Log Book
May 2007
May 2007
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Sam finally got finished with his dental work the first week of May. And a few days before we left,
we discovered that the people we heard intermittently on the radio using the handle “Shorebird”
were actually old friends of Sam, and had been living near La Paz for many years. Wiley and Carol
Stagg used to play bridge with Sam in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once we “discovered” each other
and made the connection, they made arrangements to pick us up one evening and drive us out to
their beautiful home “Casa de Las Palmas Encantadas” in El Comitan. We had a great visit and hope to
see them again when we return to La Paz in July on our way back up to Southern California.
Isla San Francisco. May 7 we pulled the grassy anchor in La Paz and headed for “the hook” at Isla
SF. It was a motorboat ride because what little wind we had was directly in front of us. We set the
anchor about 7:30 that evening and enjoyed a relatively calm night. Tuesday we rowed the dinghy
ashore and drug it along the gravelly sand beach on each side, then flipped it and spent a few hours
scraping off the barnacles and grass and other creepy crawly things that had accumulated when we
left the dinghy in the water in La Paz. After a bath for the dinghy and then a salt water bath (using
Sailor Soap) for Sam and Susie, we rowed around the anchorage and met some of our fellow cruisers,
then returned to the boat for another restful night. Since we visited this island last year, we didn’t
feel the need to hike up the ridge overlooking the bay this time. We got enough exercise scrubbing
that nasty dinghy bottom!
San Evaristo. May 9 we left Isla SF intending to go to Agua Verde but we had too much fun flying
the spinnaker with the whisker pole and sailing in the light breeze, so we only made it as far as San
Evaristo. About 3 PM we dropped the hook in this little bay – another place we visited last year – and
spent a calm night.
Agua Verde. May 10 we finished the trip to Agua Verde. We were able to do a little sailing on the
way up. This year we stayed in the little bight on the south side (whereas last year we stayed in the
north bight) with some other boats. Our first night we joined the family of Fandango on the beach
for a bonfire and stories. The next day we put up the boat shade (Susie calls it the covered wagon)
to cool things down a bit, and did some swimming in the waters around the boat. We had Jack from
Tioga III and Marty and Rob from Ocean Fever over the next morning for sourdough blueberry
pancakes, and watched them depart for points north. We were going to leave, but instead of
deciding the southerly breeze was good to sail in, we decided it was good to relax in, so we sat on
the cabin top underneath the covered wagon and read and drank sugarless koolaid and napped. In
the afternoon Sam rigged the dinghy and sailed around the anchorage, while Susie swam around the
boat and scrubbed off some of the hula skirt at the bottom. After swimming, Sam visited with some
kids on the beach, one of whom spoke English, and found they were from Constitucion (a 2 hour
drive by partly dirt roads to Agua Verde) and were there enjoying a 4-day holiday weekend from
school with their family. After 3 nights here, we decided to move on.
Juncalito. May 13 we left Agua Verde and started north, unsure of where we were going to drop
the hook. We motored closer to the coast than we usually do, so we could check out some of the
out-of-the-way anchorages in some of our cruising guides. We found that El Mano de Dias (The Hand
of God) and Candalero Chico (Little Candle) are the same place. The locals call it El Mano de Dias
because there is a large rock formation on the side of the cliff that looks like a gigantic hand print.
Cruisers call it Candalero Chico because it’s just around the corner from El Candalero. Like Captain Pat
Rains in her cruising guide, we think the name El Mano de Dias is more dramatic and unique. We
went in with cliffs on both sides and found a nice little cove with a sandy beach, and two boats
already anchored. We decided not to stay, but it looks like a nice place to drop the hook another
time. We also cruised through El Candalero and noticed all the noisy water toys and dune buggies
and only one sail boat anchored. We might try this anchorage another time when things are quieter.
There are a lot of RVers who camp on this beach and locals who enjoy beach sports, and it’s
wonderful they have a great beach to play. It is just not always conducive to a good night’s sleep at
anchor.
So, we went on up past the three rocks called candles (for which El Candalero is named) and were
able to shut off the motor and actually sail between Isla Danzante and Puerto Escondido, on our way
to the little gringo community on the beach just north of Puerto Escondido, called Juncalito. It is not
mentioned much in the cruiser guides, but last year we found it a nice anchorage with a free wifi
internet connection via one of the people living in a palapa on the beach. This year we understand
he is charging for the service, but he was out of town while we were here this time so we could not
connect. Monday we radioed a friend from last year, Peachy aka Roberta, who graciously allowed us
to ride along with her on errand day, so we got into Loreto for a few groceries and a real internet
café where we could check our yahoo email. In town we also met some great friends of hers, Bob
and Carol, who are adding onto their very Mexican home. We took Peachy to dinner at a great
restaurant which Sam recalled from 20 years ago when he was in Loreto, and it was just as he
remembered. We got our laundry done and picked it up on Tuesday morning, all fluffed and folded.
When we found out about Mexican Train, we stayed an extra day to have the crew of Nellie Juan
over for sourdough pancakes in the morning and for Susie to get her dominoes fix Wednesday
afternoon. After dominoes we found a little store with Kirkland cranberry juice (expensive at $6 per
bottle but we limited ourselves to just one) and fresh tomatoes and our favorite ice cream bars.
