Puerto Los Gatos adventure

Espiritu rests in Puerto Los Gatos anchorage

After exploring a couple of Sea of Cortez islands, we were forced to turn back to La Paz to deal with an electrical navigation issue. 

Chris gets technical help from Paul of s/v Grace and Jeff of s/v Luminescence.

Back at Club Cruceros in La Paz, I perused the bulletin board for the latest cruising news. You might remember a few weeks ago I posted that one of the cruisers had anonymously posted a photo with push pins of a resplendent Donald Trump, having recently become the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

Today, the photo of Trump was gone, but in it's place pinned to the bulletin board was this:

Oh, dear. This is the rap group NWA

 (Niggas With Attitude -- yes, that is their actual name)

Need it be stated that there are no apparent African Americans, rap fans or anyone of African descent  currently in Club Cruceros or in the local cruising community.

Well, I'm not sure what the anonymous disgruntled cruiser with the Pushy Push Pins 

was trying to say, but I could guess. 

Sigh. The Push Pin Bandit may be a man of few words, but I guess his point is crystal clear. :-/

 Well, the good news is, after only a couple of days in La Paz Chris solved our chart plotter problem  and we headed north along the southeastern coast of Baja California.

First stop: San Evaristo, where we had tacos at adorable little Lupe's Restaurant --

note the sail and surfboard signs -- drawing in the cruisers.

View of the anchorage from Lupe's Restaurant

We had 16 cruising adults in various stages of inebriation at the restaurant, and only one cruising kid -- 12 year old Evan, spending a year aboard s/v Coastal Drifter with his grandparents.

I took pity on Evan being the only kid, and challenged him to a game of dominoes.

Not shockingly, Evan reigned victorious. Little did he know what an easy target I was.

Evan celebrates his "dominoes champ" status. I lose. Again. 

We painted a shell with the words "Espiritu 2016," and they hammered it 

to the wall with the hundreds of other shells. Cool. 

After a good night's sleep in the anchorage, we sailed north the next morning to our next destination: Puerto Los Gatos.

The breathtaking Sierra de Las Gargantas mountains gave us the feel 

of sailing up the Colorado River. 

The distinctive rock formations of Puerto Los Gatos

Safely at anchor, we headed for a hike with Don and Lisa of s/v Windcharmer.

The trail beckons to the right

All the way to the top!

Me and Lisa look down on s/v Espiritu, Windcharmer and Trovita

View from Espiritu at anchor 

Shades of Bryce Canyon in Utah

Wow! 

Later that evening, we went ashore for a beach bonfire and jam with our buddy boats plus s/v Coastal Drifter, who had joined the group.

Chris comes ashore 

We jammed, with special guest 12yo Evan (s/v Wind Charmer) on the wood flute

Roasting marshmallows with Lisa and Laurie

 of Windcharmer and Trovita

The next morning we did yoga on the beach with Don and Lisa of Windcharmer.

This is Lisa. She is 61 years old -- and kinda my idol. 

We're currently anchored at Loreto with 7 other sailboats. Our plan is to pull anchor in the next day or two and head ever north to explore more of the islands. 

Could be a couple of weeks until I'm online again. But no worries -- both potential hurricanes in the Eastern Pacific are weakening and turning away from us...so, all is well!

XOXO Chris and Liz, s/v Espiritu