To the North and Back Again

Here in Mexico the cruising life is beginning to feel a lot like our youthful memories of endless summer.  Each day at anchor follows a lazy pattern, following the arc of the sun.  Morning breaks with dull light at 0630 and with coffee soon brewing.  At 0730 we try to listen on the shortwave radio to the crackling airwaves to learn what we can of the coming weather.  Then breakfast and we chat over what to do with the day.  If it is onward, there are preparatory boat chores:  dinghy/motor stowage and deciding with a look at the charts on where to go.  If it is to be a stay day, then there is a shore excursion to ponder, or some snorkelling.  The water everywhere is pleasantly warm and clear.

As we headed north of P. Escondido 10 days ago the evenings began to cool, but at noon-time it still always feels hot. Ashore, the terrain is dry, with fantastic formations of weather crumbled and sea-sculpted rock.  Tall rock spires rise from the sea and in this area their strangely bent and distorted silhouettes resemble candles, for which the locals have variously named them.  North of La Paz the coast is sparsely settled. Days pass with no cell coverage and we are reminded by this absence of how addicted we have all become to instant electronic connectivity.

The both north and south produced some terrific sunny sky day sailing and the wind directions have been generally kind to us, with both boat and seas mostly flat. Whether freshly arrived at destination, or returned from our shore excursion, to chip away at the late afternoon hours we read and sometimes nap. Then comes the quiet of dusk, and with darkness falling at 6pm we know sleep is not far away. Cruisers in the tropics often say that 9pm is a sailor’s midnight.  After dinner we amuse ourselves with a DVD or recorded show on the TV.  Lately our evenings conclude with the violent but strangely charming Tony Soprano and friends (we missed seeing that series when it ran). Anchorages have been beautiful with mostly good protection from waves, but it is often windy at night and not so perfect as to absolve us of all night-time watchfulness.  Life on a sailboat is still an adventure after all.

Puerto Escondido to Puerto Balandra – Isla Carmen:  Beautiful 16nm beam reach. One night at the quiet island anchorage with one sailboat and three kayaks.  In the morning 3 local fishermen in a panga came to look for something in the shallows and went over the side, swimming in their undies.

P. Balandra to Caleta San Juanico: Sail and motor 25nm with dolphins jumping.  No people live here but there is a cruiser’s tree shrine with memento leave-behinds.  A road brings some RVers to the NW beach and we chatted with them and also another Canadian.  We are seeing a disproportionate number of Canadian flags on the sterns of boats around here.

San Juanico to a Loreto lunch hook and P. Escondido: a downwind sail of 38nm. 10-12 knots and calm seas allowed us to drop anchor off the Loreto roadstead and take the dinghy to town for an excellent grilled fish at “La Palapa” restaurant and then see some sights of the Old Town near the Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto.  Kids were being let out of school and there was a small traffic jam of cars with a whistling policeman directing traffic.  A safe anchorage in strong winds at P Escondido also provided phone service to make some calls to arrange for our summer haul out at and for our sons Simon and Gavin to join us for New Years in Puerto Vallarta.

P. Escondido to Agua Verde: downwind 24nm in 15-18 knots to protection, but 9 boats in a small anchorage means our outside spot is rolly-polly the first night before a second night repositioning improved things.  An incoming surf on the big town-side beach keeps all the yachtista dinghies away from the palapa bar, but we walk the long way road to visit the village tienda looking for goat cheese and beer.  An afternoon low tide allows us to short-cut past the rocky headland back to our anchorage beach.

Agua Verde to Puerto los Gatos:  An 18nm motor-sail in a light northwester in a yucky sea that was remembering a previous northeaster.  A bit better at the end as the breeze filled and then a tuna took the line as we entered the bay.  A beautiful spot with fantastic smooth rock formations, but anchorage was a bit rolly.  

P. los Gatos to San Evaristo: 29nm motor in flat seas and no wind.  A big fish took Greg’s lucky triple squid lure and broke the line.  L 

San Evaristo to Isla San Francisco: We missed this stop on the first passing due to a strong NW’er.  No problem this time.  A classic white sand beach with a spectacular shear drop ridge-line hiking trail above.  One slip and yer dead, so no clumsy footwork permitted. Gorgeous moonrise just before sunset.

Isla San Francisco to Ensenada Grande and Los Islotes: 23nm mostly motoring to a pleasant solitary anchorage.  In the morning we picked up the hook and moved to another small bay near the open ocean rock pile known as Los Islotes.  Jumping in the dinghy we ran out about a mile and tied up to a float and donned snorkelling gear so we could swim with the sea lions.  Moms and pups swim up to you and take a close look, then pirouette away.  Sea lions are terrifically acrobatic swimmers.  Up in Canada I resent how they like to steal salmon off my fishing line but swimming with them does give their stinky presence some much needed charm.

Los Islotes to La Paz: After our adventure with the sea lions we sailed downwind 29nm towards La Paz.  The A5 kite gave us a fast ride in 14-18knots.  And now we will spend about 3 days provisioning, doing some minor boat chores and maintenance and trying to have some city time fun after nearly 3 weeks cruising the sparsely settled north.