The big day finally arrived and we picked up three weary travelers at the airport. The weather was inappropriate – grey and rainy- but that did not bother anyone except me. I had planned on blue skies to show off Mexico. After an early bed, we left on Sunday morning for Bahia San Gabriel on Espiritu Sancto. This was the shallow beach to which we had taken Steve and his family. I thought it would be a good place to start off five year old Bella. When we had been there before, the water was about 18 inches deep for quite a distance from the shore. This time it was less than half that – a giant turquoise puddle under skies that had finally turned sunny. It was perfect for a small child. Earl and I drug Bella around on Mrs Milly Crocodilly, a five foot inflatable toy, and splashed while Brian and Isha soaked up the rays. It was a perfect day at the beach. Then we took off for an anchorage called Partita which has a good reputation and tucked up for the night.
What a ride we had. The wind came up around 10 pm. Earl felt confident in the anchorage and the anchor, so we stayed where we were while the boat bucked. Isha said she had dreams in which she was jumping, unable to stop, however much she tried. Earl was anxious to catch some fish so in the morning we headed north to Isla San Francisco, about 4 hours away. He planned on fishing on the way. Unfortunately, we ended up with seas far too lumpy for fishing. In fact, I think it was the roughest weather I have ever had on the boat. All four ladies, Bella, Isha, myself and Daisy, felt awful. Both Bella and Isha were sick, and the ride seemed endless (as well as pretty pointless, since we could have stayed near Partita). By the time we finally got to the Hook at San Francisco, we were limp. Fortunately, as soon as the boat stopped moving, we all felt better. Down came the kayaks and dingy and in went a large assortment of toys. Bella kayaked into the beach on a tether behind me, while her parents provided escort in the dingy. The beach here was not as sandy as San Gabriel, but there were lots of shells for someone to collect in a bucket and a little deeper water for swimming. Our recovery from the morning was rapid. Brian and Isha said this was their favorite beach so far – Bella actually preferred the sandy puddle of San Gabriel. We decided to stay another day right there.
The next morning Earl and Brian tried to catch some fish on the frozen ballyhoo bait. They were gone in the dingy at least two hours while the ladies played games and read books. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz was just as wonderful as I remembered it almost 60 years ago when my mother read it to me. The guys returned empty handed but happy. Brian and Isha took off on the kayaks and toured the area, finishing up with a hike up to the top of the island. We were able to see their silhouettes against the sky on top. They said the view was awesome, but they came home with their Tevas loaded with burrs. They were lucky it was the Tevas and not them. We mounted another attack on the beach and all had a heavenly time. Later, Brian and Isha took turns diving off the boat and swimming around the boat with Bella in her life jacket. A perfect day.
All of a sudden it was Wednesday and time to head south. Earl and Brian loaded up the dingy and had a hard time of it. Apparently something inside the winch has gone awry, and the dingy is now on top the boat until we can get someone to fix the winch or some strong young guys to lower it. We left San Francisco and headed for Ensenada Grande on our way home. On the way we were treated to a large bunch of porpoise and seals who entertained us. At Ensenada Grande - yet another beautiful beach. Having no dingy, we loaded Bella and Isha on one kayak, me on the other, and gave Brian swim fins, and off went a strange looking caravan. We were anchored in 11 feet quite a way off shore. About half way in, the water was shallow enough to stand. The beach was beautiful sand and somewhat deeper than San Gabriel. Bella actually did some swimming and we played our hearts out in the sea. Brian declared this the best beach yet. After dinner we watched the pelicans fishing in the light from our underwater lights. Much to our surprise, they were joined by a little seal who delighted us. Fast as the pelicans are at snapping up fish, the seal was faster. The evening was lovely and the stars bright when we turned in at the ridiculous time of 8 pm.
Up again at ten. The wind had switched around and with only 11 feet of water under us, it was not a good place to stay. We should have expected this – it is not the first time we have been blown out of Ensenada Grande at night. So we pulled anchor and headed for Partita, which was only an hour away. There we joined a fleet, at least 10 boats, who apparently knew better than we did. It was a real luxury for me to have Brian on board to do all the first mate stuff. He helped Earl get up the anchor, pulled up the swim step, tied up the kayaks etc. As we were anchoring, a boat in Partita hailed us on the radio. Thinking that the skipper had something important to tell us, I answered, only to have him ask me what our intentions were. Seemed pretty obvious to me, but I was polite, even when he just seemed to want to chat. I wished him a good night.
Now we are on our way back to La Paz. We made a quick stop at Ballandra which is one of the most popular La Paz beaches. Isha found lots of sea glass and Bella and I made a dozen sand cakes, shaped just like the sand pail. Then the wind picked up again and it was time to kayak back to the boat and head for the marina. This cruise has been much too short!
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