Position Report November 5, 2007
I know, I know. This report is WAY late! How is it that we
ever had time to work? We have been so wrapped up in enjoying cruising and
travels that we have not gotten around to write it down. After we hauled out
and did the bottom job and a short local trip to the local islands, we spent 5
months up in the sea.
So, here goes…
Just before we departed La Paz, we said goodbye to our good
cruising buddies Gordon and Susie of SV Spirit. They are selling their boat and purchased a trawler in the
Pacific Northwest. We will miss them.
We also said goodby to Tanya from Amazing Grace who passed
away. She was a very warm and special
lady. She always had a warm welcome for
everyone and we will always remember the twinkle in her eyes. She was a special
person!
We had a curious tragedy occur here in La Paz as we were
prepping for the Sea. A single-hander
said goodbye to his friends and was heading to the South Pacific. The boat “Smiles To Go” ended up on a beach
north of La Paz early one morning. An
unknown person mentioned on the morning net where the boat was located. From this point things became very
confusing. Authorities found Mark 4
days later. He had died on board. After an investigation, it was determined
that some foul play may have occurred. We were on the outside of this and do
not know much of the details.
Enough of this sad stuff!
But it is a very real reminder that reality does creep in, even down
here. Enjoy every day of your life.
We departed La Paz June 4.
We wanted to get all the way north this season so we made a quick trip
up to Agua Verde, one of our favorite spots. We did stop at Lobos, Ensenada
Grande, Evaristo on the way. It is a very different year. The water is much cooler and it has not
cleared up as fast as it did in the past. Which means, the water is too cold to swim in, and it is difficult to
catch fish with a Hawaiian sling because we can’t see very far in the water.
Also, it was too cold to stay in for hours at a time. We spent about a week
just relaxing and getting used to hanging on the hook (anchor).
We stopped into Maria’s Tienda to pick up some supplies. We
bought some fresh made Goat cheese and Jill made a WONDERFUL goat cheese and
salmon frittata. We sure do seem to eat well, even when we are out.
Our goal this year is to try new anchorages that we have not
been to before. So, we are not staying
in the anchorages as long as we might have if we did not have that goal.
When we departed Agua Verde, we made a short trip to a place
called Yellow Stone beach on Isla Monserrat. We did have a bit of excitement on
this trip.
We had the engine running, and we were also running the
water maker. As we were motoring along we looked over the side and found that
we were going through a patch of “Red Tide”. Now the question was, do we drink
the water or not? As it turns out, when we were anchor down, Jill went below
and found water all over the floor boards! I did a quick inspection and found
that it was fresh water. I had gotten a drink and forgot to shut down the
electric water pump. That answered the question for us. We had pumped all of
the water out of one tank. I found that one small hose had worked its way off
of a fitting. It’s nice to have two separate fresh water tanks! The next day, on
the way to Escondido, we ran the water make and refilled the tank. Having a
water maker is also VERY nice!
We had the engine running, and we were also running the
water maker. As we were motoring along we looked over the side and found that
we were going through a patch of “Red Tide”. Now the question was, do we drink
the water or not? As it turns out, when we were anchor down, Jill went below
and found water all over the floor boards! I did a quick inspection and found
that it was fresh water. I had gotten a drink and forgot to shut down the
electric water pump. That answered the question for us. We had pumped all of
the water out of one tank. I found that one small hose had worked its way off
of a fitting. It’s nice to have two separate fresh water tanks! The next day, on
the way to Escondido, we ran the water make and refilled the tank. Having a
water maker is also VERY nice!
In the past, when boats got to Puerto Escondito, the next
stop after Agua Verde, they would take a mooring and refuel, and get a ride
into town to reprovision. This year the
prices of the moorings were so high (5 times what they were last year), that
many boats did not go there. Many boats
anchored in Jucalito, just around and north of Escondido. This is where we anchored for about a week.
