Isla Espiritu Santo then back to La Paz .....

After brunch, we returned to the boats, hauled anchor and headed across the strait to Ensenada de la Raza on Isla Espiritu Santo.  It was exceptionally windy (+25 kn) and we were pulling the tender so we pulled into Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida (the island just north of Espiritu) and lifted the tender onto the boat deck so as to avoid any problems ….. then carried onto Ensendad de la Raza and dropped the anchor.  The crazy winds carried on through the night and we rocked and rolled a bit throughout the night. 

The next day, we opted to move on to Bahai San Gabriel  on the same island …. A beautiful open anchorage just south of where we currently were anchored.  The wind was forecast to die down by mid afternoon, which it did, so we were able to get off the boat and head to shore to check out the GORGEOUS beach. 

 

 

 

 

 

 We planned to hike to Playa la Bonanaza the next day.  Its a 2 mile hike to the bay directly across from where we were currently anchored.  The trail entrance was well marked, but the trail itself was not marked or obvious, so the 2 mile hike took us about 1 ½ hours over and about an hour to return !!!  Lots of dodging around cacti ……  It was a GREAT  hike however ....

 

 

As you can see, not a straight nor obvious path .....

Cam and Lawrence beside a cactus .... LARGE cactus !!

 

 

The beautiful Playa de Bonanza

 

 

Checking out the beach and Cam checking out the distance between the two beaches with his phone (YES people ... there is an app for that !!)  It was 2.1 miles although it felt closer to 5.1 miles !!

 

Peter , sporting the Clooney-look

Barb - picking cactus burrs out of her shoes

 

 

Heading back to San Gabriel after our hike across the island to Bonanza.

 

We headed back to the boats and enjoyed a pot luck chicken dinner with Northern Ranger ....

 

Barb and Peter doing dishes (Peter was quite enamoured with my drying gloves !!)
 

 

 

Our beautiful sunset for the evening .....

The next day we hauled anchor and headed back to La Paz to prepare Sea Level to be left until mid April when we will return …. And head off again !!!

Dinner in town,  at NIM, with Colibri (who had returned to La Paz about an hour ahead of us) and Northern Ranger …. Then lots of goodbyes to the Dents and to Peter,  and off to bed for a final day of cleaning the boat, inside and out …. Deflating kayaks, cleaning tenders ….. (and a quick trip into town for Barb and I to check out the Farmers Markets !!)

After a busy day of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, we headed to the pool to relax and unwind with Talbots, then a yummy pizza dinner at one of the local restaurants at the resort.

It has been an amazing holiday ….. this part of Mexico is unbelievably beautiful …. The people are super friendly and we are looking forward to exploring the Sea of Cortez further !!!  

Calita Partida, Ensenada Grande, Isla San Francisco and San Evaristo ....

Calita Pardita then Ensenada Grande

On our first night out, we anchored in Partida Cove between Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida.  It’s a very shallow cove with easy access to BEAUTIFUL white sand beaches.  Tender was launched and we headed to the beach to do a little exploring …..  the bay was very shallow and we “walked” the tender in a long way to the shore.

Notice how far we are from shore ... and how shallow it is !!!

 

 

 

 

Penny's bro, Peter, looking for a cold cerveza !!

 

Second night’s anchorage was in the most northerly cove of Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida.  Again, great access to the beautiful beaches ….phenomenal snorkeling – beautiful stripped fish, bright colors, all shapes and sizes.  SO much to see …..  Snorkeling and swimming kept us busy for hours …..

Cam and Doug on the kayaks ....

 

From Ensenada Grande, we tendered up to Los Islotes – a collection of large rocks at the north end of Isla Partida, to see the sea lion colony.  There, we snorkeled with the sea lions and again saw lots of interesting fish AND even had a young sea lion swim around us.

 

 

 

 

Colibri caught up with us as we pulled anchor from Ensenada Grande and we all headed to “The Hook” on Isla San Francisco … a very popular anchorage, and BEYOND stunning.

So we all launched our PORTA BOTES ..... Then hiked up the rock cliffs on the ridge,  to see the grand panorama of the entire bay…. 

Our collection of "porta botes" on the beach .....

 

 

 

 

Hiking the ridge to photograph the "The Hook" anchorage ....

 

" The Hook" ..... a stunning anchorage ....

In the words of the Moody Blues ... "I know you're out there somewhere, somewhere" .....

(and we are !!)

 

Diana and Christopher (Colibri) ....

 

                                             Penny and Lawrence (Northern Ranger) ....

Barb and Doug Vincent (with us on Sea Level) ....

 

 

US !!

 Then back to the boat for fresh lobster and tuna on the bbq.  A fabulous group meal .... then goodbyes to Colibri (until the end of the week when we will catch up with them back in La Paz). 

 

 

AND ...  back to boating .....

We had a little “head” issue that Cam spent the better part of the day dealing with …. A clamp on the discharge pipe had come loose which allowed “LIQUIDS of a smelly nature” to discharge under our stateroom floor …. and the fresh water filler had a small crack which meant the “smelly liquids” were being diluted with fresh water (but not enough to make them smell any better, may I add ….). 

 Happy to report the problem has been dealt with and all is smelling MUCH better ….. 

Up early (to a fresh smelling boat-YAY) …. Doug and Barb made a fabulous pancake breakfast and we hauled anchor and headed to San Evaristo …..

