Snorkeling today on the point north of San Carlos marina – good drop off, lots of fish – six or eight baby yellowtail tuna? About 3″ long, the size of my middle finger, they kept attacking my wetsuit, grabbing hold of the neoprene and shaking it in their mouths. Very persistent and distracting! First time ever attacked by fish – mini tuna!
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2008 Mexico 4 – La Paz to Guaymas
Here we are in San Carlos – as close to Tucson as Raven will ever get! It even feels like a suburb of Tucson. Half the boats in the marina name Tucson as their home port. This weekend the Tucson Sailing Club is hosting a regatta. We even bought an Arizona Daily Star in the coffee shop!
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2008 Mexico 4 – La Paz to Guaymas
I’ve been remiss in the travelogue department, but we are still afloat and enjoying ourselves. We’ve covered a lot of territory since last communication – as of day before yesterday we hit the most northern point of our cruise and are now headed downhill much to Rod’s approval. Only 7,000 miles to go (to New Zealand), downwind all the way!
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2008 Mexico 4 – La Paz to Guaymas
We’ve been leading our usual idyllic lifestyle on Raven – always more of the same, but always new and different as well. Up ’til now we have been retracing our past route, but as the prevailing wind is from a different direction than last cruise, we are able to overnight in new anchorages that weren’t suitable prior. We did repeat one of our favorite anchorages at Puerto El Gato, a very scenic spot fondly remembered from last voyage for our lobster dinner. This time the local lobsterman only found one lobster for us (late notice) and was very apologetic, but we shared and it was delicious anyway – plus much cheaper ($50 pesos and a six-pack of cerveza) than “market price” at a good restaurant!
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2008 Mexico 4 – La Paz to Guaymas
Last night’s anchorage was off Isla San Francisco, in a bay called “The Hook”. On our previous trip we had to bypass this particular spot as the wind was coming out of the wrong direction making the anchorage unsafe, but conditions were in our favor this time around. The south end of the island terminates in a long curving white sand beach ending in a mountain peak – appearing exactly like a giant fish hook. The water was calm, clear and turquoise – just like a giant swimming pool! Mike and I hiked along the mountain ridge that stretches along the east shoreline the length of the island. That side of the island was rugged and rocky, with very volcanic looking rock formations, bizarre colors including mauve and green, plunging cliffs meeting a dark blue sea rough with surf and a beach of multi-colored stones some 10-12″ in diameter. All in all completely different from our safe haven on the opposite side of the island, even though the two coastlines are only separated by less than a mile of terrain.
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2008 Mexico 4 – La Paz to Guaymas
We’re safe and sound in Mexico – flew in yesterday to Cabo San Lucas – Rod met us in a rental car and we drove 2 1/2 hours to La Paz, stopping for lunch in Todos Santos at the Hotel California (but not THE Hotel California). Couldn’t find any decent flights direct to La Paz – off-season I guess. We had 4 suitcases and 2 big boxes – it cost a fortune in extra bag fees and duty coming into Mexico, but we had to bring parts for Raven to make the passage to French Polynesia in February. Six 12 volt fans, three water pumps, 38 water filters, a new kayak, some new dive gear, and all our rolls and rolls of South Pacific charts that we had taken off the boat when we arrived in San Diego last year.
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2008 Mexico 3 – La Paz to Loreto
We’re retracing our steps back to La Paz with less than a week left before heading back to Tucson – last night we were anchored again in Ensenada Grande, our favorite anchorage on Espiritu Santo.
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2008 Mexico 3 – La Paz to Loreto
Nothing much exciting to report – really just more of the same. We’re working our way south again towards La Paz from Loreto and keeping our eye on a new tropical disturbance that shows some signs of possibly heading north rather than west. Meanwhile the weather is consistently calm and warm.
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2008 Mexico 3 – La Paz to Loreto
Still hanging out in Puerto Escondido. It is hotter here and the breeze has dropped to zero, so we have reinstalled the air conditioner above deck and it is working like a champ.
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2008 Mexico 3 – La Paz to Loreto
We’re back in civilization. Our anchorage two nights ago at Candelero Chico was idyllic and all our own, until the next morning when swells started coming into the bay and rocking the boat – nothing worse than a rolly anchorage, so we left and headed towards Isla Danzante just across from the entrance to Puerto Escondido. I enjoyed a night swim around Raven in sparkling phosphorescence, one of my favorite things to do on a warm night, with the water warm and black and myriads of little sparkles swirling around my arms and legs as I move.
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