5/8-15/2017 Puerto Escondido to LaPaz with the Calhouns

5/8 Tuesday:    Al settled things at the marina office and made sure our rental car was picked up.  1040 we cast off our mooring lines with Steve and Amanda on board headed for Candalera Chico, a tiny cove that we enjoyed 11 years ago on the CCA cruise and wanted to share with Steve and Amanda. When we got there one boat was already there and Al didn't like the wind in the cove. So we re-hoisted the main and sailed with a reefed main and genie.   Engine off and a great sail in 18 to 28kts from the west.  Anchored in Agua Verdes at 1500 close to sv Mamala with Tony and Lynn on board whom we had met weeks before in Isa Grande when Janet and Henry were with us.  We all went for an early dinner at the beach Restaurant to enjoy their delicious fish tacos and to catch up with Tony and Lynn.

women's co-op 

This was our first evening playing "Farkle".  Which became a favorite evening past time.

5/9 Wednesday :     Stayed all day in Agua Verdes.   A treat to have the day to snorkel and explore different sides of the Bay in the dinghy and the kayaks.

Wind and water just a tad chilly.

A treasure find ?

I thought for sure it was cartilage from a Mobula Ray but I was wrong .
It was the skeletal cartilage from a hammerhead shark.

Amanda got a good work out in the afternoon getting back to the boat on our stand up paddle board as the wind increased.

Moon over the Gigantes in Agua Verdes.

5/10   Wenesday :     0820  Anchor up bound for Los Gatos approximately 20 nm. with light to no wind.  Dropped the hook at 1120 and spent the day admiring the scenery.

Entrance between black rocks and red sand stone cliffs

5/11 Thursday:     0815  Anchor up bound for Evaristo  29 nm.  Anchored in NW corner at 1320.  The days sailing was varied NW- 10-15 kts of wind down to 00 then back at 25-30 kts.  Had a nice sail with poled genie to port , main reefed motor sailing at 8kts.  Too windy in the anchorage to do much.  Steve and Amanda snorkeled from the boat and swam to another boat to invite them for cocktails.  

Little fishing village with no road access kids are taken to school at Evaristo in Pangas.

Tucked up nicely in smooth water.

5/12 Friday:     0845 departed from San Evaristo across the channel to Isla San Francisco.  No wind this morning.  Anchored at 1045 with 15ft of water under the keel.  We planned on being there in time for the guys to hike the ridge and Amanda and I to hang out on the beach.  It was a perfectly beautiful day.

Steve and Al got to the top of the ridge

Isla San Francisco

The guys had a magnificent view from the ridge with the deeper Agate beach on the E side.

East side

In the last three times to San Francisco I hadn't gotten to Agate beach so this time I was determined to hike over the salt flat even though I knew I'd pay with heel pain tomorrow.  It was worth it and I'd do it again.

walk across to Agate Beach

Agate Beach ahead

Looks like Chez Nous if far from shore but not in the middle
of the night with big waves .

                                     Here are just a few of Amanda's pictures from snorkeling.

Isla San Francisco looking West toward Baja and La Paz Bay 

                    Night falls on the bay but not before another ruckus "FARKEL" game.

5/13 Saturday:    0200  a Coromuel wind came in from the SW at plus 25 kts and blew all night.  The worrisome part was that we were in 15 ft of water fairly close to the beach that rises quickly and the waves were already 3-4 ft. so if we drug are anchor there would be little time to reset.  So we were on anchor watch till daylight.

0700 we raised the anchor and went around to the north side of the island .  0725 anchored in 18ft. of water .  More importantly the sea were flat and the wind diminished to 15-20kts.

0900we departed for Caleta Partida with a doubled reefed main, with the maximum apparent wind 36kts.  40 degrees apparent off the bow we could not hold our course of 143 degrees Mag. with 4-6ft seas. So we motor sailed at 1600 rpms and set the staysail.

1300 anchor down in south anchorage with 10kts of wind and flat seas.  28nm from the Northside of Isla San Francisco to Caleta Partida.  Just in time to have lunch and a dinghy ride through the cut to the E side of the fishing village to snorkel.  It is the best snorkel spot around.

 Caleta Paritda is the big bay between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo where there is a sand bar that almost completely connects the two islands except for a small cut that you can get through at high tide that starts  in front of the fishing village  then goes right up against  Espiritu Santo then cuts east along the island.   This is the same cut that we have pictures of Henry pulling us through in low tide.

Fishing village at the head of Caleta Partida.

