2 Weeks with the Parents

We just finished 2 weeks with my parents on our boat which usually isn't big enough for Gary and I.  Surprisingly we survived with no blood lost and were still smiling at the end.  According to other cruisers this is some sort of record!

Here are some of the highlights from my parents visit the first 2 weeks of March:

Swimming with the whale sharks:
We hired a panga to take us out to the area where the whale sharks feed just outside of La Paz harbour.  There were 6 of us in total: my parents, Gary, me, and our BCA friends Jennifer and Campbell from Victoria who were staying on Good As Gold, plus Charlotte (they said we didn't have to pay for her as long as she didn't swim with the whale sharks!).  While the day was overcast, the seas were dead calm - perfect whale shark weather!

We jumped in right on this one's head

Whale shark swishing gracefully away...

The panga trips work like this: the panga driver (who is supposed to speak English, but doesn't) drives around with all the other pangas in the area where the whale sharks are supposed to be. When he spots one, he guns the engine and drives over to it as fast as possible, with the hopes that he gets there before any of the other pangas. If he gets there first, the driver then yells at you to quickly jump in the water. You then hurl yourself off the side of the boat wearing your mask and snorkel (and wetsuit) and swim as fast as you can in the direction he is pointing in the hopes that you get to see one of the majestic beasts. Sometimes you see one, sometimes you only see the tail swishing away. We soon learned it was futile to try to follow them in the water, as they move way too fast. You then swim back to the panga and repeat the process. We all had one really good whale sighting, and multiple not-so-good sightings. But the one sighting was amazing. What wonderful creatures.

My 72 year old mother made it into the water three times, which was really good for her as it wasn't an easy entry or exit from the water to the panga. Good for you Mum!

Mmmmm, tuna....

Fishing:
We used my hand-fishing line to fish for tuna. Despite using a lure that everyone else we know has had success with, we of course, caught nothing. We blame it on Gary.

Kind strangers to the rescue! As we were sitting in the cockpit in the anchorage on Isla San Francisco having cocktails and contemplating what to make for dinner (since fish was apparently not on the menu), a catamaran drove into the anchorage and offered us a fresh-caught skipjack tuna! Apparently they'd been eating tuna all week and couldn't stand another night of it. We kindly took it off their hands! Dad had the honour of butchering it, and we cooked it like a roast (which is what the people on the cat recommended). It worked out great.

Dolphins in the bow wave:
While we've experienced this many times on our trip down the coast, it is still a thrill to have a dolphin come and play in the bow wave of the boat. This time was no exception. A singe pantropical spotted dolphin (a new species for us) came to play for about 10 minutes and gave us quite a show. Both my parents stood right up at the bow and watched the dolphin dart back and forth, while occasionally leaping out of the water. We only took video of this, so sorry, no pictures.

Time in the islands:

Caleta Partida

Sailing

We spent 11 days sailing in the islands around La Paz. There wasn't a lot of wind, but we did manage to sail a fair amount.

Isla San Francisco

We visited Bahia San Gabriel where we snorkeled and looked at the frigate birds; Ensenada del Candelero where we endured a rain storm, Caleta Partida (twice) where we enjoyed multiple dolphin shows, swims and some nice walks on the beach; Ensenada Grande (north and south lobes) where we endured some cloudy weather, but snorkeled and admired the rock formations; Isla San Francisco, where we walked on the beach, hiked up the ridge, looked for agate, and admired the crazy vegetation.



Watersports:

Splash!

My Dad wanted to try out our stand up paddleboard.  Unfortunately he chose a day when there was a bit of wind. Luckily the water wasn't that cold...

He did it!

Swimming

We had some very hot days, and so swims were a requirement.









Swimming with the sea lions:

Sea lion hamming it up for the camera (he's upside down)

We stopped at Isla Islotes so my parents could swim with the sea lions. At first Dad was keen to do it while my Mum was definitely skeptical. After brow-beating them both into the water, Dad wasn't so keen on the whole experience, while Mum thought it was fantastic. She and Gary cavorted with the sea lions for a long time. They tried to enter one of the big sea caves on the island, but were stopped by a very unhappy male sea lion who bared his teeth at Gary and chased them out. Good times.




