Tour of the Southwestern Sea of Cortez

The anchorage where we stayed at southern Baja's Caleta Partida is an ancient 

volcanic caldera. Gorgeous. But first we had to GET there...

Two weeks before, Chris finished painting Espiritu's bottom at the 

San Carlos drydock, across the Sea of Cortez and 400 miles north.

We shook off the drydock blues by dipping our toes in the cold water 

with our fellow drydock pals of s/v Slow Flight

Finally Chris' hard work was done, and a freshly painted Espiritu 

was happily ker-plunked back in the water. 

Espiritu back in the San Carlos anchorage -- the first step to being back at sea!

Since Thanksgiving was only a couple of days away, we decided to stay in San Carlos to enjoy the holiday with our cruising friends before heading out into the great wide open once again.

We were invited to the home of our Dutch Canadian friends Theo and 

Marian for a Thanksgiving potluck. 

Someone actually baked a chocolate cake that looked like a giant Ding Dong!

A giant Ding Dong! I was so excited!

I hadn't seen an actual Ding Dong in 30 years. Filled with nostalgia for my American youth, I ran from person to person at the potluck exclaiming: "Look! A giant Ding Dong!'

Unfortunately for me, 95% of the 50 guests were Dutch or Canadian. 

Evidently they didn't have Ding Dongs in Canada or the Netherlands back in the 60's -- 

so instead of shared emotional nostalgia for the chocolaty cupcake treat of our youth,

 all I got was perplexed stares.

Looks like the Ding Dong was ME. So what else is new? Ah, well.

Starfish collection at Theo and Marian's waterfront home

After the delicious Thanksgiving holiday, it was time to pull anchor and begin the

 400+ mile journey south to La Paz on the Baja side. 

We said goodbye to our pals Cesar and Fernando at Barracuda Bobs.

These guys are salt of the earth.

We got a good weather window for the 90+ mile overnight sail 

southwest across the Sea of Cortez to San Juanico on the Baja side. 

The prediction was for fair winds and following seas -- every sailor's dream. 

Instead we got cold winds on the nose. 

Me sailing to weather on the cold, blustery crossing

When we arrived in San Juanico the next morning, we uttered the famous sailor's motto, 

exclaimed only when dropping the anchor after a hard, cold passage:

"Hook that bitch."

Ha! Indeed, we did. 

OK. The anchorage at San Juanico was cold and pretty,

 but at least we were back on the Baja side.

The anchorage was pretty calm, so we got a good night's sleep after the passage.

Weirdly, though, for the second time in recent memory, I was awakened by the haunting

 call of a Mexican owl in the middle of the night.

Hearing an owl is bad luck in Mexican lore. Creepy. 

We went ashore with s/v Notre Isle and Windcatcher to do a bit of desert exploring. We hoped

 to find  the Rancho we had visited months earlier about a mile into the desert.

The Mod Squad 

(AKA Gringos hiking into the Mexican desert)

I caught this snap of a striped snake next to the trail

We loved the sight of a wild horse running past 

Soon this real Mexican caballero approached on the road, 

so we new the Rancho was close by

Since it's nearly winter, the Rancho didn't have any fresh veggies for sale, 

but we checked in with the farm animals. 

This donkey at the Rancho was VEEERY happy to receive a free scratch

Speaking of donkeys, Mexico sells a very popular body wash called "Donkey's Milk."

It's so popular that it's often the only brand of body wash for sale on the shelf.

We've bought and used several bottles over the weeks and months here in Mexico.

Serious question: what in the heck is the main ingredient in silverly, 

shiny, slimy Donkey's Milk body wash? 

Honestly, we don't know, and we don't want to know.  :-/

But it works, and it's cheap. Moving on...

Check this out: These donkeys were untethered and freely roaming the rancho. As we approached, they appeared to be deep in conversation with the chickens in the henhouse. They turned to look at us as we approached, as if we were interrupting a very serious ranch animal top secret meeting.

Chickens to donkey: "Hey? Where ya goin? Is the meeting over?"

This goat had the original hipster beard.

 He came across cool without trying too hard.

After exploring the Rancho, we hiked the mile back across 

the desert to the beach and the anchorage.

Harley the boat dog of s/v Notre Isle, went way, way out during his swim

San Juanico beach

We found this giant scapula on the beach. From what species 

I know not. Maybe a horse or a cow?

Whispy clouds over cathedral rocks

This cathedral rock at the San Juanico anchorage was 100+ feet tall

The next day we pulled anchor and sailed south along 

the Baja to Puerto Escondido, our next destination

Sunrise on the gorgeous Sierra Gigante Mountains over Puerto Escondido

The mountain views here at Puerto Escondido were simply spectacular, and 

reminded us of Zion National Park in Utah. 

We stayed anchored in the Ellipse for 3 days while the norther blew threw. 

We had a music jam aboard with our new friends George and Sherlyn of s/v Believe.

