Having left the repair work behind in Puerto Escondido, we headed north once again, stopping at Carmen Island, tucking into Ballandra Bay, then, because of the flying, biting, bugs, we decided to anchor outside the town of Loreto in company with Shearwater and Delta Swizzler. We then headed to San Juanico and spent the night, and then continued north, rounding the point and entering Bahia Concepcion.
We finally dropped anchor at Playa Santispac. Dinghies were lowered the next morning and we got together to look at various anchorages in the area.
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| Checking out northern part of the Bay |
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| Some of the winter homes on the beaches |
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| Playa Santa Barbara looks inviting |
The following morning, we headed over to Playa Coyote, dropped anchor and then dingied over to Playa El Burro for the annual 4th of July party, which has been hosted by Geary Ritchie for years and years. Geary also happens to be the weather guru (announcer) for the Sunrisa Net every morning. It would appear everyone had a great time, to be sure.
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| 4th of July festivities at Playa El Burro |
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| Pot luck format mad for LOTS of food! |
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| Our Host, Geary, self proclaimed Beach Bum Extraordinare |
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| Part of the parking lot |
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| Cocktails under umbrella sticking out of floating table |
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| Sharks in the bay???? Canadian geese???? |
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| Resident fireworks creator |
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| The tall and the short of it |
Returned to Santispac the following day. Ran out of propane yesterday, so we'll ask Carlos (Anna's Restaurant) to help us out getting the bottle filled in Mulege. Also have other projects to work on, and this seems the most likely place that I'll find help if need be.
We got a call from Shearwater about 1000 this morning. They've decided, in company with, Delta Swizzler, to head a bit north, remain overnight, and then make the 15 hour journey to San Carlos (mainland). Per his instructions, dropped propane bottle and 5 gal. gasoline jug at Ana's, as Carlos has offered to take them into Mulege and get them filled and return them tomorrow.
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| Shakedown viewed from Ana's Restaurant |
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| Can't help but make new friends....arriving from England were Mike and Claire |
Had crew of Ana's over for a visit in the evening and served up spaghetti and salad. Crew consisted of Edelma, Carlos, and Caesar (Edelma's son). Had a good 90 min. visit and they were ferried back to the beach in the dark (½ moon out).
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| The Ana's Restaurant crew, Carlos and Elelma, visits Shakedown |
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| At anchor at Playa Santispac |
Carlos took us to Mulege to shop a little bit, including 20 gal of diesel. Our stereo bit the dust a couple of weeks earlier, so we went in search of a replacement. After hitting virtually every store in town, we about gave up. The only place we hadn't been in is a paper supply store, but Carlos knew the proprietor and we went in. Turns out she also sells washing machines and car stereos out of her back office! What a deal.
We got another ride to Mulege (via Carlos) today to get some computer work done (wifi) and pick up some fresh fruits and veggies. We purchased a large fan for Ana's kitchen. Some huge smiles greeted our arrival back at Ana's!
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| Ana's kitchen with Edelma's new fan cooling things off |
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| Clowning for the camera at Ana's Restaurant |
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| With the owners |
Started painting starboard hull. It hasn't seen paint since we left Richmond, CA back in 2013. First coat of paint on starboard hull completed while Nancy worked on sewing covers for the two gas gerry cans. Started up the hukka and scraped the starboard hull.
Had to go out at 0315 in the morning to take down our awning because we got a mini-chubasco apparently, with wind coming offshore from the north, quickly reaching 20 – 26 knots. This phenomenon lasted until about 0340, at which time, the winds just died back to 2-3 knots once again. Hull painting continued for a couple of more days. The captain was in a dinghy with paint and a 1-1/2" paint brush. That's all we had onboard, so that's what was used. But it finally got done.
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| Edelma in her kitchen at Ana's |
Scraped port side bottom of boat with newly acquired 10” scraper. There was a lot of movement in the water, but the job got done fairly quickly (90 minutes or so). Went to Ana's for farewell dinner and ended up buying four boxes of Pizza from a guy from Mulege, who had about 30 pizzas in his van.