Some boats anchored in the open roadstead just off the town of Loreto. This
year we were very happy to find that they now have a very good “Farmers
Market”. We even got fresh asparagus!
We had a chance to visit with several boats that we know. It seems that unless you are at anchor,
everyone is very busy with projects.
It’s nice to have a glass of wine and chat.
As you can see from the photo, we loved it!
From Jucalito, we headed up to the Bay of Conception with an
overnight stop at Punta Mangle, a few days in San Juanico, and another one
night stop at San Antonio. A lot of boats make this trip without the stops by
making an “overnight”. But we enjoy exploring and taking it slow.
The Bay of Conception is a very nice place. It has a number
of very fine anchorages in it on both the east and west sides. This gives it a
safe place to anchor in most wind conditions.
After we entered The Bay of Conception, we headed to a small
anchorage on the west side called El Burro Cove.
El Burro is the home base for Gary. Gary is the guy who does
the Sea of Cortez weather on the Sunrisa HAM radio net. As he lives on the
shore of the bay, he does a VERY good job of letting us all know what to
expect. Gary is a very friendly and welcoming host.
The other driving force drawing us there was the 4th
of July party that Gary puts on every year. He supplies the hot dogs and
fireworks.
The rest of us supply a pot luck item and lots of
laughs.
We made it to El Burro Cove for our second annual 4th
of July hotdog fest. Not as many boats
there as last year. But this year a
boat showed up with a karokie machine!
That was good for many laughs.
There was even a shark sighting close to shore!
Or was it just BB, with her life preserver on?
And need I say that ALL of the food was GREAT!
As it turned out, we spent almost a month just hanging out
in the anchorages in Conception. Usually it is very hot here and most cruisers don’t stay for long. On
days when we were anchored in El Burro cove, we would wait to hear a musical
chime. The sound of “THE ICE CREAM TRUCK”! How wonderful it is to take the dink
to shore on a 100-degree day and have a banana split! The sundae from the truck
had 5 scoops of ice cream in it, along with the banana and all the toppings!
There is also a restaurant there called Bertha’s. It was
nice to dink in and have dinner once in a while. And the cost of a meal was
very reasonable.
After our extended stay in the Bay of Conception, we headed
further north. We stopped at Santo Domingo, just at the mouth of the bay. We
stayed there for one night, then made a quick passage to a place called Punta
Chivato. What a place this is! Sea shells as far as the eye can see!
Jill collected a few for our collection.
After spending a couple of days here, we moved on to a place
called Sweet Pea cove. This is on an island called San Marcos. From Sweet Pea,
we could look across the channel to the Baja. During this time of the year, the
Squid fisherman are out at night with BIG lights at attract the Squid. It was
like seeing stars on the water. During our stay here, we watched whales feeding
on the same squid in the same area.
We found the water here was a bit clearer, so Greg did a bit
of spear fishing and we had a couple of fresh fish dinners.
Sweet Pea is also very close to Santa Rosalia. It only took
us a couple of hours to move to Santa
Rosalia.
We have to tell you that Santa Rosalia is home to one of the
WORLDS BEST taste treats! This treat is hard to describe. Although it sounds
very simple when named, it is like none you have ever tasted before. It’s sold
at a corner stand that does not even open until after 7 PM each day. Up until I
had Jill take a taste of one I ordered, she swore that she would NOT eat one!
OK, enough teasing, It’s a hot dog! But WHAT a hot dog. It’s bacon wrapped on a
steamed soft sweet French baguette. It’s topped with fresh salsa, cheese,
onions and other secret taste treats.
Similar hot days can be found in La Paz, but trust us they are not even
comparable.
Our plans were to stay there for just 4 or 5 days. We got
ready to depart and I started the engine. I then ran thru our departure check
list and found that the Belmar charge controller had quit. NO POWER was getting
to the battery. As it turns out, where we were staying, we were just one half
block from the Baja Pack office. So, we ordered a new controller and waited for
a few days for it to get shipped in to us. As we had some time to kill, we
decided to walk the town and take notes and we put together a “Cruisers Map” of
the town.
