August 14 , 2008
Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Today’s our Wedding Anniversary and while eating breakfast this morning we commented that we could not have foreseen that we’d be livin’ the cruisin’ life in Mexico when we said “I do!” in our backyard in Royal Oak, Michigan, nine years ago. Life is truly filled with wonderful surprises! As we look forward to a celebratory dinner in town this evening, it’s also enlightening to reminiscence about the variety of places we’ve observed our anniversary– Royal Oak, MI; Las Vegas, NM; Ventura, CA; Bedwell Harbor, BC; Sitka, AL; and San Diego, CA; now we’ll add Santa Rosalia, Mexico to the list. Wonder where we’ll be next August 14?

There’s a new format for this log as it was mentioned to me that I often don’t include dates and it’s difficult to tell where we were when! So….

July 1-7: Bahia Algodones, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico. Leon & Leticia arrived in San Carlos and we had a great visit with them as always. Unfortunately, our “wish list” never made it to them so no paper towels or Myer’s Dark Rum, but they did bring mail from the States, which was greatly appreciated. They are gracious, sharing folks and gave us the Grand Tour of the area, which also included a 2-hour shopping trip to Ley’s Supermarket! What a treat to do provisioning with the assist of a car! I calculate very carefully how much everything weighs when I shop, as I have to carry it back to the boat; however now was the time to stock up on cat litter, soda, and beer all at once! We look forward to seeing them again in our travels.

July 8-15- Bahia San Carlos (N 27 56.10', W 111 03.30') We moved to Bahia San Carlos, just 8 miles away after Leon & Leticia returned north. Our new anchorage was closer to the pueblo of San Carlos and Marina San Carlos, which has more services.

It was here that Gary’s frustration with Mexico increased dramatically because the Racor fuel filter for the generator was leaking and needed a $40.00 drain replacement part. Remember that we were only about 200 miles from the US border and that it only takes a few hours to drive to Arizona, but you can’t rent a car in Mexico and drive into the States. The only way to do that is 1. Rent a car in Mexico. 2. Drive to the border. 3. Find somewhere safe to leave the car. 4. Take a bus across the border. 5. Rent a car in the US. 6. Locate & purchase your part. 7. Depending on what you are bringing in, drive the US car to where your Mexican car is and transfer supplies. 8. Drive US rental car back to States and return it. 9. Take bus back across the border to Mexico. 10. Pick up rental car where you left it. 11. Drive back to San Carlos with your supplies. In our case, this would be a $40.00 part that would fit in an envelope! Sound like a hassle??? Car rental was about $50.00/day plus $15.00/day for Mexican insurance. Not a good option for us.

There was a chandlery in San Carlos, so he started his search there; unfortunately the part was not to found and the gentleman would not order it. One problem was locating the part number, so off to Café Evie with its wireless Internet & Gary’s iPod touch. With determination and a little luck, he was able to locate the part number from the Racor homepage…now the question was how to get it??? Shipping parts into Mexico is NOT EASY! Packages often get hung up in Customs in Guadalajara and sit there for weeks or months, not exactly what we wanted to have happen. Another option was trying to find someplace in Guaymas/San Carlos that might carry Racor filters as they are also used on trucks. There was another gringo in the Café, so I decided to ask him if he knew of a place that might have filter parts. What followed is just another shining example of the great folks we’ve met while cruising.

The gentleman’s name was Bob; he quickly recommended two possible sources but wasn’t too encouraging that they would have the parts. Gary mentioned that he had the part number and could order it from Downwind in San Diego, but that shipping it to Mexico was the issue. As luck would have it, Bob was going to Tucson the following week to pick up his mail and said that if the part could be sent to his mailbox by July 14th, he’d bring it to us. Gary quickly called Downwind in San Diego, ordered the part and had it shipped to Tucson with guaranteed delivery in plenty of time. We thanked Bob profusely and made arrangements to contact him on the 15th for the hand-off! Now we just had to wait for a week and, if all went according to plan, we’d have our part. During that time we enjoyed walking around the marina and became “regulars” at Barracuda Bob’s (ice cream & great coffee) and Café Evie partaking of treats and free wi-fi! Both places also offered lower cost ($.40/min) calls to the US using a cordless phone, making calls home more pleasant than trying to talk on a payphone as trucks and busses rambled loudly by! It was wonderful to hear friends and family and catch up on news. Additionally there was a custom jeweler in the marina complex and we were able to have two of the black pearls that Gary brought me from Tahiti made into earrings during our “wait” time.

