Bahia Concepcion

More than two weeks since our last post -- consider us lucky to be busy with sailing, social life, and of course, the myriad of chores we do every day!

After our chicken kabob dinner on Warren Peace, John and Sharon left the following morning to head over to San Carlos and put their boat away for the rest of the year.  We spent a few more days in Santa Rosalia, hung out with Bill and Vicki from MaToWi: provisioning, dinners together, playing games.  All of us left at the same time, heading for Punta Chivato before heading down into Bahia Concepcion.  Jupiter's Smile was here in Concepcion.  All of us met on MaToWi to share potluck dinner and play Mexican Train.  The next day all of us rode together on Damiana to a restaurant, Buena Ventura, further south in Bahia Concepcion for lunch.  The following day Bill and Vicki came over to Damiana to learn how to play Baja Rummy -- they liked it!  The four of us went to Anna's for dinner that night.  The next morning while taking our morning walk along the beach with Bill and Vicki we saw a panga parked with fresh catch! We purchased a kilo of fresh scallops which we enjoyed over at MaToWi.  More dinners, more walks, more games, and finally Bill and Vicki said it was time for them to head over to San Carlos to pick up friends flying into Hermosillo.  They plan to return to the Baja side next month for more fun in the sun.

We returned to Santa Rosalia a week after we left for more provisions -- our California style of eating requires fresh fruit and veggies, most of which don't last on board for more than a week.  Jupiter's Smile was in the slip next to us, so we had a chance to hang out with Jay and Barb for a few days.  Another chance for calamari dip, Chuy's hotdog, and even a paleta after dinner.  The next day I decided to make another batch of bagels instead of bread.  Barb came over to watch and copied the recipe.  Since Jay likes having a bagel every morning, I suspect Barb will soon be baking them regularly.  That night we had dinner with them at El Muelle, one of our favorites.  After 2 nights in Santa Rosalia, we left to return to Bahia Concepcion.  We are currently anchored in Posada Concepcion.  We took a long dinghy ride today to El Burro Cove and visited with Geary, our weather guru, for a few minutes.  Just about every square foot of beach was populated with hundreds of local families camping, all having wonderful times, lots of kids, lots of music -- not too loud -- and lots of happy smiles.  This is Semana Santa (Easter week) and families in Mexico typically take vacation -- a very nice tradition!

Sometime in the next day or two we'll head up to Ste. Domingo, hoping to meet up with Patty and Terry for a night or two before returning to Santa Rosalia for one more time before heading south toward Loreto -- with a few stops along the way.

This post will be sent as soon as we have internet connection.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

Santa Rosalia 2

Oops, no silver, but lots of other minerals in the local mine.  Here's a link to Wikipedia which gives a synopsis of the history of the town and the many attempts at mining.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosal%C3%ADa,_Baja_California_Sur

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

Santa Rosalia

Even more vibrant than when we were here last year!  The re-opening of the copper and silver mines has enabled this small Baja town to prosper.  Stores everywhere -- clothing, gifts, shoes, stationery, pharmacies, two banks, and, of course, the old French (in name only) bakery is still going strong.  The grocery is well stocked, except for much of the type of produce that we prefer, but nonetheless, it has all the items found in a Mexican kitchen.

We had lunch out at one of our favorite restaurants with John and Sharon from Warren Peace and Bill and Vickie from Matowi.  Walking back to the boat in the marina we encountered a group of 3 fishermen, all of whom caught the day's limit of yellowtail.  They were huge.  One of the guys, from San Diego, said, go get a bag and I'll give you some fish -- up to the boat to get a ziploc and when I got back he filleted and portioned out a full half of one of those fish.  The six of us will have a great fish BBQ tomorrow night.  Would have done so tonight except that Sharon had already prepared chicken kabobs for everyone tonight.

