Friday, November 20, 2009

Bay of the Dead

Well, it’s been a little while since my last post.  It seems there is always something to do on the boat – fixing chafe points on lines, changing the oil on the engines or cleaning the bottom of the boat.  Whoever thought that cruising was just sitting around drinking margaritas was gravely mistaken!  It’s been a lot of fun so far, sailing around the east cape from Cabo San Lucas to La Paz.  On our way, we had planned to spend two nights in Bahia Los Frailes (23o22.863’N,109 o25.286’W and 45 miles from Cabo), Ensenada de los Muertos which translates as Bay of the Dead (23o59.215’N,109 o49.620’W which is 45 miles further) and Puerto Balandra (24o19.268’N,110 o19.868’W which is 12 miles outside of La Paz).  Anyhow, because a Norther (a wind that can gust over 30 knots and blowing straight down the Sea of Cortez) was forecasted, we decided to spend a couple of extra nights in Los Muertos to weather out the storm.  In fact, the wind blew so much one night, our anchor began dragging and we had to reset it at about three in the morning.  It was great fun hanging out there though – there was a beautiful boutique (14 room) high-end hotel on the beach with, I think, six guests.  It had one of the most impressive model train exhibits I have seen outside of the train museum in Balboa Park.  The hotel was more than happy to have cruisers hang out at their pool and there were lots of cruising kids there so it made for a good time for Danielle and Harrison.   Barb even had a moms’ night out with many of the other cruising moms if you can believe it!

Once the Norther had blown through, we decided to head north from Los Muertos to Balandra Bay through  Cerralvo Channel (24o15’N,110 o00’W).  While the Norther had died down somewhat it did make for some serious San Francisco Bayish sailing as the wind and swell coming down through the channel was still pretty strong.   But, once we made it to Puerto Balandra it was all worth it.  Puerto Balandra is perhaps one of the most beautiful bays I have seen.  The water was crystal clear water and we anchored in about eight feet of water.  There were about six other boats here (as compared to the 30 or so in Los Muertos).   The beaches were pristine and you could walk out from the beach for probably a quarter mile in knee deep water.  Harrison and I dingyed around trying to catch some fish and discover all the inlets while Barb and Danielle discovered the bay by sea kayak.  Harrison and I even found our way deep into the bay where there was a huge protected mangrove area.  The water was so calm we could have water skied!

This morning (Thursday Nov. 19th) we cleaned the bottom of the boat and, since we are beginning to run out of food, we decided that we would head for La Paz (24o09.376’N,110 o19.650’W) and spend some time reprovisioning and discovering the city.  We will likely be in La Paz through Thanksgiving.  Anyone want to come visit?

I should also hopefully upload some more photos today (or tomorrow) and will put out another post when they go up.

More later,
Michael

3 comments:

  1. All I can say is WOW. I have to say that I am so sorry that i havent sent a posting till now. Paul signed up to the blog on behalf of all of us and he would just forward me your postings. I had no idea that I could respond to them until about a week ago so I am not as tardy as you think I am. Anyway, enough about that. I am glad to see that I am your very first comment on the blog for today.
    You guys all sound great and I can't imagine the adventure you must be having. You will look back at this when you are old and grey (actually, you are already a little grey) and be so happy that you seized the opportunity and did it. You guys are crazy and amazing all at the same time!
    Do you have an itinerary yet so we could see about coming at some point to get the full visual of this adventure?
    enjoy, enjoy, enjoy

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  2. Hi Michael et al...

    Loved reading about all the spots you have visited - and giving your coordinates has enabled Allan to spend hours following you on Google Earth as well as showing me where you were. We also saw many of the pics people have posted in those areas...can now understand all the beauty you have described...all sounds amazing...all our friends and your mom's contantly ask us about you and all your travels...we're all sharing in your excitement...

    Keep up with your postings...lots of love to you and and all...

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  3. Michael

    I'm glad you're keeping the boat's bottom clean.

    Its wonderful to read your descriptions. I'm going to plug your coordinates into google earth to see a bit of what you're seeing.

    We are trying to see if we can meet up in Mexico in late December. Mimi and Barb are in communication on this.

    Bob

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