Relaxing as Costa Baja Marina and Resort:

We spent 2 days at the end of the trip relaxing at the Costa Baja Marina and Resort. It was hideously expensive to stay at the marina, but well worth it as we got full access to their lovely Beach Club. The club includes an infinity pool, hot tub, pool side bar etc, and we took full advantage of it. We smuggled Charlotte into one of the beach palapas, where she slept happily in the cool breeze (until the after school kids arrived - then it was time to go!). In addition to a lovely pool and beach, Charlotte had all the grass she could hope for! It was fantastic.

Thanks Mum and Dad!

Our first infinity pool

Steve Jobs' boat m/v Venus (now owned by his wife and lawyer)

Extortion:
We rented a car to drive Mum, Dad and Charlotte to the airport in Cabo San Lucas for their flight home. It is well known in the Cruising community that Gringos are prime targets for the Mexican police, who are ultimately looking for a bribe. It turns out that we were no exception. We hadn't even made it out of town before we'd been pulled over for running a red light (complete bullshit - the light was green). We pretended we spoke no Spanish (pretty much true). After we told the officer we were on our way down to the airport he told us (in Spanglish) that if he gave us a ticket we'd have to follow him to the police station to sort out the charge, and this would take us several hours, so we'd probably miss out flight. We assured him we had the time to do this (we didn't, of course) and asked for the ticket so we could go to the station. He then conferred with his colleague, and then gave us a warning and let us go. From speaking to other Cruisers on the dock, this is pretty common. It seems if you insist on taking the ticket they give up and let you go. Interesting experience.

The storm:
We managed to unload my parents and the dog at the airport just before the heavens opened and it absolutely poured! Gary and I parked the car and made it into the terminal just before the torrential rain started. The rain was so loud on the terminal roof that we couldn't hear each other speak. The sidewalk outside the terminal flooded in about 2 minutes, and so travelers were taking off their shoes and socks so they could wade across the rapidly forming lake. It was crazy. I can't imagine what this place was like during the hurricane last September. At least this storm only lasted 20 minutes. Luckily the storm didn't affect their flight home, or our drive back to La Paz.

It's Mexico - part one

Dina herding cats: 14 people + dog in a 15 person van

Back in the fall, our friend Dina on Good As Gold invited us on a whale watching expedition in Magdelena Bay on the west coast of Baja scheduled for the end of February. Dina and Malcolm had done the trip last year and had a fabulous time.




Now, Dina is a very good planner. Dina's plan was as follows:

- drive over to Mag Bay in the morning (3 hour drive)

Charlotte takes it all in stride

- check into the hotel
- eat lunch at the hotel restaurant
- go whale watching in the afternoon
- return to hotel at dusk for drinks and appis on the villa patios
- eat dinner at the hotel
- get up early, have breakfast at the hotel
- go whale watching again
- eat lunch
- get in the car and drive back to La Paz

Dina did a really good job of 'selling' this trip to all her friends, and as a result, 16 of us made the trek out to Mag Bay:  Dina and Malcolm on Good As Gold and their guests Jennifer and Campbell (visiting from Victoria), Zophia (Dina's daughter) and her friend Kaylee, Rob and Deb on Avant and their friends Julie and Rick visiting from Vancouver, Scott and Tanya on Kialoa, Margie and Chuck on Dream Catcher, as well as Gary and me.  Dina rented a 15 person van and so we stuffed 14 of us (plus 1 beagle) into it and made the drive. The van worked out surprisingly well.  Despite all the bodies and luggage, we were actually all pretty comfortable for the 3 hour trip.

Arrival:
As with all road trips, there was a coffee/pit stop along the way, so we were a bit late arriving in Mag Bay. This apparently didn't matter, as the hotel didn't seem to be prepared for our arrival, despite Dina letting them know several times when we would be arriving and what we wanted to do when we got there.  No problem, we'd have a quick lunch, then check in after we got back from whale watching.  It's Mexico.

Lunch:
For whatever reason the restaurant wasn't prepared for us to eat, but they swung into action. It soon became clear that the manager of the hotel, Don Carlos, was acting as general host, waiter, cook and clean up staff. So, lunch was not quick, but by 2:30 pm we were ready to head to the boats. It's Mexico.

We piled back in the van and drove down to the docks, where we met our panga drivers.  After some fussing, it was decided that 9 people would go in the big panga and 7 would go in the small panga. This meant that one couple had split up - naturally Gary volunteered. This left me alone in the panga with Charlotte... yup, Charlotte got to go whale watching too!