Peachy again provided a ride and we had a nice little side trip over rocky rutted trails to stop at the
local dump. We are indeed grateful to Peachy and others who live here in Juncalito, they are very
gracious to help cruisers like us with transportation and trash disposal. Wednesday evening after the
sun went behind the beautiful Sierra Giganta, it was cool and we took down the boat shade and
removed the engine from the dinghy, in preparation to leave Thursday morning.
San Juanico. May 17 we left to go north, heading first for Mangles and then since we had to run
the motor anyway to make any progress, changing course and proceeding on to San Juanico. We
arrived about 6:30 PM and set the anchor near our friends Betty Lou and Dan on Decade Dance. We
went ashore the next day in our dinghy with them, to check out the path over the hill to Ramada
Cove and look for the cruiser shrine which Susie located at a bush on the beach. This shrine has
plaques and other markers with boat names and dates, made of stone, wood, shells, bottles and
other miscellaneous nautical items. We saw some dating back as far as 1982 and others as recent as
a week before our own arrival. While we didn’t stay here long enough to fashion a contribution for
Catch The Wind, Susie plans to work on that and perhaps we can drop off something on the way
back to La Paz in July. We walked along the beach until we arrived at the rocks where we found
water bugs crawling all over; at this point Betty Lou and Susie returned to where our dinghies were
landed while Dan and Sam continued on over the rocks. Betty Lou and Susie found a dinghy on the
beach with a seat, where we waited until the guys returned. Later that afternoon, we noticed that
there were some very strange little water fowl here, large flocks floating through the boats in the
anchorage; a few would put their heads under the water and look for whatever it was they eat, and
when one would find something, that bird would dive completely under water and all the rest would
immediately follow. The last one on top of the water always seemed to be confused about what
happened and would finally disappear with the rest; then in about 30 seconds they would all start
bobbing back to the surface like corks. This was good entertainment for about an hour. We didn’t
do any swimming off the boat here, because the water seemed a little cold for Susie anyway, but the
weather was cool.
Punta San Antonio. May 19 we traveled only 13 miles, but were able to sail for about 4 hours in
mild winds. We decided to call it a day at Punta San Antonio, a wide bay with a long beach where
the wind picked up considerably a few minutes after we dropped the hook. It was a little rolly in the
wind and swells that night, but there was lot of room and only one other boat in the vicinity.
Bahia Concepcion - Santispac. On May 20 we left San Antonio. There was still wind, primarily
from the south, so we actually sailed off the anchor without starting the engine. The wind
continued, so we ran up the asymmetric spinnaker and made about 4 or 5 knots downwind. There
were some other boats making the same passage – Dreamweaver and 2 Pieces of Eight. Relax was
ahead of us as well, making good time wing on wing (for you landlubbers, that means the main sail
was on one side of the boat and the jib on the other side). Dreamweaver passed us, but they were
running their engine to make water so that didn’t count. Then 2 Pieces of Eight blew past us with
their spinnaker flying, and about the same time we decided it would be best to drop our asymmetric
(it is light cloth and should only be used in winds up to about 14 knots) because the wind seemed to
be building. We pushed out the main and continued to make 4 or 5 knots, so we just sat back and
enjoyed the sail, until the auto pilot went out (too much weather helm with only the full main directly
sailing directly downwind in probably 20 or more knots). Sam took over the helm and we sailed all the
way up to Bahia Concepcion (we had not planned to go that far in one day but we were making such
good time we just kept on going). When we turned at the point we were on a beam reach and
really started to boogey, 8-1/2 to 9 knots) on down the channel into the bay because the winds
continued. The boat ahead of us – 2 Pieces of Eight – looked a little funny and when we got closer
we saw that they had a major spinnaker wrap and had to cut it loose at the bottom in the heavy
wind in order to control their boat and get it into the anchorage. That sure was a pretty banner
flying from the top of their mast and we were glad we had taken down our spinnaker when we did
earlier in the day. We started our engine part way down to the anchorage area, because we wanted
hot water for a shower that night. We finally dropped the hook at Santispac – one of several nice
anchorages within Bahia Concepcion – before dark and spent a restful night. And just so you know,
during the day when we were sailing on this 40-plus mile passage, we ran the water maker, ran the
refrigerator and ran the computer navigation program from the power we were generating from our
solar panels. When we finally did start the engine, the batteries were already at 100%, even after
we used the big power-eaters all day.
We spent 2 nights at Santispac with only 3 other occupied boats, near the beach where the RV park
had been cleared out except for one remaining palapa and they were in the process of moving; the
land around this cove has been purchased by a developer and the first order of business was to move
everyone off the land. Nothing has been built yet, and it remains to be seen what will happen to the
one remaining restaurant on the beach. The first day at anchor we just rested, after the long
passage the day before. And we planned a trip into Mulege the next day.
Mulege. On May 22nd, our second day anchored in Santispac we walked up to the highway (this is
Highway 1, THE highway that runs from the Mexico-US border all the way down to the southern tip
of Baja California at Cabo San Lucas) and thumbed a ride with a carpenter into town. This was Susie’s
first hitch hiking experience. Naturally, the first thing we did was get a couple of Holanda Magnum
bars, almendras for Susie and classico for Sam. Next we stopped at an internet café. After2 weeks
of no internet we had over 600 bulk messages (all deleted without checking) and about 400 from
friends or from our banks. Whew!! By the time that was cleared up Sam was starved and Susie was
light headed from lack of food. We met a gentleman in town that we’d met earlier while hitch hiking
– he had stopped but didn’t have room for both of us – and he recommended Las Casitas. His
recommendation was on the mark. The food was very good, the service good, the price reasonable
and the ambiance was super. We ate sitting in a garden, a beautiful garden patio. Terrific!
