Wednesday, 21 April 2012

We arrived home and Hilbre is in San Carlos in dry storage and we will be back there in October, ready for new adventures.

Wednesday, 12 April 2012

We put Hilbre into storage at Marina Seca, San Carlos this morning. She is all locked up and waiting for our return in October. Watching them use the hydraulic trailer to lift boats out of the water is quite interesting and they are very experienced at doing it. They have a daily stream of boats going from the Marina to the storage yard about a third of a mile away.
We spent the last two days preparing her for storage and probably did more than others but better safe than sorry. There were lots of things to think about and do before sending her to dry storage. It is quite and exercise.

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

We picked the best night for the crossing to San Carlos. Today the wind is howling at 35+knots and a heavy 40+ footer just came into the marina and tried to get into an upwind (opposite) slip of my arm of the Marina. They missed the slip which was almost opposite me and blew down broadside onto the three power boats to the left of my stern. For a while, I was concerned she would hit my stern. The power boat pulpits/anchors (they were all facing out of the slip) got entangled in the lifelines and stanchions of the sailboat and it took seven or eight people, John included, to help push the sailboat off. They finally got a line onto the bow from the other side of the channel and pulled her upwind into a slip. The powerboats did not suffer too much damage but the sailboats stanchions and lifelines were all bent and torn up.

The marina here is in a pretty location and has restaurants and stores dotted around the immediate area. This morning we visited the storage yard where Hilbre will live for the next six months. She will be hauled out of the water on a hydraulic lift trailer which is positioned under the boat on a ramp while she floats. She then moved about a half mile down the main road to the storage area. It should be quite a sight as she drives along the highway with mast and full rigging in place.

The storage area uses Hurricane poles which are buried deeply into the ground and these are used for the boat supports (see picture album). In high winds, the poles stop boats being blown over and causing a domino effect on all the other boats. She will be out of the water on April 18th., after which we will take the Executive bus from Guaymas to Phoenix and fly home from there.

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

We arrived in San Carlos about 8:00 am this morning and are at a slip in the Marina San Carlos. Next task is to firm up the date for placing Hilbre into storage for the summer and scheduling the arrangements for returning home. We have covered over 1,500 nautical miles since October. The last leg across the Sea of Cortez from Santa Rosalia was like sailing on a Mill Pond; the sea was just like a mirror with just a gentle breeze to push us along.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

We have been here a few days and quite like this small Mexican working town. It is not a tourist spot and everyone is friendly and helpful. It was founded after copper was discovered in the area in the late 1860’s. Originally, it was a small Mexican operation however the French became interested and finally took over all the small claims in 1885 creating Compagnie du Boleo. The port was created with blocks of slag from the mining process. Because of this, the town has a somewhat French atmosphere and is very different from the other towns on the Baja peninsula. The Boleo Company closed in 1954 and it became a Mexican operation. Finally, in 1986 the plant was closed however with to the increase in the price of copper, there is a move to reopen the mine.
The Iglesia Santa Barbara church is made of steel and was originally in Brussels. The Boleo Company bought it, disassembled it and moved it to Santa Rosalia then re-assembled it in 1897 and where it is still in use today. The church was designed by Gustav Eiffel.
This morning, we had a nice breakfast at the Hotel Frances which is a restored two story wood hotel dating from 1886. This is situated on top of one of the two hills above Santa Rosalia which sits in the valley between them. The local museum is close to the hotel as are many of the steam engines and rolling stock used at the mine. There are the usual slag heaps outside of town and left-over mining equipment which makes the area just that more interesting.
It is easy to walk into town and there are just two narrow main streets, along which most of the stores are located. The port is also the ferry stop for the small car ferry which does a regular trip every other day to mainland Mexico. The ferry docks on the pier next to us and it is interesting to watch them come and go. There is a nice French bakery in town so we get nice fresh baguettes and there are enough grocery stores for us to get the few supplies we need. We do have a quantity of canned goods that we still need to use before we leave the boat in San Carlos. Along with some other sail-boats, we are participating in a Potluck on the dock tomorrow. Many of the sailboats visiting here are headed to San Carlos for summer storage. We believe the weather will be favorable on either Monday or Tuesday for the overnight sail to San Carlos.

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

We left Puerto Viejo at 7:00 am and backtracked south to round the reef that extends from San Marcos to Roca Lobos passing over a small extension southeast of the Rock that put us in 14 feet of water for a short time. After this we turned west into the Craig Channel between Isla San Marcos and the Baja Peninsula. Once out of the channel, we could see the dust hanging over the mining area of San Marcos.
Just after 10:00 am, we pulled into the small harbor at Santa Rosalia near the Car Ferry dock to Guaymas and were directed to a slip at the Fonatur Marina. It is the first time we have power and water hook-ups to the boat in over a month. It is nice to be securely tied up to a dock for a change and in a location where it is easy to walk into town. The Marina is all new and has an identical layout to the one in Puerto Escondido, so we feel

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

As the heavy winds did not materialize and the highest gust on Monday was about 24 knots, we decided to leave and head further north to Puerto Viejo on Isla San Marcos. We left at 8:50 am and headed north back up Conception Bay. Just as we left the bay, we were greeted with large pods of Dolphins that appeared to be fishing in groups. With calm seas and little wind we continued north past the Santa Inez islands where we began to pick up a nice breeze of 12 knots. As we turned to the northwest after the Santa Inez Islands we were treated to some of the best sailing we have had since leaving Cabo. We romped along at just over 7 knots for almost two hours until we were blanketed by the lee of Isla San Marcos.
We turned north just before the Roca Lobos on the southern side of San Marcos and arrived in the Puerto Viejo anchorage at about 2:30 pm putting the anchor down in 12 feet of water just off the cliffs. We had good protection from the waves and wind and therefore had a quiet night.
Isla San Marcos is mined heavily for Gypsum and there is a processing plant on the Island. The guidebook warns you of potential dust in strong northern winds however we had none of these problems. There were a few guys camped out on a small beach and in the evening they went out in a Panga to fish.