The plan is to stay here until Monday, maybe Tuesday and then head down into Bahia Conception for a few weeks.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

Hola, Adios Caleta San Juanico

We indeed journeyed up to Caleta San Juanico and spent several days and nights there.  We took a few walks, visited with several cruisers, all in all a good visit -- we look forward to our return when we head back  south.

We are just approaching the tip of Punta Conception where we'll spend the afternoon and evening with friends from Warren Peace and Matowi.  We'll then head north to Santa Rosalia -- our refrigerator is not very happy -- lost too much weight and needs provisions!

More later -- we've taken a few photos that will have to wait until we have lots of bandwidth.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

Another week at Isla Coronados

Repairs, weather, shopping, and then a wind storm of significant proportion delayed our departure to continue our trek north.  The best part about being here is that we sail or motor over to Loreto, shop, get to walk quite a bit, which is good for all four of our legs!  Yesterday we clocked 3.68 miles on our shopping trip.  We also discovered a fabulous coffee shop that serves the BEST espresso with chocolate!  And they make wonderful dark chocolate muffins, etc.  Yum! When we're in Loreto we like visiting with John and Patricia (Trick) and often go out to lunch with them.

The plan is to head north this morning, aiming for Caleta San Juanico.  We've anchored there several times before and look forward to our return.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

Carmen, etc.

After we left Bahia Salinas on the east side of Isla Carmen, we rounded the northern tip of the island, stopped at Vee cove for lunch and then ducked into Isla Coronados for the night.  Next day we returned to Loreto for more provisions, then sailed to Puerto Ballandra, also on Isla Carmen for a few nights.  From there we sailed to Puerto Escondido, completing our circumnavigation of Isla Carmen.  At Puerto Escondido we filled up with diesel before heading a few miles south to Bahia Candeleros to spend a quiet night at anchor in front of a beautiful resort.  We were waiting for a part to arrive that was being trucked down from San Diego.  It arrived this morning in Puerto Escondido so we  motor sailed back to PE to pick it up -- and returned once again to Isla Coronados.  Our plan is to stay here for a few days, installing the new part (a repair for a broken one), finishing up our taxes, taking a hike, and then on Saturday heading back to Loreto for fresh produce before heading north.

We're very excited that our granddaughter, Amber, will fly down after her finals in May to join us for the last leg of our journey this season.  She'll also drive home with us and see the beautiful sites on Baja California.

~~~ Marlene and Roy ~~_/) ~~

track our route:

http://www.pangolin.co.nz/xtras/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg6uhl

One Day Wind Event -- and then some

As last reported, we headed over to the Southeast side of Isla Carmen in anticipation of what was reputed to be a one day wind event, winds in excess of 20 kts. As it turned out, while traveling south to get to a sheltered anchorage, we sailed in 20-22 kt winds (a day earlier than the predicted event). However the winds still haven't completely subsided. What is typical, we have either no winds or light winds in the mornings and then afternoon winds 12-15 kts, gusting 10-15. All is well -- they keep us cool in the heat of the afternoon when temps get into the high 80s.

Our first "refuge" was Punta Colorada on Isla Carmen, a very quiet anchorage with a small but rocky beach. The hillside cliffs are red and remarkable in the early morning light. After a few days we traveled further north on the east side of the island and came to Bahia Salinas, a wide bay open to the south. Even though south winds were predicted, they were expected to be less than 10 kts, so no worries. Turns out that the afternoon winds are the typical north-northwest variety, 10-15 kts.

This morning we dinghied to shore to walk the long expanse of sandy beach to the remains of a town. In years past, this area was a significant salt mine. Sometime recently a company built what seems to be a lodge (reputedly for hunters). The few rooms and the main room are vacant. There are a few people living here with trucks and well equipped pangas. Very trim cactus gardens are planted in what look like carts used to haul salt. The surroundings are gorgeous the colors in the mountains plus the cacti in the culverts coupled with the sandy beach and clear blue sky -- can't even begin to capture it all in a photograph.

Marlene and Roy
sent from the boat email