23 March 2024 | Playa Santispac in Bahia Concepcion
15 March 2024 | San Juanico
07 March 2024 | Isla Danzante
02 March 2024 | Aqua Verde
28 February 2024 | Los Gatos Anchorage
27 February 2024 | San Evaristo Anchorage
25 February 2024 | Isla San Francisco
21 February 2024 | Isla Partida
18 February 2024 | Ensenada de Gallo
15 February 2024 | La Paz Anchorage
08 February 2024 | La Paz Anchroage
05 February 2024 | Marina Costa Baja
01 February 2024 | La Paz Mx.
27 January 2024 | Arizona Desert
05 December 2023 | Marina Costa Baja
03 December 2023 | La Paz and Caleta Lobos
19 November 2023 | La Paz
14 November 2023 | Bahia De Los Muertos
13 November 2023 | Cabo los Frailes
Forever Stuck in Playa Santispac?
23 March 2024 | Playa Santispac in Bahia Concepcion
Dave and Michelle | Getting warmer, 70's to low 80's and 67 in the pool.
Howdy Folks,
We just wanted to put out a quick update letting you know that we are here in a nice, well protected anchorage to wait out some wind that is forecast to hit tonight into next week up at our next stop in Santa Rosalia. At this point it looks like we can leave on Tuesday or Wednesday tentatively, but it's all dependent on if things change, which they usually do. Oh well, we have plenty of provisions and its pretty nice here although the camp on the beach is supposed to get really crazy as its Semana Santi (Holy Week) from tomorrow through Easter Sunday. Where all the locals from all over Mexico come to beach's. We just saw a dozen carnival trucks pull into the campground. WOW! This should be interesting...Word in the anchorage is that you may need to save some people as when they come out on paddleboards or kayaks and can't get back due to the wind blowing them offshore, you may need to assist. Others have already done so.
We will update next week how it goes. Also, we will update the Gallery with pictures of this anchorage and Mulege.
Hope you enjoy.
San Juanico
15 March 2024 | San Juanico
Dave and Michelle | Same, Not warm enough yet.
Hola Amigos,
We left Puerto Escondido intent on just going about 20 miles to Isla Coronados just a few hours away. Instead, after circling through that anchorage we took advantage of the current pushing us north and kept on going to San Juanico about another 20 miles. Again, it was motorboat ride, didn't even take the sail cover off the mail sail. This time of the year it seems there is no wind or its too much wind. Other than that, it's right on the nose.
San Juanico is a beautiful anchorage with a nice beach and Pinnacle rocks that come right out of the water some from over 100' below. This makes for great wind and wave protection from most directions. When we pulled in, we found 4 other boats that we knew from other anchorages or boats that were in the Baja Ha-Ha with us. Right after we dropped the anchor a Seagull landed on our solar panels on the back of the boat, we quickly Sho'd him off but 2 others returned. Hmm, what to do? We needed a fake plastic snake but didn't have one. We did however have some short rigging line which sure looks like a snake to us. Strategically placed on the Bimini top worked like a charm - No more seagulls!
We went around the area in the dinghy and "stuck our face in the water" and looked under the surface at the reefs but didn't see much sea life so we didn't snorkel the area. We hiked up a trail from the beach to get a picture of Endless Summer in the anchorage from the hilltop and got close to the beautiful house that we learned is owned by the Walton family, of Walmart fame. We also came across a Cruisers Shrine where cruising boats that have stopped here put a memento for others to see. This one is in a tree close to the beach. Michelle out did herself using colored pens we have on board and colored the inside of a clam shell with our Endless Summer theme of the sunset with our names. It came out great and made a nice addition to the Cruisers Shrine.
On the trip back to the boat we spotted a wild horse and Burro walking along the beach. See pix in the Gallery.
Next stop - Playa Santipac in Bahia Concepcion
Adios,
Dave and Michelle
Puerto Escondido and Loreto
13 March 2024 | Loreto
Dave and Michelle | mid 70's, Still a cool 66 in the pool.
We motored up from Agua Verde to Puerto Escondido and picked up one of 117 mooring balls that are for rent for about $50US per day. We wanted to stay a few days to see Loreto and provision so luckily the weekly rate is better at $180US. It was no surprise the marina was full, but the office did say they could get us into a slip in the near future with a reservation but for more than double the price of a mooring ball. Luckily, we didn't need or want a marina slip.