Monday, 2 April 2012

We had expected the ‘Northerner’ to kick in overnight but nothing happened, so we had a good night’s rest. This morning, the wind reached into the low twenties but nothing like the 30 plus knots that was forecast. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this is a mild one and that it will blow itself out by late Tuesday as we would like to move on toward Santa Rosalia on Wednesday.
Even with the wind, the sun is out and quite warm so it is really quite a nice day and the wind is keeping the powerboats, flies and PWC’s ashore.

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Another nice quiet night and a good night’s sleep after the Margaritas found us planning our next activity however there is yet another northerner forecast for Monday and Tuesday so we stayed on the boat and rigged our Banner Blue Anchor/Riding Sail during the morning for the first time. We had purchased this for the cruise on the assumption it would reduce our swing while anchored and had not had an opportunity to rig it and try it out.
In strong winds we discovered we swing anywhere from 60-100 degrees as the boat catches the gusts. This can be hard on the anchor and while we do not sail up to the anchor and then fall off, essentially sailing a figure of eight as some boats do, we had no opportunity of testing Hilbre prior to the trip. After rigging the sail the afternoon winds started blowing in the high teens and low twenties. During this time we did notice the riding sail kept our bow more into the wind and reduced the swing radius to 30 or 40 degrees; a nice improvement. However, as we have in-mast furling, there are no aft halyards so we have to swing either the spare Jib or Spinnaker halyard aft to hold the top of the riding sail. This pulls the halyard over the upper wire shroud (rigging) and could cause the line to chafe through. So, until we have figured out a better way to rig the top of the sail, we have put it away in its bag. At least we know it does work and is now ready to deploy.
It seems we are blessed with strong winds in this anchorage every afternoon and some of the boats have moved position or moved to another cove to try and get some relief. However the wind seems to die off at sunset and as we are holding nicely, we are staying put. The beach is getting more crowded and we are being tested by power boats and PWC’s that are zooming around the anchorage and between the boats causing lots of wake.

Saturday, 31 March 2012

It was a quiet night and this morning, we took the dingy over to our friends Allan and Ann-Marie who had been anchored at Santispac for a number of days. While catching up on the news and discussing the weather a lady who has a small camper and lives on the beach in the winter arrived. Cathy is 76 and had just swum the 200 yards from the beach to the boat. Cathy lives in Ontario, Canada and for the last three years each November has made the trip with her car and trailer to Santispac cove by herself. Before that, she had traveled to mainland Mexico and as far south as Belize, all on her own. She was quite full of good stories.
During the afternoon a strong breeze of 18-22 Knots began just after 1:00 pm and lasted through 5:30 pm when things calmed down again. This was just in time for us to head to shore and the beach cantina called ‘Lupes.’ The guidebook referred to it as ‘Anna’s’ but now Lupe owns it. We shared a table and Mexican feast with very strong Margaritas with Allan, Ann-Marie and Cathy who was preparing to head back to Canada the next day. She wanted to leave the beach and begin her trek home before the Mexican Easter, when many people descend upon Santispac and camp for the entire week. Indeed as we look out at the beach each morning, there are more and more campers lined along the sandy beach and we are serenaded with Mexican music and glow from the campfires at night.
Lupe’s is the beach Cantina hangout on Saturday nights for the Gringos and is complete with disco, a DJ and oldies music. There were only a few cruisers there, but the food was good, as was the company and the very strong Margaritas.

Friday, 30 March 2012

It was gusty in the afternoon on our sail north. We left San Juanico at 4:10 am and threaded our way out of the cove and between the rocks in pitch darkness using our chart plotter and Radar. The chart plotter map of the cove was a figment of someone’s imagination as it showed islands where there were none and was wildly inaccurate. In fact, we had sailed through one of these imaginary islands on the way into the cove! Fortunately, during our arrival, we had recorded and plotted our route into the cove and we used this with Radar to retrace our way out to the open sea. Once we were clear of San Juanico, we set course for Punta Pulpito, a very large, tall, round rock; a prominent landmark along this part of the coast and about two hours away.
With calm seas and no wind, we were once again motoring at just over five and a half knots and at sunrise we were just off Punta Pulpito. It continued to be a warm, windless day with a glassy sea as we continued north. While crossing St. Nicolas Bay we were treated to two large Blue Whales who were sounding. There is a steep underwater canyon in this area and this is where they were probably feeding. Anita saw them first and they made a great display as they splashed back into the sea it was quite a sight to behold, even if we were quite a distance from them. We believe they were Blue Whales just from the size of their Flippers which they swished through the air as they lay on the surface.
We finally rounded the headland leading into Conception Bay at noon turning into the actual bay about 45 minutes later. As we had picked up some wind, we managed to sail for about an hour into the bay before the hills on either side blanketed the welcome breeze.
At 2:30 pm., we anchored off Santispac cove in the area generally called Coyote cove on the north side of the bay and about 200 yards off the beach with lots of campers. There were already a number of other boats in the cove and sailing into Conception bay, we had shared our trip with two other sailboats also headed to the same cove. Coyote Cove actually consists of a number of individual coves and beaches, many protected by small islands all with their own anchorages. Santispac being the best known of all the coves is also owned by the Indians so there are no houses on the beach which is why it is ‘the’ hot spot to camp. It is quite a pretty area.
The afternoon was still and hot, over 90 degrees. We no sooner anchored than we were invaded by lots of pesky flies so we had to close up the main companion way and open all the hatches with screens. Fortunately, all of our hatches have screens; surprisingly, the interior of the boat remained quite cool. While we were doing this, our electronic barometer issued a gale warning! A quick check of the barometric pressure indicated that it had dropped over three millibars in the last hour and was still going down.
Sure enough, about 3:30 pm we had sudden sustained winds of 20 knots out of the north that escalated to gusts over 30 knots. This lasted for almost two hours during which time, one of the 36′ sailboats in the bay dragged anchor and began sailing itself out of the bay. Fortunately, it did not entangle other boat anchor lines during its progress. It had moved more than a quarter of a mile before the owners, who were ashore, managed to get to the boat and rescue it. When they did finally get back to the anchorage, they put out two anchors for added security.
There are clumps of weed in the bay and we had to anchor twice as the first time the anchor did not hold to our satisfaction. While we did drag a little way during the squall, about 40 feet, some of this was normal anchor stretch. As soon as things calmed down, we added 40 lbs of weight (Sentinel ) to the eye thimble between the anchor chain and anchor rode. This dampens the movement of the entire anchor line, adds springs to line and helps keep the anchor at a better angle to the seabed for holding. We have not moved since and have been sitting out some good wind gusts.
At least all of this wind got rid of the flies and after 6:00 pm, things became quite calm.

