Crossing the Sea -- Again

 Hola Amigos, 

We left La Paz Saturday AM and spent a lovely night in Caleta Lobos, listening to the sea lions on the offshore rocks.  Yesterday we spent all day making our way south – sailing, then motoring, then sailing, then motoring again.  Instead of anchoring at our intended destination, Los Muertos, we ended up at La Ventana because we wanted protection from a SE swell that was running. It's a lovely long sandy beach that the windsurfers and kite surfers use for launching into the channel here between Cerralvo Island and the Baja Peninsula.  Had a peaceful night here until 3 AM when the winds picked up from the NE and we got up and studied our weather forecasts, and determined that if we didn’t start making the crossing today back to mainland Mexico, it could be a while before we would have any favorable winds to get across.  With the first tropical depression already making its way WNW off of southern Mexico, we decided it was best to just get going.  So we are off!  Will be heading for Mazatlan, San Blas, or Isla Isabela, whatever makes most sense given winds….  Should be about a 2 -3 day crossing. 

Some Islands, and Scorpion Bay!

Since my last post, we’ve gotten to do some sailing, snorkeling and surfing – in between trips back to the marina to complete our engine repairs.  First we headed north for a week in the Sea of Cortez.  Isla San Franciso and Bahia Amortajada were highlights.  The water was cold, but we managed with our shorty wetsuits.  We finally got some crystal clear water for a day – saw the anchor at 25 feet, and had some really nice snorkeling – seeing bigger fish and more varieties, as well as some healthy corals (although I am also seeing what I think might be some coral disease). 

Isla San Francisco

At our first stop, Tim was checking the engine to see if the oil/transmission fluid leak repairs were holding up….  And he sees this big hole in the side of the transmission, and a large bolt down in the bilge.  Uh-Oh!  So we didn’t want to go further north without having the mechanic’s input.  So, back to the marina.  On the way back to the marina we had a nice day sail – catching several Bonita (a dark meat tuna which we don’t like so we let them go). 

Once back in the marina, Tim got right to work with the mechanics again, and they were able to get a longer bolt which seems to be working so far!  Fingers crossed. 

Since we were in the marina, we checked the swell report, and saw that there would be waves over on the Pacific side.  So we decided to leave the boat again, and do another road trip to a different surf spot -- ~6 hours away. We’d been hearing of Scorpion Bay (San Juanico) for years – it is world famous for its long rides – if all the points connect, it can be over 1.5 mile long ride we hear.  We were worried about crowds, and it did get a bit crowded (25 – 35 surfers at one break) – but we hear it can be much worse when better swells hit in the summer.  It was quite the surf scene – surfers camped all along the coastal cliffs, overlooking the various point breaks.  I surfed at 2^nd point, while Tim got waves at 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th points on various days. We met several folks that had surfer friends in common – it was a small world experience for sure!

We’ve been back in La Paz this week – mainly hoping to get Tim his second vaccine shot and catching up with friends.  Yesterday we tried to get Tim’s second shot – they were giving the Pfizer shot to those over 50 and pregnant women, so we were told to go and see if it would be possible.  Unfortunately, after a long wait they refused to give him the shot, since it had only been 19 days since his first shot, not 21 days.  And they don’t know when the next Pfizer shots will be distributed, so it could be up to 3 more weeks.  Given that, and with hurricane season starting up, we’ve decided to move along, and head back south and look for a good weather window to head back across to the mainland and the marina where Tim will leave the boat (most likely La Cruz) for the summer. 

Meantime, we did have fun hosting our new friend Fiona and her pooch Waka on the boat for a night. 

Summer is definitely setting in here.... 99 degrees today.  Tim and i can't wait to get back out on the water where we'll have better breezes.  

Explorations around La Paz

Wow, the last two weeks have been a blur -- first we took the boat out to an anchorage between two islands, called Caleta Partida.  There we spent a few days enjoying the bay & its wildlife (dolphins and turtles), trying to snorkel in freezing cold water (i would get numb after 5 minutes even with my wetsuit!), and exploring the sea caves on the back side of the island with some other cruisers.

Caleta Partida Anchorage

Almost Full Moon at Caleta Partida

Sea Caves back of Espiritu Santo

From there we decided to head back to La Paz to try to get some repairs done on our leaky engine.  Tim was concerned that with the lack of wind around here, we'd end up motoring a lot and the transmission has been losing a lot of fluid.  So that resulted in hiring mechanics that Tim worked with all last week to get the transmission out of the boat -- lots of pounding on the coupling, and heating and greasing was involved before they finally succeeded! 

Transmission is out!  Off to the shop for new seals!

Once the transmission was safely installed back in the boat, Tim and I rented a car and headed out to visit friends and check out some surf spots.....  It was super fun to see our old friends from Punta Mita - Dean and Yumiko and their two kids and explore the East Cape area near San Jose del Cabo with them.  

One the way back to La Paz, we stopped on the Pacific side of the Baja, near Todos Santos to check out a surf break called Cerritos -- we found an adorable little hotel, but were reminded of the importance of checking on whether the room would have hot showers (it didn't!).  Luckily there was a hot tub so we were able to warm up when we got out of the water.  Tim surfed a short session in the AM and then I took the longboard out to play in the shorebreak -- I was able to paddle around and even to jump up and ride a few *mini* waves, so I think that my hip injury is getting slowly better!

Here's a map showing the loop that we did... heading south on Route 1 from LaPaz, we took the route over the mountains to Los Barilles, and then south to San Jose del Cabo, and then came back along the Pacific side...

Now we're back at the marina in La Paz, Tim's back at work with the mechanic, while i hang out in the coffee shop doing computer work!  Best news today is that we've got an appointment for Tim to get vaccinated here next week.  Fingers crossed the supply of Pfizer vaccine holds out and that he is able to get the shot!