There were also some serious discussions aboard SV Wand’rin Star during this enforced hiatus in travel. Each of us has been feeling “unsettled”, not quite happy and unsure of future plans to continue farther south to Central America and beyond for the past several months and we spent much time expressing our thoughts and feelings to each other.

As much as I’ve enjoyed living on the boat and cruising for the past five years, since coming to Mexico I’ve really been affected by the lack of affordable communication with family and friends in the States. The cell phone is too expensive to have a conversation much longer than 10 minutes ($1.50/min) and without Internet we can’t use SKYPE. It is difficult/expensive to get mail too. We’ve also been constantly moving during these past five years; whenever we stop in a marina or drop the hook, it’s always temporary and means that we’d be dealing with a new set of circumstances AGAIN. Yes, there is always that feeling of excitement about being in a new place, but sometimes I’d just like to know where everything is. I also feel that my inability to converse fluently with the local population has negatively impacted my human interaction. That said I have found, almost without exception, the Mexicans I have tried to communicate with have been very willing to work with my pochito Espanol!

Gary has not enjoyed his Mexican experience for several reasons: 1) He’s a very neat & orderly person and much of Mexico isn’t neat & tidy. That may not sound like a big deal, but whenever we were in a village or city, he’s had great difficulty getting past the often present trash and apparent disregard for neatness thus making it hard for him to “enjoy” being here. It seems that very little is “thrown away” here, as it might later be useful. Many of the areas we’ve been in are very dry and dusty, adding to a “dirty” look as rains rarely wash everything clean. Additionally the government’s policy of taxing structures differently if under construction has led to the practice of never quite finishing a building, i.e. rebar is still exposed or windows not installed. 2) He is also frustrated with the difficulties associated with dealing with boat issues & parts. These were a few of the discussion topics that have led us to the decision to return to the US at the end of hurricane season and settle somewhere as we clarify what the next stage of our lives will be.

Now, back to the Racor part….as promised, Bob brought the part from Tucson and we picked it up at Café Evie. July 16 was Installation Day and everything worked wonderfully! A big THANK YOU goes out to all the “Bobs” of the world who make it a better place to live!

July 16-19: Bahia San Pedro (N 28 04.35, W 111 16.60) became home for the next three nights as we enjoyed this lovely bay with SV Tropic Tramp, which we had also seen in Bahia Algodones. Reefs surrounded both sides of the bay and we perused the area by dink. The water temperature was mid 80’s and the swimming was delightful! We decided to take advantage of the sandy beach to clean the dinghy’s bottom. When left in the water for a while, barnacles begin to grow on its hard bottom; unfortunately, this affects speed and eventually the weight increases due to the calcium deposits. Barnacles are sharp and can inflict painful cuts if allowed to grow unrestricted; meaning that periodically one must haul the dink ashore and scrape off all the growth. When the job was completed, we had to exit the beach through the surf. When doing this, it’s important to time the departure to the lull between swells and to always keep the dinghy at right angles to the waves. (If it gets sideways, it will flip! NOT Good!) The technique is to pull the dink out so it is floating, jump into the dink during the lull in the surf, start paddling to keep the dink at right angles to the waves and make headway. Unfortunately, I had difficulty jumping into the dink and we were forced sideways and washed back ashore. It took several very exasperating attempts before we made it past the surf line and head for Wand’rin Star. Gary’s comment: “He was REALLY frustrated because he’d done this in the military with much bigger surf and didn’t understand what my “problem” was! Stand by for later developments.

As idyllic as Bahia San Pedro appeared, it had one major drawback – Flies!!!! Hundreds of them! We’ve never been bothered by insects in five years of cruising, but these buggers sure made up for it. Luckily, we had no-see-um fabric on board and I made screens for the two ports, two hatches, and door that were not already screened. All of the other ports have permanently installed screens. Growing up in Michigan, bugs – especially mosquitoes- were just a part of life, one that we haven’t missed since moving west; this infestation was definitely annoying. We decided to deal with the flies by leaving the anchorage.