It was a calm night with a very gentle breeze and once the moon had set, it was a very dark sky with lots of stars and a shining Milky Way. In the morning, we launched the dingy, attached the outboard and new wheels and went ashore to do some exploring. What a difference the dinghy wheels made to landing the dingy on the shore and pulling it up above the high water mark. Almost no effort and a stark contrast to when we tried this at Los Frailes where we both struggled to drag the 120 lbs over the sand to get it above the tide line. We discovered that launching from the beach was even easier. Just lift the bow and it rolls down the beach to the water by itself. Oh what a wonderful purchase!
Caleta San Juanico is a wonderful area to explore with lots of trails, sand beaches for swimming and coves to snorkel in. A couple of houses are up on the cliffs above the cove, otherwise the area is deserted except for some beach campers. We headed off on one of the trails to see if we could find some ‘Apache Tears’ or Obsidian for which this area is known. While we were unsuccessful at finding Obsidian, we did discover the ‘Cruisers Tree’ on the beach where we added a shell with Hilbre’s name to the collection of artifacts that have been left by various boaters over the years. There are lots of nice shells and rocks to choose from. Many of the rocks have nice markings and colors and there are lots of shells embedded in the shale along the shoreline.
In the afternoon, we took the dinghy for a longer ride along the cliffs, to another bay called ‘False Bay’ where a Mexican fisherman was just hauling in his nets and catch of leaping fish; it looked like a nice haul. The area is very photogenic and we took many pictures to record our stay here. If and when we come back, we plan to stay much longer as it is such a nice area.
Later in the day two more sailboats arrived, one an older Catalina 36, the first C36 we had seen since Cabo. It arrived with another smaller sailboat. Both boats were travelling together the smaller one anchored in the bay behind us and the C36 just off to our port. The skippers were alone but not so a small boat from Anchorage, Alaska that had arrived the day before. He had picked up three young women in La Paz who were cycling around the Baja. They had stored the bicycles on the boat and sailed with him from La Paz and were headed later that day to San Carlos on an overnight passage. We had met them on the beach and the skipper was very happy with the arrangement as he had not had to cook a meal in weeks.
We took in the dingy before nightfall as we planned on an early start for the 54 mile trip up the coast to Conception Bay.

Wednesday, 28 March 2012

We left the southern anchorage of Coronados Island at 5:30 a.m. with no wind and calm seas. We headed back through the Coronados channel and north to San Juanico. We were treated to sunrise behind Coronados and what a difference 24 hours can make, no wind and absolutely flat sea with the very slightest of a long swell. By 8:30 we had passed the Mangles point and just before 10 am we were already anchored in Caleta San Juanico at the head of a bay. There were three other boats already there, one of which left just after we had anchored.
This is a delightful anchorage, with its nice beaches and various coves. With an improvement in the weather it was nice to relax and forget the bashing we had taken trying to reach here the day before. I put on the wet suit and took a look at the prop as we did have some vibration while motoring from Coronados. After I had cleaned the large clump of seaweed that had attached itself to the prop-shaft just in front of the strut and propeller, we both took sun showers and cleaned up the boat.
During our trip home in December, we had purchased a set of boat wheels for the dingy. Later, we took out the tools and drill and after hoisting the dingy up from the deck with a halyard we attached the brackets for the wheel arms to the transom. During the afternoon, three other sailboats arrived and anchored in the bay. For dinner, we had a bottle of wine and the grilled steak we had purchased at the Dali meat store in Loreto; all while watching the setting sun.

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

We left Puerto Ballandra at 9:45 am, later than our usual departure times. We had some nice north wind on the crossing to Coronados Island so we managed to sail for about an hour and a half. The inside channel of Coronados was recommended as the seaward side gets a lot of fishing and has nets and long-lines which are likely to get tangled in the prop if you happen to run over them. We had also received a tip that some local fishermen use empty Coke bottles as floats for their long lines.
As we turned into the Coronados channel the wind had picked up to 15 knots out of the north and the sea along with it. While this is not necessarily a problem, the short swells were getting steeper with a very short duration. Over the next hour and a half we battled the increasing wind and steeper seas as we headed north to San Juanico. During this time, the wind increased to 18-20 knots (true) and we were pitching heavily in white caps with four foot seas at eight second intervals. Our speed had been reduced to almost two and a half knots and we were still over 10 miles from San Juanico. At 1:00 pm we made the decision to turn, head back to Coronados Island and anchor in the southern bight of the island. With a following sea and wind, we covered the trip back to the Coronados channel in just under an hour and after making our way through the channel, we headed over to the southern anchorage where we finally anchored at 2:40 pm. We put out a long anchor scope to ride out the continuing wind but little sea as we were in the lee of the Island’s ancient volcanic dome. So much for the weather forecast, however these are amateur forecasters’ doing their best to help boaters with some useful weather

Monday, 26 March 2012

We continued to hang out in Puerto Ballandra, sitting out the north wind blow with gusts to 25 knots. It is a good place to sit out the Northerners that continue to blow in every week but they are not as strong as in November and December. We plan on leaving tomorrow as the forecast is for winds of 8-12 out of the NNW.

