January 20, 2013.  We arrive in the popular Agua Verde Bay and paddle ashore to get the feel of the village.  It rests on the alluvial fan of an arroyo where it is about half a mile wide along the beach.  A boy of about 15 walks out to meet us where we beach our tender, answers a few questions and guides us to a store.  He announces that this is the more expensive of the two stores and encourages us to go on in.  We pick up a few items, including a coke for the boy, then walk farther back from the beach where trails and dirt roads wind among the houses.  We admire the well-kept gardens and speculate on whether some of the chickens are actually fighting cocks.  One house has a sign offering tortillas.  We place our order and pick up a bag of delicious fresh hot tortillas 20 minutes later.

Agua Verde and Roca Solitaria in Distance

 

On our return to the Kalliope, Deb swims with mask and fins, observing the many varieties of fish around the rocks and Gregg pauses a long time beside another sailboat and visits with the resident who shows no obvious signs of substance abuse but still seems to be “Wasting away in Margaritaville.”  How many say the same thing about us?

January 14, 2013.  This is a beautiful day of clear skies and gentle breezes sailing along the east coast of Baja.  We appreciate this day all the more because several days this past week were too windy for enjoyable sailing.  Fortunately we spend three of these days in a beautiful and well-protected anchorage.

Too windy

 

Today we see over a dozen humpback whales in the afternoon.  One pair travels close to us for some time.  We think they are cow and calf.  Another animal, the closest one, appears to be sleeping vertical in the water.  The nose, if that was what it was, comes above the surface briefly at about three minute intervals and what we see is a glistening black mound about two feet above the water and three feet across.  Too small for a full grown humpback?  There is no spout or other evidence of breathing other than the cadence of its appearance and we see no blowhole or mouth.

What part of a whale could this be?

 

January 8, 2013.  Two weeks fly by with friends Terry, Yelena and Sasha visiting from Anchorage.  We sail a little, hike around the islands a little and visit a lot.  There is nothing like five people in a small boat for getting better acquainted.  When it blows hard we stay anchored in some bay with a sandy beach and a spot or two of mangroves.  At the south end of Isla San Jose we take two tenders ashore, portage over a gravel bar and explore channels through the mangroves in the lagoon beyond.  Fish, birds and turtles enchant us.  On Christmas Eve we read the story of the nativity and sing a few carols a cappella.  When the wind is right we sail for a new anchorage.  New crew members learn to work the lines controlling the sails and occasionally troll a jig hoping to hook a dorado. No fish are harmed while making this memory.  At Isla San Francisco, we meet a fellow who sailed around the world from Tasmania, Australia and declares this to be the most hospitable place he has seen.  We also meet a couple on an Australian sailboat Terry and I saw in Yakutat, Alaska two years ago.

These folks really know how to handle boats.

 

In a bay on Isla Espiritu Santo, we see manta rays doing aerial acrobatics.  They jump clear of the water flapping their ‘wings’ much like they would to swim.  Then they belly-flop onto the surface apparently creating as much sound, splash and disturbance as they can.  For variety, they do somersaults and corkscrew in flight.  They are concentrated in a small area and it seems like there are 12 of them.  They are about 15 pounds each, black on top, white underneath with a long skinny tail.  If this is too clinical, blame it on Gregg’s current reading of “Log from the Sea of Cortez” by John Steinbeck.

Darndest thing I ever saw . . .

Photo by Deb B.

Fascinating Creatures

 

December 18, 2012.  We anchor early after an overnight trip including a rough ride in 25 kt. winds.  But today is another day: clear, warm and calm.  We are at Isla Espiritu Santo just north of La Paz, Baja California.  Ballinas Bay is decorated with two stark rocky Islands.  The arid climate is apparent from the sparse vegetation dominated by cactus.  A few spots of mangroves are a deep green contrasting sharply with the red and gray rocks and soil of the island.  As soon as the anchor is down, Deb appears with mask and flippers, sets up the boarding ladder and in she goes!  This is the first swim of the journey and it is so very refreshing.  There is an abundance of sea life including rays, schools of sardines or something similar, and lots of shellfish.  Gregg follows Deb in the tender.  There are many diversions as she swims to shore: “Gregg look, this fish is following me.  Oh, here is an old anchor.”  When closer to shore, Gregg sheds the long pants and shirt, ties the tender to his ankle and slips into the water for a short dip.  This feels like the tropical paradise we anticipated.

Here is the photographer

December 16, 2012.  What a lucky guy I am!  At age ten, I wrote in a journal that I want to grow up to sail around the world.  Though I stayed involved with small boats most of my life, it was sporadic sailing or motoring after high school.  When I was 45, I met a lady that will be my partner for the rest of my life if I get my way.  When I was 55 she said she wanted to go sailing with me.  When I was 64, she insisted we do it now.  So we have been sailing full time for the past seven months and we have covered the Pacific coast from British Columbia, Canada to La Paz and Loreto in Baja California.  My dream comes true.  If it ends tomorrow, if we don’t circle the globe, it doesn’t matter.  These have been a wonderful seven months and I owe it all to Debbie.

A lucky guy and wonderful gal

 

December 13, 2012.  Deb is persuaded to bypass Cabo San Lucas in favor of a new marina just up the way at San Jose del Cabo.  It is nice, but overpriced.  We have a pleasant meal al fresco on the street at the head of the ramp from our slip.  So our first Mexican restaurant meal is prepared not by a senora, but by a 67 year old man from North Africa who grew up speaking Berber.  From Ali we learn there are four Berber tribes in Morocco and the areas to the East.  He says: “I lived in Africa, Germany, France, the East Coast of Mexico and now the West Coast.  What can I say; I am nomad.”

We visit a couple of unique spots coming south from San Diego to San Jose del Cabo.  Bahia Magdalena leads the list.  There is a good anchorage near the sandy beach by the fishing village (200 souls?).  We paddle ashore and look for the port captain to check in.  He is not home but finds us later and eats some of Deb’s spaghetti.  We walk around and find the sweet shop, grocery house and some guys building lobster pots on the beach.  When we return to Kalliope, we find two ospreys perched in the rigging.

Trust me, there were two

 

In the evening we entertain Gary and Colleen who sailed near us the day before.  He is in the machine shop business and able to spend (six?) months a year cruising the west coast in their 38’ sailboat.  Like us, they are heading for a holiday rendezvous, but theirs is in Puerto Vallarta or was it Mazatlan?  Colleen sounds like she might have been Irish back in the early days.  They have two daughters, now emancipated, one living in Glasgow and one back at their home on Vancouver Island.   Their boat is noteworthy for the bicycles hanging on the rails outside the cockpit and for the large Canadian flag.