December 22nd, to Ensenada Grande, Isla Espiritu Santo to La Paz, 27nm

Big waves, not much wind ended up being calmer as we got close to La Paz

The ride was not fun,  it was blowing pretty good and the waves were big right on the beam.  We had the jib up and were healed over pretty good, I hope I get use to the healing like this and learn to trust Rainshadow and knowing she is not going to tip and  If she did we would be pulled right back up because she has a nice heavy keal.  The waves calmed down the closer we got to La Paz, it got hotter outside and the wind also calmed down.  On our way in up the channel several dolphins were playing off our bow, I love to watch them.  We arrived at Marina Palmera behind the SeaHorse and each of us got a slip in nice calm waters.  Its nice to be back here, but hopefully not to long.

December 21st Isla San Francisco to Ensenada Grande, Isla Espiritu Santo,19 nm

Big waves right on the nose, wind 7-12knots, motored with the jib up.

Departed Isla San Fransico around 10am, the waves are still pretty big and bouncy here, we were hoping things would calm down, but really didn’t until we arrived.   Ensenada Grande.  We worked around the boat and enjoyed the suddenly beautiful calm tourqoise waters on this amazing sunny hot day.  Once SeaHorse arrived we all took our dink for a cocktail ride.  S/V Meridian arrived and anchored, we haven’t seen them since Algadones, Marina Real.  We talked to them for a bit then headed to the beautiful rock cliffs that look as though they have been melted on the tops and hollowed out holes everywhere.  The holes were cave like with the tops melting over them.  They are amazing to see,  it makes you wonder what happened here, maybe millions of years ago.  The scenery here is amazingly beautiful, cliffs with green catus and other tropical plants growing out of the cliffy sides, small white sand beaches lie between some of these cliffs.  The water is so pretty and you can see to the bottom as if looking through glass.  On our ride we saw fish and a baby stingray swimming right below us.  We decided to collect wood and have a campfire on the beach this night, but as Cam and Janie were collecting the wood, Brian and I held the dink in place, the waves were trying to push us up against rocks.  Once they got in and we brought the wood to the beach and unloaded it we relized it would not be safe to go back later for the fire.  The waves were large and there would be a good chance we could overturn the dink if its dark and we cant see the waves  to keep the nose of the dink into them.  The winds really picked up and again it was a sleepless night with Cormels. 

December 20th, Isla San Francisco

Another Cormel (night wind from the south)

 

We moved last night from the North side of the bay to the south side. S/V Southern Cross also moved to the otherside of the bay last night, S/V Aka and another boat were already over on the south side.  Seahorse stuck it out and didn’t move over here until later in the afternoon.  They took Southern Crosses spot as they headed to La Paz, then S/V Whirlwind came in and a boat from Moorings a rental company from La Paz.  This guy dropped his anchor right over ours, he was just yards from us.  Brian told him about the Cormels and another one was expected, he was right inline with us and if he drags he will hit us.  He pretty much ignored Brain and stayed there, didn’t even pull back on his anchor when he dropped it.  We were not to happy, we took the dink (our dinghy) to seahorse and had a few drinks, aka came over and gave all of us fresh fish they had caught that day.  The moon was amazing!!  Suppose to be a eqlipse tonight, the moon is huge you can see it as if you are looking in a telescope…beautiful.  The moorings boat moved not to much further away, but a little better, we didn’t sleep real well, the cormel wasn’t as bad as the night before but it still blew pretty good.  Earlier in the day four of our boats were all pointed with our bows in, see the picture, this is very strange as usually we are all swinging the same direction. 

December 19th, Isla San Francisco

Cormel (night wind from the south) 20+-knots of wind all night.Moved Rainshadow at 130am

Today was low key, Janie and I walked the beach and that night we all went to S/V Southern Cross for drinks and snacks.  S/V Aka arrived today and they also came over.  Nice night but wind started to pick up and it howled all night, we thought we were out to sea because we were rockin and rollin and we were anchored.  Not a lot of sleep as we kept looking outside to make sure our anchor wasn’t dragging us into the beach or rocks.  It blew so hard we finally moved RainShadow to the other side of the bay at around 130am so we could get some sleep.

December 18th, Los Gatos to Isla San Francisco, 38nm

Flat seas, not much wind, beautiful day

Nice day, flat seas, not much wind, we motored and worked around the boat as Rainshadow guided us with her autopilot. Dink ride around the northern part of the island, walked the beaches, snorkeled from the Dinghy and saw many many awesome fish. Then Sea Horse came over and we played cards and had a great night.  S/V Southern Cross arrived as did , S/V AKA

December 17h, Los Gatos

We all decided to stay another night, today Brian worked on the boat, I worked on my white elephant gift for a party we will go to in La Paz , Cam and Janie fished then the 3 of us went to the beach to explore.  The beach here is amazing lots of awesome exploring, one part of the point we found crystals stuck in the rocks, they are hugh.  All the rocks on that side look like you could just pick them up, but when you try to they are stuck, very strange. 

 Afer exploring and trying to break loose some crystals,we went back to the boat and had a early night.

December 16th, Agua Verde to Puerto Los Gatos, 18 nm, 3hrs

No wind, flat seas

Beautiful day, nice and hot and sunny, we caught our first dorado!!  And I made  bread on the way!!   S/V Southern Cross called on on the radio as they were arriving Agua Verde and we were leaving.  We met them earlier in San Juanico.  When we arrived Los Gatos no one was there, first time we came to a anchorage with no one.  We saw hundreds of pelicans fishing (diving) along the shore so we decided we should go fish too.  After a couple of runs along the beach we had several bites and caught a rooster fish, they are beautiful, with a fan/peacock fin on top.  We then went to the beach to see if we could find any lobster in the tide pools. Last time we were here we saw two that we could of grabbed, but didn’t dare do it.  Its illegal to get any type of shell fish unless you buy it and the last time a jerk sailor was here so we left the lobsters  where they were.  After exploring the beach we didn’t see any lobster this time, we continued to explore the beach then headed back to the  boat.  Seahorse arrived and Cam was fishing, then a panga guy came up, the same one that we saw here 1.5years ago.  He had lobsters, fish and placemats for sale, we bought 10 lobsters for 300 pesos (about 25 bucks).  We had lobster and fish for dinner, awesome!