Sunday, 25 march 2012

We relaxed most of the day and cleaned the bottom of the boat to remove the sludge that had collected since the last cleaning in La Paz. We had a visit from the Dolphins again last night, but this time they did not come close to the boat. Two other boats arrived, a Catalina 42 and a Hylas 49 and anchored close by. The Hylas 49 was purchased in New Zealand and had been sailed from there by the new owners, Jim and Ellen. We had met them in Puerto Escondido just before we left and Ellen had talked to us about their voyage from New Zealand to Hawaii at 35 degree latitude. Like many of the boats we have met, they are also headed to San Carlos for summer storage.

Saturday, 24 March 2012

This morning we turned in our car rental and headed for the anchorage in “Honeymoon Cove” on the island of Danzante. This cove is just across the Channel from Puerto Escondido and only four miles away. Unfortunately, it is quite popular and one or two boats had taken up strategic positions in the coves to deny other boats the ability to find space to anchor. This seems to be a real issue with some live aboard cruisers who “Hog” some of the best anchoring spots, sometimes for many days or even weeks.
Because of this, we continued on to Puerto Ballandra, a cove on the island of Carmen, about two hours north of Honeymoon cove. Only one boat was anchored in the cove and as it is a fairly large cove, there was plenty of space for a number of boats. As we sailed north passing Loreto, we were able to use our cell phone to talk to John & Juliet. The weather was nice, the seas calm and the wind light, but what wind there was, was on our nose as usual.
Puerto Ballandra is very nice and well protected from all but South and Southwest winds when it becomes an uncomfortable lee shore. It has high hills all around. Our friends Allan and Ann-Marie arrived on their boat in the afternoon so we had a chicken BBQ on our boat. They left Sunday morning but as the weather and bay were so nice, we decided to stay a couple of days and relax before heading north to San Juanico. Monday is supposed to be breezy white-capping conditions from the NNW which would again put the wind on our nose and mean bashing into it with the engine on. We had been hoping for the Southerlies to kick in so we could sail; but it looks like this is not going to happen for some time.
We had some strong phosphorescence last night and some dolphins came into the bay stirring up the phosphorescence. As they swam near the boat, they were large glowing objects in the water; it was quite a sight.

Friday, 23 March 2012

The harbor of Puerto Escondido is almost landlocked. As you enter the harbor there is a small anchorage area to the right called the “Waiting Room” with a number of long term sailing residents. To the left is a jetty for medium sized tourist cruise boats like the National Geographic Explorers. Beyond that and on the left, is a large circular area, also used to anchor sail-boats.
The entrance to the main mooring and anchorage area is narrow but quite navigable with a depth of at least nine feet. The main bay/harbor is then before you, with its anchoring areas and many moorings. There are hills surrounding the anchorage on the right and two hills with gaps between them at the far end of the bay. To the left, the Sierra Gigante rises up providing a nice backdrop to the whole area. This harbor is considered the “Hurricane Hole” on this side of the Sea of Cortez and makes a secure and pretty setting.
The marina is run by the Government with a nice restaurant, small store, sometimes WiFi and a Pool/Jacuzzi; neither of which are heated and therefore quite cold. There is also a boatyard with a Traverlift. Although Puerto Escondido is about 15 miles from Loreto, the car rental agencies will deliver and pick-up cars from the Marina and therefore do a steady business with visitors. Cruisers often share auto rental expenses and long-term sail-boat residents will often give you a ride into town. We did one pump-out while we were in the marina which was an interesting operation that took over an hour to set up and complete.
The moorings are not well maintained and it can take some work to get attached to one. This is because there are few moorings left with trip line floats so the main mooring line just hangs under the mooring ball. We finished up lassoing the ball and pushing our dock line down over the ball to snag the chain underneath. We then found the mooring line and got properly attached to the mooring; other boats had similar problems. Because there is some uncertainty as to the reliability of the moorings, I did attach an extra line to the top of the mooring ball ring which turned out to be a mistake. This line eventually became entangled with the chain under the mooring ball and it took almost a half hour of free diving to untangle the mess. In the end, we just lived with the main mooring line attachment and used our anchor alarm overnight as a safety precaution.
There is a morning VHF Channel 22 Cruisers net and a clubhouse (Hidden Harbor Yacht Club) with a well stocked book exchange and DVD library. The club also provides mail services to and from the US. Loreto is a nice small town with a number of restaurants, banks and stores. It is very limited for sailing products; these are best bought in La Paz. We enjoyed the town and had the best Tacos of the trip at El Rey, a small kitchen style eatery on a side street. Grocery supplies can be had at three or four different stores although each is better for certain grocery products. One store called “Dali” had cases of frozen meats from the US.
We enjoyed our stay here as there is much to do from visiting the missions in Loreto and the Loreto area as well as lots of good hiking. To the south is a new resort, the “Villa del Parma” where we spent a very enjoyable afternoon using their pool and Jacuzzi facilities. They do offer “day-passes” which include all drinks, food and pool facilities. They were very hospitable and although we arrived too late to make use of a day pass, they allowed us to use the pool and order drinks from the bar.
There are many islands around the Loreto and Puerto Escondido area, so it is a worthwhile place to linger and try the many nice coves that dot the islands. These Islands are all part of the Mexican National Park system for which you need to purchase an annual pass.
We could certainly have used more time to explore the area using Puerto Escondido as a base. The area is home to many “Gringos” who have homes and live here permanently, some in very choice beach-front locations. As development expands, we wonder how secure their property rights are, especially as other areas of coastal Mexico have seen resort and marina developers usurp the ownership rights of both foreigners and Mexicans alike.
We would certainly return to this area and spend more time cruising around the many coves and islands.

