May 18 – 20, 2013 Posada, Concepcion Bay

 Time for another long passage, 51 miles in 9 hours. We left early in the morning and had a great sail part of the way up here. As we turned into Concepcion Bay we came across a large pod of dolphins. I still love taking pictures of them.

Hotel California Sailing North at Sunrise

Dolphins

Jumping

Milagro and Coral Rose Sailing

Judy's Shot of Dolphins and Hotel California

We anchored at Posada with 5 other boats. That evening we went to Bertha’s Restaurant at Playa El Burro. Dinner was very good. We found the warm springs on Posada beach and made a little too much noise. The next day, we heard from the people in the houses above the springs, they could hear everything we said. Ha Ha.

Anchoring in Playa Posada

The Dinghy Line Up

Cruisers at Bertha's Restaurant

The Dinghy Raft up In Concepcion

Lot's of food and drinks

Pam, Judy, Mark, Rick, Patsy and Joanne

The next night, we planned a dinghy raft up out in the bay. About 10 dinghies showed up with way to much food and drinks. Once it got dark, some of us headed over to the warm springs again. That water is HOT!

Monday morning we decided to climb the hill behind Bertha’s to see the Petroglyphs and the Bell Rocks. We crossed Highway 1 and climbed down into a ravine. It was up hill from there. It wasn’t too far, just over rocks and around cacti. We found plenty of Petroglyphs and rang the bell rocks.

Petroglyphs on the Rocks

John ringing a Bell Rock. Sounded like a church bell.

Judy, Mark and Pam

El Burro from the hill

Paul creating our whale

Gayle and Paul in their casa

Rick watching Paul work

On the way back we thought we were going to the teinda in Coyote, but it wasn’t open. But, we did get to visit Paul the glass blower. He demonstrated how he makes his designs. It was amazing! Of course we had to buy a few. Stop by the purple house on the hill and say hi to Paul and Gayle if you’re in the area.

May 16 – 18, 2013 La Ramada

We traveled 20 miles north to La Ramada, a great little swimming beach. We love it here. The water is so clear and it is warming up.

Mimiya, Full Shell, Milagro, Hotel California and Coral Rose

Snorkling Time

Rick Hunting

La Ramada

Dinner

May 12-16, 2013 Isla Coronados

9 miles north is Isla Coronados. We went into the west anchorage, but the north wind was blowing and sending rollers into the bay, so we went around the spit to the south anchorage where it was nice and calm.

South Anchorage of Coronados

 The next morning the north wind had stopped so we pulled anchor and went back into the beautiful bay on the west.

Calm Waters

BBQ'ing

Cooking the Scallops and Pasta

Our first night here, we had Eric and Marilyn from Full Shell over for dinner. We hadn’t seen them in almost a year, so it was good to catch up. 













Other evenings were spent under the palapas on the beach playing Farkle and Bocci ball and of course food and drinks!

Welcome sign in the Palapa

Cruisers Gathering

A tough game of Farkle

The Anchorage from the Palapa

Bocci Ball

Cheers!

Natalie and Gravel giving us a ride to the boat.

Gravel and Pam enjoying the ride.

May 11 – 12, 2013 Loreto

Loreto is a great little town. We went ashore to look for places to eat and drink. We found them! First stop was ‘Orlandos’. Great fish tacos. Later, we ended up at Aggies on the Malecon for drinks. Next stop was the Giggling Dolphin for the pig roast. We’ll skip that one next time.

The Whale Shark in Loreto

John, Michael, Judy, Pam, Natalie, Gravel at Orlando's

Pam at the Ice Cream Store

Walking around town

Our boats in front of the city

The next morning all the dinghies headed into town again for provisioning. This time we piled into a taxi and went to the Sunday morning farmers market. The taxi driver made a few stops on the way back to the marina (ferreteria, bread store, grocery store and liquor store). We are all stocked up, time to head back out to sea.

The new Malecon in Loreto, very nice.

Not sure what Rick is doing holding this purse??? It clashes with his red shirt!!!
I wonder what Gravel and Rick are talking about?

Loading the Taxi

May 10 – 11, 2013 Ballandra, Isla Carmen

Friday we moved 20 miles around the corner and into Ballandra, or Bee landra to us. Anchoring was hard because of the rocky shoal, but we stuck. The good thing is we have phone service here. Yay. As usual, the bees came out to the boat, so the next morning we pulled anchor and headed 9 miles over to the Loreto city front.

The anchorage in Ballandra

May 7 – 10, 2013 Bahia Salinas, Isla Carmen

I’ve wanted to spend time in this anchorage since we were blown out a couple of years ago. There is a sunken 120’ tuna boat in the middle of the bay and a deserted salt mining operation. We went ashore and checked out the buildings.

Hotel California off the Village

The Hunting Lodge in the Village

Abandoned Buildings from the Salt Mining Operation

Abandoned Pier

Abandoned Equipment

The Village Church

Rick from inside the Church

The next day the guys walked over the hill to the salt flats and waded through the mud on the way back. Later, we had a Bocce Ball game on the 1 ½ mile beautiful white sand beach.

Judy and John on the beautiful beach

Bocci Ball

Bahia Salinas

May 6 – 7, 2013 Painted Cliffs, Carmen

Monday morning we left Escondido for Isla Carmen. We went around the south end and into Bahia Salinas. There is a beautiful long white sand beach. The water was flat, so we thought we would stay awhile. About 3:00 the rollers started coming into the bay, so up came the anchors and we went around the corner to Painted Cliffs. On the way we were escorted by a large pod of dolphins. We had a calm night at Painted Cliffs, but in the morning the winds came from the north, so we moved back to Salinas.

Dolphins off the bow on the way to Painted Cliffs

Leaving Painted Cliffs

May 1 – 6, 2013 Puerto Escondido

Loreto Fest was starting May 3^rd, so we left Candeleros on Wednesday to grab a mooring ball 7 miles north in Escondido. Loreto Fest was smaller this year, but it was fun. Rick and John from ‘Coral Rose’ won the Bocce Ball Tournament. The prize was a canvas bag. ONE, not 2. They can take turns using it. Ha Ha.

Hotel California entering the inner harbor at Escondido

Natalie, Rick and John

John and Rick accepting the Bocci Ball award

John with the  winners bag!!!

The girls had a day of pedicures and lunch in Loreto.

Kiki, Judy, Dena, Pam and Sherry

Michael from ‘Milagro’s birthday was Saturday and we all went to Pedro’s restaurant to celebrate. Pedro sang and baked a special cheesecake. Sherry from ‘Nirvana’ brought party favors, masks and special straws. What fun!

It's Michael's birthday, let the fun begin.

Pirate Masks for everyone.

Judy and Michael with his Cheescake!

Escondido, a quiet anchorage

April 28 - May 1, 2013 Candeleros

On Sunday, we traveled 16 miles up to my favorite resort anchorage, Candeleros. We spent our days at the Villa del Palmar resort with all our cruising buddies.

Cruisers enjoying the pool at Villa del Palmar

Another day of  fun. We love this place.