July 20: Las Cadenas (N 28 18.60', W 111 27.10') Bahia Kino was to be our next destination, but due to reduced speed as a result of incoming tide, we opted to stop at Las Cadenas, a small cove 23 miles up the mainland coast for the evening. The flies followed us.

July 21: Isla Pelicano - After a pleasant night’s sleep, we hoisted the anchor at 0745 and headed north to Bahia Kino. The seas were glassy and all was fine until Norbert, the autopilot, decided to go on strike. He kept sending a “Rudder Error” message and wouldn’t steer the course which necessitated hand steering, something Gary doesn’t like to do (especially after his Tahiti trip on a boat that did NOT have an autopilot forcing him to hand steer for several hours at a time!) Eventually, he discovered a work-a-round and we arrived at Isla Pelicano in Bahia Kino about 4:00 p.m. The anchorage was shallower than we prefer and winds were predicted to clock 180 degrees, so we put down extra chain. As sunset approached, we were treated to hundreds (thousands?) of pelicans, brown boobies and frigate birds returning from the days’ foraging to roost for the evening. What a sight! At first light, Gary quickly decided that we needed to change anchorages, as we were about 50’ from the rocky island with only 4’ under the keel, too close for his comfort zone.

July 22-24 – Bahia Kino (N 28 48, W 111 58) is a very shallow bay with no piers or docks, but many pangas lined the beach. We re-anchored in 20’ of water about 300 yards from shore. We were out of fresh fruit & vegetables and I planned to do some re-provisioning here; unfortunately the tiendas did not have a very good selection when we were finally able to get ashore on the 23rd (it had been too rough on the 22nd.) Remember the earlier reference to surf landings??? The surf was really crashing on shore and there was NO WAY we were going to attempt a beach landing, much less a departure in those conditions! There was a Seri Indian museum in New Kino, which we visited before taking the bus into Old Kino to shop. The Seris are the last hunter-gather group to exist in Mexico and the few remaining (less than 400) are settled around this area. We called family from a payphone (complete with traffic noise!) and it was good to hear how life on land was progressing. After lunch and the return bus ride back to where we had beached the dink, it was time to head out through the surf again! Joy! Joy! (Can you tell this isn’t my favorite thing to do??) All of our purchases were loaded into large Ziploc bags for the ride back to the boat and we readied the dink. Once again, I couldn’t jump in the boat quickly enough and it got crossways to the surf, resulting in both of us accumulating much sand in our shorts, not to mention being submerged! Another dinghy fiasco! Needless to say, someone wasn’t very happy with me! Luckily (from my point of view) some swimmers on the beach offered to help; we climbed into the dink, they maneuvered us out past the surf line and we paddled. It was a very quiet trip back to the boat. After we unloaded our purchases and spent a little time apart, we tried to figure out a solution to the “dinghy dilemma”. As we were standing next to each other, I realized (duh!) that Gary’s taller than I and it’s easier for him to lift his leg up and over the pontoon in deeper water –plus he’s more agile than I! I mentioned this and it did make sense; we brainstormed possible solutions. It was decided that I’d get in sooner and straddle the pontoon, he’d guide the dink out a little farther into the surf, jump onto the pontoon and we’d both paddle out. Guess what? We have had 6-count ‘em-6- successful beach landings/departures since then! Hoorah! Oh course, he just mentioned to me that those all had light to no surf. No matter, I’ll take my successes wherever I can find them!

We were ready to leave Mainland Mexico after being here since January and head back to the Baja Peninsula. A pod of dolphins circled the boat as we ate breakfast and talked about the day’s sail. Such is life in paradise!

July 25-26: Bahia los Perros (N 28 47.30', W 112 16.30') There are islands stretching across the Sea of Cortez at this latitude and we planned to hopscotch from one island to another on our way to Bahia de los Angeles (BLA) on the Baja side. The island closest to the mainland is Isla Tiburon and our first anchorage was Bahia los Perros, only a 3-hour trip in slightly rolly seas.