After lunch, late lunch, we walked through town and up the hill to the “prison without doors” that is
now a museum. It got the reputation “without doors” because the prisoners in the outer cells were
allowed to leave in the morning to go to their jobs in town as long as they returned in the evening.
The central cell block held the high security prisoners and had a gate separating the area from the
outer area. This prison was constructed in 1903 and was still housing prisoners through 1960. The
cells, both places, were quite spartan, about 5 feet by 8 feet, with no furniture. Each prisoner slept
on the floor until he had made a reed sleeping mat, and then constructed a rude frame to hold the
mat up into a makeshift bed. Most of the cells were now open, doors missing, and occupied by
pigeons, hundreds of them. The front part of the prison (probably had been administrative offices
and interrogation rooms) had the museum. There were old typewriters, artifacts from the pre-
Spanish occupation natives, historical photos of the town and surrounding ranches, old stirrups,
harnesses, etc.
Then back through town on the other major street to a market (there are 3 in town) for a few items
and then to the highway. We tried to hitch hike back to Santispac and couldn’t get a ride for about
a half hour. Sam noticed that most of the cars on this portion of the highway were going into
Mulege from Santa Rosalia and points north, very few going south towards Santispac. So he
convinced Susie that they should accept a ride from a guy that was just going to the other side of
town where there’d be some more traffic going from Mulege as well as the traffic coming from points
north. It turned out Sam was right in that there was more traffic. But, contrary to what we found
in Santispac going to Mulege where we got a ride in a few minutes, the traffic here didn’t even slow
down. Susie went into the auto repair shop nearby and convinced one of the office ladies to use our
cell phone to call her sister to get the number for the taxi dispatcher, then to call and order a taxi for
us. The lady had to use our cell phone because the auto shop didn’t have a phone. All this was
done with Susie knowing VERY VERY little Spanish and the ladies in the auto shop office knowing no
English!
Bahia Concepcion – Burro. After two nights at Santispac we moved the boat further into the bay
off Playa Burro, where there were more boats anchored and a little more activity on the beach.
There are several palapas with RV’s or 5th wheels on the beach, and some more permanent homes
on the hills above. Several jet skis were in use during the day, but it wasn’t anything like what goes
on at Cabo. We got acquainted with the crew of Dreamweaver and 2 Pieces of Eight, having
sourdough pancakes one morning with friends and dinner another night ashore to send off
Dreamweaver to San Carlos, where they will haul out and continue their travel adventures by taking
their RV to Alaska. Pete from Two Pieces of Eight also took a look at our broken autopilot and helped
us out by bringing over some special glue for plastics and we will see on our next passage if there is
any remaining life in this Autohelm 300 which is now over 20 years old. There was a group of
students that came by bus from Santa Rosalia for some water recreation; some of them swam out to
the boats in the anchorage. They communicated to us they wanted to use our swim goggles; once
we established that it was a loan and the goggles would be returned, we allowed one of the
swimmers to use them. He dove down to the bottom and came back up reporting there was not
much to see, which was not surprising, as the water here – while very warm for comfortable
swimming – is still murky with limited visibility, only about 4 or 5 feet. We did get the goggles back
and they went on their way, swimming over to the dinghy from Dreamweaver and begging a ride
back to the other side of the beach. Although the social aspects of being in this anchorage were
very nice, we longed for a little peace and quiet, so we moved again after 2 nights in Burro.
Bahia Concepcion – Santa Barbara. There was one small power boat off Playa Santa Barbara with
us, no condos or palapas on the beach, no other signs of life. The small cluster of palm trees on one
part of the beach shaded large piles of pink and black murex shells that looked as if they had been
scorched, but Susie found one very nice sample for her shell collection. After we investigated the
shore line and Susie picked up a few of the very tiny shells covering the beach, we bathed with our
sailor soap, rinsed and swam in the shallows before returning to the boat. The water was very
warm. The next day, Sam went into the water directly off the boat and was “attacked” by some
very aggressive fish. “It seems like a lot, more than a couple dozen” Sam said. Even though they
were just nipping and not really biting him, or maybe just making contact because there were so
many, it was unsettling and annoying so he gave up trying to swim. When we saw them closer, they
were some type of catfish, from 9 to 15 inches long, with whiskers. They were nipping at the prop
on the outboard and hanging around the back of the boat all evening. After another restful night
here, we decided to leave the next day.
