Cruising Around La Paz

Rich doing some maintenance 55 feet up.

We have gotten a little behind on our posts, so this one should get us caught up.  On Wed. 1/18, we went for a 5 mile hike around La Paz.  On the way back to the marina, we stopped to see our friends Bob and Ann on Charisma who sent us an email that they were back in town.  They were planning to meet up with some other folks from Marina Palmira and go dancing at a local Italian restaurant called Ciao Milano.  On Wednesdays they have an english speaking rock and roll band and some dinner specials.

There were about 12 of us and a lot of Mexican families there dancing and having a great time.  The band and the food were all very good.  We invited Bob and Ann over to our boat for a paella dinner the next night.  We first went to the club here for sunset cocktails, and were treated to another great show.  About a mile off shore a humpback whale was continually breaching right as the sun was setting.  Absolutely amazing to see!

Couldn't get the shot, but imagine a whale jumping just past the bouy!

Friday morning we set sail to Puerto Balandra to meet up with Charisma, another Tayana 37, and spend a couple of days there before they departed for Mazatlan.  We dropped anchor and were the only ones in the bay until someone came and dropped their anchor right on top of ours!  We will refer to him as the A-hole.  We waited for Charisma to show up before we pulled anchor.  We had to wait until the A-hole boat swung out of the way so we could come up to our anchor and get away from him.  After re-anchoring on the other side of Charisma, both boats deployed the inflatable kayak shore assualt, and we headed to the closest beach.





The boats are in the background.  A long paddle.

 We hiked to the top of a nearby small hill that allowed us to see the huge sand bar that takes up most of the bay.

There were some spectacular rocks and caves to kayak around.

There were many colorful crabs climbing around the rocks.

About 5 minutes after these photos were taken on our second day of kayaking, we had just paddled out of the cave area when a wake from a passing 150 foot yacht smacked us with three foot breaking waves.  We paddled like crazy to keep from being driven into the rocks.  We all stayed out of the rocks, but all our kayaks filled with water and we were drenched.  One more reason to hate megayachts!

Charisma in Puerto Balandra

Our first night here we rowed the dinghy over to Charisma for a fantastic steak dinner, followed by home made ginger cookies and a night of Mexican train dominoes.  Ann won the game, but that was OK with us because she makes a darn good cookie!

After another day of hanging out and kayaking, the weather forcast changed and we started to get some strong south winds at night.  The following morning we went for another kayak trip to the cave area, but the the water was a little rougher and not very clear.  Rich started hearing the wind wistling through the rocks so we decided to head back to the boat.  When we rounded the corner and saw the boat, we were surpised to find 20 plus knot winds from the east, and 3-4 foot swells from the north.  The swells were coming directly into the anchorage!  We paddled like crazy against the wind to get back to the boat.  Exhausted, we secured everything on the boat and got ready to pull anchor and get out of there.  Problem was that Bob and Ann had paddled their kayaks to the beach to go hiking of a nearby mountain, and we were concerned that they might have trouble getting back to and on their boat in these conditions.  We waited until we saw them starting back to the boat before we pulled up anchor.  We hung around to make sure they got back on their boat OK, before we headed back to La Paz.  We said our goodbyes over the radio, and wished them a safe trip south and on to the South Pacific where they are headed.  The only good thing about the day was that we had a beautiful down wind sail in 15-20 knots of wind all the way back to La Paz.  We hit 6.6 knots with just the jib flying!  Perfect way to end the day.

Back to Isla Espiritu Santo

Originally our plan was to go North from Isla San Francisco.  The winds, however, had other plans for us.  Our final day on the island greeted us with 20-30 knot winds.  We still managed to paddle the kayaks to shore since coming back to the boat was a downwind run.  Rich did a little flyfishing and caught 6 fish despite the wind.  The tally was two small rooster fish, one puffer fish, two needle fish and a small rockfish.  All were released unharmed except for the hole in their lip. 

Our favorite spot on Isla Partida

Much of the sand here is really thousands of small shells.

