April 28th, 2016
This is
the second time we've said goodbye to La Paz. We enjoyed a week of
dinner parties and festivities saying goodbye to friends. It is said
that La Paz attaches bungy cords to the hull of your boat so you will
always come back! It is a hard place to leave.
There is
a wonderful community of ex pats who are involved with each other,
the city ànd it's locals and, the children of La Paz.
We had
hoped to do the "puddle jump" (Pacific ocean crossing to
the Marquesas), but we were not ready with our application for visas.
This gives us another season in Mexico. Back to the Sea of Cortez! This
time we will purposely go to new places, and we started right away
with a dingy ride to Los Islotes to swim with the sea lions!
We are
traveling once again with Eric and Pati aboard sailing vessel
Shearwater. Shakedown safe at anchor in Isla Partida, allowed her
crew to hop aboard Shearwater to get closer to Los Islotes, drop
anchor and dingy ride to islands, drop dingy anchor, don
snorkle
and fins and roll into the water!
Pat and
Debbora of sv Ballena joined us for the day of fun and good food. A
fisherman came by and sold us two fresh fish supplying us with a
fabulous main course for dinner.
Another
hard day in paridise!
Having
said goodbye to sv Ballena, Shakedown and Shearwater headed north to
Punta San Evariso. We were welcomed by the villagers, whom we had
seen last December and immediately were served cervesas (beer) and a
wonderful fish dinner.
We were
joined by Annette and Ted on s/v Sand Piper, who hail from the Channel
Islands, California, USA. They agreed to be our tour guides in our
quest to visit new places. We began
in the morning with Shearwater crew on board Shakedown following sv
Sand Piper. Our destination Isla San José, to the beach at Punta
Salinas in search of the very rare Paper Nautilus. This is the egg
sack of the octopus and it is very delicate. The island was once the
site of a large salt mining operation but is now abandoned.
Giant
salt ponds are still clearly evident and old trucks and heavy
equipment lay rusting under the hot sun with the Sierra de la Giganta
range in the background.
We did
not find a paper Nautilus but the beach was beautiful and we had fun
looking.
Back to
Shakedown for refreshments and lunch.
The
three boats and crew left in the morning for Puerto Los Gatos which
is famous for it's rock formations, red rock bluffs, and rainbow of
colors. The anchorage was comfortable and peaceful.
We said
goodbye to our new friends on Sand Piper and continued our voyage
north. Next stop, Agua Verde. An all time favorite of ours and worthy
of a two night visit.
On to
Puerto Escondido in time for the Loreto Fest. Many cruisers gathered
for this festival and it was a time to renew old acquaintancs and to
build new ones.
We have decided to go north to see places we have not seen before. There is something exciting about discovering new vistas and bays, and if I may, go where no man has gone before! Well, at least this crew!
First stop, Loreto. We will anchor, spend the night and go to shore in order to provision for the trip. Our traveling buddy ship, Shearwater, is anchored as well, and we all set off for land and grocery stores. Loreto is a charming, quaint little town and we hope to have new pictures to show.
We pulled into Isla Coronado's and were awed with the color of the water and the white sandy beaches. We immediately jumped into the dingy and went exploring. We located the trail that leads to the top of the volcanic cone and we decided to climb it in the morning.
 |
| Nancy, Greg, Julie, Pati and Eric (the climbers-minus Greg & Hal) |
Stand by for Part II (breaking it up will save you download time....we hope).
NJ & Hal
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