Once we got the new controller and installed it and were
sure it was working properly, we headed out north. A lot of cruisers do an
overnight sail to Bahia San Francisquito. We decided that there was just too
much to see, so we only went as far as Santa Ana. It was an open roadstead, but
not bad anchorage in calm weather with some magnificent scenery. We only spent
one night, then moved on to another anchorage that is rarely used. It’s called
San Juan Bautista. Once again, the views were stunning.
After a night, we headed out and made it to Bahia San
Francisco. We went in to the inner bay. A VERY well sheltered anchorage. As we
approached, we had to stand a mile or two off of the point of land at the
entrance. We are once again feeling the effects of tide and current. In the Sea
of Cortez south of here, the tide is only a foot or two. From here north it picks
up A LOT! As far north as BLA, or further, you can see tides as much as 16
feet. We have not had to deal with this since we rounded Cabo San Lucas.
We spent a few days enjoying the anchorage and visiting a
local who lives there. We then moved on to a wonderful island call Salispuedes.
We anchored in the south slot. This island is almost 2 islands with just a
small low strip of land connecting them. This provides two very nice but very
different anchorages. On our visit
here, we found that the water on the north side was very much warmer then on
the south side. There is easy access to
walk the island. This place is a treat to anchor in. We saw a VERY large group of different types of stingrays
here. There are caves to explore, many
birds and fish.
On our 3rd day there, we got a weather report that it was
very possible a hurricane was on it’s way to us. We had to leave earlier than
planned, we headed to a place called Purto Don Juan. This is the “hurricane
hole” in this area. It’s a lot like Purto Escondido. We motor sailed there as
about every boat in the area was also heading there and we wanted a good
anchoring spot.
We managed to get what we felt was a very good spot. For the
next couple of days, we, along with about 24 close friends started removing all
outside equipment from our boats and stowed it below in preparation of the
storm.
As it turns out, all our work turned out to be a practice
run. The hurricane never even came close.
Once we were sure the weather was not going to act up, we
moved the 2 or 3 miles to the anchorage in front of the city (village really)
of BLA in the Bay of Los Angeles. This was a very nice small village that we
got to explore for a few days. They even have a turtle preserve there. Also, it
seemed that we could get a lot of provisions here. But, they were about twice
the price as they were in La Paz or Loreto. There were lots of food items that
were from the US. Boxed wines cost
$18.00 US. Fresh produce was another
story. It could be very hit or miss. Many times, I found produce for sale that I
would consider time to throw away.
Whenever there was fresh stuff, someone would call on the VHF to let
everyone know. We are so spoiled in the
US.
We stayed in this area for a few weeks exploring different
anchorages that are close by. We visited South BLA, Ensenada Quemado, Alacran,
Mitlan North, and La Gringa.
La Gringa was a very unique anchorage. There is a very large
lagoon with a small narrow opening. Remember I told you about the big tides up
here. Well, they get even bigger at the full moon. So, each month, on the full
moon, the cruisers have a party/pot luck here. We took a floating toy we could
ride on, and as the tide went out, road a “waterpark” type ride out of the
lagoon! We dropped a large anchor near the exit with a sky towrope on it. Then
a lot of us rode a surf board in the outgoing water! What fun it was.
After our stay in Gringa, we started our slow trip back to
La Paz. We could feel the weather changing.
The wind clocked to the north and it is getting colder. We added a blanket to our bed. Northerly winds mean it is time to sail
south.
All in all, we had a good summer with only a few gear
failures. See our 3 year gear report for more info on our gear.
Once we got back to La Paz, we spent about 2 weeks and put
Guenevere to sleep. That is, set her up so we could leave her alone for some
time. We then flew up here to Phoenix. We are spending the holidays with 2 of
our sons.
When I looked, we took over 1,750 still photos and about 24
hours of video for our memories! Who knows, we may do another DVD.
Greg & Jill
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