North to Escondido and back down to La Paz

12-5-15 we’ve moved bays headed north. We are on the island of Partida in the Bay Ensenada El Cardonal. We had some decent wind and small waves getting here. Before we left we stopped by a fish camp and bought two snappers. Once filleted it wasn’t much fish, but we did not care. I dragged a lure to this new Bay but did not catch anything. Patti let me take the Helm for a bit, which is good cause i started to think to myself if sailing is watching someone sail for four months, sailing is not for me. I have much to learn, but it was fun watching the wind and sailing as close to it as possible. There are little stringers on the sails called ’tell tails’ that you watch and as they flutter downward you can move closer to the wind and as they flutter up and away it means you are losing the wind. John and Bones headed back to La Paz and Pat decided to sail to this next bay with us. Once here and anchored we had some lunch and then took a skiff ride to shore. All of us were itching to do a bit of hiking. Supposedly there is a trail here. As we were eating we listened in on the VHF and heard that another sail boat a few miles north of us hooked a Marlin. This is something everyone wants to do, but at the same time no one wants to do. On a sailboat you have no way of landing a fish this big or storing it. Far too much to eat between two or three people. We listened to the chatting between the boat that caught it and the boat that they were traveling with. They think it was about 8’ and after an hour or so they got it to the stern of the boat. They said they were going to try and retrieve the lure. I’ve heard from multiple people that it is best just to cut your losses as close to the lure as possible. Of course the fish is going to be exhausted but you don’t want to chance it freaking out while you hand is in its mouth or it damaging something on the boat. Patti chimed into their conversation and mentioned that she had a couple fishermen on board who both suggested cutting the line. They said that probably what they would do. We heard later that they were able to release the fish and retrieve the lure. Once in our new bay we had some lunch and then we took the skiff to shore. We were all itching to do a hike. Supposedly there is a trail here, but you wouldn’t know it. I did see a faded out piece of flagging tied to a cactus. The terrain is very rocky with loads of pokey things. Everywhere you step is danger. I saw some lizards and some sort of herbivore scat. Looked a bit like maybe bunny? We all sort of went our separate ways. I told Pat and Patti to head on up as i was going to take some photos along the way. Pat and i both eventually made it to the top of the hill, Patti turned back early as her dog, Mariah’s heart seemed like it was about to explode. The view from the top was spectacular. I kept thinking what a great place for the Spanish or some pirate to hide a treasure chest. Sadly i did not find any gold. I also thought how bummed the Spanish must have been when their ships spotted land here for the first time and it was rocks and cactus as far as the eye can see, cause that is kinda how i feel. The hike up to the peak didn’t take long. The beginning was the most difficult. You could not take step forward without your legs being scratched on something. The way down proved a little more difficult. It was hard to judge which rocks and boulders were loose. I only had one close call when i stepped and the rock rolled out from under my foot, causing me to fall forward but luckily i was able to catch myself with nothing more than a little scrape on the palm. It was pretty much the only couple of square feet with nothing pokey sticking out. Patti thought it was one of the worst hikes, but i kinda liked it myself. We went over to Pats boat for dinner, the fish was delicious fried in a little oil with salt and pepper. The night was not comfortable at all. All night big gusts of wind would come up. Patti was pretty nervous about the anchor not holding so she’d jump up after every gust. I figured with her worrying about it, i did not need to. I never felt like we were moving. Maybe i would have felt different if it were my boat. 12-6-15 Because it was soooo windy we moved down a couple bays to Mezten~o wasn’t much calmer over here. I drug the handline with the cedar plug, but caught nothing. This bay was much smaller than the last few. There was another boat already mored here. I rode with Pat, but he did most of the work. I enjoy his company more and more every day. Because neither of them, Patti or Pat got any sleep the night before, because they were both worried about their boats in the wind. We took it easy. I read my book while Patti took a nap. Later in the afternoon Pat stopped by and we skiffed to the beach. I did not bring my hiking shoes and unfortunately forgot my camera as well. Never leave the boat without my camera. I found an old turtle shell and a pretty cool looking hermit crab, he was about the size of my fist and a long ways away from the water, i turned him around and pointed him in the right direction, but he was on a path of his own and headed back up towards the desert. I was in sandals and walked around on the coast a bit. I got within a couple of feet of a Heron sitting on a rock, would made a great photo with his body silhouetted in the sun. Found some cool shells and a piece of cactus drift wood, which is really cool as it is very light and filled with holes. I also found the jaw of some animal. After your little beach stroll we hoped back in the skiff and back to Patti’s boat, forgetting all my great treasures on the beach. All the beaches around here are the same, so i am sure i’ll find more. We had dinner, had some wine, watched the sunset then watched a movie. Pat is headed back to La Paz and we are headed north to San Francisco Island, which is some 21 miles away, and depending on our speed we may head another 8 miles north to the little town which is north of there. We have plenty of food, but are running low on fresh fruits/veggies. 