The next day we headed south again with the swell and the wind back to Isla Partida and our favorite spot in Ensenada Grande.  We did a little kayaking, and in the morning, headed down to Isla Espiritu Santo.  We found a nice deserted anchorage at Puerto Ballena where there was actually a small reef under the amazing cliff we were anchored next to.  The anchorage was sheltered from the north winds that were expected for the next couple of days.

A large pod of dolphins came into the anchorage for breakfast.

The only negative aspect of this particular anchorage is that there are some mangroves nearby.  Mangroves mean Bobos.  These are little black non-biting flies that like to get in your mouth, eyes, nose, basically everywhere.  They eventually drive you to stay inside a screened area.  Because of this and the forcasted south wind the next day, we decided to head to an anchorage with more protection from the south.  Our destination was Puerto Balandra.  On the way we passed our friends on Grace.  The beach we are headed for is behind them.







There was a giant sand bar to cross to get to the beach.

This is the beach with the famous El Hongo rock.  It is a mushroom shaped rock that actually fell over a few years ago and they put it back up because it is such a tourist attraction.  There is even a statue of the rock outside the cathedral in town.

Our boat is in the distance under El Hongo.

There were a lot of locals here just wading around the giant sand bar.  The kayak rental on the beach was not doing any business because you had to drag the kayak about a quarter mile to get it to the water. 

Red sky at night, sailors delight?  Well, not so much this time.  The predicted south wind started up at about 11 pm.  The boat swung 180 degrees and started slowly dragging anchor.  Rich let out more scope and sat anchor watch all night.  While he stopped the dragging, he didn't get much sleep.  In the morning the wind was still blowing 20-25 knots from the south but the swell was only a couple of feet so we decided to head back to the marina which was only a couple hours away.  Our main goal of course was that we were completely out of beer and wine after 10 days out, and had just finished the last of any fresh food.  We still had weeks of reserve food on board, but we were out of beer!  Before noon we were tied up in the nice calm marina and headed to the grocery store.  You have to have priorities when cruising.  Oh, and Cathy has gotten used to having someone else do our laundry.  So we have two priorities, beer and laundry.  This retirement stuff is very demanding.

 

Isla San Francisco

A few days after Christmas we set sail for Isla San Francisco.  This is a volcanic island about 42 miles from La Paz.  This is the bay and anchorage that we found there, is this not a beautiful spot?  There was great hiking, kayaking, and even swimming on this island. 

Rich went almost to the top

Cathy stayed below to guard the trail

Lots of interesting plants

There was a large salt flat in the middle of the island

Sunsets are always great. 

We spent New Year's eve in this lovely spot, just the 2 of us and about 11 other boats, but all was quiet.   We wish all of you the best in 2012 and that you are also able to live your dreams as we are.





Christmas In La Paz

On the way back to La Paz, we finally caught a couple of fish.  They were two smaller Black Skipjack that we threw back because of their size.  After anchoring out for a couple of days in the anchorage near town, we finally got a slip in Marina Costa Baja.  We were in for a real surprise.  This is one of the nicest marinas in all of Baja.  Costa Baja is a golf and beach resort that just happens to have a marina.  The slips are surrounded by condos, restaurants, a hotel, and a very nice beach club.  We were in heaven!

When we pulled into our slip, we found that there were 4 other boats on our dock next to us that were all people we knew from the Ha Ha.  We made plans for a progressive boat party on Christmas eve where each boat would prepare a special drink and appetizers.  This sounded a little dangerous with 5 boats, but we can drink with the best of them. 

Since this marina is about 5 miles outside of town, they have a free shuttle that runs on a regular schedule between downtown and the marina.  We took advantage of this to go to the grocery stores, bank, and boat parts stores.  During the holidays, there are many street faires and parades to keep you occupied.  We really enjoyed wandering around town with the mobs of people out Christmas shopping. 