We had a great afternoon of snorkeling then of course the wind came up at night.   A beautiful Lagoon 62 came in close to us and anchored in front of us just to the southeast.  One young captain and three young women all having a great time.  Jumping in the water before the anchor was really set.   Later we found out Ray was trying to retrieve something that her friend had dropped in the water and ended up swimming with real Mobula Rays.  Amanda swan over to get acquainted and found out that it was the woman's 30th birthday, that the boat was registered in Montego Bay Jamaica, that the Captain (her boyfriend) wrote a book with the title "Bula" and that Ray is from Canada.  Later that evening Amanda swam back over to give Ray her birthday present from ChezNous, the cartilage skeleton of what we still thought was a Ray.   She was thrilled.  We all prepared for a very windy night.

5/14 Sunday:     Mother's Day.   No one got much sleep last night. Wind shifted about 180 degrees and increased.   We all seemed to take turns getting up to look outside at the Catamaran , shallow water and our plotter anchor track.   

0700 Drug anchor in 30+kts  with the Cat close behind and putting us in shallower water. .  Reset anchor and added 30 more feet of chain.  Now 160 feet of chain in 15 ft of water.  At 1100 it was still uncomfortable and too windy to play with our water toys  so we decided to up anchor and head back to LaPaz.  Back in our slip at Marina Palmira in plenty of time to clean up and relax.  Cab to Marina de LaPaz for lunch and a stroll on the Malecon .

I bet its blowing in Partida

5/15 Monday:  A day to clean the boat, to get bus tickets for Amanda and Steve for early tomorrow morning and enjoy La Paz.

Surf board store and  bar second story can't remember the name of it.

Bus Station

Great dinner at a palapa across from Marina se La Paz

Wind is still blowing

Last night for "Farkel" and Teqilla

                                    A fantastic time with great friends and fabulous crew-mates.

5/7/2017 TURN AROUND DAY

5/7 Sunday:     Guests packing up, linens to laundry and beds to make.  Wally and Marilyn are leaving on the same plane that Amanda and Steve are arriving on.   Hummm, I didn't think it would work but it did.. Al was waiting for our one day rental car to be delivered to the Marina while I was doing the laundry.  We dropped Marilyn and Wally off at he airport and said our good-bys.  Sad to see them go but filled with joy that they were able to come and spend a relaxing fun time with us on Chez Nous.  We were blessed with near perfect weather and calm seas.
        We drove in to Loreto and grabbed some provisions , drove back to the airport and picked up Steve and Amanda, friends from LAYC,  drove back to Loreto , toured around town and had a late lunch.  Drove back to the marina to  unpack and settle in.  After all that none of us wanted to cook so we made a collective decision to go back to Nopolo for dinner and Margaritas at Pedros.  They have great giant Margaritas.
        By the time we got back to the marina the wind had picked up  and we had a windy, wet, bumpy dinghy ride out to the mooring.  Weather indicated more wind in our future.  Glad Steve and Amanda, seasoned sailors and good friends ,were going to be with us for the next passages.
       Only plan was to cruise south to La Paz so Steve and Amanda could catch a plane out of Los Cabo on the 16th.
 

5/3-5/6/2017: More Adventures with Wally and Marilyn

5/3 Wednesday : We had a nice sail from Isla Carmen  to Los Coronado.  Then had to weave our way between the sand bar and the Island to get to the SW anchorage.

 There is a huge Bay at the western end with amazingly clear water with several snorkeling spots but didn't seem to be as many fish as Painted cove or Balandra.

Nice hiking path on shore which lead all the way to the top of the peak.  None of us ventured that far from the beach.  jl's achilles tendonitis is getting worse.

5/4 Thursday:  0945  Underway to San Juanico 36nm motor sailing all the way with not much wind.

On the way we enjoyed the beautiful rocky shore line of Baja and dolphins playing on our bow in crystal clean water.

We anchored between two rocky out cropping in the north end of San Juanico Bay in time to get some snorkeling in before the wind came up.

Only fa few houses here but lots of campers on the beach.  Bay is large enough to provide several different anchorage spots depending on the wind direction.   Also many snorkeling spots.

Sunset

                                Mobula Rays jumping provided our night time entertainment.

                                    

                                         
5/5 Friday:    We debated staying another day but high winds were predicted later in the week and we all thought the water and snorkeling was much better at Los Coronados and we'd be closer to Puerto Escondido if it really blew, so we lifted our anchor at 0920 and dropped the hook back in Los Coronados at 1230 with the entire afternoon to enjoy the turquoise waters of the Bay.

Sunrise Jaunico

Baja shoreline coming back to the Coronados

Wind really picking up late in afternoon.

5/6 Saturday:      0900 Left the Coronados for Puerto Escondido with plenty of wind passing Isla Danzante on our left.  Love the dragons head and tail.

Isla Danzante

Picked up a mooring and cleaned up the boat a bit plus ourselves and splurged on a fancy dinner at the Marina restaurant.  What a pleasure, good food and good times.  Wally and Marilyn are Al's cousins which we hadn't seen in years, so it was terrific to get reconnected.

What better way to end the week?