Ensanada La Galllina – Oct. 31- Nov. 1, 2012

Tuesday morning, we left Calita Partida and went around the corner to Ensanada La Gallina, a little cove on Espiritu Santo. We spent one night here before heading into La Paz. On the way over to La Paz we met up with our friends Dale and Deana on Double Dharma. They were on their way south from the San Francisco Bay area, so we went into Marina de La Paz together. Great timing! 

Our Safety Stop

 On the way in, we were once again boarded by the Mexican Navy for a safety stop. Two officers came aboard. One to do the paperwork and one with a gun, I guess he was the guard. No problem, they were aboard about 10 minutes, then headed over to Double Dharma for their welcome to La Paz.

The Guard with the Gun

The Rest of the Crew

Calita Partida – Oct. 28 – 30, 2012

Out at sea on the way down Rick transferred fuel from the cans on deck into the tank. The jerry cans are now empty. 

Fuel Transfer

We decided to skip Isla San Francisco because of the no-see-ums and went to Isla Espiritu Santo and anchored in Calita Partida. Beautiful, calm anchorage. 

Calita Partida

The Passage to the other side of the Island

There was a full moon and high tide, so we took the dinghy through the shallow passage to the other side of the island. We tried to go through last year, but the tide wasn’t high enough. About a half mile south of the passage are sea caves the we explored. Very cool.

The Sea Cave

Inside the Cave

Looking out of the Cave

Pam

Rick Driving

San Everisto – Oct. 27 – 28, 2012

Saturday, we made a 46 mile trip to San Everisto. We arrived late in the afternoon, visited with some of the boats there. We pulled up the anchor at 6, just as the sun was coming up and headed south.

Evening arrival in San Everisto

Rick lifting the Anchor for an early morning departure

Sunrise as we leave the anchorage

An Arch in the rocks.

Agua Verde – Oct. 23 – 27, 2012

Our next stop was 3 hours south at beautiful Agua Verde. We anchored in the northern bay and a few other boats joined us. 

Dave and Cheryl of 'Free Spirit'

We went into the small tienda with Dave and Cheryl from ‘Free Spirit’.  On the way to the store we passed a casa with a restaurant sign out front. Not sure if they were serving food?? Next we saw pigs wondering around, later we saw the same ones rolling in the mud behind the store.

A Restaurant???

Veggies in the Tienda

Dave and Alison from ‘Freedom’ hiked up the hill overlooking the anchorage and took pictures of ‘Hotel California’ at anchor. They gave us the pictures, I’ll post a few here.

Candelaros – Oct. 18 – 23, 2012

Coming into Candelaros

After the stress of Paul, we needed some relaxation. We spent 6 days in Candelaros enjoying the pool and restaurant. going to miss this place.

Villa del Palmar

Puerto Escondido – Hurricane Paul Oct. 14 – 18, 2012

Listening to the nets in the morning, we knew another hurricane was threatening to come up into the sea. We decided to head into Puerto Escondido, which is a natural hurricane hole. We grabbed a ball and backed down on it. It held, so we felt it was safe. For the next few days, we listened to the weather reports and started getting the boat ready for a blow. The news said Hurricane Paul was coming up the outside of the Baja, but should head east as it hit land in Mag Bay. It may come right over the top of us!

Sailboat 'Jake' before Paul.

We put chafe protection on all the lines, put everything inside that we could and closed everything up.  It rained for 3 days & nights for a total of about 12 inches.

Rick getting the boat ready in the rain.

On Tuesday, Oct. 16 Paul made it to Mag Bay on the outside of the Baja. We were expecting it to come across land and have winds up to 70 kts. In the morning we had a lot of wind from the north. Maybe 30 kts. By 10 o’clock the winds shifted and blew from the south. As the wind shifted, our mooring line wrapped around our keel and we were being blown over on our side. A boat load of workers were out in the anchorage so I called them over to see if they could help get us untangled. One of the guys who had a plastic garbage bag over himself, grabbed a snorkel mask and dove into the water. The captain threw us a line to pull the boat around. They finally had to untie the boat from the mooring. In that strong wind, we weren’t sure how we would get hooked back up to the ball. They helped us and after about half an hour set and ready for the storm. About half an hour later, the same thing happened to Jake and Sharon’s boat. Peder jumped in, swam over and helped them out.

