s/v Hotel California: October 2011

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Santa Rosalia – Oct. 10 – 15, 2011

Back to civilization! Phone, Internet, Electricity, Stores and Restaurants! There have been a lot of changes here at the marina and in town. Carlos and Arhuro, the marina manager and worker are both gone. There is no propane, so the clothes driers don’t work, but we have internet, electricity and a new crepe restaurant. Yummmm.

Santa Rosalia is celebrating the towns 126^th Anniversary with a Fiesta this week-end. Everything is being cleaned and painted. The train looks great with it’s new paint job. The curbs and tree trunks have all been painted. The carnival has arrived and will start Friday night. We’re going to stay here until Saturday so we can attend the Fiesta.

The Trains new Paint Job

The Carnival comes to Town

There is going to be a Sexy Leg Contest

THIS is a Jump House across from the Hot Dog Stand.

Saturday morning we’re leaving the marina for the trip down to La Paz. Our first stop will be Sweet Pea Cove, about 10 miles south of here. We plan to arrive in La Paz Nov. 1 and stay for the winter.

Punta Santa Teresa – Oct. 9, 2011

It is 120 miles from Islotes to Santa Rosalia and the winds are predicted to be high. We decided to stop at Punta Santa Teresa for a few hours to eat and rest, and also so we would get into Santa Rosalia Marina in daylight.

There is a small resort on this beach. I guess some of the guests got creative and wrote a message in the sand.

Can you see the writing in the sand?

A couple other boats pulled in right behind us. We planned to leave at 7 that evening and travel all night. The other boats were leaving at 2:00 in the morning. We pulled up the anchor just as it was getting dark and took off in rolly seas. We took turns on watch and didn’t see any other boats. The moon was almost full so we had a lot of light. I did see a pod of dolphins jumping along side the boat for 20 minutes. We neared the city and marina of Santa Rosalia just as the sun was coming up. Perfect timing, I love it when a plan comes together.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Punta Islotes – Oct 4-9, 2011

This is a great spot! We anchored near a long white sand beach that was great for playing Bocci Ball. There is also a small estuary with a lot of crabs. We spent many days on this beach.

Jack Getting His First Clue in the Treasure Hunt

Wednesday was Jack’s birthday, so we sent him on a treasure hunt for his gift. When he finally found it, he called us to say the gift was gone and there were a lot of footprints nearby. Rick and Patrick were ready to go talk to the guys at the fishcamp when Jack said he was just kidding. He got the last laugh.

Later that day we played Bocci Ball, crabbed and had a great lasagna dinner on ‘Just a Minute’.

Bocci Ball

We spent a lot of time at this anchorage because it was so nice and because the north winds were blowing so hard. One day we took the dinghies into the estuary and walked the beach for miles. We really like this place and will be back next year.

Rick in the Estuary

A Turtle Shell

Shells Laura Found

Pam in the Estuary

The time has come to head back to La Paz for the winter. We will leave ‘Just a Minute’ and go south to Santa Rosalia, then make our way south in the next few weeks.

Las Animas – Oct 3-4, 2011

We left Quemado to head further south to Las Animas Bay. We heard there were whale bones washed up on shore and we wanted to see them. On the way south, the wind picked up to 20 knots just before we made it into the bay and protection. This is a great anchorage for south protection, but we had a very rolly night with winds out of the north east. We checked out the whale bones and are heading further into the bay tomorrow.

Whale Bones on the Beach

The Beach at Las Animas

Quemado – Oct. 1-3, 2011

Walking around the village of Bahia de Los Angeles carrying a computer and looking for internet is hot and miserable. We were finally able to connect at the yellow store, but it was so slow, I couldn’t update the blog or check e-mail. After an hour I gave up and went back to the beach for lunch. After lunch it was time to grocery shop and stock up, this will be our last time in the village before we head south.

We left the Bay of LA and headed south for an hour to Quemado. We have been here before and like it. ‘Juniata’ was already anchored, so we joined them.

'Juniata' and 'Just a Minute' at Anchor

Rick has been working on our SSB radio. We have a very low transmission on some channels. He has received a lot of help from fellow cruisers. Today we went around to the next bay to pick up some copper plating from ‘IWA’ to use as grounding. Rick installed it, tested it the next morning on the Net and it helped a lot. People could hear us near and far.

Gizmo Relaxing on Deck

The next night we had a pizza party on ‘Just a Minute’ with Dave and Marsha from ‘Juniata’. They made so many pizzas we couldn’t eat all of them. I guess they had pizza for breakfast.

Puerto Don Juan Sept 28 – Oct 1, 2011

After a brief stop at La Mona for the night, we arrived at Puerto Don Juan, the hurricane hole of the North Sea. This place is surrounded by land so there is no fetch and little wind. There were about 28 boats here for the last party of the year. We had delicious pot luck on the beach and everyone announced where they were going next.

Dinghies and Boats in Puerto Don Juan

The Pot Luck on the Beach

We left the party a little early to help ‘Just a Minute’ beach their boat and wait for the tide to go out. They had some work to do on the props and this is the best place for careening. The tide came in during the night, but with the anchors out, they stayed in place until the tide went out again and they could finish the job. They came off the beach the next afternoon. It sure looked funny seeing that boat on the beach.

'Just a Minute' High and Dry on the Beach

Tomorrow is Saturday, the day vegetables are delivered to the village, so we will head over to do some shopping.

Bahia de Los Angeles, The Village – Sept 27 -28, 2011

We’ve anchored off the Village and went ashore for a few groceries and internet for the first time in weeks. We received quite a bit of bad news and learned our family was a little worried about not being able to contact us. We’ll try to find a source they can call who can reach us on the SSB.

After a few hours on the internet, we met up with friends for hamburgers at the local restaurant. We plan to leave the Village tomorrow to go to the last party of the year in the northern sea which is taking place at Don Juan, just around the corner. We will be there a few days, then back to the Village to stock up on food, then back out to a few anchorages for a week.