The grounds of the marina were quite nice, with nice landscaping and buildings well maintained. There is one Restaurant that had pretty good Margaritas and a great burger but at gringo prices. We call it Mexico Disney style because it's so clean and nice. We were excited to hear there is pool and hot tub but were told by a cruiser a few weeks ago that the pool was quite small, and the hot tub has never seen hot water. It was completely closed off when we got there and couldn't even see it.
There is also a small store that has a surprising number of products on the shelves. We intended to go into Loreto to provision so we didn't pick up too much here as it's a bit more expensive than in town. There is also an office for the boat workers who we had dive the bottom and replace the prop zinc all for about $100us. This was double of what it cost in San Diego, but they did a good job, and we were just too busy to do it ourselves.
To get to Loreto we needed to use the shuttle which costs about $40US one way for the 20-minute ride. The ride back is best to use a Taxi which we used and bartered the price down to about $30US each time.
Loreto is a very old town, matter of fact there is a Mission here that is the very first one built of all the California Missions from here north up through Baja into San Diego to San Francisco Bay area. We forget how many there are but there are a lot. See pictures in the Gallery.
We then had a Margarita at a bar whose bar stools were swings!
A novel idea, way too much of a liability to have this in the states so it was a must do. We then walked the town center, the Malacon and the Mission before going to check out the two grocery stores for our provisioning trip 2 days later. We easily caught a cab back to the marina where we had some good fish tacos at the restaurant.
We went back to Loreto on Sunday to check out a popular farmers market but it was not there. Maybe it was every other Sunday or something, oh well. As it was provisioning day we went and did our grocery shopping at the Super Ley Express, the towns biggest market. Again the taxi just pulled up as we came out of the store with all our bags.
The next day was fueling day. We decided instead of bringing the boat to the fuel dock we'd use the diesel in the Jerry jugs, which we last filled in Turtle Bay, so wanted to use it up and refill them before putting back on deck. Then we would use the dinghy to refill them at the fuel dock. We use a really good Baja filter that was given to us from our friends at Oakland Yacht Club. This has 3 screens to remove particles, the last screen is so fine that water does not go through, but the diesel fuel does. We did find some particles the size of black pepper but no water. There was also no water or restriction shown on the vacuum gauge in the separator/filter. So far so good with the fuel here in Mx. Although still too expensive. It was about $7US per gallon here in Puerto Escondido. We took on 30 gallons of Diesel and 8 Gallons of Petrol used for the dinghy and generator when making water.
All in all it was a good stop to stock up on provisions, get fuel and rest for a few days but the big towns are just not really our thing.
Next stop, San Juanico where there is a nice anchorage among some large rocks and a house on the hill that we understand is owned by the Walton family of Walmart fame.
We separated the Gallery files into two different folders one is Puerto Escondido, and the other is Loreto so make sure you see both folders for the pictures.
Adios Amigos,
Dave and Michelle
Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante
07 March 2024 | Isla Danzante
Dave and Michelle | High Clouds, 72F. 67 in the pool.
Hello from beautiful Sea of Cortez Mexico, this writing is a quick one about our one-night stand in Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante (Dancer). FYI, there is another cove just south of here called Divorce cove. We didn't want to stop there...
We were on our way into Puerto Escondido but as the weather was to be calm overnight, we decided to pull into this little cove for the night. It would only be for one night because the wind was going to come from the west at 20+kts the next night and would make for an uncomfortable anchorage.
Upon approach we saw a beautiful 150'+ yacht anchored in the middle of the 3-bight anchorage. We first went to the northern most bight which is very narrow. The guidebooks say it can hold only one boat if it were to deploy both bow and stern anchors right in the middle. There was a small fishing boat in there at this time, so we moved to the middle bight. We pulled in and around the big Super Yacht but didn't really see a good spot for us to anchor knowing that he needed to swing freely as did we. We didn't want to get too close to him, the rocky shore or the beach. We then went to the South bight where there was another small motor cruiser which made it a little too cozy as well. Michelle noticed the fishing boat was pulling anchor in the North bight so that is where we ended up. First dropping the bow anchor in 14' over white sand, backing down and setting it before paying out about 150' of chain, then dropping the stern hook and setting it by pulling forward. Bringing the boat to the middle again worked out perfectly and we had a very secure night.
We jumped in the dinghy and went to the beach to check out the rocky shoreline to the south. Not too much sea life to see but the rocks were impressive. Then we headed up the trail to get above the boat for some pictures. No need to fly the drone now as these were pretty good shots. This and most of these islands are part of the National Park system and you can see the trail and signs are clean and well maintained.
