On Easter morning we ran south about 15 miles to the eastern shore of Conception, an area called Bahia Coyote, in which there are lots of anchorages. We chose the northern most, called Santispac. It turned out to be well protected from the winds which came up that night and continued for three full days. It gusted well into the 30 knot range and we were happy to be snug in this anchorage. No one was going anywhere.
While we were there we got to know some people on the sailboat Imagine who had been at Santa Rosalia with us and were anchored nearby. Steve and Tawny are from Boise and delightful. They had developed engine problems on the way into the anchorage and over the next couple of days Steve had the opportunity to really get to know his engine. He was fortunate in that the sailboat boat next to him was manned by a terrific mechanic who helped track down and fix the problem over the next three days. Our contribution was as drinking companions. There was a little restaurant on the beach, Ana’s, which had okay food and fabulous margaritas. The first evening that we went, we stayed later than we had intended and ended up rowing back in the dark, hoping that the lights we saw were the Serenity. We weren’t sure if we had left the anchor lights on – fortunately we had or we might have had a pretty tough time finding our home.
Bahia Coyote at Conception is a beautiful place. The water was 4 or 5 degrees warmer than outside and the beaches and coves are lovely. The down side is it is right on route 1 and has been pretty developed, mostly with palapala shacks, but with some larger houses as well. I suspect that anyone who visited 20 years ago and had not returned would be saddened at the change.
Finally on the 9th we were able to pull our anchor and head towards Loreto. We left before daylight and were rewarded by a gorgeous sunrise. The water had a residual lump, but the traveling was nice. We intended to go to Juanico which we had so enjoyed coming north. However, SE wind was forecasted for the evening and we decided it was more prudent to anchor on the north side of that point, in a cove called Ramada. It was a perfect anchorage. We shared it with two other boats. One, a Nordhavn 46 names Discovery was there when we arrived. We chatted with her owners, two ex computer programmers from the NW named Linda and Frank. Their boat is now their home and they had spent the summer in San Carlos on the mainland side of the Sea. They confirmed what others have told us – it is awful in the summer. San Carlos had temperatures in the 100s and the humidity in the high 90’s. They said it was hell on earth and they would never spend another summer there. They will bash north this spring and summer over in Ensenada. The other boat was a 65 foot sailboat named Endless Summer. We chatted with the skipper on the radio. He was from Oregon City and had built the boat himself. He had been boating in the Sea since the early 80’s.
The next day was unforgettable. We saw lots and everything we saw was in large numbers. First it was porpoises. We saw number of groups, all hard at work at fishing. We have taken some photos of them close up and, with the help of our reference book, are arguing about the exact species. Then we saw a large group of whales, cruising on the surface feeding. They let us get close and we watched them for quite a while. We did get some good photos of them, which are leading to more arguments as to what exactly they were. They had bottlenoses and rounded heads and where probably about 9 to 11 feet in length. Then we anchored in on the south west side of Isla Coronado. It is a magical place, with rocks and sand bars and beautiful sand beaches. We were treated to an acrobatic show by some small rays, about 18 inches wide. They were close and the water was clear and we were able to see that there was a huge group of them swimming together. Then I went kayaking. The water is very clear and there were tons of beautiful king angel fish. Later we played with Daisy in the shallows and it was very mellow. By late afternoon there was no wind and we discovered the only downside – the bobos. Bobos don’t bite, but they can drive you crazy. We closed things up and hoped they would be gone in the morning.
This morning we had rays swimming around the boat. Earl was able to photograph a few. A panga came by and we asked about buying ballyhoo for bait. They had none but said we could probably buy them in Loreto. We had seen them in the bay the day before, but Earl had no luck catching them. Unfortunately, the bobos were still there. So we are headed to Loreto. That anchorage is not protected, but there is currently little wind and none forecasted.
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