Here's a video with the highlights of our sail from La Paz northward into the Sea of Cortez, to Puerto Escondido. We are visited by a pod of dolphins along the way!
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We found internet access in the most unbelievable spot, at a beach in Bahia de Concepcion called Playa de los Burros (Burro beach), a palapa at the water's edge. This hut has a palm leaf roof, stick walls, solar panels for electricity, no piped in water, no plumbing, but a satellite dish for internet access!
There's also a rustic palapa restaurant on the same beach called Bertha's where we had lunch and dinner (a Palapa is a wood hut with its roof made from palm leaves).
Today we went snorkeling in the very warm waters. The temperature at the surface is about body temperature (98 degrees), so hot that it's like a hot bath. But if you dive a few feet under it gets refreshingly cooler. We came up with a few clams and about a dozen oysters.
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06/16/2007
It was a long and rolly night at Juanico. There was a thunderstorm far to the east of us with silent lighting flashes every few seconds. The east wind and rollers continued til 5 a.m. when it became calm.
We raised anchor at 8:30 a.m. and are heading to Bahia de Concepcion. We're heading to an anchoage called Posada Concepcion in a little cove called Coyote Bay. It's an 8 hour sail so we'll arrive soon.
We saw a pod of huge whales, and numerous dolphin. We tried, but failed, to catch fish. We did hook a bird though. A dumb booby dived on our lure. I had to cover him with a towel so he wouldn't peck me while I removed the lure from his wing.
Navigating here takes great care. The charts often show our boat position miles inland, because the charts are so inaccurate. Radar becomes an essential tool to determine, and correct for, the errors in the charts. The radar always gives a true reading of how far away land is.
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06/15/2007
We sailed north to San Juanico, a beautiful cove with sandstone cliffs, white sand beaches, and rocky spires rising out of the water. It was a beautiful sail, with 10 knots of breeze on the starboard beam.
The anchorage is a bit rough, since it's exposed to the east and that's where the wind is coming from.
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06/14/2007, Isla Carmen
At Puerto Escondido this morning we refueled and took one last swim in the lap pool at the port headquarters before heading out in the 100+ degree temperatures. We sailed to the noth end of Isla Carmen, to a tiny cove called Puerto De Ballandra.
There are about 20 sailboats anchored here and there will be a potluck party on the beach at 6 PM tonight.
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06/14/2007
We sailed from Agua Verde to Puerto Escondido day before yesterday in light to moderate winds. We arrived in the afternoon and anchored in a part of the bay called "The Ellipse".
Puerto Escondido is a strange place. The government and some investors had grand plans, and have spent many millions on a very fancy administration building and port facilities, but there is no marina, just mooring balls, for which they charge an exorbitant rate. So all the cruisers avoid using the main port, and anchor out in the cheaper or free anchoring grounds just outside, e.g., the Ellipse and the Waiting Room.
Besides a fuel dock and a lap pool (pictured here), there are no services for miles, and we had to pay a taxi $60 U.S. to take us round trip to Loreto to visit the town and reprovision. Loreto is 25 KM away, and has a church dating to the 17th century. Loreto is an agreeable, if dusty, small Mexican city (pop. 8000). It's the largest town north of La Paz on the Baja peninsula.
While in Loreto we went to an internet cafe where I tried to upload for this blog a 7 minute video I made of our passage from La Paz northward. Unfortunately it took an hour and a half to upload the 64 MB file and then the upload halted completely when it was about 3/4 of the way done. So I won't be able to get the video on this blog until I find a better internet connection.
For now our only communication link is email via the SSB radio.
Today we sail north to Isla Carmen, a national park island off the shore of Loreto. It will be a 20 mile trip.
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