From Bahai Salinas Kashmira and Kasasa continued the circumnavigation around Carmen Island. Our next stop was on the east side of the island in a small bay by what is called the painted cliffs. It's just a tiny bite of an anchorage with just the two boats fitting in.
Our first order of the afternoon was to snorkel the point. WOW! It just gets better each time. I saw a big (about 12" octopus), I saw my first Moray eel and I actually dove below the surface of the water. In 3 days I've gone from snorkeling with a life jacket on to no life jacket and now I'm diving below the surface!! I guess I'm gaining some confidence in the fact that I actually float and that I no longer need the security of a life jacket.
We spent the night there, and woke up the next morning to a very uncomfortable swell coming in and rocking the boat. I was feeling almost seasick from it. There had been no wind, so the swell was from the hurricane which was about 300 miles south of us. Ian and I left early and headed around the island to the north side hoping to get into some calmer waters. We anchored in a cove called La Launcha and found that we were still rolling but not as bad. We spent a couple of hours there and took the dingy to V-cove and checked out the sea caves there. When we got back to the boat at about 3pm, we decided to up anchor due to the rollyness and head around to the west side to a bay called Ballandra. Kashmira had decided to go on to Coronados Island and we would catch up with them in a few days.
We spent a couple of nights in Ballandra which was so CALM. No swell here. The water was almost 28 degrees celsius and we spent a lot of time swimming there. It's quite a big bay and the second night we were there we had the bay all to ourselves. The next morning we left early for a rendezvous in Loreto with Kashmira. Since it was so calm, we were able to anchor off of Loreto and go to shore to do some groceries and eat out. We even caught game #6 of the Stanley Cup playoffs - boy what happened there! At least there is one more chance for Vancouver.
Today, Ian and I decided enough of town, and motored the 6 miles up to Coronados Island. Once we got anchored, I noticed a humpback whale about a quarter mile away and we spent an hour watching it breech and flap its tail and fluks. So cool to see. I'm close enough to town that I am able to use my TelCel banda ancha to get internet. I even skyped with my dad earlier on.
We will stay here for a day or two and then head up to San Juanico. I've uploaded a new photo gallery so have a look.