Isla San Marcos – Puerto El Viejo. May 27 we progressed on to the southern anchorage at the
island of San Marcos. We were the only boat and there was nothing there except an old wood bano
and a newer fiberglass port-a-poddy on the beach, next to an unused palapa shade. The next day
we rowed ashore and walked a short, dusty road into the village. On the way we saw the large
stadium (baseball and soccer fields), the new gymnasium and auditorium still under construction, a
cute little chapel up on the side of a hill, the mining operations and the cemetery. The island is
composed primarily of gypsum and they have been mining it here for many years, mostly as export to
the US. It is a Kaiser interest and a company-built town. The store and hospital are marked COMSA
which is an abbreviation for something to do with the company that runs the mines. The little
wooden and concrete block houses are painted bright colors, the streets are clear of paper and plastic
debris, and there are blue trash cans placed about every 3 houses along all the little streets. The
church in the village is built of gypsum and was very inviting for a sit-down (or a lay-down in Sam’s
case) and rest from the heat. There is NO natural shade in this town. We walked over to the
loading pier and tried to chat with some of the miners taking their breaks under a canopy near the
docks. We think they finally understood that we lived on a boat and had walked in to town, and we
finally understood that their spokesman was married and had two small children. On the way back,
we found cool drinks and fresh milk in the company store. One of the very interesting things was
that, contrary to most of Mexico where beer is consumed at a higher rate than water, the store in
town doesn’t even sell beer. This is a “dry” town. No problema for Susie and Sam.
Isla San Marcos – Los Arcos. The next day we went around the island to a small anchorage with
room for about 2 boats to anchor in a patch of sand under about 12 feet of clear water. Again we
were the only boat and we had a tranquil night with just enough swell rolling in to rock us to sleep.
The next day was for exploring. There are natural caves and canyons that run down completely to
the water and form hidden beaches and arches. Sam rowed us all around in the dinghy and we were
able to take some really neat pictures. The morning water was calm, but there was a little swell, so
after our spelunking we were able to mostly drift back to the boat without much rowing.
Santa Rosalia. May 29 we sailed most of the 10 miles or so to the Baja Peninsula to Santa Rosalia,
the last town with facilities before we head up further north into the Sea of Cortez. We passed on
the new marina ($40 US dollars per night) to the old Marina Santa Rosalia ($15 US dollars per night)
with only 10 slips and wobbly wooden docks, but it has something the more expensive marina does
not have – Ricardo. At Marina Santa Rosalia, there is Ricardo. He works 7 days a week from 9 AM to 4
PM. He will take your garbage to the dump, your laundry to the fluff-and-fold and your drinking water
bottles for refills. He will pick up cases of beer (or soda for us), drive you up the hill to Hotel Frances
for breakfast, get fuel and pump it down to your boat with his make-shift gravity delivery system,
have his son come out and clean the bottom of your boat and change the zincs, turn on the water
heater if you want a hot shower and even help out with phone calls in Spanish. Singlar Santa Rosalia
may have a small swimming pool and wifi internet, but they don’t have Ricardo.
Santa Rosalia is a very interesting town, established by the Germans for mining copper then bought
out by the French. The mines petered out about a half century ago and the town has embraced
fishing and tourism. The construction is mainly of wood, not the adobe and cement block of most
Mexican towns. It looks like it wouldn't be out of place if it was set down along California Highway 49
- the Mother Load Country. It is also a very clean town. The French mining company El Boleo had
mistreated the Mexican miners, we understand, but they did leave in place a very nice infrastructure.
Most of the intersections are concrete that's been tooled and polished to look like slate. The church
was built by Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, of sheet iron, first constructed in Paris, and bought by the
French mining company in Brussels, taken apart, shipped here and reassembled – a beautiful building.
In the area of town now called Mesa France, the Hotel Frances was established in 1889 and it has
continued to operate since that time. The famous bakery in town was established in 1901 and has
also remained in business since that time, selling the best soft sweet hot dog buns we have ever
tasted. The hot dog stand across from the church uses these buns to serve their bacon-wrapped
hot dogs, served with tomatoes, onions, cheese sauce and condiments as you desire. They are
absolutely delicious – even Susie liked them and she doesn’t normally eat hot dogs. We took a lot of
pictures here, enjoyed a street performer fire dance one evening in front of city hall and watched a
little local basketball at the gymnasium. We found the Thrifty Ice Cream store and one of 5 internet
cafes the first night in town, after dinner of marinated roasted chicken at Terco’s where the air-
conditioning dining room is almost more of a draw than the food. It was very interesting to sit in the
town square and watch all the families and kids out for the evening to socialize, and realize that to the
best of our knowledge we were the ONLY North Americans there. This town, although constructed
in European style, is a very Mexican community, thriving and industrious but not influenced by the
North American tourist dollar. We really enjoyed Santa Rosalia.
Life Onboard in the Sea of Cortez. Living on Catch The Wind this cruising season in the Sea of
Cortez is much more comfortable than it was last year. The improvements we made in 2006 add to
our enjoyment of living on board a cruising sailboat. No more “baths in a bowl” because the water
maker is tricked out with good filters and working great. We make less trips to the store because we
have adequate storage space where there used to be sleeping space for nine people (who wants
that many people in a 39 foot sailboat anyway). No more running the engine and heating up the
cabin just to cool the refrigerator. Our solar panel array Sam installed himself is rated for up to 28 amps
and we have noted at times almost 26 amps going into the batteries during the hottest part of the
day. There have been days when we never started the engine and under sail on a passage were
able to pull the anchor with the electric windlass, make water and top off the tanks, run the
computer with the navigation program and the GPS, use the auto pilot and keep the refrigerator
under 40 degrees. Sometimes we start the engine about an hour before we arrive somewhere, so
we can have a warm shower that night. But with the new well-insulated water heater we got last
year (the old one finally died) we can take comfortable warm showers for two nights on just one hour
of engine time. And as it gets hotter weather-wise, tepid unheated water will be just fine for
showers anyway. Life is very good here on Catch The Wind and the cruising is great!
we discovered that the people we heard intermittently on the radio using the handle “Shorebird”
were actually old friends of Sam, and had been living near La Paz for many years. Wiley and Carol
Stagg used to play bridge with Sam in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once we “discovered” each other
and made the connection, they made arrangements to pick us up one evening and drive us out to
their beautiful home “Casa de Las Palmas Encantadas” in El Comitan. We had a great visit and hope to
see them again when we return to La Paz in July on our way back up to Southern California.
