At Sea Level: 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.