Hi all,
It’s been a few
months since we filed a report. Sorry, we were out cruising and just
decided to take a break. So, this one will be sort of a wrap-up of what we have
been up to for the last few months.
In this report, we are also able to show you some of the
video we have shot recently. We discovered a service called YouTube. It allows
us to upload short (under 10 min.) videos that anyone can view. The video
quality you will see is not very good, but it is watch able.
The poor quality is due to the compression
of the file so it can be fed across the Internet in a reasonable amount of
time. BUT, please note that the size of the files is still large! If you do not
have a fast connection, it will take a long time to view the files.
We departed Marina de La Paz, sort of our base of
operations, on June 12
th. We were going to depart sooner, but
decided to wait a bit to meet up with Gordon & Susie of Spirit Long Beach.
We had a GREAT time with them last summer and have become very good friends
with them.
Here are a few videos from before we departed, we made a few
road trips.
A late entry video that should have been in the last
report is from BayFest:
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU6Ky7Lm0Y0
We went to a Music Museum at El Truinfo.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spZ6GQp-dLA
One of our favorite restaurants in La Paz is Jarrock Café.
It’s a GREAT small place with a wonderful menu and low costs. A Mole enchilada
dinner is about US$ 4.00.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16JGx3zx9Cw
We also had a “Roll Your Own” Mole enchilada party aboard
the motor sailer
Virginia
Reel, at the docks in Marina de La Paz.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HymMXt4wxzo
Our goal this summer was to visit our favorite anchorages
again and to try some that we had not experienced yet (there are many).
As usual, on leaving La Paz we went out to Lobos to rest for
a day and get back into the cruising mood. We tend to take a day or more at
anchor in a very close area to “decompress” from the city life. This also gives
us a chance to make sure the systems are all up, running and in good shape. If
we find a problem, we have not yet committed to a long trip and can get back to
the marina and repair parts easily.
We
like Lobos.
This trip, we found the
water was cold and not very clear yet.
Ensenada Grande
Ensenada Grande is another of our favorite places that is
close to La Paz. We decided to stop in for a short stay.
It was very beautiful here, but again, the
water was too cold for swimming.
We
don’t carry wet suits aboard. I guess we are getting old because we decided we only want to swim when the
water temperature is warm.
Video of us on the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHrxp1OmTfU
Isla San Jose
Video of us on the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFNUCCIIM_8
We moved on to Isla San Jose. We wanted to go back to Isla
San Francisco, but it had a number of boats there and the wind condition did
not look favorable. So, having never been to Isla San Jose, we went there. We
spent only one quiet night here, as we wanted to move on, although this island
deserves more time.
On the way to Agua Verde, on June 17, 2006 at 1:15 (just 15
min after putting out our fishing gear), at nautical miles 2,285, we caught our
fist fish trolling from Guenevere.
BOY was it a good one! It was a 36 inch Dorado ( or Mahi
Mahi).
You would think this would be a time for a great
celebration? Well, we did celebrate, but it was bitter sweet. It was such a beautiful
fish! It pained me to take it’s life. Jill went below as she did not want to
watch as I cleaned it. I did spray tequila on the gills to make it happy and
stop flipping. Then cleaned it. We got quite a bit of fish from it. At one
point Jill feared it would break off the engine key, when it was in the cockpit
foot well.
This seemed to break the run of bad luck.
Agua Verde
If you read last years report, or saw our DVD, you know this
is a place we really love. Seafood is abundant and the water is clear and warm.
We also took some time for some personal touch-up. I (Greg)
was in bad need of a haircut. Where do you go for a haircut? Take a look at the
video and see how it’s done cruisers style…
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCN9t4N_IdQ
Escondido
We stopped in Escondido to top up on fuel and take a look
around. There is a restaurant and pool within walking distance. If you eat at
the restaurant, you can use the pool.
Escondido has changed quite a bit from last year! There has
been a lot of building going on.
They are putting in a LARGE haul out facility!
They have also put in a new fueling dock that is working.
But, you do need to call ahead for an appointment. The funny thing about
fueling here is that you get 2 receipts! One receipt for the fuel, the same
price as in town. And one receipt for the added fee that is tacked on for the
business bringing it to the dock.
The entrance/exit is still the same. It was blasted out of
rock and very shallow.