Isla San Francisco. May 7 we pulled the grassy anchor in La Paz and headed for “the hook” at Isla
SF. It was a motorboat ride because what little wind we had was directly in front of us. We set the
anchor about 7:30 that evening and enjoyed a relatively calm night. Tuesday we rowed the dinghy
ashore and drug it along the gravelly sand beach on each side, then flipped it and spent a few hours
scraping off the barnacles and grass and other creepy crawly things that had accumulated when we
left the dinghy in the water in La Paz. After a bath for the dinghy and then a salt water bath (using
Sailor Soap) for Sam and Susie, we rowed around the anchorage and met some of our fellow cruisers,
then returned to the boat for another restful night. Since we visited this island last year, we didn’t
feel the need to hike up the ridge overlooking the bay this time. We got enough exercise scrubbing
that nasty dinghy bottom!
San Evaristo. May 9 we left Isla SF intending to go to Agua Verde but we had too much fun flying
the spinnaker with the whisker pole and sailing in the light breeze, so we only made it as far as San
Evaristo. About 3 PM we dropped the hook in this little bay – another place we visited last year – and
spent a calm night.
Agua Verde. May 10 we finished the trip to Agua Verde. We were able to do a little sailing on the
way up. This year we stayed in the little bight on the south side (whereas last year we stayed in the
north bight) with some other boats. Our first night we joined the family of Fandango on the beach
for a bonfire and stories. The next day we put up the boat shade (Susie calls it the covered wagon)
to cool things down a bit, and did some swimming in the waters around the boat. We had Jack from
Tioga III and Marty and Rob from Ocean Fever over the next morning for sourdough blueberry
pancakes, and watched them depart for points north. We were going to leave, but instead of
deciding the southerly breeze was good to sail in, we decided it was good to relax in, so we sat on
the cabin top underneath the covered wagon and read and drank sugarless koolaid and napped. In
the afternoon Sam rigged the dinghy and sailed around the anchorage, while Susie swam around the
boat and scrubbed off some of the hula skirt at the bottom. After swimming, Sam visited with some
kids on the beach, one of whom spoke English, and found they were from Constitucion (a 2 hour
drive by partly dirt roads to Agua Verde) and were there enjoying a 4-day holiday weekend from
school with their family. After 3 nights here, we decided to move on.
Juncalito. May 13 we left Agua Verde and started north, unsure of where we were going to drop
the hook. We motored closer to the coast than we usually do, so we could check out some of the
out-of-the-way anchorages in some of our cruising guides. We found that El Mano de Dias (The Hand
of God) and Candalero Chico (Little Candle) are the same place. The locals call it El Mano de Dias
because there is a large rock formation on the side of the cliff that looks like a gigantic hand print.
Cruisers call it Candalero Chico because it’s just around the corner from El Candalero. Like Captain Pat
Rains in her cruising guide, we think the name El Mano de Dias is more dramatic and unique. We
went in with cliffs on both sides and found a nice little cove with a sandy beach, and two boats
already anchored. We decided not to stay, but it looks like a nice place to drop the hook another
time. We also cruised through El Candalero and noticed all the noisy water toys and dune buggies
and only one sail boat anchored. We might try this anchorage another time when things are quieter.
There are a lot of RVers who camp on this beach and locals who enjoy beach sports, and it’s
wonderful they have a great beach to play. It is just not always conducive to a good night’s sleep at
anchor.
So, we went on up past the three rocks called candles (for which El Candalero is named) and were
able to shut off the motor and actually sail between Isla Danzante and Puerto Escondido, on our way
to the little gringo community on the beach just north of Puerto Escondido, called Juncalito. It is not
mentioned much in the cruiser guides, but last year we found it a nice anchorage with a free wifi
internet connection via one of the people living in a palapa on the beach. This year we understand
he is charging for the service, but he was out of town while we were here this time so we could not
connect. Monday we radioed a friend from last year, Peachy aka Roberta, who graciously allowed us
to ride along with her on errand day, so we got into Loreto for a few groceries and a real internet
café where we could check our yahoo email. In town we also met some great friends of hers, Bob
and Carol, who are adding onto their very Mexican home. We took Peachy to dinner at a great
restaurant which Sam recalled from 20 years ago when he was in Loreto, and it was just as he
remembered. We got our laundry done and picked it up on Tuesday morning, all fluffed and folded.
When we found out about Mexican Train, we stayed an extra day to have the crew of Nellie Juan
over for sourdough pancakes in the morning and for Susie to get her dominoes fix Wednesday
afternoon. After dominoes we found a little store with Kirkland cranberry juice (expensive at $6 per
bottle but we limited ourselves to just one) and fresh tomatoes and our favorite ice cream bars.