Saturday March 17th 2012
A little over 25 miles outside of Loreto and just before you enter Loreto from the South on route No.1, is a turnoff to another mission located in the hills on the Pacific watershed. This morning we headed out early to visit this mission called, Mission of San Francisco Javier. This was a small and winding road leading high and deep into the mountains about two thirds of which is paved and the rest is dirt with a lot of roadwork going on. Because of this it was quite bumpy however this side trip, which took us over and hour each way, was well worth the drive. It does have a small pension style hotel and would make an interesting overnight stop.
The missions’ architecture is quite interesting and one has to appreciate the hard work and trouble it took to construct a building in such difficult terrain. The interior is quite surprising given its location and many of the panels and altars were built in Mexico City, shipped to Loreto and then hauled up into the hills. There is a small dam forming a lake which is the main water source and the whole oasis is surrounded by high hills. Each December there is a celebration at the mission which draws thousands of pilgrims from all over Mexico.

Friday, March 16th 2012
Today we shared car rental expenses with another cruising couple Allan and Ann-Marie and drove into Loreto for the Day. The Hertz rental car was delivered to the Marina from town and then collected after our adventures, the keys being left at the Marina office who assisted Alan in making the arrangements.

Loreto is 14 miles north of Puerto Escondido. It was founded in 1697 by the Jesuits who built a mission, the first in all of California. The mission, Nuestra Senora de Loretto was the center for establishing missions throughout the California area as far north as San Francisco. It was from here in 1769 that the Jesuit explorers set out to travel along the California coast and found the many missions familiar to Californians. Loreto was the capital and the center of the Baja area for many years until 1829 when it was heavily damaged by a storm. Because of this, the capital and administrative center of the Baja was moved to La Paz.

The town is quite small and very easy to walk around. It has a small but shallow harbor and a Malecon which is in the process of being modernized. Most of the town consists of single or double level houses and hotels. Because of this, the Mission church still stands out as the tallest building in town and dominates the skyline. It is very much the small Gringo town with many homes owned by Americans especially along the waterfront. While ripe for development, it is still a quiet backwater that has its own charm but will probably eventually succumb to commercialization. It also serves as a center for Kayakers’, who make group camping trips along the coast and to the nearby islands of Carmen, Danzante and Coronados. The morning VHF channel 22 cruiser net in Puerto Escondido has a section devoted to them for check in and provide updates on their daily activity.
There is a really nice old hotel on the main town square called,’ Posada de la Flores’ that is well worth seeing. The main street is a pedestrian walk-way with intertwined overhanging trees. There are a number of nice restaurants and we had a nice Huarache for lunch and Sea Bass for dinner.

The mission has an interesting museum containing many early items from its founding in 1697. Loreto is certainly a nice town with a lot of charm and well worth a visit.

With no urgency for the four hour trip to Puerto Escondido, we had a leisurely breakfast before leaving Agua Verde. We took lots of photographs as we headed out of the bay and past the Solitary Rock. With wonderfully calm and warm conditions, we were again motoring along the coast and as we motored the area became more interesting. Lots of small Islands and coves line the main shore which gives the area the feel of a resort. Heading into the Los Candeleros reef we passed the White Rock, yet another pinnacle covered in Guano but an active area for fishing, especially along the outer edges of the reef that surrounds the rock. We did see a number of Pangas fishing in this area. After navigating the reef (the nautical charts say “No Passage”) we turned northwest to our destination, Puerto Escondido.
Puerto Escondido is a landlocked bay and the only real Hurricane Hole in the Baja. After passing through the narrow passage into the inner harbor we picked out a suitable mooring. This caused us a problem as there was no float line to hook onto, just the ring on the top of the mooring buoy. The mooring line was hanging down under the rather large weed covered ball and the boat hook proved useless in snaring this line. What we really needed was a long fish gaff to get to the mooring line under the ball. We eventually used a dock line which we looped over the ball and then pushed down under the ball with the boat pole to snare the lower chain on the mooring to hold our position. Of course, because of the plentiful growth on the ball, this could lead to chafe. This is Mexico and you do not know how well these moorings and mooring lines are maintained. The one on our mooring, while heavy duty, did not look too healthy. Finally, after getting the mooring line aboard Hilbre, I also used a spare length of anchor rode which I shackled to the ring on the top of the ball just as an extra precaution. You can anchor here in the lagoon but they do not encourage it even though they charge the same daily rate as using a mooring. The area is very pretty with the mountains; it just lacks lush tropical vegetation to make it complete. It does have good showers, a nice restaurant, a small store, a great book exchange and a pool/hot tub. Being 14 miles from the nearest town is something of a hindrance as you are left either using a taxi, which is about $35 each way or hitching a ride from someone with a car. At least it was nice to be hooked up to something that at least feels secure so that you can sleep at night.
We have tried the restaurant and had a very fine meal of shrimp with Margaritas which were well endowed with alcohol so we were quite happy by the time we returned to the boat. We do have intermittent Internet access and plan on staying in this location for about two weeks while we explore Loreto and the area around Escondido. The area is quite charming with all of the islands and anchorages and it would be easy to spend lots of time exploring all of the sea life and anchorages.

We have now covered 1,265 Nautical miles or 1,468 land miles since leaving San Pedro.

