we drove down the east side of the Baja, so called East Cape, to the airport at Cabo San Jose. It was a lovely ride, about 2 1/2 hours. It ended at the airport which can only be called a zoo. There is no place to sit and wait for arrivals. Passengers are left to their own to run the gauntlet through the crowd of vendors who line the way to the exit. Outside they are met by tour organizers with signs and two kiosks selling drinks. I had forgotten how confusing the airport was and had neglected to warn Charlie. His flight was about 20 minutes late and had the additional confusion of arriving at the same time as a large flight from LA.45 minutes after they landed I approached the security guards and asked if I could check on a older passenger who had not appeared. They was very kinds and directed me to a back door. While I was gone of course, Charlie came out the front door. He had had the immense good fortune to encounter friends at the gate in Denver and they had helped him navigate the immigration, baggage claim and customs. After introductions and hugs all around, we left the zoo known as Cabo as quickly as possible and headed back up the East Cape.
It was early to bed - as always- after a very American meal of burgers and ice cream.
Charlie has not spent much time on a boat, so everything is a revelation to him. Earl proudly showed off all his toys and I think we may have corrupted Charlie who has always refused to have anything to do with computers. He was impressed by Earl’s ipad and seemed quite happy to read the New York Times on it.
Sunday, We cruised north along the Baja shore headed for the little fishing community of San Evaristo. It has about 20 families, a school, a very small tienda, and a water desalinization plant - a very typical village of the sea. We saw no marine life, but the rock formations did not fail us. They were, as always, spectacular. While Earl ran the boat, Daisy made sure that Charlie felt at home.
The next next day we headed north for Los Gatos, a particularly beautiful anchorage where we hoped to find Manuel to sell us some lobsters. We were lucky enough to run into a pod of pilot whales on the way. Earl slowed down and circled them so we really got a good look, although my photos are not the greatest!
We arrived at Gatos in the early afternoon and took a brief trip to the beach to look at the red sandstone formations up close. Daisy was in heaven, racing back and forth and stretching her legs while we sat on the rocks and drank in the scenery
Manuel appeared and stopped by a nearby sailboat. He was there quite a long time. Then he came by and gave us big hugs, and, as usual, a tale of woe. Apparently “Bandidos” have been stealing outboards: three, including his, at Casa Grande, and others at Evaristo to the south and Loreto and Juanico to the north. The outboard is probably a pangero’s most valuable asset. Without an outboard, he cannot really fish. As best I could understand, a good friend (Manual has many amigos including us) has agreed to make him a good deal on a gently used 25 horse motor. He is currently using it and will need to make three payments of 10,000 pesos (about $760). For Manual that is a huge chunk of change. He promised to return the next morning before ten with lobsters. He went off to visit (or hit up) other amigos.
The next morning his panga appeared at 8:30 and made a long stop at a neighboring boat. Then it was our turn. He came in for a cup of coffee and told me he had saved us three lobsters,although the other boat wanted to buy all his catch. Earl was downstairs in the bathroom and Manuel sat upstairs drinking coffee, waiting for the Senor to conduct business. I finally called to Earl that he needed to appear or Manual would never leave. We over paid for the lobsters and gave him an additional 1,000 pesos toward the new motor. I imagine that others will be doing likewise. After yet another round of hugs, he left in search of more amigos and we took off for Agua Verde to the north.
Just outside of Agua Verde we encountered a bunch of porpoise. They were feeding and did not come and play with us, but we did get a good look at them. Once into Agua Verde, Earl and Charlie went off for a dingy ride with Daisy. There was a little too much surf to land at the beach and the water was not as clear as usual so they were unable to see any fish below. They did stop by a sailboat.GIA, anchored near by and invited the occupants to come for a drink.
Desiree and Damian were a cute couple, probably about 40 - which is young in the cruising crowd. Donovan is from Albany, Oregon and Desiree from Palisade, Colorado near Grand Junction. They had met in the Coast Guard in Newport Oregon. She had spent 4 years in the service to qualify for the GI bill and get her education paid for. He put in 8 years. They have spent 9 years sailing the Pacific. First they circumnavigated Vancouver Island and then came south, eventually getting to Ecuador. Finally they sailed north via Hawaii and on to the NW - just long enough to ‘get rid of their freckles’- before heading back south to the Sea of Cortez. Her parents have given them some land in Palisade and they are going to leave the boat on the hard in San Carlos in March and go to Colorado to build themselves a 800 square foot home with solar power. They are planning to spend 6 months on land and 6 month sailing for the foreseeable future.
Earl had insisted that Charlie bring shorts with him. (Earl loves to tell people what to do.) Anyway, in accordance with some variant of Murphy’s law, it has been unseasonably cold. In fact, Charlie shivered all night and on waking found that the temperature in his room was 55. Obviously the shorts have not been used.
We left Agua Verde early, for a long run down to Isla San Francisco. On the way we did get to see a larger whale, we think it was a minkie. I had thought we could anchor off the SW side of Isla San Jose and take Charlie though the mangrove jungle, but it was not to be. Earl deemed the winds wrong, so we went around to our beautiful anchorage on the S of Isla San Francisco at the Hook.
Earl had the blue underwater lights on. When he went out to look, there was a large school of ballyhoo behind the boat. These are a wonderful bait fish, about 10 inches long with a bill. Earl had been able to buy them once, and since had searched in vain for them. And there they were, a gift from the sea gods. First Earl tried to catch them with a jig, but that did not work, so he resorted to snagging. It worked, but was a smelly and bloody process. When he was finished, Earl had about 20 of them flipping around in a bucket and blood all over himself and the back deck. The smell was reminiscent of salmon gurrey. Yuk!
We spent today running south, first to Los Islotes to see some sealions and then down the east side of Isla Partita and Espiritu Santo to the anchorage at Bonanza. I think this may be our last night cruising. We want to save a little time to show Charlie some of the land sights of Baja.
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