I discovered a package of goat cheese at the bottom of the frig – in this black hole items sometimes end up out of sight & out of mind – and prepared a delicious underway lunch of roast beef, goat cheese and thinly sliced onion on fresh tortillas. Gary was duly impressed with the cook’s resourcefulness and style!

Do you save magazine articles thinking that someday you’ll go back and use the information? There was a pile of articles from Cruising World, Sail Magazine, and Passage Maker about 6” high and some of them dating from 2003 on Wand’rin Star. I decided to sort through them and at least put them in categories while we were underway. While doing so, I came across an article on how to sell your boat and thought to myself “maybe that time is sooner than later.” Who knows??

Bahia los Perros was an OK anchorage, but the winds and swells picked up after a day, causing the boat to roll almost 30 degrees. We laughed at Murray as he kept sliding on the floor when the boat would roll. He’s more comfortable laying on the cooler teak floor or the lower saloon table than on the settees or berths in the heat; I even thought of putting scoot guard under him, but he didn’t like that idea. After two nights here we opted to move around the island where the anchorages were more sheltered from the southern swells.

July 27-29: North Willard West (N 28 53’, W 112 34’) Shortly after our arrival, a panga with local fisherman pulled along side the boat and asked for “agua” (water.) Fresh water is in short supply here and we were glad to share the bounty of our Spectra water maker with them. They handed up 2-gallon jugs, which I filled. Before leaving, they asked if we’d like some pescado (fish), I replied “si.” Before I knew it, they fillet four fish before I finally said, “no mas, por favor!” (No more, please!) We thoroughly savored our FRESH fish for dinner that evening.

Even though the wind blew 20 knots, the bay was calm as the wind was from over the land and therefore no swells or fetch. Unfortunately the breeze was NOT enough to keep the flies away! We’d been plagued with them for the past month and the screens have solved the problem. The flies here were HORRIBLE! We couldn’t figure out where they were coming from! I emailed Dennis, our brother-in-law who was at home recuperating from elbow surgery, and asked him to search the Internet for “homemade” fly repellents. Gary was up to more than 100 kills in a day! Luckily, they were only a nuisance from breakfast time until late afternoon when they miraculously left us and went elsewhere torment someone else. That aside, this was a beautiful bay with unusual volcanic rocks, sand dunes, and beaches; we looked forward to exploring in the next day or two.

Tuesday was a calm day as we decided to explore ashore. We thought it was near low tide as we dinked into a beach, which was covered with shells. After pulling the dink ashore I asked if we should tie it to a rock. “No, it’ll be fine,” was Gary’s response and we began our hike. I was mesmerized by the variety and size of the shells as Gary began walking through the desert island…sand, cacti, more sand, rocks, and more cacti. Even with the heat, it was refreshing to hike such a desolately striking area. Each of us explored different areas at our own pace with cameras while meandering in the same direction. Approaching the crest of a hill, we looked back toward the bay where Wand’rin Star was anchored; almost simultaneously we noticed a dinghy floating out in the bay. “That’s our dingy!” shouted Gary as he dashed down the hill, sand flying. Luck was on our side as the little boat had floated toward the rocks at the point and was stuck there. If it had floated out to sea, we might now be dinghy-less! Gary clamored along the rocky shoreline until he was 20’ from the boat and then had to swim the remaining distance to the dinghy. I followed (taking pictures, of course) and met him at shore as he returned to the island. I had a hole in my tongue, but never said, “I told you so!” Fortunately we were able to laugh about it as all ended well!

We had a visitor to the boat as a young seagull landed on the deck at the bow and showed no interest in leaving. After a little prodding, it decided that the ocean was maybe a better place to be than on a boat with a cat.

A recipe for homemade flypaper arrived via our SSB Airmail from Den & Diane. It called for mixing corn syrup with sugar and painting it on strips of brown paper bag. The directions recommended placing a bowl under the hanging strips to catch the drips. I did have all the ingredients aboard, but we decided to tough it out as we had modified the newly made screens and fewer flies were penetrating our defenses.

