La Paz Log 3 May 2015

05/30/15
After a warm and mildly rolly night, I was ready for a change. After our morning coffee we pulled anchor and headed for Puerto Los Gatos, about 36 miles away. Naturally, we motored the entire way, with the wind coming and going on our nose. Most of the journey was over flat, glassy seas. Just before arriving, we hooked a small Dorado, which jumped and fought, before earning its freedom. Oh, well. We arrived to find only one other boat in the beautiful bay. As we were anchoring the couple from that other boat, named Tardis, dinghied by to chat. Elaine and Jamie invited us over for cold beers later aboard their vessel. A fisherman came by in his panga to see if we wanted to buy some lobster. We said yes and he told us he would return in two hours.

Susan and I went for a swim, and then lowered the dinghy into the water to explore the shoreline. This place is well known for its red sandstone cliffs and rock formations. Beautiful and quite different from the usual Baja colors. The water was 2 degrees warmer than Isla San Francisco, being a tropical 78.6 degrees. After hiking on the shore and red cliffs, we took a ride around the bay looking for good snorkeling spots. Jamie flagged us down and invited us aboard Tardis for beverages and snacks. I quickly ran back to Odyssey for our Ahi Pokey and chips. As has been the case with most of the cruisers that we meet, we had many shared interests and mutual friends. We were treated to locally-made goat cheese, amount other treats. Elaine and Susan both make jewelry, so there was much to discuss and share. Jamie and I talked about boat projects and the weather forecasts, which he gets on his SSB radio. As the angle of the sun lessened, the heat increased, making it easy for us to bid farewell.

Our lobster arrived as promised, so we set to work getting ready to grill it. There are lots of bees here looking for water. I am so glad that I installed to hatch screens yesterday. They work very well. We figured out that by leaving a cup with juice in it on the forward deck, most of the bees will go there, mostly leaving us alone. Susan was stung right after we arrived, so they are very persistent. After dinner, which was great, we paddled over to a large catamaran that had arrived earlier. Once again, making new friends was easy and entertaining. On our way back Susan fell in the water, cheered on by the folks on the cat. The temperature dropped slightly as the sun set, but there was virtually no breeze, so we slept with a fan blowing on us.

05/31/15
We had a very quiet night, with no wind or waves to move us around. The morning arrived with clear skies and glassy water. The bees were already awake, searching for water, so I set out some juice to keep them away from us. Susan and I paddled over to the north beach where we went snorkeling. We saw some big fish and both got stung by something in the water. We hiked around on the red rocks before returning to Odyssey to begin getting ready to move. We had the anchor up and were under way by about 11:15, with our destination being San Evaristo, about 39 miles away. We motored on glassy seas the entire way. The wind did pop up enough that I put out some sail, but it was temporary. We anchored around 4:00pm in the pretty little bay. We made friends with a couple living aboard their small sailboat here, Steve and Charlotte on Willful Simplicity. I raised them on the radio, and they invited us to join then at the small Cantina ashore. We dropped the paddle boards in the water and set out. Well, almost. I looked back in time to see Susan fall almost completely in the water. It seems she forgot to untie the board from the boat! We swapped stories and news over cold cervesas and seafood cocktails, which were delicious. Afterwards, we swam around the boat, while keeping an eye on the two huge sea lions that were splashing nearby. The sun set with no clouds to add color to, and the almost-full moon lit up the breeze less bay. We watched a movie and called it a night.