This company apparently sponsors Christmas

Afterwards, it was nice to hop back on the shuttle and return to our quiet little resort.  During our wanders, we were always on the lookout for neat little restaurants off the beaten path.  One of these we found was called Le Boeheme, yes a French restaurant.  We always look for places that have just a façade on the street and then a beautiful inner open air courtyard.  The atmosphere at these types of restaurants is just fantastic.  Well, Le Boeheme has a very nice inner courtyard decorated with artwork and lots of plants.  We went there one night with Larry and Nelda from Diamond Girl after a failed attempt to get into The Shack.  Although it was bit on the expensive side for Mexico, the food was fabulous.  We all left very full and happy, enjoying something a little different.

Mizzy from Alegria and Kathy from Harmony organized (suggested and the rest of us were all excited to participate) a progressive Christmas eve appetizer and drink party between the 5 boats on our dock.  We readily started to plan our part, and of course, we all had to clean the boats.  This means putting away all the clutter that accumulates and provisioning for the particular event.  We made some great tortilla wraps and the Pina Coladas that Rich made were awesome!

The concern was that there would be 10 1/2 people on each of our boats (one was a 3 year old), but surprisingly, we all fit well and all had a great time.

Christmas Day, after sleeping in of course, we decided to pamper ourselves and spend the entire day at the beach club.  Before leaving the boat, we decided to try our hand at Skype.  We finally got the account working and were able to have a nice conversation with Cathy’s family back east.  The connection was not that great, but it was good to catch up with them. 

 It was then off to the club for Bloody Marias and Christmas lunch.  After lunch we walked the beach, hit the Jacuzzi, the bar again, and then back to the boat for Skype with Rich’s family, this connection was much better.  This was our first time away from home for the holidays, so it was nice to be able to see and talk to our families with Skype.  The future is finally here!  We have picture phones!

Sunset cocktails with the gang on Christmas

Isla Partida

Our time in Marina Palmira ran out on Dec. 1, so we set sail for some of the nearby islands that are part of Mexico’s national park system.  It took about 4 hours to motor (no wind of course) to Isla Partida, where we anchored in the flooded crater of an extinct volcano.  There were a couple other boats here that we knew, and we of course got together for cocktails.

 We got the kayaks in the water and explored the anchorage and the canal that goes through to the other side of the island.  Lots of lava rocks and cactus.  We found out on our second day there that some high winds were forecast for the next couple of days.  The winds were supposed to start on Monday.  However, when we tried to leave the anchorage on Sunday, the winds outside the volcano were gusting to 30 knots plus with huge breaking seas coming all the way down the Sea of Cortez.  We decided to turn back to the anchorage as it was not safe to return to La Paz.  The weather forecast we picked up on the ham radio (SSB) said the winds were going to increase for the next three days to gale force.  We were stuck.  All the other boats left to move to another nearby anchorage, but we were well anchored and decided to stay put.  There was no swell or long fetch in the anchorage so we felt it was a good spot to deal with whatever wind came down into the crater.  We put out 200 feet of chain in 20 feet of water with double snubbers and our anchor sail.  The gusts coming down from the cliffs around us often topped 30 knots, making sleeping nearly impossible.  We took turns on anchor watch during the daytime.  By Wednesday, we had been in the anchorage for six days, and four days with the whole place to ourselves. 

Finally on Thursday morning the winds came down enough to make an escape.  We motored into the remaining swells about 4 miles north to Bahia Grande where we found another beautiful empty cove.  We immediately threw the kayaks in the water and went for a paddle around the cove.  Our kayaks have a window in front of the seat so we can look at the coral and the fish without even getting wet!  Since the water temperature has been unseasonably cold at 70 degrees, we have only done some short afternoon swims.

Our private cove in Bahia Grande

Hiking through the cacti

Cathy in a lava bubble

We spent three days exploring this nice bay before heading back to La Paz.  We plan to wait for another weather window to head further north and do some more island hopping.  In addition, we need to repair the bow roller, the chafe gear and both snubbers that were damaged during the few days of high winds.