It is calm and sunny.
This morning, we pulled up anchor at 6:30 am and all but one sailboat had already left ahead of us. As we motored out of the bay the sun was coming up highlighting the mountains and putting Isla San Francisco in the distance into a shadowy haze. It was a warm and hazy morning as we motored up the San Jose Channel passing a whale that was just lazing about on the surface of the sea. As there was no wind we continued motoring north to Punta San Marcial. Off to our starboard after clearing the Island of San Jose were the islands of San Diego and Santa Cruz. As we motored up the coast we could not help but compare the scenery to that on Lake Mead. We could have been heading to Middle point on Lake Mead; instead we were in over 800 feet of salt water heading to Agua Verde.
About 32 miles up the coast from San Evaristo is the anchorage of Puerto Los Gatos with its red rock formations, just like Lake Mead. As we passed this point, we saw at least three other boats enjoying the calm weather. We decided not to do a detour and by 1:30 pm we were approaching the San Marcial Reef. We had set the GPS way-points to guide us through a small channel between the main reef area off to our starboard and the San Marcial headland with its own reef off to our port. Anita was on duty reef spotting but the waypoints were good as we saw no shallow spots.
Once we cleared the reef, we set our final course for the ‘Solitary Rock’ which marks the entrance to the bay of Agua Verde and was plainly visible in the distance. As usual, this rock stood out quite clearly as it is quite white from the Guano. By 3:10 pm we were safely anchored in the Bay. There is a small cove off the main bay which can hold three or four boats however by the time we arrived it was already full. Once outside of this cove, the depth drops quickly to over 50 feet so we choose to anchor in the main part of the bay in about 18 feet with a sand bottom.
Agua Verde, like San Evaristo is very pretty with the mountains as a close backdrop but it is larger bay. There are a couple of fishing camps and a fine sand beach. During the late afternoon, a Shrimp boat arrived however there was no shrimp on board so we were a little disappointed at not having a nice fresh shrimp dinner.
As we were exposed to some of the small swells entering the bay we did rock about quite a bit as we had not put a stern anchor down to hold us into the wind. We eventually found a solution to this by using the dingy oar to paddle the stern of Hilbre around so we could put down a heavy mushroom anchor. This managed to hold us in a more comfortable position until the seas calmed down later in the evening. During this maneuver we stirred up the water with the oar making it obvious that we had a good phosphorescence display. Everything in the water lit up wonderfully including the fish swimming under the boat. We also watched the phosphorescence light up anchor as it sank to

It is calm and Sunny.
As expected the wind died down overnight and it became quite calm in the bay at Isla San Francisco. This morning there is hardly a ripple in the bay. After pumping up the dingy we eventually decided not to go ashore and instead left for San Evaristo with is about nine miles north of Isla San Francisco up the San Jose Channel. As we motored out into the channel, the wind picked up to a nice 15 knots but it was on the nose which would have meant tacking a number of times up the channel. Instead we continued motoring all the way to San Evaristo arriving there at 1:00 pm.
The San Evaristo bay makes a wonderful anchorage surrounded by hills. It has good holding over sand and a nice backdrop of the Sierra Gigante making it a very pretty location, much prettier than Isla San Francisco. The beach has a number of fishing camps and Pangas come and go quite frequently to these camps. There is a small notch in the cliff to the North of the bay which can protect about 5 or 6 sailboats from the north or northwestern wind. However, as the weather was now good, we chose to anchor in the main portion of the bay in about 16 feet of clear water.
Frank and Cheryl, new sailing friends from a Hans Christiansen 38T came by Hilbre. We were hoping that we could all go ashore and have fish tacos for dinner at a small restaurant on the beach however it was closed. Instead, we spent the afternoon drinking G&T’s on Hilbre and swapping sailing stories. The weather continued to be calm and the anchorage secure, so we spent a peaceful night with five other sailboats. San Evaristo certainly deserves a longer stay than just overnight.

Northwest Storm Winds
Last night at about 11:00 pm, the wind picked up from the South and blew directly into Caleta Partida at about 15-18 knots producing a wave swell that made for a rocky night. As we had boats down-wind of us we needed an anchor watch overnight. Today Wednesday, the wind continued while we took in the anchor ready to head north to Isla San Francisco.
After clearing the cove and putting sea room between us and the island we set sail and with a southerly wind and a broad reach we picked up speed quickly to almost six knots. After a couple of hours the wind shifted directly behind us so we took in the Genoa let the mainsail up and continued to motor-sail north. The coastline here resembles the Grand Canyon with its layers of different rock. After four hours, we entered the bay in which there were already four sailboats at anchor and chose the best spot we could laying down the anchor in 25 feet of water on a 7:1 scope. Three of the sailboats were crowded at the base of the rocky headland on the northwest end of the bay and there was one boat between us and the southern hook of the bay upon which a solitary light tower stands.
This is considered one of the choice spots to anchor in the Sea of Cortez as the island provides three different anchorages, each good for different wind directions. From the rocky headland, a sand spit curves to the southern end and another rocky hill with a low hook of land jutting a small way into the bay. During the day more sailboats arrived and took up a selection of positions with at least five boats now south of us. Eventually, there were 14 sailboats at anchor along with two large charter motor yachts.
The calm afternoon was broken at about 8:30pm when the first blast of the ‘Northerner’ wind arrived in a series of very strong 30 plus knot gusts. Overnight the winds blew steadily in the low to mid-twenty knots with sustained gusts in the high twenties and low thirties. Our anchor watch showed that a number of the boats to the south of us were slowly dragging anchors; we along with them. All of us were getting the full blast of the northwestern wind. While ours was a very slow drift, by 5:00 am we were now the most southerly boat in the bay as the others had already taken up their anchors and moved north up the bay and re-anchored. We had drifted almost 250 yards since anchoring in the afternoon.
Thursday 03/08/2012
At 5:00 am Thursday morning with detailed instructions to Anita who, while good at handing the boat for anchoring, had not yet done this at night in 25 knot winds, we were ready. At least we had a full moon. We now also had to contend with a large power yacht that had taken up position close to the beach in the area we had originally anchored. This charter yacht was not at anchor but was moving slowly up and down the beach under power.
The deck light, steaming light and running lights were turned on to signal our intent to move. We nudged up slowly taking up rode and anchor chain until a very large ball of eel grass appeared in which was encased our anchor. We did our best to clear it including dragging the hook through the water to try and flush more off as we moved up to re-anchor. Our kudos to the large motor yacht, it had clearly understood our intention and had moved up the beach to give us space to re-anchor. Down went the hook and we finally played out 125 feet of chain and another 120 feet of rode in 25 feet of water; almost a 10:1 scope as we were not comfortable with the holding. Anita did a professional job handling the boat during this entire maneuver while I handled the business end of anchoring.
By 10:30am we had drifted back down the bay and had to move yet again. As it was now daylight, we were able to clear the anchor of all of the eel grass and moved north up the bay and closer in to the beach. The area closer to the beach had larger patches of clear sand and choosing the far end of one of these in about 17 feet of water we lowered the anchor and dug it carefully into this patch and then laid out the 120 feet of chain and another 80 feet of rode with almost a 12:1 scope. The anchor must have dug in nicely into the sand patch as we had no more problems even with the additional high wind gusts that continued hitting us all day and all Thursday night.
Before dark on Wednesday, I had made a mental note of where the other boats had anchored and as I surveyed the scene on Thursday morning, almost 60% of the boats had moved positions during the night; a veritable game of musical chairs. Clearly we were not the only ones with anchoring problems.
The highest sustained wind gust we recorded was 41.5 Knots or about 48 MPH with many others over 35 knots (40 MPH). The guide book says the bay offers good protection from wind and waves, maybe waves but not wind. I am of the opinion that the guide books refers to a time when there were less cruising sailboats and these few could get the available wind protection at the northwestern headland of the bay. This is where most of the boats tried to crowd however room is very limited. A large portion of the bay is covered with eel grass with a few open sand patches and it is only closer to the shore where we finally anchored, that there are larger sand patches and better holding.
Friday 03/09/2012
After another night and morning of strong winds the weather is finally calming down and apart from a few occasional gusts of 20 or more knots, the wind is blowing at a steady 12-15 knots allowing some people the opportunity to go ashore. The weather is supposed to calm down overnight.

