Journey's End

We explored a few new anchorages on Baja and wound up at Punta Chivato to wait for the right weather to cross back to San Carlos, near Guaymas (5 hours from the Arizona border) where the journey began. We departed April 22 at 7 a.m. with lumpy seas, but they eased and the wind built and we sailed for four hours before having to turn the engine on again for the rest of the trip. We arrived in San Carlos at 7 p.m. with several layers of clothes on (it was chilly) and anchored. Ahhhh -- it's good to be back.

Got a list of things to do to put the boat up for the summer, so we'll be running around for a week or so. But our truck is here and it's good to have our own wheels again as we start transitioning back to life on terra firma and eventually reintegrate into U.S. culture. See ya next winter!

Spring in the Sea of Cortez

We left La Paz under a brisk wind March 31. Robert (and Dusty) sailed in his boat, Destiny, with us to Partida and San Francisco Islands and that was great fun since we had dinner together each night and hiked the trails together on both islands. He even joined our daily Scrabble game a few times. We snapped photos of each other sailing as we left La Paz and we got to use our spinnakers for a while on the sail to San Francisco.

After Robert returned to La Paz, we went a little further north and ran into friends Alex and Edith and Andy and Deb at Evaristo. Steve worked on Seagull engine and battery issues. Then we headed up to El Gato, 30 miles north.

As in all the other anchorages we’ve visited, fishing is a way of life here and the families that live on the rocky Baja coast depend on it because little else is available. We see the men out in their panga fishing boats collecting or casting nets and diving along the reefs. Some of these families also keep goats to make cheese from their milk.


Some high points from this section of the adventure: hiding out in a safe anchorage listening to 30-40 knots of wind howl all night, getting the dinghy outboard working again, beach walks, desert hikes, getting the anchor stuck (temporarily).

The Pause that Refreshes

We stayed in La Paz almost a month, learning our way around more, finding a better grocery store and more restaurants. We even took in a movie or two. Our friend Robert drove us and his Australian Shepherd, Dusty, in his Prius to Todos Santos on the Pacific coast one day and on another day to a nearby beach, Tecolote. Dusty likes to play Frisbee on the beach and I really enjoyed having a dog around. I also reconnected with my basset hound friend who lives near the marina.

Elixir

I caught a cold that turned into something like a sinus infection. One of the taxi drivers that hangs out near the marina asked "Como estas?" I replied, "Estoy resfriado" (I have a cold). He said "Tomas tequila" (drink tequila). I laughed thinking he was kidding, but after my next margarita, my sinus infection cleared up.