S/v Espiritu: Diary of a Wimpy Cruiser: Tour of the Southwestern Sea of Cortez

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Tour of the Southwestern Sea of Cortez

The anchorage where we stayed at southern Baja's Caleta Partida is an ancient

volcanic caldera. Gorgeous. But first we had to GET there...

Two weeks before, Chris finished painting Espiritu's bottom at the

San Carlos drydock, across the Sea of Cortez and 400 miles north.

We shook off the drydock blues by dipping our toes in the cold water

with our fellow drydock pals of s/v Slow Flight

Finally Chris' hard work was done, and a freshly painted Espiritu

was happily ker-plunked back in the water.

Espiritu back in the San Carlos anchorage -- the first step to being back at sea!

Since Thanksgiving was only a couple of days away, we decided to stay in San Carlos to enjoy the holiday with our cruising friends before heading out into the great wide open once again.

We were invited to the home of our Dutch Canadian friends Theo and

Marian for a Thanksgiving potluck.

Someone actually baked a chocolate cake that looked like a giant Ding Dong!

A giant Ding Dong! I was so excited!

I hadn't seen an actual Ding Dong in 30 years. Filled with nostalgia for my American youth, I ran from person to person at the potluck exclaiming: "Look! A giant Ding Dong!'

Unfortunately for me, 95% of the 50 guests were Dutch or Canadian.

Evidently they didn't have Ding Dongs in Canada or the Netherlands back in the 60's --

so instead of shared emotional nostalgia for the chocolaty cupcake treat of our youth,

all I got was perplexed stares.

Looks like the Ding Dong was ME. So what else is new? Ah, well.

Starfish collection at Theo and Marian's waterfront home

After the delicious Thanksgiving holiday, it was time to pull anchor and begin the

400+ mile journey south to La Paz on the Baja side.

We said goodbye to our pals Cesar and Fernando at Barracuda Bobs.

These guys are salt of the earth.

We got a good weather window for the 90+ mile overnight sail

southwest across the Sea of Cortez to San Juanico on the Baja side.

The prediction was for fair winds and following seas -- every sailor's dream.

Instead we got cold winds on the nose.

Me sailing to weather on the cold, blustery crossing

When we arrived in San Juanico the next morning, we uttered the famous sailor's motto,

exclaimed only when dropping the anchor after a hard, cold passage:

"Hook that bitch."

Ha! Indeed, we did.

OK. The anchorage at San Juanico was cold and pretty,

but at least we were back on the Baja side.

The anchorage was pretty calm, so we got a good night's sleep after the passage.

Weirdly, though, for the second time in recent memory, I was awakened by the haunting

call of a Mexican owl in the middle of the night.

Hearing an owl is bad luck in Mexican lore. Creepy.

We went ashore with s/v Notre Isle and Windcatcher to do a bit of desert exploring. We hoped

to find the Rancho we had visited months earlier about a mile into the desert.

The Mod Squad

(AKA Gringos hiking into the Mexican desert)

I caught this snap of a striped snake next to the trail

We loved the sight of a wild horse running past

Soon this real Mexican caballero approached on the road,

so we new the Rancho was close by

Since it's nearly winter, the Rancho didn't have any fresh veggies for sale,

but we checked in with the farm animals.

This donkey at the Rancho was VEEERY happy to receive a free scratch

Speaking of donkeys, Mexico sells a very popular body wash called "Donkey's Milk."

It's so popular that it's often the only brand of body wash for sale on the shelf.

We've bought and used several bottles over the weeks and months here in Mexico.

Serious question: what in the heck is the main ingredient in silverly,

shiny, slimy Donkey's Milk body wash?

Honestly, we don't know, and we don't want to know. :-/

But it works, and it's cheap. Moving on...

Check this out: These donkeys were untethered and freely roaming the rancho. As we approached, they appeared to be deep in conversation with the chickens in the henhouse. They turned to look at us as we approached, as if we were interrupting a very serious ranch animal top secret meeting.

Chickens to donkey: "Hey? Where ya goin? Is the meeting over?"

This goat had the original hipster beard.

He came across cool without trying too hard.

After exploring the Rancho, we hiked the mile back across

the desert to the beach and the anchorage.

Harley the boat dog of s/v Notre Isle, went way, way out during his swim

San Juanico beach

We found this giant scapula on the beach. From what species

I know not. Maybe a horse or a cow?

Whispy clouds over cathedral rocks

This cathedral rock at the San Juanico anchorage was 100+ feet tall

The next day we pulled anchor and sailed south along

the Baja to Puerto Escondido, our next destination

Sunrise on the gorgeous Sierra Gigante Mountains over Puerto Escondido

The mountain views here at Puerto Escondido were simply spectacular, and

reminded us of Zion National Park in Utah.

We stayed anchored in the Ellipse for 3 days while the norther blew threw.

We had a music jam aboard with our new friends George and Sherlyn of s/v Believe.

Salty sea dog Lucy sleeps on the music while we jammed with s/v Believe

Chris and George of s/v Believe were amazingly able to laugh after an hour or two of frank discussion of the latest news of President elect Trump's cabinet appointments (The current Exxon-Mobil CEO, with absolutely NO diplomatic or government experience, for Secretary of State -- bada BING!)

After the storm blew threw, we headed south again. Next stop, Agua Verde.

A mule train ambles up the hill above the Agua Verde anchorage

We stayed one night at Agua Verde then headed south again at

daybreak the next day for San Evaristo.

Our good buddies Bret and Marne had caught this marlin just

outside San Evaristo a few months earlier.

Since a big norther with 25-30 knot winds was predicted to arrive in 24-48 hours, we decided to hightail it on out of there and head south to Caleta Partida, a famously beautiful anchorage between Isla Partida and Isla Espiritu Santo.