Peachy again provided a ride and we had a nice little side trip over rocky rutted trails to stop at the
local dump. We are indeed grateful to Peachy and others who live here in Juncalito, they are very
gracious to help cruisers like us with transportation and trash disposal. Wednesday evening after the
sun went behind the beautiful Sierra Giganta, it was cool and we took down the boat shade and
removed the engine from the dinghy, in preparation to leave Thursday morning.
San Juanico. May 17 we left to go north, heading first for Mangles and then since we had to run
the motor anyway to make any progress, changing course and proceeding on to San Juanico. We
arrived about 6:30 PM and set the anchor near our friends Betty Lou and Dan on Decade Dance. We
went ashore the next day in our dinghy with them, to check out the path over the hill to Ramada
Cove and look for the cruiser shrine which Susie located at a bush on the beach. This shrine has
plaques and other markers with boat names and dates, made of stone, wood, shells, bottles and
other miscellaneous nautical items. We saw some dating back as far as 1982 and others as recent as
a week before our own arrival. While we didn’t stay here long enough to fashion a contribution for
Catch The Wind, Susie plans to work on that and perhaps we can drop off something on the way
back to La Paz in July. We walked along the beach until we arrived at the rocks where we found
water bugs crawling all over; at this point Betty Lou and Susie returned to where our dinghies were
landed while Dan and Sam continued on over the rocks. Betty Lou and Susie found a dinghy on the
beach with a seat, where we waited until the guys returned. Later that afternoon, we noticed that
there were some very strange little water fowl here, large flocks floating through the boats in the
anchorage; a few would put their heads under the water and look for whatever it was they eat, and
when one would find something, that bird would dive completely under water and all the rest would
immediately follow. The last one on top of the water always seemed to be confused about what
happened and would finally disappear with the rest; then in about 30 seconds they would all start
bobbing back to the surface like corks. This was good entertainment for about an hour. We didn’t
do any swimming off the boat here, because the water seemed a little cold for Susie anyway, but the
weather was cool.
Punta San Antonio. May 19 we traveled only 13 miles, but were able to sail for about 4 hours in
mild winds. We decided to call it a day at Punta San Antonio, a wide bay with a long beach where
the wind picked up considerably a few minutes after we dropped the hook. It was a little rolly in the
wind and swells that night, but there was lot of room and only one other boat in the vicinity.
Bahia Concepcion - Santispac. On May 20 we left San Antonio. There was still wind, primarily
from the south, so we actually sailed off the anchor without starting the engine. The wind
continued, so we ran up the asymmetric spinnaker and made about 4 or 5 knots downwind. There
were some other boats making the same passage – Dreamweaver and 2 Pieces of Eight. Relax was
ahead of us as well, making good time wing on wing (for you landlubbers, that means the main sail
was on one side of the boat and the jib on the other side). Dreamweaver passed us, but they were
running their engine to make water so that didn’t count. Then 2 Pieces of Eight blew past us with
their spinnaker flying, and about the same time we decided it would be best to drop our asymmetric
(it is light cloth and should only be used in winds up to about 14 knots) because the wind seemed to
be building. We pushed out the main and continued to make 4 or 5 knots, so we just sat back and
enjoyed the sail, until the auto pilot went out (too much weather helm with only the full main directly
sailing directly downwind in probably 20 or more knots). Sam took over the helm and we sailed all the
way up to Bahia Concepcion (we had not planned to go that far in one day but we were making such
good time we just kept on going). When we turned at the point we were on a beam reach and
really started to boogey, 8-1/2 to 9 knots) on down the channel into the bay because the winds
continued. The boat ahead of us – 2 Pieces of Eight – looked a little funny and when we got closer
we saw that they had a major spinnaker wrap and had to cut it loose at the bottom in the heavy
wind in order to control their boat and get it into the anchorage. That sure was a pretty banner
flying from the top of their mast and we were glad we had taken down our spinnaker when we did
earlier in the day. We started our engine part way down to the anchorage area, because we wanted
hot water for a shower that night. We finally dropped the hook at Santispac – one of several nice
anchorages within Bahia Concepcion – before dark and spent a restful night. And just so you know,
during the day when we were sailing on this 40-plus mile passage, we ran the water maker, ran the
refrigerator and ran the computer navigation program from the power we were generating from our
solar panels. When we finally did start the engine, the batteries were already at 100%, even after
we used the big power-eaters all day.
We spent 2 nights at Santispac with only 3 other occupied boats, near the beach where the RV park
had been cleared out except for one remaining palapa and they were in the process of moving; the
land around this cove has been purchased by a developer and the first order of business was to move
everyone off the land. Nothing has been built yet, and it remains to be seen what will happen to the
one remaining restaurant on the beach. The first day at anchor we just rested, after the long
passage the day before. And we planned a trip into Mulege the next day.
Mulege. On May 22nd, our second day anchored in Santispac we walked up to the highway (this is
Highway 1, THE highway that runs from the Mexico-US border all the way down to the southern tip
of Baja California at Cabo San Lucas) and thumbed a ride with a carpenter into town. This was Susie’s
first hitch hiking experience. Naturally, the first thing we did was get a couple of Holanda Magnum
bars, almendras for Susie and classico for Sam. Next we stopped at an internet café. After2 weeks
of no internet we had over 600 bulk messages (all deleted without checking) and about 400 from
friends or from our banks. Whew!! By the time that was cleared up Sam was starved and Susie was
light headed from lack of food. We met a gentleman in town that we’d met earlier while hitch hiking
– he had stopped but didn’t have room for both of us – and he recommended Las Casitas. His
recommendation was on the mark. The food was very good, the service good, the price reasonable
and the ambiance was super. We ate sitting in a garden, a beautiful garden patio. Terrific!
