Moving to a New Site !!!

Hey there!

I've decided to move to a new site that is more suited to travelling and wireless uploads etc. Anyway the new address is

http://blog.mailasail.com/mblaquiere

a really cool feature is the auto mapping by my gps position right on the main page!!

ok

tomorrow I leave La Paz for Puerto Vallarta!! I should have some nice photos and stories in a week or so....

MB

Puerto Escondito

Once the weather died down it was an easy trip north to Puerto Escondito. I cruised past the entrance area (known as the "waiting room") and entered into the mostly empty bay. Puerto Escondito is now controlled by Sinclar, a branch of the Mexican Government. Unfortunately they see the area as a money machine and have decided to charge people to anchor in an area that used to be free. Since I was leaving for a month I didn't have much choice.... At least the anchorage itself was really nice and well protected so I wouldn't have to worry too much about the boat itself....

A month of Work….

Hmm. 28 days. 12 hours each. Yuk. Unfortunately Sometimes the bank needs money….. Anyway, the last few days were the best. I finally got a few days to see and hang out with my great group of friends. Parties and Dinners. Yumm Yumm.

But Mexico beckons…

Back at Escondito

I loaded up all my new toys and headed to the airport. After a quick flight I was back in Mexico almost like I had never left. I grabbed a taxi and headed out to Puerto Escondito not really sure if my boat was still floating. I had never left it this long at anchor before. (5 weeks !!!) My first issue was getting out to my boat. I hadn’t wanted to leave my dingy tied to the dock for 5 weeks so I had shuttled it back to my boat the day I left. All I had to do was wait for someone to show up and ask them to take me and my bags (2 big duffels) on a ride out to the back of the small bay. To put it in perspective it’s a little like being dropped off on a small country road and just “waiting” for a ride. You don’t really know for sure that anybody will even be there at all that day…

Well, it all worked out. After an hour or so the nice gentleman (the one who actually dropped me off at the airport) showed up. It was pretty obvious what I was needed. Not that many people just hang out on the docks with two large pieces of luggage just for fun… After a little small talk he beat me to the question. “You need a ride out to your boat?”

Fifteen minutes later I was back on board. I quickly checked everything out. Everything was fine. I sat down and breathed a big sigh of relief.

There were of course a few things I had to deal with. The fridge was empty. The head (toilet) was full. The water tanks were empty. The price to stay here had skyrocketed while I was gone. The decks were covered in bird shit and the bottom of the boat was covered in barnacles. Ahhh boat life J

So off to the store I went. Unfortunately the only store in the area has fewer items on the shelves than you do in your fridge.

I settled on the essentials and came back with a bag of chips and a big pacifico “balena” beer. (extra large!). Hmph. Fresh stuff would have to wait… Next I tackled the barnacles. Thankfully I have dive gear because it took me a full hour of scraping to clean all those little bastards off the bottom of the boat. The really gross part is that when I came out of the water I was totally covered in hundreds of those newly homeless brine shrimp. Yech.

It took another hour of scrubbing myself to get them off of me… Then right on schedule the next “Norther” started to blow in. Two more days gone.

Eventually it actually was time to go. I went and paid the balance owed and it was more for 6 days than it was for the whole month before! Ouch! I loaded up on fuel and water and headed south back to Agua Verde.

Agua Verde

Working in US till Mid Feb..

Hi

Sorry about the lack of posts but I have been working 12 hrs a day 7 days a week (really...) for the last three weeks. 10 more days then I'm done. (You have to put some money in the bank when you can)

I'll be back posting by late Feb...

mb

Los Gatos to Agua Verde

Agua Verde

We had heard that there was another big bad "Norther" coming tomorrow so it was time to move once again. We had a blustery sail up the coast which had everything from no wind to good 20 knot gusts. Unfotuantely nothing lasted for more than about 15 minutes at a time so it made for really annoying sailing. Just as you would get the sails dialed in everything would change. It was all made up for by more spectacular coastline. Eventually it just plain died out and we motored around Punta San Marcial.

This section acually worried me a bit at first because the charts are vague as to whether there is a good passage between the point nd the outer reef. I followed a line from

N 25. 31. 190
W 111. 00. 007

through to

N 25. 31 .400
W 111. 01. 405

and never saw less than 60 ft of depth.

We arrived in Agua Verde to another empty anchorage. (it would have few more boats later but it was nice while it lasted...) Initially we were anchored up in the NE corner but quickly decided that it was a bad idea. There is a submerged rock in the NE portion of the anchorage. It's 8 to 10 feet below the surface but caused me some concern after I noticed a sunken sailboat wreck just off to the east side of it We ended up anchored in the middle of the small bay in 25 ft of water. A bit more exposure to wind but far away from that nasty rock. I prepped the boat for the nasty weather coming our way and then settled into coctails and food.

Isla San Francisco to Los Gatos

San Evaristo

We were off again the next day for San Evaristo. This leg was a short one and so we were all settled in by early afternoon. The anchorage is a snug little nook between two ridges and initially we had it all to ourselves. We had almost no wind and a nice blue sky, a great little treat. A couple of cervesas rounded out the package for a perfect start to the afternoon. We even had a nice couple row their dingy over and give us a freshly spearfished snapper they had caught. They were Reno and Catherine from the Sailing Vessel "Star". The day just kept getting better and better.

Once we were all warmed up we set off for a quick snorkle session. Unfortuately, even in the Sea of Cortez, the water is pretty cold this time of year and so wetsuits are still a necessity.. In another few months everthing will warm up but till then we just have to suffer ;-)

After the snorkle it was back to the boat and a few more cervesas. In search of another adventure we decided to go and check out the "town". A town in this part of Mexico really just means a few houses in the same general area. There is no gas station. There is no pavement. There are no signs. And of course no city planners to keep things organized.

So you walk around a bit on the path or the first dirt road you find off the beach. Soon you get to an intersection. At the intersection there is a dirt road going off in four different directions with no real clear indications as to which one is the main road. You might like to take the road less travelled, but it isn't clear that any have been travelled at all... So you just pick one.

At this point you either come across a dog or a child. Either way, if you can't speak spanish you won't get very far. Thankfully the people that are here are all really friendly and you don't have to speak much spanish to get your point across. In our case all we were looking for was the small local store rumored to be around here and so we just kept walking.

Eventually we found it. A small cinder block and concrete house with a shaky roof on top. Out front the owner was working under the engine of his pickup truck while his two young daughters were playing on the porch. The girls were pretty smart and came over and led us into the small house / store. There was a decent little selection here and we managed to restock on a few essentials such as chips and salsa. as well as some other boring stuff like vegetables.. After that it was back to the boat to devour our new loot.

Los Gatos

The next morning we were off for Los Gatos. We cruised by the fisherman in their panga. We cruised by more pretty coastline. We did some fishing. It was just another rough cruising day. Pretty soon we were approaching our destination.

This isn't a super well protected anchorage but it's really pretty and we had settled weather. There are red sandstone cliffs at the north end of the anchorage giving the whole area a nice tint.

This is where you want to go if you are looking to get away from it all. There is nothing else around here, no houses, no roads, nothing. Adding to the sense of isolation we had the anchorage all to ourselves. It was really a spectacular setting in which to spend the day. To top it all off we had another beautiful sunset followed by a full moon.

Cruising is hard....