12-7-15 we tried to make it to the isle of San Francisco, it was very rough going. Easily 6 foot seas, Patti loved it, i did not. She asked if i wanted to turn back and try again the next day. I tried to bear it, but after about ½ hour i changed my mind and when she offered to turn in to a northern bay i said “Hell Yes” we spent the night in the middle lobe of Ensenade Grande. Once into the bay the waves and wind died down. A few other boats followed suit. You’d see them rocking and rolling as they came here to hide out. I think this is the best anchorage we’ve been to. I am hoping to stay another night, but Patti wants to head north. We are going to wait and see what the weather says. We have a single side band radio that puts out the weather at 7:15 am every morning. I like this bay as it is peaceful and quite. Patti went for a swim right when we got here and i went for a lay down to settle my stomach. Patti took her spear and came back with dinner. I should have taken a photo but did not:( It was more like a bite sized h’or devour, but it was tasty, some sort of snapper. I decided id take my gopro and a chunk of fish i saved from two days ago and feed the fish around the rocks. I dove into the water and when i got to the rock i had lost the baggie of fish. Oh well. There was plenty of action around these rocks. Lots of colorful fish. Balloon fish, triggers, i saw a pretty good sized eel. This was the best snorkeling place as of yet. I then swam to the beach and back to the boat. The water is not the cold but gets chilly after about an hour. We broke out the BBQ, but could not get it to stay lit so we ate oven broiled Steak and zucchini, which i thought was great. 12-8-15 we decided to sail across to Ensenada De San Francisco. It was pretty rough going. I decided and glad i did to take a sea sick pill. I felt fine the whole jaunt. A little sleepy. i watched the tail end of a humpback breach, pretty much just saw the end splash. About half way across. 17 miles in total we sailed through a pod of dolphins. They were just milling around, nothing too exciting, but it is always cool to see dolphins. I tried to take a nap down in the V-berth there in the bow, but i did not fare too well. It was a long sail. 17 miles took us 5.5 hours. The dog got sick, but i held my lunch. I’ll take California’s San Francisco over Baja’s any day. The anchorage was fairly calm. We took a ride to shore and went on a nice long hike, up to the top ridge of the island. From there you could easily see the ocean on the other side of the island as the ridge fell nearly straight down to it. A great view of Kiwi 3 and the other boats around there. 12-9-15 We left San Francisco in the morning and took a pretty easy sail across to the pathetic town of San Evaristo. We were hoping for some internet and a store to do some provisioning. There are a few shacks along the shore, Like a small little fishing village, but less romantic looking. I took another pill today and it made me very tired. Patti let me drive some of the way and attempt a tack. I need some practice, but she was very patient. We are pretty low on fresh food, but we aren’t close to starving. I am making up some stew, with some canned beef i found while Patti is wandering the town. I was too tired and just did not feel like making the jaunt into “town”. I feel like i did not miss much. Patti did come back with a handful of veggies, some tomatoes, sad looking peppers and three nice cucumbers. Also two big ole fillets of grouper. She ran over to a nearby boat to get the weather, i cut the fish into fours and started prepping one for dinner. Salt/Pepper and crumbled macadamia fried, then baked. When Patti got back from her weather swap she let me know that she had already eaten fish tacos in town. That was ok, cause i had no problem taking that entire chunk of delicious fish down. I think we will head north tomorrow and try and make it to the town of ?? in a few days. 12-10-15 We are headed north to the town of Escondido, which is some 50+ miles away. yesterday we did 17 miles to Red Rocks. There was not much wind so we only sailed about 3 miles and motored the rest of the way. Motoring is actually much more comfortable than being heeled over, but then of course you are motoring and not sailing. Supposedly the winds change tomorrow and we sail with the wind. This is something i have not experienced yet. Patti keeps saying how much smoother it is. up wind is all tacking back and forth and heeled over one way or the other. Exciting when you are the one at the helm, but even that gets old to me. It was an all day motor/sail to Red Rocks. Once here we both skiffed to shore, Patti walked the dog and i snorkeled around the rocky shore. It was a bit murky but still lots of fish. This part of Mexico definitely has great, well at least very good snorkeling. After my swim i changed shorts, put on dry socks and hiked towards the Red Rocks and over by Patti and the puppy. Patti then went for a swim while i checked