On November 12 at the San Jose del Cabo Marina, we spend the morning at the dock. Earl had decided to get the boat washed. A small army arrived at 7:30 and went to work. They even took the cover off the dingy and washed the inside of it. They swarmed over the boat for 3 hours, leaving it looking beautiful. The cost was $60 for a job we could never have done ourselves in less than a week. When we left it was already noon and many of the boats that had taken off to go fishing that morning were already on their way back in. We found out why. Less than 2 miles from the marina we had two dorado on at the same time. Clark’s was the larger, probably about 30 pounds. Earl insisted on keeping both of them – eyes bigger than stomach issue. We now have considerable fish in the freezer. From now on, I will be a little firmer about the release part of fishing. However, I have to say, having had the opportunity to pull in one of the fish, that the catching part is great. We also have Clark’s great ceviche recipe which all our guest will have an opportunity to enjoy.
That night we anchored at los Frailes. It looked like a beautiful beach, but we did not put down the dingy, just sat and enjoyed. It is around the corner from a national marine park, Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, which has a large coral reef and is much loved by divers.
The next day, the 13th, we had a lazy day going north to the Bahia de los Muertos to anchor. This is large lovely bay. There were probably 25 sail boats there, a portion of the Baja Haha fleet, but there was plenty of room for all. The real estate developers have been busy here and there are a number of very large houses and one resort on the bay. For development purposes, they have changed the name to Bahia de las Suenas (Bay of dreams). Whatever the name, it is a lovely spot. As has become our habit, Earl turned on the blue underwater lights at dark. Boy did we have a fish show, a school of 10 inch fish, which sort of put us off swimming for a while.
That night the wind came up from the Southwest. This was our first exposure to the Coromuel, an evening phenomenon in the La Paz area. Based on the radio chatter, some of the sailors anchored near us, found it intimidating. They agreed that a northern, expected later in the week, had come in early. I am not sure how they got there in the face of a SW wind.
That day, the 14th, we took off and headed north. We had a bumpy ride to start with. We went through a narrow pass between the Isla Espiritu Santo and the Baja (Canal San Lorenzo) and then headed south toward La Paz. We stopped about 15 or 20 miles from La Paz at a charming little cove behind Isla Lobos. We had it pretty much to ourselves other than a sail boat anchored in another arm of the cove. The water was so clear that we could see our anchor on the bottom. Joan and Clark took a dingy ride. Earl and I rinsed off the boat. The water is very salty here and the short time we here in bouncy water had left a considerable deposit on the boat. We could brush it off with our fingers and Joan and I were tempted to scrape some off into bags and present our friends with bags of sea salt. Afterwards we all went for a swim – it was wonderful. After dinner, Joan and I went in again, without suits, and it was delicious. I had my first experience with phosphorescence. It is very cool. When you move your arms and legs through the water, you can see little flashes of light, like 4 of July sparklers. It is very cool. We were a little melancholy that this was our last night anchoring out with the Scarboros. Our trip from San Diego has gone too quickly. Clark, Joan and I went for a swim the morning of the 15th before heading for La Paz. It was so wonderful that we did not want it get out. Clark especially loves swimming in the sea, and it will be awhile before his next opportunity.
By noon of the 15th, we were tied up at the dock in the Costa Baja Marina, and at the end of the journey part of our trip. From now on we will ‘cruising’ with much less of a fixed target. We splurged, eating out both lunch and dinner. For lunch, we ate at a lovely little open air place on the beach. Dinner we took the shuttle bus into town and had dinner at Las Tres Virgenes, a charming restaurant in the courtyard of an old building. Heavenly!
Today, the 16th, Happy Birthday to Brian. We are off to check out the Mercado later and replenish our veggie supply.
5 comments:
Hola Senior Hose and Senorita Maria!
Sorry the phone conversation didn't come through very well. I kept getting a my feedback while you talked...it was very annoying!
Just wanted to let you know the house is holding up fine. We've had terrific winds here and expected a good one tonight. I'll go up and check again tomorrow. Loving the blog! The seafood looks amazing...I had to go out and buy some cheap Mahi Mahi.
Grace would like to know if Daisy barks when Earl is yelling about his fish on!
From Grace - I miss you guys a lot and I really miss Daisy. I hope you have a fun time. Tell Daisy - she's cute. Have you been in the big waves? And have you had the mangoes on the beaches. They are really good with lemon. How much fish have you caught? Where are you now?
From Aidan - Hope you like swimming in the water like I did!
Dear Jennifer - Thanks for taking care of our house. I think we are not missing the weather there.
Dear Gracie - Daisy is having a really good time. She loves to see whatever is coming in the water, especially porpoises. If we start to get or even say something is out there, she runs out the door to the bow and starts making her little noises. So far, the waves have not been very big around the boat and we have not been swimming on the beach in big waves. Thanks for the tip about the mangoes on the beach. We will look for them
Dear Aidan - we love the swimming. The water is so clear. Next time I am wearing my mask and flippers.
I love the underwater lights, and apparently so do the fish. Earl, what light did you install?
Also, how is the flopper stopper working at anchor? Are you using the 40"x26" Forespar folding unit with the 11' or 14' pole?
It looks like you guys are having a GREAT time. I'm jealous!
Hola Steve - yes, you should be jealous!
We put in ocean led amphibian lights (2 12 led units). They were pretty spendy, but I would bet that the cost is coming down. We certainly have enjoyed them.
Likewise the flopper stopper. We have not really had a rolling anchorage to test, but it seems to work fine. We put in the forespar unit. The factory cut down the pole to a little over 9 feet for us so that it would fit. The factory is right near Dana Point, so we picked the unit up at the factory and were treated to a tour. It is a pretty neat story. It is owned by a 86 year old othodontist, who was also a sailor and decided he could make better parts for his boat than he could buy.
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