Whale Watching:
Once in the pangas, we roared off into Mag Bay at 20 knots of speed. We drove, and we drove, and we drove. And then we drove some more. The afternoon winds were howling (15-20 knots) and the seas were short and steep. The ride to the whale sight was wet, but not too uncomfortable, as the wind and waves were going with us. Charlotte insisted on sitting on my lap the whole way there.  Although no one voiced it out loud, we were all thinking about how uncomfortable the ride back was going to be when we'd be going against both the wind and waves...

Grey whale mum: best pic I could get in the choppy seas

After about an hour of travel we reached the whale area and saw our first whales. Mag Bay is one of the sites on the west coast of Baja where grey whales come to give birth. They hang around Mag Bay from December to March with the babies, then start back up the coast to their feeding grounds in northern BC and Alaska. If conditions are calm, the mothers and babies tend to hang around the surface of the water so you can get quite close to them in the pangas. Sometimes they even let you touch them. If conditions are not calm, the whales and babes tend swim and don't stay still. Unfortunately conditions were not calm that afternoon so we didn't have an super close encounters. But, we did see over a dozen mums and babies, so it was pretty amazing. Charlotte slept on the floor on top of a life jacket the whole time.

Baby grey whale

Gary's panga: a 5 hour tour... a 5 hour tour....

The Panga Ride Back:
At about 5:40, our guide decided we'd better start heading back to the dock. As expected, the trip back was not as pleasant as the trip out. Tanya and I sat in the front row of the panga (with a very unhappy beagle draped between us) and we took a pounding. The waves were big and steep enough that we spent more time out of the water than traveling on it. After about 45 minutes, our driver noticed that all the women in the front row were in obvious pain, so he made everyone switch places in the boat. Men up front to take the pounding, women to the back. What a difference that made to the old back! Sorry guys...

It took over 1.5 hours to get back and we didn't arrive at the dock until 7:15pm. Did I mention it gets dark just after 6pm in Mexico?

We are immortalized on the wall of the hotel restaurant

BURP: Bluewater Cruising Unplanned Rendevous Party

As we got closer to the harbour we noticed our panga driver was holding his cell phone up in the air. We all thought this was kind of odd, until we realized he was using the flashlight App on his phone as the running lights for the boat!! Yup, we did most of the trip back in the pitched dark in a boat with zero safety equipment, driving at 30 knots (the seas mellowed out as we got closer to the harbour), with an iPhone as our navigation lights. It's Mexico.

Mar y Arena (Sea and Sand) "resort"

Grey whale unskinned...

We got back to the hotel just before 8 pm and attempted to check in. Now, the hotel has had all afternoon to get everything ready for us, so you'd think this would go smoothly. Well, it's Mexico, so it was like herding cats. Poor Dina. In the end, Don Carlos grabbed his whole key set and took everyone in tow to show us to our rooms. And interesting approach.

The Room:
Due to a mis-communication, Gary, Charlotte and I were given a room in the middle of all the other guests staying at the hotel. This was very bad, as we'd intended to leave Charlotte in the hotel room while we were eating dinner. For those of you who don't know Charlotte, she is a howler when left alone. She is fine at home, but on the boat or when we are traveling she does NOT like to be left alone. And she lets you know. Our intention was to be as far away from everyone as possible, within our group of rooms. That way there would be no one around to hear her when she howled as all our group would be at dinner. We were hoping this would be far enough away from any other guests so she wouldn't be a bother. Well, that plan didn't work. Our room was right beside some Americans (and no where near the rest of our group). Needless to say, we didn't made any friends that night. When Gary went out to get Charlotte after being asked by the hotel staff to stop her from howling (they told us to just bring her in the restaurant), Gary met a very angry Texan yelling at his travel agent over the phone. Oops.

Dinner:
Once again Don Carlos was acting as host, waiter, cook and clean up staff. As a result, he could only handle dealing with one couple at a time. For example, Scott, Tanya, Gary and I arrived at the table at the same time. Don Carlos took Gary and my order, then left to get drinks etc. Once the drinks had been taken care of and our dinners were underway, he came back and asked Scott and Tanya what they wanted. This was about 15 minutes later. It's Mexico. Dinner itself was excellent, although we realized that Gary is allergic to shrimp as he puffed up like a balloon in the middle of the night. Who knew?

After Dinner:
Shortly after the last dish had been served, the power in the resort went out. After lighting up the room with several iPhones, Don Carlos admitted to Dina that he'd completely lost track of who had ordered what at both lunch and dinner. He was hoping we'd be honest and let him know what we'd ordered when we settled the bill at the end of the trip.