out the landscape. The rocks were amazing looking, the wind and weather has made some very cool designs in the rocks. I would see a pile of rocks that had fallen from up high and wonder “Did these fall a few hours ago? or a few hundred years ago” when i could not tell id hike well out of the range of any falling rocks. there are lots of cool things out here on these islands. I know lots of people come out here on their sailboats but not so many that things get destroyed. I found a full eel skeleton, a big pufferfish and part of a parrot fish that was dried and in tact. At first i look around at these islands and anchorages and think “Ehhh” I’ve seen better. I have seen better, but they are all very impressive in their own way. 12-12-15 Kept heading north, to the so called town of Escondido. We stopped for a night out in front of some big resort two miles south. We were tempted to go to shore, which was a ways away and into the resort just for the sole purpose of wifi. Happily we found that with Patti’s booster we got a good free signal from the boat. Did an eve of interwebbing. I bought a ticket home and Patti bought a ticket for Christmas to Bend, OR. Then next morning we went onto Escondido, the real reason for going there was to Provision the boat as we are running low on fresh foods and eggs. We were both very unimpressed with the town. Actually i walked and never even found a ‘town’ pretty much just a port. A small 7/11 type store that we were able to buy eggs, bananas and a few other things. Prices were not cheap. From there we left and headed south some 20+ miles and are now in Aqua-Verda. We spent the night and will stay here for the day before heading south tomorrow. 12-13-15 I wasn’t all too impressed with Aqua-Verda. We skiffed to the beach and took a long walk to the town of Aqua-Verda. The town was pretty much nothing. A few houses a church and a store that was closed cause it was Sunday. I saw maybe 5 people. At the end of “Town” there was an area with lots of palm trees, goats and pigs. Seems lots of people are growing palm trees, most are only a few years old. My theory is that they are going to sell them to the big resorts that are going in up the way. Or they are hoping some big resort is going to come into their town. They have lots of room between shanties. After our walk and Patti’s swim we decided to leave. The plan was to either go back to Red Rocks or Plow through 50+ miles back to San Francisco. We opted for the later. It was a rough ride, but i was glad we were going south so that we could keep up our speed. I started to feel a little nauseous when we tried to play scrabble. So i went and laid down for a bit. We left the Verda around noon. I started feel woozy around 4pm. I decided to get back up at 6 since Patti was now sailing in the dark. I stayed up and we chatted off and on until we got to SF. Sailing at night is pretty peaceful as long as the GPS works which it did. Took us nearly 10 hours. We were finally anchored at 9:30pm. Not the funnest day but i am glad we are this much closer to our final destination. We now have three more stops. We will leave this afternoon after a hike and maybe a snorkel back to my favorite place. Ensenada Grande. They had the best snorkeling by far. I have been bit by some kind of sand flea or ? my ankle and just below my thumb are red and terribly itchy. 12-14-15 There was no wind so we motor sailed with just the main and the motor towards Ensenada Grande, we’ve been following another boat the last couple of days. Atsa , which is maybe Native American for Eagle. Leslie and Hartly. Hardly radioed us in the afternoon to tell us that Grande was full of boats and that there was room at the next door anchorage and cocktails would be at 5:00. We pulled in about 3pm. Not as pretty here as Grande, but different. We had wine and snacks on board Atsa and heard the life stories of those two. Leslie was a doctor and Hartly was in the Special Forces and then a stay at home Dad. Both pretty interesting stories i thought. Patti said she was bored as she doesn’t like hearing other peoples lives who don’t ask about ours. I already know my life story and was into hearing theirs. Atsa is a beautiful boat much larger and roomier. Hartly did lots of communications stuff so there was radio stuff all over. He said a Cromely (sp) was headed in this evening. Cromely is a powerful wind out of the west. Something that happens after a day of no wind. Doomsday Bob gave us the story. It was named after the Pirate Cromely. He was had been on the run from the Spanish. He went into a bay and the Spanish found him with two of their boats the blocked the exit. There was no wind so the new he could not escape and they would wait till the next day to go in after him since they too had now wind to move. Because Cromely new the winds around these parts he had it all set up for when this strong wind was coming late at night. His cannons at the ready and as soon as this powerful wind started he threw up his sails and passed right between the spanish blowing the heck out of their boats. The Spanish commander was so impressed that he named that type of wind after him, or something like that? About 9pm the wind and waves picked up. Big rocking waves. We heard Atsa’s engines start up and then he came on the radio to let us know he was moving 2 miles south to a better protected anchorage. He asked if we wanted to follow. He knew that Patti’s GPS isn’t very good at night so we followed them there. Glad we did as it was a much nicer nights sleep.