The remainder of our time here was spent swimming, snorkeling, enjoying the photo luminescence of the water at night, and just doing what cruisers do. July 30 was a beautifully blue, calm day as we pulled the dinghy aboard the boat for the hop to Isla Angel de Guarda. Just before lunch we spotted whales in 1200+ feet of water!!! These were the first whales we’d seen since leaving Banderas Bay and they were Fin whales accompanied by more than 100 bottlenose dolphins. Fin whales are baleen whales with a maximum length of 79’ and max weight of 260,000 pounds – definitely not little guys! We estimated that there were 12-15 whales leisurely laying on the surface and making shallow dives as we watched them for almost an hour. We also saw a Sperm whale that feeds on the large Humboldt Squid known to populate the area. Lunch was anti-climatic after such excitement.

During the remainder of the trip, Gary attempted to unplug the forward head’s pump out system to no avail. We’ve previously had issues and have now decided that the system needs a really in-depth cleaning; however we can’t do that until the tank is empty. Unfortunately there hasn’t been a pump-out facility since leaving Cabo San Lucas in November! They just don’t exist in Mexico; even the new government run Singlar marinas don’t have them. Luckily we have the aft head which has never given us any problem.

July 30: Isla Angel de Guarda (N 29 03.48’, W 113 07.45) This anchorage was in a tiny cove that was out of the wind and swells and we had a pleasant evening here. The best thing about it was NO FLIES!!!!! Appears there are fewer insects on this side of the Sea, thank goodness! What we did have were blasts (20 kts) of HOT, HOT wind from late afternoon until midnight; it was like having a hairdryer set on HIGH aimed directly at us. We’d never experienced this before. We were looking forward to getting to the small village of Bahia de los Angeles on the Baja and only spent one night in this anchorage.

July 31: Bahia de los Angeles (N 29.00.01, W 113 30.86) The 8-hour trip was pleasant, but uneventful with the exception of a hitch-hiker in the form of a brown boobie who landed on the main mast spreader and rode with us for about 5 miles. It was comical to see other boobies try to unseat him, but he only vacated his perch when he was ready.

We arrived in BLA in time for its Annual Festival, complete with Rodeo, Blessing of the Fleet, Music and Dancing! Again, there were no marinas or piers, so that meant a beach landing every time we went ashore. I was 4 for 4 as each one was successful! We landed on the beach in front of Guillermo’s Restaurant & RV Park, quickly met Ian of SV Blythe Spirit and Bill of SV Talaria, ate lunch with them and then went in search of provisions, Internet and telephone. Provisioning again lacked much fresh produce, but I was able to find some things we needed. Being on shore was difficult for Gary and I opted to come by myself the next day as I’d be more comfortable exploring by myself. We got the Festival schedule and decided to watch the rodeo on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning, Gary ferried me ashore to drop off laundry, explore and check out some of the other tiendas (small stores.) As I was walking down the dusty road, a gringo in a jeep stopped and offered me a ride to Yolanda’s, where I was dropping off the dirty clothes. His name was Ned and he was from Bend, OR. He’s been down here for 18 years and was very helpful. After taking the laundry to the right place (which I probably would have never found on my own!), we went to the government subsidized food store. As we were talking, I mentioned that I planned to see the local museum; Ned had been a docent there for several years and willingly dropped me off at the front door. It was a well-designed museum with exhibits on local animal life, both marine and land; natural history; ranchero exhibits; as well as a well-stocked book & gift section. Meeting Ned was definitely a pleasant encounter giving me additional information about the town (as well as saving me many dusty steps!)

I radioed Gary on the VHF when I was ready to be picked up and our retreat from land went well. The rodeo was at 4:00 p.m. so that meant another dinghy trip, but it was worth it. Bull riding was the main event of the rodeo with 14 local young men competing. It was in a dirt area surrounded by a wooden fence with an announcer and the ever-watchful Mexican Army. I’ m still not acclimated to seeing young men in Army uniforms riding around in open trucks with weapons in almost every town or village we visit. The rodeo was definitely a family affair from very young children to great grandmas and all had a good time! We dined on great tamales while watching the bulls and macho brawn. We returned to the boat before the music and dancing began, but were able to hear it for a while. A very interesting day in BLA.

Remember reading just a few lines earlier that our aft head never gave us any problems???? Never say never . . . it had become plugged and the only way to clear it was to take it apart. ‘Self-sufficiency” is a keyword in cruising as is ‘re-build kit’; fortunately we had both of those! Gary's a big fan of anticipation and fixing it would be a job for Monday – what a way to start the week!

