Upper Sea Puerto Refugio
02 January 2012
Admiral Donna Lou
Picture of Sail Rock Entrance to Puerto Refugio
Number One New Year's Pledge!
Bring sail blog up to date. Time passes fast when you are having fun. Don Juan the near perfect hurricane hiding hole in the Sea of Cortez. Far north 28 degree 56'n, 113 degree 27'w is full of marine life, better than the best fish market. Don Juan always offers us great harvesting opportunity's Needless to say we ate well, fully protected from the wind and the sea. A great place to catch up on "boat work" entertain fellow cruisers with Magic Carpets signature dish, Bouillabaisse and Artisan Bread with homemade dipping olive oil. We were starting to feel pushed so much to see & so much to do & so little time. Olive harvest was fast approaching 8 weeks - Our son wedding Sept. 10, a command attendance event, not a cruiser attire event. Our goal this season was to sail farther north than ever before, Isla Angel de la Guarda and Puerto Refugio. After a Brief stop at Bahia de los Angeles Village to purchase a few fresh vegetables and lunch at Guillermo's where we were greeted by Herman Hill Baja's (82 year old) Gold prospector and heard of his exercise plan getting ready for his up coming trip into the mountains to retrieve his 40 lb's of his hidden GOLD stash. (just think of the dollar value at today's prices) We than sailed north to Isla Mitlan & Las Rocas where we anchored a few day's sharing the cove with whales the night sounds were fantastic. We enjoyed snorkeling and did a circumnavigation around the island and found it not as exciting as expected. The bird population and nesting area were fascinating. At a lunch break aboard Magic Carpet we were visited by Banditos who helped them self's to Greg's face mask & snorkel , the banditos must of felt guilty and left a few peso's in our inflatable Aladdin that was tied to Magic Carpet's stern. Thank God for spares. Leaving we sailed for Sail Rock a giant Rock white with Bird Poop a great land mark leading the way to Puerto Refugio's west passage. During the next ten days we moved to several different coves. Water visibility changed daily from great to OK to poor. The Marine life and bird life were not afraid of us and were actually interested in us. Baby Seals wanted to swim with us, fish came by to look us over. Pelicans wanted to board Magic Carpet and a Brewers black bird moved aboard and after a few days living with not potty trained bird. We moved to another anchorage and in a few days the bird found us and was joined by his partner.