Puerto Los Gatos was probably the most beautiful place we've anchored in Mexico. A spacious fair-weather cove, it is lined with fantastic pink rock formations, bulgy and lacy and inviting exploration. The water when we were there was as clear as we've ever seen: The boat and dinghy appeared to be floating in space above their shadows on the sand fifteen feet below.

Shortly after we dropped the hook, a boat approached and its fisherman asked how many lobsters we wanted for our supper. Then he went away and a few minutes later, brought us three. As Sarka doesn't like lobster, this was perfect: I could have them all for myself. And at 100 pesos a kilo (about $3.50 a pound) it was quite reasonably priced.

Later we learned that he catches them and keeps them in a pen underwater, and when visitors come he just goes and gets them out...kind of like a seafood restaurant! It seems like a pretty good racket.

In the evening coyotes were yelping on the beach, and the nighttime sky was especially full of stars.

The following day we inflated the dinghy and rowed to shore. The pink sandstone bluffs were just too tantalizing to admire from the boat. Soft and round in some places and brittle and lacy in others, the rocky scenery was breathtaking. We clambered up to the top of a bluff overlooking the cove and out into the Sea of Cortez, sweating in the intense July heat. We could see for miles around, and down through the clear-blue water to the seabed along the cliffs: The classic view of the Sea of Cortez.