Loreto Fest

Dolphins escorted us to Puerto Escondido

We hated to leave Isla Coronados, but we did want to attend Loreto Fest in Puerto Escondido, and we were out of beer!  So we pulled anchor and headed south on April 30^th.   Loreto Fest is a four day event sponsored by the local Hidden Port Yacht Club that features games, live music, food and drink, seminars, and fundraising activities for local youth.  This year we counted about 100 boats attending.  The harbor is a large protected bay built by the French many years ago.  There is the traditional failed resort area there with nice tree lined streets and vacant lots.  Not one home is there.  We pulled into the bay and dropped anchor as close to the marina as we could to avoid long dinghy rides at night.

View of the mountains from our boat

The first order of the day was to have a beer.  The second order of the day was to get some food.  We had been away from grocery stores for almost a month and things were looking bleak.  There was a nice grocery store at the marina, and another one about a mile walk up the highway.  We went to both and found enough provisions to make it for a few more days until we could get into Loreto for some major shopping.  Next order was to check the schedule of events and sign up for what we wanted to do.

We entered the bocce ball tournament as a team, but were eliminated after the first two rounds.  We were happy to be eliminated as the bocce lanes were in the blazing sun and it was 95 degrees out.  The pressure cooker seminar was informative, but under the tent, you felt like you were in one.  We enjoyed the two fishing seminars that gave us a lot of good information on how to catch fish around here.  It was put on by a local guy that has been living and fishing here for 40 years.  Who knew that we would catch more fish if we towed an empty coke bottle behind the boat next to the lures?  It worked, first time we tried it, we caught a nice Bonito for dinner.

Our friends on Puffin and Pacific had arranged a cab into town in the morning.  Loreto is about 15 miles from the marina area.  Cabs in this area are very expensive, but we split the cost between three couples and hired the guy for the whole day.  He took us to three grocery stores, a liquor store, a fishing store, a restaurant for lunch, and followed us around town while we did some sightseeing.  It was great to throw everything in the van and head off to the next stop.

Loreto is the site of the first California mission, built in 1697.  It is also the beginning of the El Camino Real and has the first marker bell in the main plaza.  We all had a nice lunch at one of the older famous restaurants in Loreto, Café Ole.  We toured the Mission and the hotel next to the plaza.  The hotel has a pool on the roof with a glass bottom that is above the lobby.  Wasn’t too comfortable standing under it in earthquake country!

The first Mission built in 1697

Lunch stop

Hotel

Everywhere you go in any town you see these green dots with four arrows pointing to it.  They are signs showing the reunion points that everyone is suppose to go to after a place is evacuated in an emergency.  This one was at the propane plant and was about 10 feet away from one of the giant tanks.  We're pretty sure that there would only be a large crater left here instead!