Morning Whale Trip:
As the panga drivers had told us that early morning is the best time to see the whales as the seas are typically calm, we arranged with Don Carlos to eat breakfast early so we could be on the water by 9am. When Dina first talked to him about this at the beginning of dinner he said, of course, no problem. At 11pm however, when we were getting ready to go back to our rooms, he finally told Dina there was no point in us getting up early, as all their pangas had been rented out by a group of whale worshippers (I'm not making this up).  They were supposed to cavort with the whales at sunrise, but should be back by 9am. Judging by our 5 hour tour that afternoon we figured it would be lucky if we saw them by noon the next day. Poor Dina then needed to wake up the early-to-bed people in our group (for once not us) to let them know they could sleep in. We decided to wait and see how things went in the morning.

Not surprisingly, we never saw the whale worshippers, and we left at 10:45. But, none of us minded too much as the sea conditions never really calmed down that night. I don't think any of us were relishing the idea of getting back in a panga for another 5 hour bucking broncho ride. My back was certainly relieved.

So, the trip didn't go as planned, but we certainly had an adventure. Hat's off to Dina for organizing, then re-organizing, then re-organizing the trip again. It was a fun time. The lesson here is that "it's Mexico". Having a plan when doing anything in Mexico is fine, but it really has to be a loose plan. What you expect to happen will probably happen, but it will be on it's own time schedule. You can't get upset by it, you just have to go with the flow.

As the old sailor's saying goes, "all plans are made in the sand at low tide". Understanding and living by this is the only way to live happily in Mexico.

Out to the Islands Again

Dry waterfall, Ensenada del Candelero

 We spent the last few weeks in the islands again, where we met up with our friends Tanya and Scott on Kialoa, Malcolm and Dina on Good as Gold (with their guest Victoria onboard), and Arek and Ivanna on Bella Vita.

We started off in Bahia San Gabriel, where we endured our 2nd Coromuel.   These are overnight west winds that kick up a crazy chop.  Basically the boat just hobby-horses all night and so it is very uncomfortable.  The winds also put you on a lee shore, which isn't ideal.  Unfortunately none of the anchorages in the islands are protected from them, but some are slightly better than others.  San Gabriel is one of the worst.  Needless to say we headed further up the island when the seas calmed down the next morning.

Sunset at Ensenada del Candelero

Next stop, Ensenada del Candelero.  This is a lovely cove with the large Roca (rock) Monumento in the middle.  We spent a few days snorkeling around the rock.  We let Charlotte 'go feral' on the island while we snorkeled - she just followed us around and took herself for a walk.

Dingy repair on deck

Returning Kialoa's dingy

 While we were stationary for a few days, we took the opportunity to fix the dingy.  You may remember that Gary ripped one of the oar handles off the dingy during the 'picking Mrs X up from the bus station' fiasco a few weeks ago.  I was getting tired of having to treat the dingy like a SUP whenever I'd need to row to shore, so the repair was well overdue.  Despite doing the repair under less than ideal conditions (supposedly  you aren't supposed to use the glue near water [ummmm, its a dingy...where do they think we'll be repairing it!!] or when it is humid [couldn't help that one either]) we did manage to stick the damn thing back on.  Not sure how long it will last, but hopefully at least to the end of the season.

Roca Monumento, Ensenada del Candelero

Bocce on the beach, Ensenada Grande (south lobe)

Hiking trail up the arroyo, Ensenada Grande 

At least the trail was signed...

 After a few days in Candelero, we moved up to the south lobe on Ensenada Grande with Kialoa.  Unfortunately we spent the first night enduring another Coromuel (thanks Scott, for staying awake and watching our boat for us), but the rest of our time there was spent in calm conditions.

We enjoyed one afternoon playing bocce on the beach, while Charlotte roamed free in the cove.

We spend another afternoon 'hiking' up the arroyo to a lookout.  The trail started off quite gentle, so we were hopeful that for once it would be a relatively easy trail.  Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case.  We were soon scaling 5-6 foot boulders.  Obviously not easy with for little Charlotte.  She persevered for about 40 minutes, then I decided she shouldn't go any further.  

Gary continued on up the trail with Tanya from Kialoa, while Scott and I turned back with Charlotte.  

End of the line: Tanya from Kialoa leaping off the edge

The view at the end made it all worthwhile though.