It is sunny again and, we said goodbye to our new friends in La Paz and headed out to Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. The one island was split into two by an ancient volcano and the cove formed from this event between the two islands is called Caleta Partida. A spit of sand almost ties both islands together except for a small stream that flows through the sand spit which is not navigable except by kayaks’ or inflatable boats, only then for a few hours at high tide. On this spit is a Mexican fishing camp.
On our way north we passed Caleta Lobos where we stayed a few weeks ago and Puerto Balandra which is a popular weekend beach place for La Paz Locals and is also an excellent anchorage. After Balandra we crossed the entrance of the San Lorenzo Channel with its strong currents. In the distance were Isla Cerralvo and the Cerralvo channel, all of this we had slogged through in the middle of the night to reach La Paz in early November.
Here for about five miles we had wind on the beam, from the east which provided just enough for sailing. Once we cleared the channel, the sea and wind calmed down so we continued motoring. This, the western side of Espiritu Santo consists of a series of deep bays all open to the west, each with a small sand beach. They are all great anchorages in settled and fair conditions as the bays are protected from north and east winds. However, in the summer these bays suffer from a west wind called a ‘Coromuel’ which can gust to 40 or 50 MPH from the afternoon and through the night. This is all caused by the cool Pacific Ocean air hitting the hot dry desert air of the Baja. This sets up very strong hot air uplift with the cold Pacific air rushing in from the west.
Suddenly, up ahead, we saw some bright flashes of white and silver which turned out to be Rays jumping out of the water and spinning in the air. At the distance we were from them, they had to be reaching at least six or eight feet in the air. It was quite a sight for the five three or four minute that it lasted.
With calm and warm conditions for motoring, we took a number of photographs along the way before entering the protected cove of Partida. It had taken about four hours and as we were the first to arrive we got to pick the choicest spot to anchor, which we did in about 20 feet of turquoise colored water. A little time later two other sailboats joined us in the anchorage. It was a calm sunny afternoon and we saw schools of juvenile yellow fin tuna, about 18 inches long leaving the water as groups while being chased by a large predator. The cliff above our anchorage was full of caves but they did not seem to be used by the seabirds for roosting however we did watch the Pelicans diving for a meal just feet from our boat.
It was a still night with a full moon which illuminated the entire cove and made for a very pretty night. With just a slight cool breeze; it made for a wonderful night’s sleep.
Today, Tuesday was calm until about 2:00 pm when the wind started blowing at 15-20 knots across the gap between the two islands. This lasted until about 5:00 pm when it just as suddenly stopped. Tonight there are 10 sailboats in the bay at anchor. Tomorrow we head for Isla San Francisco to sit out yet another ‘Northerner’ that is predicted to begin late Wednesday and last for three or four days. We hear there are already small craft advisories out for this storm.

Today it is Sunny with no wind.
We are just waiting out a Northerner before leaving our slip at the Costabaja Marina in La Paz for the final time. On Monday we will be heading out to Espiritu Santu and points north in the Sea of Cortez. Our next Blog entry will probably be from Puerto Escondido just south of Loreto in a few of weeks after we get Internet access again.
We have enjoyed our time in La Paz but we are also ready to move on and explore more of the islands and anchorages in this great sailing area.

Puerto San Carlos
Today, we went whale watching in Magdalena Bay which is on the Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula. We had rented a car the day before and made a three hour drive across to Puerto San Carlos and stayed overnight at a small but clean Mexican Hotel. After a hearty Mexican Breakfast, we met up with our guide, Chrispen Mendoza and set off in search of Gray Whales at 7:30 am. During the morning we saw a number of Whales in the bay however they were proving elusive especially having a close encounter. We did see a number of them broaching but only one came comparatively close and dived under our boat.
Finally, Nicholas came to our rescue. A mother with a calf called Nicholas by the local guides decided to come and play with the boats. Gray whales can grow up to 50 feet in length and it is during January and March they inhabit the many lagoons along the southern part of the Pacific Baja for both calving and breeding
Nicholas was certainly curious about us and came alongside a number of times to be petted by both of us. The skin felt like touching a well inflated inner-tube and was soft to the touch. We quite forgot to take as many photographs as we should have. So, some of the coarse ones in the picture album were frames taken from the video we shot during the close encounter.
His mother kept a close eye on all of us by doing a thing called Spy Hopping, which is using their tail to come out of the water and look around to see what is going on. She did this a number of times, it was quite an experience.
By May the whales have left the Baja lagoons and are migrating along the west coast of the US to their summer grounds in Bering Sea.

