We departed Guaymas for the overnight passage to Bahia
Concepcion (96 nm) in the late afternoon
on 6 December. We had only been back in the water since 5 December, but were
eager to get out of Guaymas before the impending strong northerly winds arrived. The
overnight passage should have been quite pleasant, on a close reach in 10-15
knot winds. However, since we had not been on the water for quite some time,
the passage was a fight to get our sea legs back. Matt did a great job getting
AEOLI prepared for sailing, and outside of some minor underway gear additions
for the wind vane, we didn’t have any major equipment issues back at sea.
Bahia Concepcion is a huge protected bay, and we anchored in
the lovely Playa Santispac. It was kind of a strange sight for us because the
beach is also accessible by road and as such also houses a contingent of RVs; we
have so far been accustomed to anchorages with only cruisers. Our first visit
to shore was on a Sunday and so there were many locals there hanging out and
enjoying the beach. They were very warm and friendly, and Matt ended up eating
some fresh raw oysters (out of the cooler of some guy’s truck!) with a young Mexican
guy who works in the mines near Santa Rosalia.
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| Matt having oysters with this guy... |
Together with Phil from S/V Barlavento, we walked along
Mexico Highway 1 to Playa El Burro on 11 December. We had a tasty lunch at
Bertha’s Restaurant (best chile rellenos in Mexico?) and did a short hike up to
a view point past some Amerindian petroglyphs.
The next day we took a trip in to see Mulege, which has an
interesting museum (that was previously a prison) and a mission. There is also
a river running through the town, so it is a remarkably lush place in mostly
desert-like terrain. The fish and shrimp tacos at Kulili’s just underneath the
bridge were excellent!
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| A bit of freshies provisioning.. |
With a small break in the norther we departed Bahia
Concepcion and headed to Caleta San Juanico (55 nm) on 13 December. We enjoyed
the scenery on a gentle downwind sail.
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| Am I in a sailing catalogue? |
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| S/V Barlavento |
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| This go-fast boat was just out sitting in the water. We're thinking waiting for a pick-up.. |
San Juanico is a beautiful bay and we had a great day on
shore: a visit and offering to the cruiser shrine, shore exploring through an
estuary, and a nice hike to a spectacular viewpoint. Shortly before our
departure from San Juanico on 16 December, Ron brought us a sierra that he had
caught from his kayak and we had fresh fish!
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| Our cruiser shrine offering |
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| Fording the estuary |
Our next stop was Isla Coronados which was a beautiful
island from which we simultaneously watched the sunset and moonrise, followed
by the combined sunrise and moonset the next morning.
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| Moonrise |
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| Sunset |
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| Moonset |
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| Sunrise |
Isla Coronados is a volcanic cone which has a peak of 928 ft;
additionally, the base of the island has an idyllic white sand crescent beach. We
hiked up the steep lava rock trail to the peak for a beautiful view of the
island surroundings, and after the hike back down had our first secluded beach
day. It was a perfect island cruising day, and to top it all off we had some
dolphins swimming along with us as we departed the island!
We had a quick functional overnight stop at Puerto Escondido
on 18 December: water, hamburgers, internet, laundry, showers, trash, and a few
freshies. We had only been out for about 12 days, but it felt great to get
cleaned up and sorted. And the scenery at Puerto Escondido is always beautiful
with the surrounding Sierra de la Giganta range.
We had heard from many cruisers that Bahia Aqua Verde is a
favourite, so we made a quick stop there on 19 December as we continued south. We
walked into the small Aqua Verde village and had a meal at the “restaurant”
(some lady with an adorable puppy serving food on her front porch). It was a
really interesting isolated little village of small shacks with solar power. A
place that we would fit right into!
A cold front was blowing over as we continued south to San
Evaristo, making the coastal mountain scenery even more dramatic. On 20 December,
we anchored in San Evaristo with 9 other boats, by far the most crowded
anchorage we have been in.
The front had completely passed when we departed San
Evaristo on 21 December and we were back to sunshine and calm waters, perfect
conditions for a more thorough visit to Los Islotes, the sea lion rookery at
the north end of Espiritu Santo. We had visited last season, but did not get to
swim with the sea lions since it was too cold. But this season, equipped with
our new Go-Pro (thanks to Germaine, Dion, and Maggie!!) Matt got into the water
and was able to get some fantastic footage.
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| Red tide algal bloom making thick red clouds in the water |
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| Getting spoiled by having fresh bread underway! |
We spent our final night of cruising in the Sea anchored in
Ensenada el Cardonal, on Isla Partida. Although there were several
mega-yachts in the neighbouring bays, we had the anchorage to ourselves, and
had a peaceful night of star gazing at an impossibly clear and bright night
sky.
On 22 December we motored the final leg to La Paz and tried
to contain our excitement about arriving at the Costa Baja enough to navigate
through the narrow channels. The Costa Baja and La Paz are both just such
wonderful places to be, and we are looking forward to spending the holiday
season here!