San Evaristo is a village of about 300 people that survives on fishing, salt panning and goat-herding.  “Grading of a 65 miles road up from La Paz brought a desalination plant, a dozen new homes, a larger school and a small store”  AND apparently a great restaurant on the beach.   We dropped the tender and headed to shore to do some minor provisioning at the local tiende and then hiked along the beach, played with some local, very sweet dogs, and checked out the restaurant. 

It was CLOSED.

Barb having a little play with one of the local dogs .....

 

The shoreline of San Evaristo ....

 

Northern Ranger and SL in the North Cove at San Evarsito ....

 

We had decided to stay a couple of days because of increasing winds out in the strait and we took the opportunity to hike over to the salt ponds and check out the beautiful bay a short hike  from where we were anchored. 

 

The salt ponds, with the Sea of Cortez beyond ....

 

  

The stunning rock cliffs along the beach .....

 

 

The men-folk are pondering why there is a line through the rock cliff ..... hmmmmm....

 

Penny is getting a chuckle out of those silly "men-folk" .....

The village of San Evaristo looking down from the church to the beautiful bay with

homes rimming the waterfront .....

 

Finally, Lupe (the owner of the restaurant), returned from La Paz where he had disappeared for a couple of days, to restock.  We all waited patiently, bobbing around in the bay,  for Lupe’s “sail ” to appear, which is his signal that the  restaurant is OPEN. 

On our last day, and desperate to check out this place before we left, we saw NO sail but we did see activity, so we “stormed the beach” and were met by Joe – the self appointed greeter.  Joe is a recently retired fellow from Arizona, who has relocated to his daughter and son-in-law’s home on the beach.  Joe’s very friendly and has “the scoop” on most everything happening in San Evaristo!!  We were warmly welcomed and were assured that the restaurant was OPEN for business …. He was wonderful to chat with, as was chef Lupe …. Brunch of huevos rancheros was yummy … and we left our hand painted shell near the memory tree as is the tradition of boaters who have enjoyed the restaurant.

 

Cam and Doug heading to the restaurant .....

 

The "outdoor seating" at the  restaurant ....

 

The menu .... 

 

The kitchen ... with chef Lupe (who was absolutely CHARMING) .....

 

 

Some of the painted shells people have left .....

 

 

 

 

BACK IN LA PAZ ... and ready to RUMBLE !!!

BACK IN LA PAZ … and ready to rumble …..

 February 12, 2016 ... the Kemps and the Talbots flew in to San Jose del Cabo via Calgary (after flight delays in both Vancouver and Calgary... should have flown Air Canada, eh Jeff !! ), then hit a 70 minute line up at Mexican immigration… ”longer than usual” so we were told !! …. Needless to say we missed our reservation for the ground transportation to La Paz.   BUMMER …..

Cam and Lawrence caught the next van/bus and Penny and I followed an hour later.  We all met in La Paz, grabbed a bite of dinner in a GREAT little restaurant on the malecon then grabbed the world’s smallest cab (with 4 of us, plus a driver and 4 suitcases) and headed to the marina.   We looked a little like the Clampets ..... 

All was well when we arrived … the boat was all cleaned & waxed and (our boat minder) Francisco even had his interior cleaners go through and clean the inside … complete with fancy folded towels, rose Kleenex flowers and little special soaps tucked into the “shell” towels … very fancy.  SO nice to arrive to a spiffy clean boat (especially after a 17 hour travel day !!)

We connected up with Ken and Christy on VARNEBANK, Jerome and Karen on DAYBREAK and Christopher and Diana on COLIBRI (friends from the CUBAR) and met our marina neighbors in their Nordhavn 60 called RELISH, Birge and Beth and Trigg.  It was great to reconnect and find out where everyone had explored and get their recommendations on MUST SEE places.  After many visits over coffee and a couple of GREAT dinners together, our friends headed off in various directions, leaving the Talbots waiting for Penny’s twin bro Peter to arrive and us waiting for our “crew” … Barb and Doug Vincent. 

During the couple of days between arriving and departing for our first grand adventure in the Sea of Cortez, we had some maintenance issues to deal with & much provisioning to do!!  So we got right to it all …. Cam had a few mishaps with fluid changes emptying themselves into the bilge (NOT happy) and I am sure I have forgotten to grab something at the store, but we will not go hungry.  We got to check out La Paz and it is CHARMING !!!   GREAT restaurants, a beautiful sea wall walk along the water (malecon) ,  very good provisioning (big box grocery) and GREAT local mercados (markets) with everything one needs .... cactus .... new and interesting cuts of meat .... very different cheeses ... all good !!!

Monday morning, we took a break from “chores”, joined our neighbors from RELISH,  and went swimming with the whale sharks.  VERY COOL !!!  The water was gorgeous and the juvenile sharks are very docile and not the least bit frightened by people swimming near them.  According to our guide, swimmers are not allowed to touch them and we were warned to not get near their tail fluke (don’t have to tell us twice) …. But we got some GREAT photos and GREAT video of the whole experience !!

The whale sharks ....

 

THESE are juvenilles !!

 

They are quite docile and are comfortable with people "up close and personal" ....

 

Barb and Doug arrived Tuesday evening in time for burgers on the BBQ … a little visit and off to bed to be ready to head out in the morning.

And …. We’re OFF ….. to Ensenada Grande on Isla Partida for our first nite.