We planned to leave BLA in the morning, but couldn’t get the laundry until after 12:30. We combined our trip ashore with another visit to the government store, lunch, a phone call to Mom & Dad, a visit to a local craft store, and then picked up CLEAN clothes! However, BLA was not a cheap town: 2 loads of laundry was $16.00 USD, a box of raisin brand was $6.50 USD, and a beer was $2.50, and phone was $1.00 USD/ min. We enjoyed our brief stay, but it was time to get Gary back to nature!

He really got into nature as we returned from shore and his Tilley hat blew into the water while he was climbing out of the dink. Within seconds he stripped and jumped in the water to retrieve it; of course I had to document it!

BLA had many anchorages within a few miles of each other, so it was challenging deciding where we wanted to go next. Isla Ventana won out and we headed there after returning to the boat.

August 3-4: Caleta Ventana, Isla Ventana (N 29 00.01’, W 113 30.86’) It only took 2 ½ hours to change anchorages and we dropped the hook in a well-sheltered bay – 20 kt winds, but no swells as the wind was again coming from off shore and there was no fetch. The evening was pleasant and Gary woke up ready to tackle the head! He decided that he would replace all the working parts as we had the rebuild kit; after about 3 hours we had a “brand new” head! It hadn't worked this well since we’ve owned the boat! My hat was off to him – my hero! I spent the morning doing other cleaning on the boat and we relaxed listening to NPR on Sirius radio in the afternoon.

Listening to the morning SSB net a few days earlier, we’d heard mention of the coyotes on the beach at Puerto Don Juan, the local ‘hurricane hole’ and that would be our next destination.

August 5: Puerto Don Juan (N 28 56.59’, W 113 27.13’) We dropped the hook in this extremely well protected cove less than two hours after hoisting it from Caleta Ventana. Hopefully, we’ll never have to use this as a ‘hurricane hole’. It’s vital that we keep track of the weather, especially tropical storms, hurricanes and “chabascos” (which can cause localized high winds at night as the air heated over the land during the day cools and the wind shifts direction.) Don of SV Passage in Oxnard, California gives daily weather for cruisers over the SSB radio and we listen to him on the Amigo Net and the Southbound Net. He definitely provides a great service! The cruising guide says this anchorage can hold up to 100 boats, but we had it to ourselves as we enjoyed an afternoon of swimming and relaxing. At dinnertime, we heard howling and were able to spot several coyotes on the beach, just as promised. This was a very secure anchorage, but it lacked ambience and scenery so the hook came up at 0610 the next morning as we headed to Isla Partida.

August 6 & 7: Isla Partida (N 28 53.48’. W 113 02.61) We got an early start to arrive at Isla Partida Norte before the current reversed. The water here was clear to over 25’ and we had a great time swimming & snorkeling; Gary even took a few dives off the pilothouse roof to show off! Don predicted a “chabasco” for our area and we prepared by taking down the cockpit awning and made sure there wasn’t anything on deck that would blow around. True to his prediction, the winds hit 30 kts about 0100; the anchor held and we came through with no difficulties – just a few less hours of sleep as we took turns keeping an eye on the anchor. Gerry Cunningham’s Sea of Cortez Cruising Guide, Vol. 2 has been our favorite guide for this area and while reading it I came across the description of Isla Salsipuedes, which he said was his favorite island in the Sea. Sounded like a good recommendation to us, so it was our next destination.

August 8 -11: Caleta Blanca, Isla Las Animas (N 28 26.13’, W 112 51.67’) If you’re observant, you’ll notice that we didn’t anchor at Isla Salsipuedes. After a rough, slow sail with 20+ kt winds and 5’ swells, we finally approached the South Slot Anchorage on Isla Salsipuedes. Almost simultaneously we looked at each other, shook our heads, and said, “that’s too narrow for us!” So much for Mr. Cunningham’s favorite island, I quickly got out the guidebook and looked for another nearby anchorage. We found a little-used gem in Caleta Blanca, only a few miles further south. This was pelican heaven (literally – after we saw pelican carcasses ashore) as hundreds of the amusing birds were on the rocks, in the water, and soaring overhead. The cove was well protected from the south and west, thus making it a great anchorage in the summer, but not winter, and it was empty! It took us two attempts to be happy with our location as the first try put us a little too close to the rocks for our comfort zone. Something we’ve discovered is that we tend to be more conservative than many when it comes to proximity to shore and water depth when anchoring…works for us!