Cordon cactus

Our first visitor in Baja

Picture altered to protect the innocent

We've had our first friend come down to see what life is like for us here in Baja.  She's declared she's leaving her job and staying full time so we call her Mrs X for the duration of the post to keep her identity secret.

After a quick flight from San Francisco she braved the bus to La Paz where she immediately experienced  her indoctrination to the cruising lifestyle.  We were at anchor and the wind was blowing hard against the current making our small dinghy more like a submarine.  After a luggage delivery that almost ended in disaster we ferried her to the boat and then gave her 20 minutes notice that other cruisers were coming for dinner.  Being the perfect guest that she was, Mrs X had her gear stowed and was dried off and presentable long before they arrived.

Puffer fish are mean even when they are dead

The next day we headed out Espiritu Santu and had a great sail much further than expected to the top of the island.  We had the peaceful anchorage to ourselves equipped with a private beach and beautiful sunset.  The full moon even rose perfectly framed in the valley in front of us.  Karina and I were happy as the memories of the first day of Mrs X's trip faded, replaced by calm warm water, sandy beaches and perfect star filled nights.

We spent two nights in Mezteno greedily anchored in the middle of the bay to keep our "one boat anchorage" a one boat anchorage.  Other boats tried to join us but our laserbeam stares with arms crossed scared them all away.  The days went by quickly with walks on the beach and Mrs X playing with her new camera.

We then headed north to Isla Islotes, famed for it's sea lion colony that loves to swim with humans.  We had a great experience there and Karina even managed to get invited to join their synchronized swimming team.  Mrs X's camera also works underwater so we got some great shots without having to worry about our waterproof camera leaking (which it always seems to do)

  

Swimming with the sea lions

Karina gets checked out

Karina joins the synchronized swimming team

Many endless beaches to walk on

We then sailed south to San Gabriel known for its population of frigate birds.  These graceful birds have colonized the mangroves by the thousands and are undisturbed by dinghys and pangas floating a few meters away from their nests.  It makes for some great photo opportunities.  We were even treated to the start of the chicks hatching.  In stark contrast to Karina and I, we noted that the chicks start off with completely white feathers and slowly progress to black as they age.  The male frigate birds are famous for their method of attracting mates.  They can puff up their chests and display an amazing red plumage that looks like party balloons just about to pop.  Again we had long walks on the empty beaches to keep us entertained and were treated to yet another perfect sunset.  

Our friend might have decided not to return to work

Attack of the birds!

Oh to have wings

Check out the baby (all white)

Vegetation has a tough life in Baja

The males really do get puffed up when they want to mate

More chicks

Jacques Cousteau Monument

 We then made our way back to La Paz where Karina and Libby made the long trek along the malecon into town for some quick provisioning.  It was one of the hotter days of the season so ice creams in town were especially appreciated.

More art on the malacon

Whale museum

Alas Mrs X's trip was coming to a close and it was time to for her to head back to the "real world".  We put her on a shuttle with full expectations of finding her back at the boat after our walk with Charlotte.  We recently received an email from her employer asking if we had seen her recently.  We responded that we had no knowledge of her whereabouts.

Obligatory sunset picture

Island Hopping and More Lessons Learned

Bahia San Gabriel

Layers of shells in the sand, Bahia San Gabriel

After 4 days anchored in La Paz we ventured back out into the islands.  Our first stop was beautiful Bahia San Gabriel on Isla Espiritu Santo.  This was one of the anchorages we had visited the week before, but this time we anchored in the shallow waters of the north bay.  It was a beautiful hot sunny day, so we decided to jump in and cool off in the ocean - it was marvelous.  We floated around for 20 minutes or so (a record for me). After the swim I took Charlotte to shore (or at least tried to - we were foiled by a very low spring tide), while Gary showered on deck.  I returned to the boat to find about 100 bees humming around the back deck, and Gary cowering inside.  For those of you who don't know, Gary hates bees.  He stepped on a wasp nest at his cottage when he was a kid and was chased all the way up to the cottage from the water by the angry swarm.  I guess that isn't something one forgets easily.  He still occasionally wakes up twitching from what I call "bee dreams". Needless to say, the scene on the back deck was something out of one of his worst nightmares.  Luckily I do not have a bee phobia.  I managed to get the boat tied up, got on board (on the side of the boat, not the back), then set about getting out all of our mosquito netting to put over the hatches.  The bees were totally focused on the shower bag on the back deck and weren't swarming the cockpit or the rest of the boat, so really, they were pretty easy to contain. Only when the boat was secure did Gary emerge. Unfortunately our boat was now 'marked' by the bees - we were quite popular for the rest of our time in the bay.  Weekly Lesson #1: do NOT spread fresh water on your boat on a hot sunny day... shower inside.

