As we spend our last day in the BLA Village anchorage, here are a few photos of the many anchorages within a few miles of our current location.

La Ventana Anchorage


Puerto Don Juan


El Pata and Bota Anchorage


La Gringa Anchorage


La Mona Anchorage


La Roca Anchorage



With all of these anchorages and more within 3 miles of the BLA Village, I must laugh now at all the talk we heard before we came north about what we would do "up there" all summer!

At 1445hrs this afternoon we pulled our anchor from the Bay of Los Angeles and started the next chapter in our cruise. A 25ft whale shark swam around our boat to see us off (photos will be posted the next time we get internet access) and thus our summer in the Sea of Cortez officially came to a close. The 2009/2010 cruising season is upon us and within a week close to 200 sailboats will be heading to Mexico with this year's Baja Ha-ha cruisers rally and a new group of cruisers will be casting off on their cruising dream.

For the crew of THIRD DAY, this next chapter of our cruise still seems a little up in the air with the only thing known for sure is that we are still having a great time. One side of us would love to spend another season and even summer in Mexico and the Sea of Cortez while another side is pulling us South. At this point, we are really not sure which side will win out, but either way, we can't seem to find a downside and realize that many people back in the States would love to have our Hard Decision of where to go next. We remind ourselves that this whole summer in the Sea of Cortez was not on our original plan but rather something that just happened as we through out the timetables and original plan, which is actually when our real cruising started!

As I look out from my chart table window, it's sad to think that we may never see this area again, however, what's really sad is to think of all the cruisers that have missed this Northern Sea of Cortez treasure because it wasn't in their original plan. So rather than over plan our next few months, we will just let the weather, wind and current plot our course and enjoy ourselves rather than fret over some master plan hatched when we still viewed the world from our Bakersfield home rather than form our 36ft sailboat.

We arrived in the Bay of Los Angeles (BLA) on about August 30th and now, not quite two months later, we are planning our departure for points South. Many boats arrived in this area around mid to late July, but the crew of THIRD DAY never quite seems move as fast as the crowd and that hold true for our departure south as well. Out of the approximately 40 boats that spent hurricane season in the far north, only 7 have yet to head south but our time is coming this weekend along with Windfall and Just A Minute. In the morning we will anchor one last time off of the BLA village for a provision run and one more $5 Peso double scoop of ice cream before heading south. I've commented before about the misinformation we received about this area, so I won't bore you with those details again. Now I'll just say that we have enjoyed our time up here immensely and are actually sad that the cool weather and water are pushing us south.

Anchored near us in Puerto Don Juan are several boats and crews that have spent years cruising and have a destination list that reads like every aspiring cruisers dream list of places to visit. What's interesting in talking to them is that they rank the Sea of Cortez as one of their top cruising destinations. Yet before we cast off cruising a little over a year ago, we viewed Mexico and the Sea of Cortez as more of a place to travel through enroute to the real cruising destinations of Central America. In many ways we still seem to be holding onto that feeling for some reason. I think it's a common thought among new cruisers to view Mexico as somehow less of a cruise destination than say Panama or Central America. I think it goes to the familiarity we have with Mexico and the fact that it's our neighbor to the south that gives this impression and frankly, that's a shame. It's still our plan to be south of Mexico sometime in January 2010, however, more and more we are questioning our run south, when so much of what we were looking for is right here in Mexico. The same feeling we had in San Blas is starting to pop to the surface again, but honestly, I think this time we will ignore it and continue south for El Salvador and beyond. If for no other reason than because that's our plan and if we don't go now, we may never be able to fly some of the courtesy flags for the Central American countries that we bought before we left San Diego.

We were one of the last boats to arrive in the BLA area this summer and it's somewhat fitting that we will be one of the last to leave. In fact, that's becoming somewhat of a moniker for our cruise so far as we have a hard time leaving places we know and enjoy.