Sharing Isla Espirtu Santo with friends!

Agua Verde entrance

We have been heads down for the last few days working on projects after many months of fun in the Sea of Cortez. So, let’s back up as bit and catch up!

The last we wrote, we were in Puerto Ballandra - an idyllic anchorage on Isla Carmen; just across the channel from Loreto. After a few days there, we headed back to Puerto Escondido to meet up with up with Lynda and Bill. We spent 2 days walking around Loreto, shopping and seeing their gorgeous resort Villa del Palmar just south of PE. Relaxing and lots of time to catch up! Perfect.

We headed south to La Paz over the next few days; stopping at some of our now favorite places - Agua Verde and Isla San Francisco. Our early morning departure from Agua Verde was one of the most spectacular sunrises. And, just outside the entrance was National Geographic’s small cruise ship Venture. They actually went in to the small bay at Agua Verde, and according to our friends who were there later that day, took over the place. Don’t get me wrong - I love Nat Geo! However, Agua Verde is pretty small and to bring a 200’ ship that vomits out water toys and people as all these ships do, is a bit crowded for us. Glad we made it out in time.

A most spectacular sunrise at Aqua Verde

Nat Geo VENTURE heading in to AG

We arrived in La Paz a day or 2 before our friends Carolyn and Jerry arrived. Always lots of prepping and primping to do for guests! They arrived on Sunday afternoon and after a quick visit to settle on the boat we were off to restaurant at the marina. Derek, Betsy and wonder dog Wilbur on Taj had also arrived that day and joined us for dinner and margaritas! 

We left the next morning for Isla Espiritu Santo to show Carolyn and Jerry our favorite island. As we sailed to the island, we spotted 4 humpback whales! One of which was an excitable guy and fully breached a number of times. Welcome to the Sea of Cortez!

Jerry flying the drone

After a swim and quiet night at Bahia San Gabriel we went for a walk and drone flight on the beach. That afternoon, we headed north to the next anchorage; a small little nook called El Empechado. It’s a 1 boat anchorage with beautiful, clear water and rocky shores. Local fisherman also have a camp there and close by dive sites bring pangas with tourists there throughout the day. I think our friends were amused by our great interest in watching the goings on of the cove - pangas, fishermen, tourists etc… better than TV to us! Both Jeff and Jerry tried paddleboarding… let’s just say it was more great entertainment for Carolyn and I!

Carolyn and Jerry are avid birders or as Jeff calls them “bird nerds”. They marveled at the Magnificent Frigate Birds (yes, that is their name), the virtuosity of the pelicans flying and diving and even the laughing gulls. They also added to their Life Lists with a Red Heron (I think that’s what is was). The Sibley Bird guide book and binoculars were never far from reach in the cockpit. 

Bird Nerd toys

The ever-present north winds were forecasted to build the next couple of days, so the next morning we headed to the north end of the island. We wanted to show them Isla Islotes; the large Sea Lion colony. We then spent the night in Ensenada El Cardonal. This was a new anchorage for us and it was stunning. Some of the clearest water we have ever seen, lots of fish and birds and a turtle to keep us company. We dinghied and paddled to shore for a great hike across the island. 

Awesome landscape

The other side of Espirtu Santo

Being with “plant people” was really fun for me as the landscape held more surprises around each turn. Thousands and thousands of tiny Fiddler Crabs - all feisty with their 1 big claw and their entire body at 2” big,  6 different types of cactus, wildflowers in bloom and an exposed, rocky shore on the far side made this one of our favorite hikes. We even invented the Fiddler Crab dance later as we had “dance night on Salpare”. Well, Carolyn and I had dance night while the boys shook their heads…

Jeff doing his best walrus impression 

Carolyn diving in!

Day 2 held more swimming and paddling but ended with super high gusts screaming over the hills. Screaming is an understatement as the blows would heel Salpare over and be quite deafening. The boat near us clocked 29 mph when they hit but it seemed even more. A “norther” was blowing on the other side of the island in the open Sea of Cortez with winds 15-20. The gusts would roar down the hills by us and pick up speed. Jeff and I were up at midnight reducing windage on the boat and putting in a “back up” anchor bridle. Not a lot of sleep but good for stories!!

We headed back to La Paz the next day so we could spend a day visiting the town. We walked the Malecon (main drag on the waterfront) and got a bit tipsy from margaritas at a local restaurant. Maybe it was from the boat rocking…Saturday we started the day at an awesome bakery - Dolce y Romero - visited the open market, walked more of the waterfront, got ice cream (keeps Jeff happy) and had a wonderful dinner at Palermos. A great ending to such a fun trip!

No caption needed here!

Carolyn and Jerry at the iconic sign

It was sad hugs to Carolyn and Jerry seeing them off at the bus station, but we will see them again in a mere 3 weeks! Sure makes the goodbyes easier!

So, now Jeff and I have just over a week to do a bunch of projects to prep for the “crossing”. We are hiring quite a few locals to help us with some new stainless steel work, additional canvas work, washing/waxing/polishing and getting the bottom cleaned. The skills and service here are unsurpassed. Having such a great pool of skilled folks in La Paz has allowed us to add projects that we didn’t really consider before. And, the price is really good. We’re also becoming quite “native” as we get our haircuts here and visit the dentist. Ah La Paz… so easy.

We will be returning to the US on Thursday the 30th via San Francisco for a night. Why stop in San Fran, you ask?? Because we will be requesting 2nd US passports and then applying for our French Polynesia Long Stay Visas where they will take our original passports for up to 6 weeks. It’s been a very complicated process to get these but the planets seem to be aligning and it should work out. Then to Seattle for a couple weeks and Florida for my nephew’s wedding and seeing my family.

