Friday, June 10, 2016

Around Loreto



Espiritu anchored with friends at Isla Coronados 


The city of Loreto on the southeast coast of Baja Mexico is the center of culture and activity in the area. Fortunately there are several beautiful bays and islands in the immediate vicinity, so we've been checking them out.


Our first stop on this leg of our adventure was Agua Verde, south of Loreto. 




The beautiful bay and anchorage of Agua Verde




Don of Windcharmer and Chris marvel at the beauty



Espiritu, Windcharmer and Trovita went ashore to explore the tiny village.




Cows roam free on the beach



Little pink house



In tiny Mexican villages like this one, families turn one room of their home into a small market (or "tienda"). There were 3 home/tiendas in the village, selling a small selection of groceries and produce  out of their living room.



This bedroom, with children happily playing, opened 
directly into the "market" (AKA their living room)




Lisa and the goats, which roam freely through the village

So, not only are there cows, chickens and goats mooing, clucking and baaaaa-ing their 
way up and down the dusty streets of Agua Verde, there are also pigs and...



Turkeys! They've got the run of the place. 
Now that's what I call "free range."






Little blue church


There's a beautiful reef here, and it will always be known as the 
spot of my first spearfishing kill.
I was by myself when I bagged him (Chris was ashore exploring with the guys). I couldn't bring myself to take a selfie with the 2 pound wavyline grunt.




My first kill -- pupils fixed and dilated



I'm not a killer. I'm a gentle person, I hope. I don't like violence. But I do eat meat. And eating fish is necessary to stay alive in the isolated Sea of Cortez. So I knew I had to step up to the plate. 

Still, I wasn't looking forward to my first spear kill. Yes, I was proud and happy after the spear pierced the target, as I'd been working on my technique for weeks and had experienced dozens of misses.

But it's strange and sobering to see a living thing die painfully in front of you, at your own hand.

And yes, the fresh fish dinner went down good later on that night, bathed in butter and lime.

I suppose the trick is to never take the kill for granted -- to eat every morsel with gratitude and to show respect for the life so suddenly taken.

"Today is a good day to die." -- Chief Crazy Horse 



Next stop: Bahia Candeleros, a few miles north.




We got some internet at the beautiful resort on the beach at Candeleros




Desert views


We walked 2 miles on a dirt road to the village of Ligui.


Even though the village is super-small, there was still a teensy-weensy Catholic church.




church doors



We went inside, where a Jesus statue unlike any I've seen in Latin America greeted us.



Jesus loves bowling?




I know THIS Jesus loves bowling, but the original?


Actually, upon closer inspection I'm assuming that is our beloved Planet Earth that Jesus is holding, not a bowling ball. It's the fact that there are no landmasses and it's completely covered in water that threw me. 

Maybe Jesus is warning us about climate change in the little Ligui statue?




This little rowboat near the beach was named "Rosebud." Maybe it's from 
Charles Foster Kane's little known "Sea of Cortez" period? 



Flowers in the middle of the desert!




After a couple of days at Candoleros, we sailed north again.



We passed gorgeous mountains and rock formations as we sailed north


Next stop: Puerto Escondido.



We gassed up and did some shopping at the small Puerto Escondido tienda


You can anchor or grab a mooring here (both the same price -- $17US), and it's the place to be in a hurricane due to the excellent protection. But except for the tienda, laundry and internet, there's really nothing here. So we moved north.




Next stop: the Loreto waterfront


Since the conditions were calm, we anchored overnight here with several other boats 
and provisioned at the Ley Supermarket.




The town of Loreto is 400 years old 


From Loreto, we sailed only 6 miles north to our next destination: Isla Coronados.




Espiritu and several other boats settled in amidst the volcanic beauty of Isla Coronados




Tricia of Interabang leads us ashore on the 
lovingly maintained trail




Wood path to beach




View from the top. Chris looks down at the fleet, thinking "How did we get here?"




Happy 





Red kayaks




Dinghy and seagull

We spent a lovely afternoon with our old friends Derek and Tricia aboard Interabang. They're mentoring us regarding the ins 'n' outs of Baja Rummy -- a complicated, multi-deck card game of which mastery is sort of a prerequisite to be welcomed into the Sea of Cortez cruising community. 




What? You don't play Baja Rummy? Yes! Yes, we do!!!!


We're unclear whether it is legal or not to spearfish in these National Park islands around Loreto. We do know the fish counts in general are down -- way down -- so there are limits to commercial fishing for sure. Some say spearfishing here is OK as long as you have a license (which we all do), and other's say it's no longer allowed. Chris and I chose to simply enjoy the beauty and wait until we get farther north to spearfish again.

But some buddy boats here did hit the reefs...



The boys on family boats Cielo Grande and Shonigan speared several fish, 
and brought us a still wiggling grouper as a gift!


Wow.  Well, we of course accepted with gratitude, and we're still 
dining on her (him?) as of this writing. 

Speaking of s/v Shonigan, their  spirited and adorable 13 year old daughter 
Nina showed me her "room" aboard.



Teenager Nina's "room" aboard (AKA the v-berth)



So that's it for now. We're meeting new friends every day as we continue to sail north along southeastern Baja. More later! Hasta luego!

















































1 comment:

  1. Hola Amigos! Wanted to drop by and say Hi.
    LOVE the bowling Jesus

    ReplyDelete