Facing North but looking South into the storm

The Mooring Ball that Wrapped Around our Keel.

The Wind and Rain Coming at Us.

Peder on Striped Down Lolo.

Pura Vida Next to Us.

The next morning the clouds went away and the sun came out. We hung around Escondido and couple more days then continued south.

After Paul

Heading South Sept. 23 – Oct. 14, 2012

We had a great time in Refugio, but it was time to head south. We sailed with the tide and made good time. We stopped at Las Rocas overnight. The anchorage was calm and no bugs!

The calm anchorage in Las Rocas

The next morning we went to the Village in the Bay of LA to get supplies, then out to Don Juan because hurricane Miriam was threatening. There were 3 boats there when we arrived and another 8 or 9 came in after us. Miriam didn’t come close, but since we were all there, we had an afternoon swim party around ‘Jake’ and later a hurricane pot luck on the beach.

The boats coming into Don Juan

Oct. 1, it is time to leave the group of boats we have been with this summer and make our way to La Paz.  We have a reservation in the marina starting Nov. 1.

We left Don Juan early and traveled 86 miles. We stopped about 10 o’clock for the night at Punta Trinadad. We anchored in the dark and left before sunrise. Sometime this anchorage gets windy at night and blows the boats out of the anchorage. We got lucky and had a calm night.

Leaving Trinadad before sunrise.

A cold morning at sea.

Since we got an early start out of Trinadad, we arrived in Santa Rosalia about 1 in the afternoon. We spent 5 days shopping and eating our way through Santa Rosalia once again. We love this town. After La Paz, this is our favorite.

Sunday, time to leave Santa Rosalia and move south. We sailed 38 miles to Conception Bay. We didn’t plan on going into the bay, so we stopped at Santo Dominica for the night. ‘Nervana’ and ‘Beyond Reason’ were anchored there, so we had cocktails together.

Sailing into La Ramada

We left the next morning for La Ramada. After 43 miles, we anchored about 4:30. We were the only boat there. We stayed 3 days and spent the time snorkeling and clamming. Yumm.

La Ramada

Clams

On Thursday, the 11^th of Oct. we went around the corner into San Juanico. ‘Manta’ and ‘Pura Vida’ were there. We did a dive with them off the point. We stayed another 3 days before moving on to Escondido.

Refugio – Sept 12 – 23, 2012

Wednesday, we headed out of the Bay of LA and north to Refugio. We came through the narrow passage and into the middle anchorage about 2:30. We were the only boat there and had a slightly rolly  night.

With all the rain, the hills have gotten very green.

The next day we moved into the west anchorage with 3 other boats and it was much calmer. We spent 11 nights here. A lot of boats came and went in that time. We did a lot of snorkeling, fishing, playing cards and eating. We love our time in Refugio.

We went diving at Fang Rock.

Lions Paws!!!!

Cooking the Scallops

One day went with Casey and Annie in the dingies out to Isla Granito to see the sea lion colony that lives there. There were hundreds of them. The bulls were loud and the babies were cute. We did not get in the water with them!

Annie and Casey

Sea Lions sunning on the beach.

Sea Lions coming into the water to chase the dinghy.

Baby Sea Lions

We were running low on supplies so it was time to head back south to the Bay of LA.

Bay of Los Angeles – Sept 9 – 12, 2011

Catching up the Blog!
We hung around the Village for the Net Controllers Party and for the weather to clear up. We have had a lot more rain and wind this year than last year. After the last 3 or 4 years of drought, the rain is good, everything is starting to turn green. We’ve never seen it like this. But it also means more bugs!

The Net Controllers Party was almost rained out. Finally about 5:00 the sun came out and everyone headed into the restaurant. Prizes were awarded and a fun time was had by all.

The rain coming across the bay.

The boats at anchor after the storm.

Net Controllers Party

The next night we walked into town for dinner with Rich and Ethan. Jake and Sharon were at the restaurant too. Just as we finished dinner, the lightning started and the rain poured down. We all walked back to the beach and took the dinghies out to the boats in the rain. We hadn’t closed up our boat, so it was soaking wet. It took a few days to dry it out.