We experienced our first couromel winds while in San Gabriel.  These are west winds that blow off the land and turn all the nice, calm anchorages on Isla Espiritu Santo into an amusement park ride. We spent 1 night hobby-horsing at anchor - it was just like being offshore... ah, the memories.  Lesson #2: learn how to recognize Coroumel winds on the weather faxes.

Grebes helping Gary clean the bottom

Boat maitenance

The weather turned cloudy during our visit and so it was time for boat jobs!  Gary donned his wetsuit and used our hooka scuba system to clean the bottom of the hull.  Boy, did it need it!  He removed a 2 inch layer of moss from the entire bottom, exciting 2 grebes who spent the morning following him around and eating "things" scraped off the bottom.  They were quite content.  Occasionally they got bold and nibbled on his wetsuit.  He couldn't figure out why until he got out of the water and discovered he was covered in tiny tiny little shrimp.  He was literally crawling with them.  I actually made him get back in the water to try to wipe them off.  Yuck. 

After a few days in San Gabriel, and an aborted attempt to go north up to Isla San Francisco, we spent the night in the middle lobe of Ensenada Grande.  

Rock formations in Ensenada Grande

A spectacular ending to the day

This bay has the neatest rock formations. After a mostly cloudy day with rain showers, the sun finally came out at dusk and gave us the most spectacular sunset.  The colours reflecting off the red rocks was quite spectacular.

Isla San Francisco - doesn't get any better

We then headed up to Isla San Francisco.  Although the winds were only 12 knots from the northwest (and directly into us, of course), the seas were steep with a short period.  We ended up having to motor sail, as we couldn't make any way by just sailing alone.  It was a long and unpleasant passage. Weekly Lesson #3: do NOT go north of Isla Partida when north winds are blowing above 10 knots. But, it was worth it.  We sat out the next Norther in the bay.  The winds howled, but we were still able to get to shore and hike the spectacular ridge that surrounds the bay.  This bay is probably the most photographed bay in Baja as it is truly picture perfect.

First it was lost, then it was found

Our first casualty of the wind was Gary's wetsuit.  I had pinned it to the deck (with 3 clothes pins) to dry, then forgot about it.  The winds picked up, and at 5am I woke up with a start and remembered the damn suit.  Well, I guess you can't really expect anything to survive pinned to a line for 12 hours of 25 knot winds.  The suit was gone. I was so upset I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. In the morning Gary insisted that we walk the beach (which is a big curve) just to make sure it hadn't washed up on shore.  Yeah, right, I thought, it is already in La Paz.  But, miraculously, we found it (with 1 pin still stuck in it) at the very end of the beach!  It missed going to La Paz by about 20 feet. We may never get the sand out it, but it is back on board safe and sound.  Weekly Lesson #4: do NOT pin things to the rail when winds are predicted.

Sigh, we may get this right one of these days.

Pooped puppy on the ridge

As the weather was overcast, windy, rainy and cold (well, cold for here at least - it was still 20oC), we concentrated on getting some boat projects done.  We installed a new fan in the V-berth (any one coming to visit us may be interested in that), put away our "cold weather clothes" (although we may have been a bit hasty on that), and installed the toilet in the front head.  This turned out to be a bigger job than anticipated (but what isn't, on a boat) and ended up taking us the better part of 3 days to get working. But, we did it and now have 2 working heads on the boat.  Wow, very fancy for us.

Ridge (which we hiked) on Isla San Francisco 

We then beat our way back to La Paz over the course of 2 days.  Yup, you guessed it, after 2 months of nothing but north winds, there are 2 days of southerly winds when we have to travel south.  Not sure there is a Lesson in there, but it is getting tiresome feeling like a salmon all the time.  Anyway, we made it back to La Paz and are awaiting the arrival of my friend Libby from San Francisco.  We are anchored out and are going to attempt to pick her up from the bus station in our very small dingy. Of course the winds have picked up so there is a fair chop in the bay... I think we may get wet on this one....  it will be a good initiation into the boating life for her.  Thankfully she is always game for anything.

We are headed back out to the islands tomorrow (heading north into another Norther... what else is new?).  Hopefully we'll have a few calm sunny days so we can show her some of our favourite spots.

Wish us luck!