After two weeks anchored at Santispac, we decided to haul up anchor and mosey down Bahia Concepcion some 4 miles and spend a night or so at Bahia Santa Barbara. Dropped anchor at 1020.
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| At peaceful anchorage in Playa Santa Barbara |
Took off from Santa Barbara, turned right (south) and dropped anchor at the northern anchorage of the Isla Requeson. Got settled in and then took dinghy around the bend to Hotel/Restaurnat at Playa Buenaventura. We met owner Mark and son Nathan, the Mark's wife Olivia a bit later. Had a great home made pulled pork sandwich (shared) and, of course, some beer. We had originally planned to spend only one night at anchor here, but after we got to Buenaventura, we knew we were probably spending a bit more time. Ended up spending six nights at anchor here and having a really fantastic time.
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| Our anchorage at Isla Requeson (means Cottage Cheese!) |
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| Taking dinghy over to the hotel area |
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| Approaching the restaurat/bar at Playa Buenaventura |
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| Mark (owner) and the chief resident at the bar |
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| Mark and Son Nathan |
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| A very scenic interior, whichever way one gazes.... |
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| Hand blown glass ornaments offered for sale |
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| Theme pieces |
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| The view from inside of the beach and Bahia Concepcion |
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| Some local union gathering, or some such thing |
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| Moonrise over Isla Requeson |
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| Natural rock formation on the hill...pretty interesting |
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| The main entrance to Santa Rosalia. Mark was kind enough to take us along when he had to drive up for fish and shop for the restaurant |
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| Rosalita street (train off to the right) |
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| One of the neighborhoods in Rosalia |
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| On our way to buy a big fish for the restaurant |
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| Entry to the small port (upper right) as viewed from our lunch stop at a Chinese restaurant just outside of town. |
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| In the truck on the retrn trip surveying the Playa Buenaventura property |
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| Shakedown resting comfortable at anchor |
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| Mark and Olivia |
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| The Parrot |
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| Nancy with photos of Marilyn |
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| Mark and best friend |
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| Hal rescues a lost bird about a half mile offshore |
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| Adoption is an option |
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| Not really trying to steal it.... |
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| Olivia takes it for a ride around the bay |
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| Mark shows off his pride and joy framed poster |
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| Where else would you find a bottle of this! |
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| Why, right here at Mark and Olivia's place |
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| Olivia hamming it up for the camera |
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| Son, Nathan |
Departed El Burro and motored up to Punta Chivato, dropping anchor in the southern anchorage by Shell Beach about 6 hours later. We anchored in 13 feet of water, as the shallow water ran about one mile south (approached in 20 ft water for an hour). Got good holding and took dinghy to the “famous” big shell beach. The reputation is well deserved...but we didn't bring the camera! Water was pretty rough for landing and NJ got dunked getting out and getting back in after filling a bucket with sea shells. Had burgers for dinner and settled in for a restful night.
The planned restful night was not to be had, as winds kicked up to 20-25 knots at 0100 in the morning. The awning was taken down and the light show (lightening) to the northeast started. The winds calmed to 10-15 by 0200 and we went back to sleep. The process repeated at 0315 and subsided again around 0445. At 0615, things got worse. The winds climbed quickly to the 25-30 knot range and remained there until 0700, at which time, the seas (waves) had built up to 4-6 foot chop, and between the two, managed to yank our anchor free and we started drifting towards the shore. Decided to start engine and get the heck out of there. Finally managed to get anchor up at 0805 and we were finally making our way to sea! We fought the nose-on wind and waves for over 3 hours trying to make it back to Bahia Concepcion. One wave hit from under the port side and lifted the kayak right up out of its rail mount, necessitating an at-sea rescue and recovery. Lots of water came over the bow, cleaning the decks but also some finding its way below...We finally arrived at the entrance to Concepcion and dropped the hook at Bahia Santo Domingo at 1110. Time for our first cup of coffee.
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| The "catch" at shell beach, Point Chivato |
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| Bahia Santo Domingo (just at the northern tip of Bahia Concepcion) |
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| Our last sunset on the Baja California coast....next one will be from mainland Mexico |
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