We left Santa Rosalia heading for Isla Carmen and when we arrived at Bahia Salinas the bay was empty. It was wonderful to be the only boat there. It was very hot there so we jumped in the water to cool off. The water was 85 degrees--just perfect!! We were anchored in 15' of clear turquoise water. The wind was blowing 12-15 knots, and we thought that would help keep us cool, but it was a hot wind like from a blast furnace. The wind was from the north and Bahia Salinas was on the south side of the island. The wind blew across the low part of the island gaining heat from the land and that was why it was so hot! The next day we put the dinghy in the water so we could go ashore and explore the salt ponds and abandoned salt mining buildings, but the outboard wouldn't cooperate. It seems that it didn't like 6 mo. old gas, even though Ed had put a preservative in it. So, we had to detour to Puerto Escondido the next day to get some new gas. After Escondido, we stopped in Bahia Candeleros, which has a new resort that we wanted to check out. We anchored in 12' of clear, turquoise water again, so clear we could see the ridges on the sand below us. We went ashore and explored the resort. Everyone was very friendly and we enjoyed using their pool and having dinner there with our friends on s/v Hotel California, who were also anchored in the bay. My brother owns a time share in this resort and I tried dropping his name to see if I could get special treatment, but it didn't work!! Sorry, Bob.
We left the next day and went down the coast to a beautiful anchorage called Los Gatos. It has cliffs of smooth sandstone with varying shades of reds and pinks swirled around and reminds me of salt water taffy. A local fisherman came by in a panga and asked if we needed anything. Ed said that we didn't but maybe some lobster would be nice. So he said he'd get us some and be right back. He anchored his panga on the reef and dove over the side. A short while later we had 3 nice big lobsters. We had a great lobster dinner that night and lobster omelettes in the morning. The next day there were high clouds all day which gave us a break from the intense sun. It even sprinkled lightly after we arrived at one of our favorite anchorages on Isla San Francisco. After a calm night there, the quiet was only disturbed by a chartered power boat who must have thought it was his job to entertain the whole harbor with loud dance music, we headed for La Paz to get some more fuel. After getting fuel, we got a slip in Costa Baja Marina for the night. We had to get more fuel, because unfortunately there has been very little wind and we've had to motor much of the way from Santa Rosalia. We found that our dear friends, Steve and Pam, from s/v Barramundi, were there also. We really surprised them as they had no idea where we were. So we had dinner together and also got together with 2 other couples whom we had met previously in other marinas along the way (s/v Blue Rodeo and s/v Bright Angel). All in all La Paz ended up being a wonderful stop for the night. Oh, I almost forgot, Ed caught a nice Dorado on our way into La Paz. We were so excited as it was our first Dorado. Before this Ed only caught Bonito, which aren't good to eat, and we threw them back. We're going to bar-b-que Dorado tonight!!
4:00 p.m.: Here we are, anchored in 15' of clear turquoise water (this is getting repetitious, isn't it?) in Bahia de los Muertos (bay of the Dead). We dove in the water to cool off (88.4 degrees here) and stayed in so long my fingers were wrinkled like prunes. I love swimming in this warm water! Also, one of the things we love about cruising Baja is the crystal clear water in many of the anchorages, as opposed to the mainland, where the water is not clear. The weather is still very warm and it doesn't cool off much at night. After dinner, about 8:00, it was 89 degrees in the boat and 52% humidity. We had the fans on just to stay comfortable while we watched a movie. In the morning, we'll leave for Mazatlan. It's 190 miles and should take us around 33 hours. The weather is predicted to be very calm, but I hope we don't have to motor all the way.