New Years 2008
01 January 2008
Debbie Noorda
It's the last day of the year and we are once again in La Paz getting the boat ready for a New Years Day sail to the mainland. There was an announcement on the Cruiser's net this morning that some of the blasts heard previous years around midnight are not always firecrackers but gunshot. I guess it is all part of the party, but we will stay on the boat and turn in early so we can get a good start in the morning.
Since we last wrote, we have traveled some in the Sea of Cortez and seen some really nice places. The weather here is moderate not tropical with daytime temperatures 70 to 75 and nighttime around 60. Every few days they get strong winds from the north called Northers and with them steep, square seas build making sailing no fun. About once or twice a week they close the port of La Paz which means they wouldn't let any boats out (you always can come in) so they wouldn't have to be responsible for a rescue if you get in trouble. If you leave anyway, you may be fined at your next destination (we heard one yacht last year received a fine of $12,000US). In between the Northers , the winds are light to moderate and we have had to use our engine much more than we like.
Some of the highlights of the trip were Isla San Francisco which is a small island about 45 miles north of La Paz. The water was clear and loaded with fish. We would be sitting quietly on the boat and all of sudden a school of needle fish would come flying out of the water. We never could figure out what was chasing them, but they did this all day long. The island has a nice sandy beach for landing a dingy and there were hiking trails up along the ridges where we were able to observe the plant and bird life.
Another anchorage further north on the Baja was called Ensenada Timbabichi. We no sooner had the anchor in the water when a panga pulled up to Zephyra. The lone occupant greeted us and in our very poor Spanish we tried to ask him (he had a cooler in the panga) whether he had any fish for sale. The panga driver told us his name was Manuel and when Russ asked him for his line to tie the panga which was bouncing on Zephyra's hull, Manual threw him the line and proceeded to climb on our boat. He was very friendly and drank a cerveza (beer) with us while we tried to have a conversation in Spanglish. He told us we had many ninas (children) and they went to school and wore uniforms. His English was even worse than our Spanish but we somehow got across that we wanted to buy fish. Manuel finishes his beer , tells us to wait (we think) and climbs back into his panga and takes off around the point. I look at Russ and said "I think he is going fishing for us". Sure enough, about a half hour later, Manual returns with a large grouper and several small fish flopping around in the bottom of the panga. We tell him we want the big one and he climbs back on our boat to give Russ a filleting lesson while the fish is still alive. I think I overpaid them (approx $15 for the freshly filleted fish), but we did get a delicious fish dinner that night and fish tacos for the next two days. The next morning as we were getting ready to leave, Manuel came by again to see if there was anything else he could sell us. We said our goodbye and set sail for Aqua Verde our next stop.
We met up with a couple who have been cruising Mexico for several years, and they told us the Manuel visits all cruisers who stop at his little fishing village. It is like he had rights to the cruisers and the other pangas leave them alone. Another really nice place we stopped was Aqua Verde and we hiked up a hill and along the dirt road and took pictures of our green boat in the green water. Aqua Verde is a village of about 100 people. They have one tienda (store) and supposedly a restaurant that is open sometimes (it wasn't). We met a couple from Canada who have come there every winter in a camper and they told us that the villagers believe in education and send their children to school and the word is that they may get electricity in a couple of years.
We made it as far north as Puerto Escondido which was very disappointing. It is a nice size harbor, but a company called Singular has gained control of most the harbor. They installed moorings, which they charge approx $40 a night for in the main part of the harbor. They also charge extra for all services such as their dingy dock and showers. The result is that all the cruisers are in a tiny area of the harbor way too close together and the Singular harbor is empty. We stayed a few nights waiting for one of the previously described Northers to blow through and didn't even leave the boat. There were no shops or restaurants nearby. As soon as the weather let up, we decided to start heading south.
We had a very quiet Christmas, sailing part of Christmas eve and part of Christmas day. We then anchored and ate boat spaghetti , but had no means of communication to call or e-mail family and friends. It was nice to get back to La Paz where there are restaurants and stores and laundry. They even put a new bronze sculpture on the Malacon in our absence. Our plans are to set sail for San Blas and maybe Banderas Bay and then come back north and be in Mazatlan for the month of February (except the week we fly to the Bahamas for Helene's wedding).