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.