Isla Coronados
We only stopped at Isla Coronados for one night. We had the
dink up, so never went ashore.
It was also about here that we got word from some friends in
La Paz. They asked us if we could please help them in early August. We decided
that we would cut short this summers’ trip into the Sea and maybe stay one more
year.
San Juanico
We found San Juanico to be a simply gorgeous place! We
stayed for a few days here and got to explore the beaches and surrounding area.
On the first evening we were anchored, we got an invitation to a beach bon
fire.
During the exploring, we found the “Cruisers Shrine”.
We were told that the last hurricane had destroyed it. But
that is NOT the case! As a matter of fact, there are mementos from as far back
as the 1960s there. As we were there, we HAD to add something to the shrine.
Gordon & Susie (Spirit Long Beach) decided to put their
all into it! They spent a day working on their donation. They also put a LOT of
thought into it. They had just finished reading a book Jill lent them, The
DeVinci Code, can you identify the influence on there offering? Cruising gives
you a lot of time to think and reflect.
Bahia Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo anchorage is just inside of the Bay of
Conception. We have always been told that the Bay of Conception is way to hot
and muggy to stay in. But this was a great place. It was warm to hot, but we
seemed to always have a breeze. The water was warm, about 85 degrees, and
clear. The spear fishing was good and we had a few tasty meals from the sea.
Jill baked her famous abreojos carrot cake.
We next moved on to El Burro Cove.
El Burro Cove
This was one of our objectives on this trip. We wanted to be
here for the 4
th of July. Every year, Gary, the guy who does the
weather on the Sunrisa HAM net, puts on a big hotdog beach party. Complete with
fireworks! We stayed for a few days, but there were 32 boats in this small
anchorage. We were one of the last boats to arrive (we stayed in Santo Domingo
for the breeze), so we were anchored further out than we like to be. Also,
there were so many people running around it was like being back in La Paz or a
small city. When we are in the Sea, this is not exactly what we are looking
for. Crowded places that is.
So after a couple of day, we made a very short trip, more
like a move than a trip.
Santa Barbara Cove
Santa Barbara cove is only about a mile (if that far) from
El Burro Cove. We were told that Santa Barbara Cove was a good “Hurricane Hole”
if we were in the area and needed one. So, we decided to check it out. It’s
nice to actually visit a place before you MUST run to it.
We swam and fished and had the anchorage to
ourselves.
After a few nights in Santa Barbara cove we returned to El
Burro Cove. We got together with a few other boats and 8 of us took a trip to
see cave paintings and petroglephs. This time, we made sure that the walk would
be a short one.
After we visited the
cave paintings, our guide took us into Mulege and gave us a tour.
He sure was accommodating!
He took us to shop for groceries, and to
fill our jerry cans with fuel, before he returned us to El Burro Cove.
Then we went back to Santa Domingo for one night before
continuing on, back to San Juanico.
San Juanico again
As we
approached San Juanico from the north, we wanted to anchor in a small anchorage
on the north side called La Ramada. La Ramada is better protected from winds
out of the south, like the ones we had been having. As it turned out, another
boat (a friend of ours aboard Our Country Home) was already in there and it
looked too small for us both. So, we went around to the south side. It was
BEAUTIFUL, but a bit rolly. We dropped anchor and had a nice evening. Then, at
about 2 AM (WHY does it always happen at O-Dark-Thirty) we started getting some
stronger winds. FROM THE NORTH! A Chabasco! Now, we were well protected, but
our friends in La Ramada were on a lee shore, in a SMALL cove with rocks on one
side.
Another boat anchored near us gave us a report that the
winds were about 43 Kts (that is about 50 MPH). As we were in shallow water
with the wind coming from the land there was no fetch. So we did not have any
waves to speak of, just wind and a little rain.
The next morning, our friends (OCH) came into our anchorage
about 0700. They had to take to sea at 0200 in the morning as the waves were
breaking into their cockpit (a Hans Christian 41), and they were being pushed
toward the shore! They had to get out fast and had a couple of small problems
along the way.
It always sounds so simple to say, if in trouble, go to sea.
But in real life, it’s NOT as simple as you might think!
It was a very scary night for them.
They have never been thru something like
this.
It was a very dark night and with
rain, the visibility was zero.