When we return, we have 2 days to get Salpare ready for her new CREW! Tom Miner and Kris Wilhelmsen will be joining us for the big crossing. It’s a HUGE relief to have 2 more capable folks onboard to spread out the watches. We will first sail to Puerto Vallarta with them (3 day sail) and ply them with alcohol at the swanky resort we will stay at prior to leaving for French Polynesia. I might also hide their passports so they don’t change their minds…

Hugs and love to all our family and friends!

The Holidays in Baja!

We have now spent our first holidays the “cruising” way. Much thanks to Betsy, Derek and wonder dog Wilbur for spending these days with us and hosting so many of the dinners! They have a lovely 45’ catamaran named Taj, that has so much room for entertaining. Each night we were together, we’d have at least happy hour if not dinner on their boat. 

We left San Juanico on Christmas Eve and had a wild day of sailing with strong winds from practically every direction through the 55 mile sail. Christmas dinner was in Bahia Concepcion - an aptly appropriate place for Christmas!  The day was so special as we also met their son, Jeremy and his girlfriend Kristin. Add to the mix, the dynamo couple of Henri and Olle; more folks from Salt Spring Island, BC. There are ALOT of Salt Springers down here! Henri and Olle drove their luxury Class A RV down and are spending their 5th winter at Bahia Concepcion. Betsy rocked the meal by making a 16lb turkey and all the fixings! Henri and I brought sides and we all went back to our “homes” stuffed, happy and with leftovers.

We spent the week in Bahia Concepcion which included a ride in to the nearest town, Mulege, with Henri, Olle and their sweet rescue yellow lab, Bella. Mulege is a small town that has none of the tourist trappings. Just a real local vibe. We were anchored in Playa Santispac, the northern bay in Bahia Concepcion. BC is 25 miles long bay and stunningly beautiful but we feel its geared more towards the “land” cruising life. Highway 1 runs along its coast and each of the turquoise bays has a beach that is lined with campers and RVs. Santispac has all the conveniences to make RV/camper life easy -local farmers bring their veggies, fruit, homemade rellenos, flan etc… once or twice a week. There’s 2 small restaurants that serve way better margaritas than food. Yoga, art classes and other events can fill a calendar and create a close community. 

Produce shopping in Bahia Concepcion

Mulege

We sailed down to the end of the big bay to check it out but its deserted - just jagged mountains that come down to the water. Pristine. After reaching the most southern part of BC, we anchored for the night at Isla Requeson. An idyllic little sandspit connects the tiny island to the mainland. Two little coves are created around the spit with white sand beaches and very shallow water. We climbed the hill for a breathtaking view of entire Bahia Concepcion and paddled around the cove. By the next morning the winds had picked up and we headed back to Santispac. 

Isla Requesón

After a couple days, we headed south with Taj back to San Juanico. For New Year’s Eve, Henri, Olle and Bella drove down to our anchorage and stayed the night on Taj. Another fantastic meal, drinks and we even stayed up until 10 pm to celebrate the New Year! 

When Jeff and I got back to the boat; our anchorage site was rocking and rolling like I’ve never seen in an anchorage! After laying in bed for about 2 minutes, we decided to put out a stern anchor to hold our bow into the swells. So, it’s 1am and 3-4’ broadside swells are rolling Salpare around and you can imagine how fun it is to climb in to the dinghy with a stern anchor system on an absolutely black night with no land references. Let’s just say it was a bit of a buzz kill from all the earlier fun of the night.  Our many night mission experiences with mountain rescue really pays off at these times. We’re a solid team in what was a challenging situation. We did the best we could but it barely dampened the rolls. Oh well, we tried. 

Morning came - FINALLY - and we headed back over to Taj. The southern point of the bay is aptly named The Aquarium and we wanted to see it. Derek and Betsy anchored Taj in a small bay behind the rocks and we all jumped in with snorkels and headed for the Aquarium. Jagged, rocky islets create the perfect habitat for rays, coral and the most variety of fish we’ve seen so far. Then back to the anchorage.

We decided to move closer to where Taj was anchored as it was more protected from the swells. Just pop up the stern anchor (which didn’t seem to do that much the night before), pull our main anchor and re-anchor. What could go wrong… The next paragraph will probably only make sense to boaters but the rest of you can just think - “shit show”.

Well, the winds had now piped up to 25kt gusts and the boat had pulled so hard on the Danforth stern anchor that I’m sure the tips were poking out in Beijing. Jeff could not pull it up on his own. Ok, we’ll pull it up with our windlass after we pull up our main anchor. It all sounds easy to do but Murphy was onboard that day. After retrieving our main anchor (while tending the stern anchor rode so it wouldn’t go under the boat and catch the prop), Jeff put the rode on the windlass - but it jumped in to the ridiculously small space between the roller and the sheave plate and was caught tight. Ok, so now we are attached to the earth by our stern anchor that can’t be pulled in - oh and it might pop at any time in the increasing winds. I radioed Derek for more manpower. In seconds he was over and helped retrieve the anchor. I maneuvered the boat around; probably scaring the bejesus out of the other boats who looked on while knowing the boating reality that it will happen to them someday if it hasn’t already.  We re-anchored in the more protected cove and took a nap!

We hosted Derek and Betsy that night on our boat as we were heading south the next day. We’ll see them a couple more times before we leave for French Polynesia and they head north to Salt Spring via Hawaii.

An easy sail brought us back to the type of anchorage that has spoiled us; Puerto Ballandra is a small cove, white beach, turquoise water, trails leading through the hilly desert and nobody but us… A few days here and then to Puerto Escondido to meet up with friends Lynda and Bill, from wherelse… Salt Spring Island!

Can't get enough of the beautiful water!