In the gallery you will see pictures of a boat like ours that belong to some new friends we met in Agua Verde who pulled into the middle bight and expected to stay there a couple of nights. They are two brothers Dave and Jeff on their Catalina 42 called Elysium. They are on their way to pick up their sister in a week in Loreto and then back to La Paz for them. A sailing family we'd say.
We promise to not have so many pictures as our last stop in Agua Verde. That was a pretty long stay with lots to see and do. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but we know that was too many.
Next stop is really going to be Puerto Escondido, Promise.
Adios Amigos,
Dave and Michelle
All Calm in Agua Verde
02 March 2024 | Aqua Verde
Dave and Michelle | Clear and Calm, mid 70's F. 67 in the pool.
Agua Verde means green water in English, and it truly is green water. Mainly Turquois green. The cruising guides say this is a good anchorage for all wind directions, but we were not sure it would be good for North winds by looking at the charts. But when we pulled into the far northwest side of the bay, we found there is a hook that wraps around and provides great protection from all directions. We pulled right up to the beach and dropped the hook in 11' of white sand and the boat barely moved. There were about 5 other cruising boats in here when arrived. It was so calm we had to remind ourselves we were not in a marina tied to a dock.
Agua Verde is one of our favorites so far, with its interesting, rocky landscape (especially the one outside of the entrance), to the palapa restaurants on the beach and a small tienda that has a surprising number of products for provisioning including fresh local goat cheese, YUM. And the people are very warm and welcoming. We stayed 4 nights. The first two evenings we had campers with 5 kids that were a bit loud and a loud talker (funny how folks don't know how sound travels over water) but once they left it was blissfully quiet.
It was interesting to see the campers come to the beach area we were anchored in front of as it's a very steep dirt hill with loose gravel and ruts. One of the camp vans had to make a second run at it but made it out. Another was a Huge Mercedes that is purposely built for going anywhere off road, perfect for here in Baja. See the pictures in the Gallery.
We snorkeled the reef and saw a ton of fish and coral. It's so great to see all the healthy coral here in the Sea of Cortez. All we ever hear is how the coral is dying off from global warming etc. Not here, thank you very much.
Next stop is Puerto Escondido... Or is it?
Cheers,
Dave and Michelle
Los Gatos (The Cats)
28 February 2024 | Los Gatos Anchorage
Dave and Michelle | Clear, upper 70s F, 67 in the pool.
Named for a family of Puma that live or lived in the mountains above and came down to the beach regularly to hunt, at least that is what the guidebooks say. This little cove with its smooth red sandstone shapes at the water level and jagged edges up higher is incredibly beautiful, especially as the sun sets lower in the western sky in the late afternoon. The bright red is quite dramatic but unfortunately it is hard to capture in pictures so you will just have to believe us.
We had a nice 4-hour motor from San Evaristo directly up wind that only topped out at 14kts, but we still had salt on the deck when we got in. This was quickly remedied with a freshwater rinse as we ran the Watermaker on the trip here and had full water tanks to use.
Along the way we saw more jumping Manta Rays that were all around us. They jump twice and then they are done for a while but there were lots of them. All but impossible to capture with a camara. Black on top and white on their bellies we could easily see them jump out of the water, flap their "wings", and land with a huge splash. These things are huge so it's really amazing how high they get. We'd bet they weigh 50lbs or so. Sometimes they will do a barrel roll and other times a head over heels cartwheel. Really fun to watch.
We got some arial shots with the drone, one of them looking down on the cliff where another cross was placed that looks down on the anchorage. Good to know the guy upstairs is keeping an eye on us. In one of the shots, you can see a huge bolder that is starting to give way. It will fall to the seaside and not into the anchorage, but I bet it will not survive the next rainstorm here. There were two van campers here, one from Oregon, the other from Alaska. They travel together and were going to be here for another 10 days or so before heading off to their next camp site. They said it takes 6 hours on rugged dirt roads to get to this location and 4-wheel drive is required. Yikes, that means 6 hours to get back out with no one around. There is much more boat traffic, and we have been meeting a lot of cruisers. Everyone is so nice.
We only stayed two nights there at Los Gatos, but it is definitely a good anchorage to get out of the northerly or westerly winds and seas.
Next stop is the small fishing village and beautiful anchorage of Agua Verde. More from there next time.
Cheers,
Dave and Michelle