We arrived the night before last at Bahia Santa Maria at 2:30 a.m. The moon was full and we entered with a nice wind on a broad reach.

After dropping anchor, we spent a blissful night catching up on sleep, and awoke in this beautiful bay where the water is 82 degrees, crystal clear, and the fish are bountiful. The first day was officially a lazy day, with no organized parties. We took the dinghy to the beach and nearly rolled it over as we landed it in the surf on the beach. Thankfully that turned out okay.

The next day (today), we awoke at about 6 a.m., and I made french toast with eggs sunny side up for breakfast. Today happens to be Pascale and my wedding anniversary (#14). What a glorious place to celebrate our anniversary!

After breakfast we swam in the warm water, ran the dinghy around the anchorage for fun (and looking for Georgia J for naught, alas), and I ran out to another boat to get a bolt to replace a part that we lost in the water.

About that, we lost a few things in the water. One of them was a brand new Uniden VHF radio. damn. I had the thing clipped to my belt as we took the dinghy out. When I looked next, the clip was there but no radio. I shoulda known better than to trust that clip.

Lunchtime came soon enough, so I pulled out the 3rd and last bag of Dorado (mahi mahi) steaks from the fridge. I sauteed the steaks in olive oil with chopped onions, with a cover on so that the moisture was retained, until the fish was cooked and the onions were caramelized. Then I made a tarragon-mustard sauce, (dijon mustard, rice vinegar, a dash of hot sauce, pepper, and tarragon). The result was sublime. Pascale made a fantastic cole slaw using the red cabbage we had, and chopped apple, raisins, and rice vinegar.

After lunch we went to the beach via panga (fishermen's boat) where a huge party was organized by the baja haha folks. They had an excellent band there, that played really great rock n roll music. The band drove all the way from La Paz to be there for us (quite an undertaking).

John and I hiked to the peak of a mountain overlooking the harbor. It took an hour to get to the top, an according to John's GPS, we climbed about a thousand feet.

Now we're back on the boat, preparing dinner and getting ready for our very early departure tomorrow morning, destination Cabo San Lucas. It will take about a day and a half to get there.