Slipped the lines at La Paz… and voila! We’re ‘on the road again’. It’s Saturday, February 11th and we’re done with waiting to go. We…. [OK, wait a minute, I only just got started writing.. and I got called up on deck to see three Risso’s dolphins swimming by the boat, about 20’ away… just swimming slowly, together, by the boat.. it was awesome.] Now then, where was I? Oh yes, well… actually… it isn’t Saturday, Feb. 11th… it’s now Wednesday, February 15th… really… It’s been a few days since I’ve had time to sit and write… and so… I’m a few things behind…. please bear with me.
Saturday, Feb. 11th we really did leave La Paz… finally. We didn’t leave as early as we’d hoped to, actually several hours later than usual… for us. There’s always stuff to take care of, and check out, and well… good byes up and down the dock… so it was a little later than usual (sorry Dad it was so late it was actually 1210 hrs….not your usual 0600 hrs…. sorry), Anyway, we did leave and a few short hours later we were ‘hook down’ in a beautiful little cove called Coleta Lobos about 10 miles from La Paz.
Our friends Jeanne and Tom (SV Eagle) were there, along with John and Kittie (SV Time Piece) and we had a nice gathering in Shannon’s ample cockpit for happy hour. The next day Kathy, Sophie and I hit the beach in the dinghy and had a great time gambolling in the sand (yes gambolling!) and then we hiked and scrambled up a rough path/dry gulch kind of a thing… leading to a rough 4 x 4 (at least…might need 8x8) kind of a road… that led us to a view back over the anchorage and mangrove swamp…and out towards the highway (yes there were actually cars on it … well a total of 3 cars… that Sophie thought were ants…apparently she doesn’t have much depth perception)… So we felt truly initiated having survived the ‘in land hike’ and having truly ‘introduced’ our dinghy wheels to sand… lots of sand… (who knew you can use the outboard to carefully and slowly bounce along (on your dinghy wheels) over smooth sand, in slowly shallowing (is that a word?) water…. on your long way to shore…. over shallow flats? We did.. and it worked…and nothing broke. That day (Monday) we had a fun potluck dinner on board SV Eagle… and a good ol’ game of Farkle. The next morning both SV Eagle and SV Time Piece headed out to return to La Paz… and, that afternoon. we were joined by Jim and Karen and SV Sockdolager, a Dana 24 bound for the South Pacific. Overnight we were treated to our first experience with Coromuel winds. I won’t go into the details of what they are (you can always look that up) but I will say it was a rather sleepless night. You BC sailors will relate when I tell you we were anchored in a whole 12’ of water, on a lee shore, with 20-25 knots of wind crossing our bows. Nope, (or yup) I didn’t sleep much that night. But, again, we woke to another beautiful morning in paradise.
We left this little paradise on Wednesday morning, after coffee and a wonderful apple strudel on board Sockdolager (and we had a very interesting tour of all the neat things they’ve done to make life onboard their boat most enjoyable). We sailed for a couple of hours and then motor-sailed into a gorgeous anchorage called Caleta Partida. This bay is one of the largest anchorages in the area and separates two islands – Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. It’s actually an old volcano crater, eroded away over the eons to become this half-moon shaped anchorage. Although winds can funnel through the gap between the islands, we were the recipients of a wonderfully peaceful sleep… no wind, and we awoke to a quiet, somewhat cloudy morning.
[OK, here’s where I want to stop for a minute and say something. We left Canada, near the end of August last year, on an adventure that had to do with sailing in warm water with horizons of white sand beaches. The dream held visions of warm water for swimming, great fishing, a beauty involving rocks and sand that I felt certain we would learn to love, lazing about on the sailboat, meeting the locals and absorbing their way of life, and miles and miles of beautiful sailing and scenery. So imagine if you can… that Kathy and woke up a couple of days ago… to find ourselves ‘arrived’… finally. It’s a sensation I have difficulty finding words for. Just this morning, as we worked our way north, it felt like we were in Georgia Straits…sort of… there weren’t many trees :-) and we were the only boat we could see. BUT, it didn’t feel lonely… it was what we’d left home to find… beauty, nature, and us. Hope that made sense…]
So here we are now, anchored in the most beautiful anchorage so far (I know, I know… they’re all beautiful). It’s called Isla San Francisco and it too kind of looks like an old volcano crater (but the guide books don’t mention that). It’s so neat we intend to stop again on our way back. This afternoon (after we set our hook) Kathy and PS (Princess Sophie) took off in the kayak while I jigged for nothing (that’s fishin’, not dancin’) in the bay and not far from the boat. Kathy and PS walked a long way along the beautiful white sand and pebble beach… I watched.. and they had a ball. Both came back to Shannon somewhat exhausted (Sophie more than Kathy). So for today, we thank those who care for and support us, we revel in the beauty that surrounds us, we enjoy the silence that can be heard when all we have to do is listen, we cherish all that we are experiencing', and we hope that by these words we are in some small way… sharing this experience with you. Thank you so much for joining us. That’s it for now…. tomorrow is a new day. CJ
