It is hard to believe that it has been almost a month since we crossed the Sea of Cortez to the Baja. The crossing wasn’t the easiest as we didn’t get the forcasted southerly winds. I won’t bore you with the details but it was just shy of 48 hours and we had to motor for 20 hours of that! It wasn’t long but it felt more arduous than our 5 day crossing from Cabo to the mainland! But we did see a blue whale – sorry no pictures. But since we arrived to the Baja we have had such a good time and want to fill you in on our adventures.
Isla San Francisco was our first stop. This is an iconic anchorage that looks just like the postcard pictures you see on the internet. We initially anchored on the east side of the island to gain protection from some strong westerly winds. We anchored next to our buddy boat SV Committed Sardine and we were the only two boats in the bay.
The next 6 days were filled with snorkelling, hiking and swimming. We really enjoyed our time with the “Sardines” Scott and Emily as we affectionately called them. Scott is an avid fisherman and when his freezer was full he gave us a fish. When it was time to move on from Isla San Franscico, they turned south as we headed north. We hope to see them in Vancouver when we go home for a few weeks this summer. Scott and Emily have decided to return to Canada with their boat and as I write this, they are starting their way north from Cabo San Lucas. We do miss them! And don’t let Scott downplay his guitar skills; we had a great night of music with singing and playing!
There are some big “pluses” to being on the Baja side. One is it is warmer – and stay tuned for future blogs when I start whining about the heat! Also all the anchorages are close together making moving just a short day sail.
Our next stop was San Evaristo. We had heard there was a store there and hoped to replenish our vegies and a key staple – beer! The store had very little in the way of supplies and no beer. But the restaurant more than made up for that! The food at Lupes Sierra & Maggie Mae was outstanding and some of the best we have had in Mexico especially on the Baja. And the kind owner there did sell us some beer, so while we had no tomatoes or carrots we did have our “barley” lol.
We stayed a few nights hoping some of our cruising buddies would catch up, but the last night proved to be quite rolly so we headed on. As we were sailing, SV Cosmic Wind hailed us on the radio. Readers of the this blog might remember Chris who crewed with us on the first leg of our trip. Well fast forward to the present, he was crewing for his buddy Tom on Cosmic Wind. Connecting with them and also with our buddy Steve on SV Southern Cross led to many nights of great meals, music and fun. Chris knows the Sea like the back of his hand so he showed us some anchorages we hadn’t been to before and may not have chosen ourselves.
The first was Bahia Los Delores. On shore it looks like a tropical oasis with palm trees and signs indicating it is a turtle refuge. We assumed from the signs that there might be nests on the beach so didn’t go ashore. The snorkelling was pretty good and Chris speared us fish for dinner.
SV Cosmic Wind woke us up early the next morning with the sound of pulling anchor just after sunrise. We were keen to follow so right after making coffee, we did the same. Our next anchorage was Punta San Telmo on the north side. We had a great sail albeit slow, but no diesel burned as Big Bird moved us along. The snorkelling here was also fantastic – need to get an underwater camera. Some fishermen came by selling lobster and we all bought some. Cue the lobster fest on Cariba.
Chris had told us about a great anchorage with choice snorkelling that was only 12 miles north. So after a short motor the three boats dropped anchor in the most beautiful spot – Bahia Berrendo. The cliffs there are spectacular and there is a big sea cave – see the video – that you can actually drive your dinghy into. If we had stayed more than one night I would have inflated a kayak to explore it further. We did snorkel the opening, but it was a bit freaky snorkelling into the dark, so we didn’t venture far in. The night was the epitome of Baja cruising with more laughs, great food (sushi) and a beach fire complete with a full moon.
Our next stop was a bit of a milestone for Brian and I. Aqua Verde was where our tracks on Calidris and Cariba intersected. We had spent some time in each of our last seasons here, but this was different without the strong “northers” blowing. The calmer weather did allow boats to anchor throughout the bay instead of all huddled together in the NW corner for wind protection. Having said that we did experience some significant swell; the worst being our last night there.
We reconnected with Lenore who runs the Brisa Del Mar palapa restaurant and her tacos de camerone are still amazing. We bought a few supplies at the nearby tienda and then explored the town looking for a second tienda. We did find one and the lovely young ladies there took us on a further walk to see if we could find some goat cheese. Unfortunately we didn’t get any cheese but saw lots of cute goats!
Cruising can be described as the great equalizer. You can be on a retiree budget or a Taiwanese billionaire, but you both get the same view! SV Sea Eagle shared the anchorage with us and according to one internet source she is the second largest aluminum sailboat in the world at 81 meters long. And if you have deep pockets, she can be yours to charter for a mere $550K USD/week. We saw the guests come ashore for a walk but they didn’t interact with any of the other cruisers. It was funny watching the crew scurry around to have towels to dry their feet and assist with launching the paddle boards!
So where are we now. Well it feels like we are in our “second home”. We spent many a week last season in Puerto Escondido and the staff here know us well. Welcome back was what we heard when we arrived. We are on a mooring attending to a few chores. We rented a car and Cariba is well stocked with provisions for the next few weeks. We will be exploring the many anchorages in the area and we are so excited to visit the places we missed last year. Cosmic Wind and Southern Cross have parted ways for now and SV Raicilla is not far behind. We have just under 2 months to explore till we have to be in Puerto Pensasco. I am not sure when I will have good wifi to post another blog so it might be a while. As usual you can follow along on our Predictwind tracker to see where we are! Off to explore!
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SVCariba/
SV Cariba 