After lunch, late lunch, we walked through town and up the hill to the “prison without doors” that is
now a museum. It got the reputation “without doors” because the prisoners in the outer cells were
allowed to leave in the morning to go to their jobs in town as long as they returned in the evening.
The central cell block held the high security prisoners and had a gate separating the area from the
outer area. This prison was constructed in 1903 and was still housing prisoners through 1960. The
cells, both places, were quite spartan, about 5 feet by 8 feet, with no furniture. Each prisoner slept
on the floor until he had made a reed sleeping mat, and then constructed a rude frame to hold the
mat up into a makeshift bed. Most of the cells were now open, doors missing, and occupied by
pigeons, hundreds of them. The front part of the prison (probably had been administrative offices
and interrogation rooms) had the museum. There were old typewriters, artifacts from the pre-
Spanish occupation natives, historical photos of the town and surrounding ranches, old stirrups,
harnesses, etc.
Then back through town on the other major street to a market (there are 3 in town) for a few items
and then to the highway. We tried to hitch hike back to Santispac and couldn’t get a ride for about
a half hour. Sam noticed that most of the cars on this portion of the highway were going into
Mulege from Santa Rosalia and points north, very few going south towards Santispac. So he
convinced Susie that they should accept a ride from a guy that was just going to the other side of
town where there’d be some more traffic going from Mulege as well as the traffic coming from points
north. It turned out Sam was right in that there was more traffic. But, contrary to what we found
in Santispac going to Mulege where we got a ride in a few minutes, the traffic here didn’t even slow
down. Susie went into the auto repair shop nearby and convinced one of the office ladies to use our
cell phone to call her sister to get the number for the taxi dispatcher, then to call and order a taxi for
us. The lady had to use our cell phone because the auto shop didn’t have a phone. All this was
done with Susie knowing VERY VERY little Spanish and the ladies in the auto shop office knowing no
English!
Bahia Concepcion – Burro. After two nights at Santispac we moved the boat further into the bay
off Playa Burro, where there were more boats anchored and a little more activity on the beach.
There are several palapas with RV’s or 5th wheels on the beach, and some more permanent homes
on the hills above. Several jet skis were in use during the day, but it wasn’t anything like what goes
on at Cabo. We got acquainted with the crew of Dreamweaver and 2 Pieces of Eight, having
sourdough pancakes one morning with friends and dinner another night ashore to send off
Dreamweaver to San Carlos, where they will haul out and continue their travel adventures by taking
their RV to Alaska. Pete from Two Pieces of Eight also took a look at our broken autopilot and helped
us out by bringing over some special glue for plastics and we will see on our next passage if there is
any remaining life in this Autohelm 300 which is now over 20 years old. There was a group of
students that came by bus from Santa Rosalia for some water recreation; some of them swam out to
the boats in the anchorage. They communicated to us they wanted to use our swim goggles; once
we established that it was a loan and the goggles would be returned, we allowed one of the
swimmers to use them. He dove down to the bottom and came back up reporting there was not
much to see, which was not surprising, as the water here – while very warm for comfortable
swimming – is still murky with limited visibility, only about 4 or 5 feet. We did get the goggles back
and they went on their way, swimming over to the dinghy from Dreamweaver and begging a ride
back to the other side of the beach. Although the social aspects of being in this anchorage were
very nice, we longed for a little peace and quiet, so we moved again after 2 nights in Burro.
Bahia Concepcion – Santa Barbara. There was one small power boat off Playa Santa Barbara with
us, no condos or palapas on the beach, no other signs of life. The small cluster of palm trees on one
part of the beach shaded large piles of pink and black murex shells that looked as if they had been
scorched, but Susie found one very nice sample for her shell collection. After we investigated the
shore line and Susie picked up a few of the very tiny shells covering the beach, we bathed with our
sailor soap, rinsed and swam in the shallows before returning to the boat. The water was very
warm. The next day, Sam went into the water directly off the boat and was “attacked” by some
very aggressive fish. “It seems like a lot, more than a couple dozen” Sam said. Even though they
were just nipping and not really biting him, or maybe just making contact because there were so
many, it was unsettling and annoying so he gave up trying to swim. When we saw them closer, they
were some type of catfish, from 9 to 15 inches long, with whiskers. They were nipping at the prop
on the outboard and hanging around the back of the boat all evening. After another restful night
here, we decided to leave the next day.
Isla San Marcos – Puerto El Viejo. May 27 we progressed on to the southern anchorage at the
island of San Marcos. We were the only boat and there was nothing there except an old wood bano
and a newer fiberglass port-a-poddy on the beach, next to an unused palapa shade. The next day
we rowed ashore and walked a short, dusty road into the village. On the way we saw the large
stadium (baseball and soccer fields), the new gymnasium and auditorium still under construction, a
cute little chapel up on the side of a hill, the mining operations and the cemetery. The island is
composed primarily of gypsum and they have been mining it here for many years, mostly as export to
the US. It is a Kaiser interest and a company-built town. The store and hospital are marked COMSA
which is an abbreviation for something to do with the company that runs the mines. The little
wooden and concrete block houses are painted bright colors, the streets are clear of paper and plastic
debris, and there are blue trash cans placed about every 3 houses along all the little streets. The
church in the village is built of gypsum and was very inviting for a sit-down (or a lay-down in Sam’s
case) and rest from the heat. There is NO natural shade in this town. We walked over to the
loading pier and tried to chat with some of the miners taking their breaks under a canopy near the
docks. We think they finally understood that we lived on a boat and had walked in to town, and we
finally understood that their spokesman was married and had two small children. On the way back,
we found cool drinks and fresh milk in the company store. One of the very interesting things was
that, contrary to most of Mexico where beer is consumed at a higher rate than water, the store in
town doesn’t even sell beer. This is a “dry” town. No problema for Susie and Sam.
