Update from Puerto Escondido

All alone in San Pedro Bay.

I know some of you out there are wondering what in the heck happened to me but I have a very good explanation! We have been cruising around and the internet has been sporadic and weak. Today we are in Puerto Escondido, just south of Loreto, on the Baja Peninsula. We arrived here 3 days ago and picked up a mooring ball (like being anchored to a large hunk of cement on the bottom). Then Chris decided that after three weeks on the hook we needed one day in a “slip” to get the boat cleaned up, the water tanks filled, etc. It costs about $15/day to be on a mooring ball (anchoring here is the same price but anchoring anywhere else is free) and about 2 or 3 times that amount for one night at the dock. Still, we needed to fill the water tanks and the boat was one huge salt ball so it was worth it.

Faith in her "slip".

The “slip” we have is actually the end of the one dock they have here. The dock you tie up to is almost as long as “Faith” is and there is a powerboat parked at each end with their bows sticking out. Since it was going to be a bit of a challenge to parallel park between them we asked our friend, Bill, to catch a line for us and he was happy to do it. Note: Anchors attempting to mate!

As it turned out, when the dock guys saw us coming, they moved one of the powerboats back and then they came to help as well. I got her situated with no drama but it sure is a bit intimidating looking at how close our anchor is to the boat in front and our dinghy davits are to the one behind. I am anticipating an easier time getting out.

So, where, you might ask, have we been? Well, first we went to a beautiful anchorage just 15 miles north of San Carlos called Bahia San Pedro. This was the very first place in the Sea of Cortez that Chris took me.

Bahia San Pedro

This was on his little Columbia 26 back in 2008 when we were first getting to know each other. It was beautiful then and still is. The first night was very nice but the second was pretty uncomfortable as the southerly swell wrapped around the point and caused the boat to roll pretty substantially. In the morning the wind & swell had switched around from the NW so we moved across the Bay and tucked up behind the headland where the water was as flat as a pond. We were the only boat there so stayed for 2 more nights before heading across to Punta Chivato.

Abby on the way to the beach. Saying "Dinghy Ride?" to her is like saying, "Squirrel?"

The crossing was great. With 15 knots of wind and just little 2-3 ft. seas out of the NW we had a beam reach all the way across and averaged about 6.5 knots. I even caught a little Yellowtail Tuna for dinner!

Sandy's Yellowtail

It took 11 hours to cross and we arrived in Chivato just at sunset. We stayed for a couple days and then headed to Santo Domingo.

Chris on watch. Abby, not so much!

This anchorage is just inside of the Bahia de Concepcion and is a great staging area for people who are going to cross the Sea or just have. After one night we went deeper into the bay to El Burro Cove.

The last time we were at El Burro was in May of 2009 and I loved it. The water was that beautiful emerald green and very warm. This visit was not so pleasant. We arrived in the middle of Semana Santa (Easter week) and the place was swarming with tents and campers and everyone brought their water toys. After two days of being one of the rounding marks for the jet skiers we upped anchor and went back out to Santo Domingo where we were the only boat in the anchorage for three whole days. Talk about decadent!

Santo Domingo

From Santo Domingo, San Juanico was the next stop. This is a gorgeous anchorage with turquoise water and all sorts of amazing rock formations is a favorite with most of the cruisers. Most of the anchorage is only about 15-20 ft. deep and it is quite well protected, not to mention beautiful. The cruisers have erected a “shrine” here which is actually a large bush that all the visitors leave a momento on. I had hoped this would be THE place to try out my new kayak but, alas, it was pretty windy much of the time so I didn’t even unpack the new toy. San Juanico pillar rocks

The last night we were there, our friends, Bill & Lisa, on “Beyond Reason” organized a BBQ/bonfire on the beach. It was fun and there were lots of new people to meet. They picked one of the smaller beaches that is surrounded by big rocks so the cruising dogs could have the run of the beach without having to be watched constantly. Abby had a ball chasing around with Sparky and Tappy and Mia (I think that was her name). It was just as much fun for the dogs as it was for us and by the time we got back to the boat Abby was exhausted and went right to bed.

From San Juanico we went to Isla Coronados where there are several lovely anchorages. We stayed in one on the SW where we hadn’t been before. This is another place where the water is that stunning turquoise blue color and the beach is white, white, white sand. We saw a whale and several times had large pods of dolphin feeding around the boat. Unfortunately, at 66° the water is still too cold for swimming (at least for us).

Isla Cornados

The morning of the third day, the weather was beginning to change and we were again starting to roll so up came the hook and we boogied on into here. Since the beer, wine and veggies were getting low and the laundry & garbage were piling up it was time to get to some civilization to re-provision. Yesterday we shared a rental car with Bill & Lisa to go into Loreto and take care of all the things on the “to do” and “we need” lists. The “plan” was to leave tomorrow but there is some pretty stiff wind expected for the next few days so it looks like we’ll hang around for a few more days. In the meantime, Escondido has always been a great place to stay.

Morning Mist in Puerto Escondido