It is a
scary thing to go out on the bow and raise your anchor with water braking over
the bow.
If you engine quits, you will
end up on shore.
Then with the anchor
up, you must navigate, out of your anchorage in the dark.
We spent a couple more days here, and then moved on to
Puerto Escondido and on to Agua Verde.
Agua Verde – again
As we said, this is one of our favorite anchorages.
All the boats anchored here got together for a shopping trip
in to Maria’s, a VERY small store.
We then got word that a hurricane was forming below Baja and
‘MIGHT” move this way. A number of boats decided to move back to Escondido just
in case. The three boats left got together aboard “Our Country Home” for a
strategy meeting. I brought our laminated hurricane-tracking chart with my
markups on it. After a review of all the details like where the storm was now,
it’s speed and direction, we decided to stay put for a day or two and then make
another decision. We had very good holding here so felt comfortable with winds
up to 50 Kts or more. We were tucked into a small, protected bay so the fetch
would not be great. And, if the storm did move in our direction, we knew we
were only about 4 to 5 hours from Escondido (possibly the best hurricane hole
in the Sea of Cortez). We pulled up our dink and got ready for a blow. Because
we were in a small bay, I could still collect seafood/spearfish. I would just
drop the ladder and swim off the side of the boat.
We waited, checking the weather every 8 hours or so, and
after a day or so, it was clear that the hurricane was not going to come up
into the Sea. So, we spent about a week in a place we love. Damn the bad luck!
Los Gatos – rotten again
On the way from Agua Verde to Evaristo, we stopped in Los
Gatos. If you remember from last year, we got rolled out of this place. BUT, so
many people told us it was so good for them I (Greg) decided we must try it one
more time.
Once again it was beautiful to look around. But this time
the water was not clear. Must have been as a result of the recent storm. Then,
in the evening, the rollers began to run into the anchorage. LONG, SLOW,
rollers….. YUCK!
I got a LOT of “I told you so” from Jill. I have now
promised her I will never bring us back to this place. First thing, next day at
dawn, we headed out!
Evaristo
We now knew we were on our way back to La Paz, so we did not
dally a lot. We only spent a few days here. It was fun to watch the fishermen
and the townspeople party on the beach. The fishing was GREAT.
We also stopped for a night or two at Ensenada Grande and
Caleta Lobos, then on to La Paz.
La Paz once more….
We got back to Marina de La Paz and settled in. La Paz is
now feeling just like home to us. The help that our friends that had requested
was for us to house-sit for them when they spent a month or so in the USA. They
did not want the house un-lived in for that long.
So, as we write this, we are sitting at a desk, in a house,
with air conditioning, as much ice as we want, and 2 gallons of ice cream in
the full size refrigerator, AND TV.
But this is a temporary condition. We will be back on
Guenevere soon. We are taking advantage of the time and Guenevere will get a
haul out with new bottom paint and a few other items that are in need of
attention after being out for two years.
Readers Question:
We got a very good question from one of our readers. As a
matter of fact, it’s a question we used to ask all the time and have, up until
now, forgotten to post an answer.
The question was:
- What
did you take along that was not used or worth the effort and space to
carry it?
- What
did you take along that you used the most? Or, what did you take along
that you did not think you would use that was used a LOT?
Our reply applies to where we are now. We may revise this as
we move further on and things get a lot harder to come by.
Greg
For number 1, I guess I don’t have one particular item. BUT,
I do have a class of items that I brought that requires more careful review. I
packed a LOT of spare parts, most of which I have yet to touch. They take up a
LOT of space and weigh a good deal. One spare fresh water foot pump is OK. 3
are too much! Things like that. And oh yes, Mexico lives on propane, and all
the parts you might need are VERY cheap here.
For number 2, I think it would be the on board, mounted
fans. I knew we would use them, but we have found we are running them almost
24/7. As a matter of fact, we need to replace a couple now as we have flat warn
them out! (see our 2 year gear report, due out next month).
Jill
We have a small boat, and other than too much food aboard, I
can’t think of anything for either category.
Reminder:
I just had to add this, the devil made me do it.
If you have not done so, please take a look at the DVDs we
have for sale on our web site. If your interested, the discount code WUTQ6RWW and get US$ 4.00 off the listed price.
I promise, the quality is FAR better than the short videos on YouTube!
