle in the sea. No word on whether anyone has found the treasure, yet.
Hiding a treasure in a cave at Ensenada Cardonal
When it seemed like the right time, we made the short sail into La Paz and dropped anchor right next to Lady Carolina. As we were making our way down the long channel into La Paz, we came across s/v Sara M and her skipper, Alan, who we had gotten to know up in the sea during the summer. Sara M is a large schooner without an engine. However, Alan is creative, and to make his way down the channel he was using his dinghy to “push” Sara M along. It was quite a sight.
We enjoyed a few days in La Paz, including a celebration for Tim’s birthday. I enjoyed a last couple runs along the malecon before it was time to push on and cross the Sea of Cortez on to new adventures. We were a caravan of boats leaving La Paz: Exodus, Lady Carolina, True Blue V, and Dazzler. We stayed the night at Playa Bonanza on Isla Espiritu Santo before leaving for the crossing to the mainland on Friday, 6 December. The boys rode on Lady Carolina for the passage between La Paz and Playa Bonanza, and as far as I know all went well. They commented on the different motion of a monohull versus a catamaran, and Brenden is pretty sure he will get a catamaran when he grows up.
Gresham Family Exodus 