We dropped the line to the mooring buoy about 1020 and headed out and North along the coast. The winds had been blowing into San Carlos Harbor from the Southwest at about 10 knots so we knew we were going to have a great sail up the coast. HA!! Fraid not!! As soon as we left the harbor, either the wind shifted or we went the wrong way as the wind hit us on the bow and never let up the entire 15 miles we went today. Go figure--wind from the wrong direction. How could it be????? With the engine running, we headed along the coast playing with the radar to see what it would show us. With the engine running, we had plenty of power to use it for a change. Along we went, passing other boats--both sail and power as they headed South--most with sails up(darn them). We chose Bahia San Pedro as it's a well protected cove. We're set for all but big winds from the South. Of course, that is what is scheduled for later this evening, but only in the 6 to 8 knot range so no big deal. If it gets higher, we can always re anchor in the Southeast side of the cove and be just fine. We're located at 28 03.436N 111 14.685W for you Google Earth fans out there.

The trip was uneventful and there is just one other boat at anchor with us and just one panga full of fishermen that are camping along the shore. We plan on launching Puff in a few minutes and exploring the shore to see what it has to offer.

The folks on Evergreen(another Liberty 458) pulled into the marina yesterday afternoon to continue getting their boat ready for it's haul out on Saturday. They have already taken off their sails and are prepping the rest for its Summer nap just as we will be doing later this month for our Summer lay up in June. We'd thought to be there on Saturday when they haul out but the Sea of Cortez calls out to us so we will probably just continue North along the coast to see what the mainland has to offer. We just have to be back in San Carlos by he 28th so I can catch the bus North to Tucson for my flight home. I already have a long list of things to buy while there and spent most of yesterday afternoon at the Marina Cantina using their wifi to order in some items that won't be available in Denver. They will be sitting there all ready for me to bring back when I come in early June.

We'd planned on doing our laundry yesterday but when we went ashore to do it, we found Barracuda Bob's closed and when they close, there is no where else to by the laundry tokens necessary to use their machines. Instead, we walked over to the hotel and took advantage of their laundry and had them do it for us. Our 5 kilo bag of laundry cost just 105 pesos or about $8.50US. To have done them in the laundromat would have saved us a whole 5 pesos or about 40 cents. That was a no brainer. They had it all done by 1700 when Tracy stopped in to pick it up. As the wind was blowing at about 30 knots, I'd taken Puff back to Zephyr giving a lift to another cruiser that was just returning to his boat after a trip home. He'd asked the marina to set him up with a panga fisherman to get a sort of "taxi" ride back to his boat. The marina wanted $25.00US to take him the mile back to his boat. I beat their price by doing it for free. Cruisers have to stick together!!!! As I was about to go back in to pick up Tracy and the laundry, who should appear but the same guy I'd helped get to his boat. When I took him out, he had his outboard with him and he attached it to the dingy on his boat and had gone back in for his suitcases. He saw Tracy waiting and gave her a lift back to Zephyr. That was great as I had just put a loaf of Pumpkin Spice bread with walnuts into the oven to bake. I didn't have to leave it unsupervised. It came out an hour later just great.

As I sit her typing this, I have the VHF radio going in front of me. I'm picking up radio calls from Puerto Escondido on the other side of the Sea of Cortez. That's about 80 miles from here. Normally VHF radio only has a range of maybe 20 miles if you're lucky. We must be getting some kind of weird skip in the signal as that is way beyond the range normally received. When we were crossing from La Paz to Maztlan, we'd heard a call to the Pilot in Guaymas that takes boats in and out of that harbor and it several hundred miles away from where we were at the time. The Sea of Cortez can be a strange(and beautiful) place to cruise.

Well, it's time t get back up on deck and get Puff in the water and see what the beach is like. I'll let you know what we find. Oh, by the way, if you ever find yourself cruising down here, we both thought that Caleta Lalo to be the ugliest anchorage we have been in since we sailed into the Sea of Cortez. The shoreline was ugly and the locals parked their cars and trucks so that the sounds of their radios blared across the small cove all though the night. So if you are ever over here, plan of avoiding Lalo at all times. Its not a pretty nor quiet place to visit.

As always, there is more to come.