Salty sea dog Lucy sleeps on the music while we jammed with s/v Believe

Chris and George of s/v Believe were amazingly able to laugh after an hour or two of frank discussion of the latest news of President elect Trump's cabinet appointments (The current Exxon-Mobil CEO, with absolutely NO diplomatic or government experience, for Secretary of State -- bada BING!) 

After the storm blew threw, we headed south again. Next stop, Agua Verde. 

A mule train ambles up the hill above the Agua Verde anchorage

We stayed one night at Agua Verde then headed south again at 

daybreak the next day for San Evaristo.

Our good buddies Bret and Marne had caught this marlin just 

outside San Evaristo a few months earlier.

Since a big norther with 25-30 knot winds was predicted to arrive in 24-48 hours, we decided to hightail it on out of there and head south to Caleta Partida, a famously beautiful anchorage between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo.

Me looking down onto the anchorage at beautiful Caleta Partida.

Espiritu and several other sailboats are visible off in the distance.

Our dinghy Swamp Bucket (yes, that's her name!) appears to be 

floating in space over the crystal clear water

We explored all over Caleta Partida

Unlimited visibility

Georgeous beach. Who needs the Saychelles when you've got the Sea of Cortez?

Cacti and steep cliffs on the wall of the caldera

We saw this horrifying bug here. Who knows what he is or what he's up to. 

Some sort of a flying tarantula? 

There were some cool caves here on Isla Partida. 

But trust me -- we did not enter in.  Maybe the hive or the nest, or whatever 

the hell you call the home of that big scary flying tarantula -- is just inside? 

After the latest norther blew through, we headed south one last time and finally 

arrived at our destination:

La Paz, Mexico

We'll be here at this bustling little Mexican working town through the holidays at least.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad!

XOXO Christobal y Liz 

Puerto Los Gatos adventure

Espiritu rests in Puerto Los Gatos anchorage

After exploring a couple of Sea of Cortez islands, we were forced to turn back to La Paz to deal with an electrical navigation issue. 

Chris gets technical help from Paul of s/v Grace and Jeff of s/v Luminescence.

Back at Club Cruceros in La Paz, I perused the bulletin board for the latest cruising news. You might remember a few weeks ago I posted that one of the cruisers had anonymously posted a photo with push pins of a resplendent Donald Trump, having recently become the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

Today, the photo of Trump was gone, but in it's place pinned to the bulletin board was this:

Oh, dear. This is the rap group NWA

 (Niggas With Attitude -- yes, that is their actual name)

Need it be stated that there are no apparent African Americans, rap fans or anyone of African descent  currently in Club Cruceros or in the local cruising community.

Well, I'm not sure what the anonymous disgruntled cruiser with the Pushy Push Pins 

was trying to say, but I could guess. 

Sigh. The Push Pin Bandit may be a man of few words, but I guess his point is crystal clear. :-/

 Well, the good news is, after only a couple of days in La Paz Chris solved our chart plotter problem  and we headed north along the southeastern coast of Baja California.

First stop: San Evaristo, where we had tacos at adorable little Lupe's Restaurant --

note the sail and surfboard signs -- drawing in the cruisers.

View of the anchorage from Lupe's Restaurant

We had 16 cruising adults in various stages of inebriation at the restaurant, and only one cruising kid -- 12 year old Evan, spending a year aboard s/v Coastal Drifter with his grandparents.

I took pity on Evan being the only kid, and challenged him to a game of dominoes.

Not shockingly, Evan reigned victorious. Little did he know what an easy target I was.

Evan celebrates his "dominoes champ" status. I lose. Again. 

We painted a shell with the words "Espiritu 2016," and they hammered it 

to the wall with the hundreds of other shells. Cool. 

After a good night's sleep in the anchorage, we sailed north the next morning to our next destination: Puerto Los Gatos.

The breathtaking Sierra de Las Gargantas mountains gave us the feel 

of sailing up the Colorado River. 

The distinctive rock formations of Puerto Los Gatos

Safely at anchor, we headed for a hike with Don and Lisa of s/v Windcharmer.

The trail beckons to the right

All the way to the top!

Me and Lisa look down on s/v Espiritu, Windcharmer and Trovita

View from Espiritu at anchor 

Shades of Bryce Canyon in Utah

Wow! 

Later that evening, we went ashore for a beach bonfire and jam with our buddy boats plus s/v Coastal Drifter, who had joined the group.

Chris comes ashore 

We jammed, with special guest 12yo Evan (s/v Wind Charmer) on the wood flute

Roasting marshmallows with Lisa and Laurie

 of Windcharmer and Trovita

The next morning we did yoga on the beach with Don and Lisa of Windcharmer.

This is Lisa. She is 61 years old -- and kinda my idol. 

We're currently anchored at Loreto with 7 other sailboats. Our plan is to pull anchor in the next day or two and head ever north to explore more of the islands. 

Could be a couple of weeks until I'm online again. But no worries -- both potential hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific are weakening and turning away from us...so, all is well!

XOXO Chris and Liz, s/v Espiritu