We went to see the Carnival parade which takes place during the four days leading up to Shrove Tuesday. It starts from opposite end of the Malecon each night and we picked the night that would offer the best opportunity for taking photographs. The vendors set up stalls along both sides of the Malecon and sell everything including food, clothing, religious items, beer, and even kitchen stuff. The event lasts for four nights with fireworks and other festivities occurring each night.
Everyone was in a good mood, the music was loud; the food smells tempting and many of the stalls rich in color texture and products. Families large and small lined the route with vendors working the crowd before the parade arrived. The parade lasted almost an hour and a half and consisted of at least 30 or more floats and dance groups. Everyone young and old participated in the parade and Hawaiian themes were popular. For a small town like La Paz, it was a great display and clearly many of the floats and costumes had taken time and effort to put together. Our own marina, the Costa Baja, had a float and we recognized the ladies who work in the office.
The Brazilian float had the least amount of costume attire, not surprising but fun for what is a fairly conservative town. The weather was clear and the afternoon wind had calmed down with the light holding up well for photography. There was a good police presence lining the route and they were all in good humor and enjoying the event.
Today, being Shrove Tuesday, it will be the last night of the parade and we plan on going into town for the finale but without the cameras so we can enjoy the fun.
On Thursday, we will be driving over to Puerto San Carlos on the Pacific side of the Baja to do some whale watching. It is supposed to be really good and an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Whales and their calves. It will give us a nice change and an opportunity to see the interior of the Baja Peninsula.

2012-02-18 16:04:39
Visit to Marina de La Paz

John Meyer / Sunny
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After changing the primary fuel filter and bleeding the engine we still had problems. In the meantime, we had the fuel guy Carlos over on Tuesday to look at our tank and agreed to move the boat to the Marina La Paz on Thursday Morning for a couple of nights so he could clean the fuel tank and filter (polish) the fuel that was in the tank. Wednesday afternoon, Luis arrived and worked with me for a couple of hours to see if we could fix the fuel problem. We checked the entire fuel line system and it turned out to be a partial air lock in the fuel line between the fuel pump and the engine; something that was not cleared even after doing a standard fuel line purge. After we got rid of it, the engine ran and sounded fine.

We motored down to Marina de La Paz from Marina Costa Baja on Thursday morning and both Carlos and Luis came over to work on the boat. Carlos brought his large fuel pump and filter unit which we attached to the fuel tank on Hilbre circulating the fuel at least 8 times as well as cleaning the tank. The fuel was somewhat cloudy so I did pick up some bad fuel either in Turtle Bay or Cabo. So now we have nice clean fuel as well as a clean fuel tank. We also took the opportunity to fix the fuel gauge sender unit which is inside the fuel tank so now we have a working fuel gauge once again. This was not really a problem as I know how much fuel we use in an hour and can figure the remaining fuel in the tank from tracking the engine hours. Still it is nice to have it working and not just sitting on empty which it has done since we were in LA.

Luis also came over and installed a fuel pump by-pass switch which allows us to turn on the fuel pump without turning on the ignition switch and purge the fuel lines without running the engine or using tools to bleed the fuel system. This is especially useful when changing filters as it allows us to fill the filters with fuel using the pump before starting the engine. It is nice to know that there are really good technicians here in La Paz that do good work. Both Carlos and Luis spoke good English and Carlos especially was full of great stories and information.

We arrived back in the Marina Costa Baja this morning and took some pictures on the way back, some of which I will post on the Blog. While we were in the Marina La Paz we connected with a couple (Ralph and Angie) we had met in Ensenada. We had dinner with them on Thursday night at a BBQ place and they took us shopping in their car on Friday so we were able to get lots of groceries and stock up the boat while we had transportation. We also took a walk along the Malecon Thursday evening and many of the vendors were already setting up their stalls ready for Carnival. On Friday night, we could hear the bands along the Malecon from the Marina but not loud enough to be a nuisance. However, the boats anchored out in the bay must get the full brunt of the sound which keeps going until at least 1 or 2 am.

Still, we are happy to be back in our usual marina as the slip we had at the La Paz Marina was affected strongly by the tidal current and wind, so we rocked about quite a bit. It was quite a challenge to get onto the pier against the strong current. On the way into our marina we passed one of the National Geographic Explorer small cruise boats fueling up at the marina dock.

The weather is still delightful, sunny and warm in the high 70’s or low 80’s. Wind has been light to moderate and we are preparing to head out from La Paz for more exploration of the Sea of Cortez.

We left Caleta Lobos about 9:30 a.m. and headed out intending to go to Caleta Partida on Isla Espiritu Santu however just after exiting Lobos we had issues with the engine and quickly raised sail to clear the rocky outcrop of Roca Lobos so we could investigate the problem. Engine checks were made and everything was OK so John put on his mask and dived on the boat in the 70 degree water to check the propeller in case we had picked up some rope/line but everything was clear. As the engine was continuing with issues at anything above 1,200 RPM and because we were still close to La Paz we decided to sail back to the Marina to at least have calm water and a dock to work on our problem. Engine fuel filters are the most likely cause; 90% of diesel engine problems are related to bad or dirty fuel.

We had superb sailing back to the Marina in winds of 18-20 knots slightly aft of the beam. The seas were about 2-3 feet but running behind us as we sailed under full main with a shortened Genoa. It gave us a chance to relax, enjoy some fine sailing at over 6 knots. We arrived back in the marina safely and tomorrow will be a day of engine work as all of the diesel fuel filters are checked or replaced.