Isla San Marcos – Los Arcos. The next day we went around the island to a small anchorage with
room for about 2 boats to anchor in a patch of sand under about 12 feet of clear water. Again we
were the only boat and we had a tranquil night with just enough swell rolling in to rock us to sleep.
The next day was for exploring. There are natural caves and canyons that run down completely to
the water and form hidden beaches and arches. Sam rowed us all around in the dinghy and we were
able to take some really neat pictures. The morning water was calm, but there was a little swell, so
after our spelunking we were able to mostly drift back to the boat without much rowing.
Santa Rosalia. May 29 we sailed most of the 10 miles or so to the Baja Peninsula to Santa Rosalia,
the last town with facilities before we head up further north into the Sea of Cortez. We passed on
the new marina ($40 US dollars per night) to the old Marina Santa Rosalia ($15 US dollars per night)
with only 10 slips and wobbly wooden docks, but it has something the more expensive marina does
not have – Ricardo. At Marina Santa Rosalia, there is Ricardo. He works 7 days a week from 9 AM to 4
PM. He will take your garbage to the dump, your laundry to the fluff-and-fold and your drinking water
bottles for refills. He will pick up cases of beer (or soda for us), drive you up the hill to Hotel Frances
for breakfast, get fuel and pump it down to your boat with his make-shift gravity delivery system,
have his son come out and clean the bottom of your boat and change the zincs, turn on the water
heater if you want a hot shower and even help out with phone calls in Spanish. Singlar Santa Rosalia
may have a small swimming pool and wifi internet, but they don’t have Ricardo.
Santa Rosalia is a very interesting town, established by the Germans for mining copper then bought
out by the French. The mines petered out about a half century ago and the town has embraced
fishing and tourism. The construction is mainly of wood, not the adobe and cement block of most
Mexican towns. It looks like it wouldn't be out of place if it was set down along California Highway 49
- the Mother Load Country. It is also a very clean town. The French mining company El Boleo had
mistreated the Mexican miners, we understand, but they did leave in place a very nice infrastructure.
Most of the intersections are concrete that's been tooled and polished to look like slate. The church
was built by Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, of sheet iron, first constructed in Paris, and bought by the
French mining company in Brussels, taken apart, shipped here and reassembled – a beautiful building.
In the area of town now called Mesa France, the Hotel Frances was established in 1889 and it has
continued to operate since that time. The famous bakery in town was established in 1901 and has
also remained in business since that time, selling the best soft sweet hot dog buns we have ever
tasted. The hot dog stand across from the church uses these buns to serve their bacon-wrapped
hot dogs, served with tomatoes, onions, cheese sauce and condiments as you desire. They are
absolutely delicious – even Susie liked them and she doesn’t normally eat hot dogs. We took a lot of
pictures here, enjoyed a street performer fire dance one evening in front of city hall and watched a
little local basketball at the gymnasium. We found the Thrifty Ice Cream store and one of 5 internet
cafes the first night in town, after dinner of marinated roasted chicken at Terco’s where the air-
conditioning dining room is almost more of a draw than the food. It was very interesting to sit in the
town square and watch all the families and kids out for the evening to socialize, and realize that to the
best of our knowledge we were the ONLY North Americans there. This town, although constructed
in European style, is a very Mexican community, thriving and industrious but not influenced by the
North American tourist dollar. We really enjoyed Santa Rosalia.
Life Onboard in the Sea of Cortez. Living on Catch The Wind this cruising season in the Sea of
Cortez is much more comfortable than it was last year. The improvements we made in 2006 add to
our enjoyment of living on board a cruising sailboat. No more “baths in a bowl” because the water
maker is tricked out with good filters and working great. We make less trips to the store because we
have adequate storage space where there used to be sleeping space for nine people (who wants
that many people in a 39 foot sailboat anyway). No more running the engine and heating up the
cabin just to cool the refrigerator. Our solar panel array Sam installed himself is rated for up to 28 amps
and we have noted at times almost 26 amps going into the batteries during the hottest part of the
day. There have been days when we never started the engine and under sail on a passage were
able to pull the anchor with the electric windlass, make water and top off the tanks, run the
computer with the navigation program and the GPS, use the auto pilot and keep the refrigerator
under 40 degrees. Sometimes we start the engine about an hour before we arrive somewhere, so
we can have a warm shower that night. But with the new well-insulated water heater we got last
year (the old one finally died) we can take comfortable warm showers for two nights on just one hour
of engine time. And as it gets hotter weather-wise, tepid unheated water will be just fine for
showers anyway. Life is very good here on Catch The Wind and the cruising is great!
| May 2007 |
| Photos for May 2007 |