San Juanico

This year we finally made it to San Juanico. Even before we left Portland I wanted to go there. Chris had sent me photos of this beautiful anchorage and I just fell in love with it. That feeling has not changed! What a magical place this is and how very, very lucky I am to have had the chance to experience it.

When we arrived at San Juanico last year the wind was out of the south and this anchorage doesn’t provide protection from that direction so we had to go around the corner to La Ramada. That is a perfectly nice place (though small) but I was very disappointed as this wasn’t where I wanted to be. We hiked to the top of the hill separating the two anchorages to look at San Juanico and that made me want to go there all the more.

This year the Gods were with us. We tucked into a wonderful spot close to the beach and enjoyed a perfect view of all the amazing rock formations that are unique to this place. Everywhere you look there are cliffs or pinnacles or beautifully colored layers of rock that have been created by wind and water over thousands of years. The water is that beautiful turquoise color we all love and there is a white sand bottom that provides perfect holding.

We stayed in San Juanico for several days so we could do some in depth exploring. One day we took the dinghy and went to several of the beaches that are tucked in amongst the rocks to look for shells and check out the cliffs up close and personal.

Another day we made the trek to the Cruiser’s Shrine (a tree that has become the recipient of all sorts of bizarre memorabilia placed there by the cruisers who have visited. Some items are hung on the tree and others are placed around the base of it but each is a unique piece that tells the world pretty much, “Kilroy was here”. It was great fun to check out all the boats that had been here and was especially fun to see that we know quite a few of them. Naturally, we left a little something from “Faith”. Chris had found an old piece of a bedpost on one of the beaches and carved and wrote our information on it. He located last year’s contribution, added that to the new item and hung it on the tree for all to see.

After taking care of this little bit of business, we hiked over the hill (that would be through the desert…think cactus galore and Sandy & Patty looking for snakes at every step) to La Ramada. Because the weather was out of the northeast, this anchorage was empty and rightly so since the swell was pounding through it and would have made for a very uncomfortable place to be. Once you get over the hill, there is a dirt road that goes to La Ramada (and eventually on to the main highway). This area of the Baja is known for its Apache Tears (beautiful black obsidian pebbles) and they are everywhere on the road. We gathered a small handful to bring home.

The story about Apache Tears is that in the late 1870’s a group of Apache Indians after several raids to steal cattle for food, were cornered by the US Cavalry at the top of a mountain. Outnumbered, out of arrows and having no way to defend themselves, the proud apache warriors chose to leap to their deaths rather than surrender to the enemy and suffer a fate which would be far worse.

When the apache women arrived and found their loved ones they cried for a whole month. So sincere were their tears that the apache gods turned them to dark translucent stone as they hit the earth and these stones are now known as Apache Tears.

The belief is that if you give a friend or loved one an Apache Tear it will bring them good luck and they will never need to cry because the Apache women have already cried the tears for them.

Every afternoon the cruisers who are gathered in San Juanico dinghy to the beach to play Bocce Ball and socialize. We always seemed to be engrossed in some other activity at that time so we didn’t participate but that just means we’ll have something new and fun to try next year. Don’t fret, though. We did still manage to get together with friends several times for happy hours on each others’ boats.

After three wonderful days in this anchorage it was time to get going again. I hated to leave but time waits for no (wo)man and we had to get north. Still…I was very happy to have had the opportunity to experience this beautiful location and am hopeful that we will visit there many times in the future.

San Juanico has definitely made it to the very tippy top of the “My Favorite Places” list.