We spent our days swimming, reading, doing minor boat jobs, and always watching the antics of the pelicans. The boat was definitely in a flight path as they soared overhead with great regularity. The second day, we rowed the dink around the cove and then into the white beach, which was supposed to have an abundance of sand dollars; however I never found one! By rowing instead of using the motor, we were able to get much closer to the birds both for observation and photos. When ashore we discovered whole pelican carcasses as well as many wing and head sections. As a former biology teacher, I’m fascinated with bones and remains, so I really enjoyed the “scenery.” Wading along the rocky shore, Gary discovered several brightly decorated red crabs, some of which were willing to pose for him. We’ve jokingly said that he has enough pelican pictures to print The Pelican Portfolio (not to be confused with John Grisham’s The Pelican Brief!)

The water was quite clear here and Gary decided to haul out his air tank & 50' air hose to give the hull a really good cleaning. By placing the tank on deck and attaching the hose, he was able to reach the entire bottom without having to carry his tank. The accumated growth of barnacles was slowing down boat speed and covering most of the hull, therefore it was time to remove them. He broke the job into two shifts on two different days and was really tired at the end of each; unfortunately just before he completed the task, the dive tank ran out of air. Now we need to get the tank refill so it's ready for the next cleaning.

The afternoon of the August 10, another boat entered the anchorage and dropped her hook; it was SV Jacaranda, which we had often heard on the SSB nets, but had never met the folks aboard. After they got settled, we dinked over to meet them – what friendly folks Linda & Chuck were! We talked & talked & talked, especially Linda & I. It had been a LOOOOONNNNNGGG time since I’d been able to just chat with another woman, so refreshing. (Not that I don’t enjoy being alone on the boat with Gary, but I do miss female conversation at times!) They graciously lent us a new cruising guide for the Sea of Cortez to look at over night, it was really a great book and we took note of several anchorages we’d like to try. After we returned to our boat I decided to make some key lime bars to give them as a “thank you” for their generosity when they came to pick up the book the next morning. We again spent several hours just visiting and then it was time for us to leave the anchorage, as the current was now favorable for our trip south to Santa Rosalia. Hopefully we’ll meet Chuck and Linda elsewhere in our travels.

August 11: Underway – We left Caleta Blanca about 1100 and headed to Bahia San Francisquito on the mainland as we weren’t sure if we wanted to go all the way to Santa Rosalia – 85 miles in one hop. We anchored in Bahia SF (N 28 26.13’, W 112 51.67’) at 1415 after a trip of 19 miles and had a pleasant afternoon ending with dinner. We’d been looking at the tide charts and talking about our options when we decided that the best choice was to leave San Francisquito about 1930, travel overnight to Santa Rosalia with a morning arrival at the Singlar Marina. So that’s exactly what we did! We had hoped to see meteor showers, but even though we could see the moon, there were scattered clouds preventing us from enjoying nature’s bounty.

August 12: Santa Rosalia (N 27 20.10’, W 112 15.70’) The overnight passage was uneventful (Other than each of us had difficulty sleeping when it was our turn.) and we arrived at the marina in Santa Rosalia at 1145 after 18 hours and 80 miles. Santa Rosalia is different from other Mexican towns as the French company El Boleo, which mined copper in the area, developed it. Houses are built of wood and many have picket fences around a small yard. The mining was abandoned in the 50’s and much of the machinery was just left in place. Gary had great fun photographing the mining dinosaurs. It was slightly reminiscent of Taku, an abandon cannery town in Alaska, except Taku was much wetter & greener!

More on our adventures in Santa Rosalia in the next edition of the log!

May you enjoy the waning days of summer and look forward to a new freshness that the cooler autumn brings. We’re looking forward to the rest of our time in Mexico and to being in the States by November.

Warmly (like 96 degrees warm!)

Dorothy, Gary & Murray the Boat Cat

© Copyright 2008
Last updated on September 2, 2008