Thursday
April 10, 2014 – Underway from Costa Baja Marina, La Paz
Today
Serenity left La Paz after 5 wonderful years.
We originally came for one year and then could not leave. Finally it is time to go north and once again
fish for salmon, shrimp and crabs, but we leave with indelible memories of the
Sea of Cortez, its sea life, its birds, its people, it clear warm water, white
sand beaches, beautiful anchorages, spectacular scenery and unbelievable
sunsets, and of La Paz which has been a second home in many ways. It has been more special than we can ever
have dreamed and we have been blessed with many new friends whom we hope to see
up north.
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| Daisy saying goodbye to John, Jay and Lisa |
Perhaps
this is a good time to make note of some of our favorite places in La Paz for any
future visitors.
There
are lots of good places to eat in town, but for us Azul Marina at Costa Baja
and its sister restaurant Nim in town have the best food in town – great
variety – from fine dining to pizza -, reasonable prices, and wonderful people. If you go to Azul, be sure to try the scallop
carpaccio with basil, and don’t miss the summer rolls at Nim.
The
Rancho Viejo Hacienda is our favorite for Mexican food. Earl loves the seafood soup and I don’t think
you can beat the tacos aranchera.
Our go
to food markets are Mega, Walmart, Sam’s Club and most favorite of all, the
local store Aramburo, known among cruisers as the Brown Cow store after the
large statute of a cow which decorates its front. Aramburo is downtown on the corner of Madero
and Hidalgo and has an amazing selection of stuff for a small market. It reminds me of the small neighborhood
groceries of my youth in New York City, crowded but with an amazing assortment
of items. They will frequently have fresh basil or ginger when I can’t find it
elsewhere. Their meat is excellent- as
you might suspect from the line at the counter -and my favorite tequila, Don
Julio 70, is about 20% cheaper than at Mega.
Just
down Madero from Aramburo is the best bakery in town, Pan d’Lys. I love the rustic and sour dough breads. In front of the bakery there is an organic
market on Tuesdays and Saturdays where one can find beautiful fresh produce and
homemade sausages among other things.
There
are two public markets. Mercado Bravo is
a wonderful place to buy fish, but my favorite is Mercado Madero. That is not because of the food – much of
which I find scary- but for the extraordinarily elaborate princess dresses that
I have bought for countless little girls.
The shop I go to is the largest in the market and the senora now gives
me a discount, hardly necessary since the dresses are always under $40 and
frequently as little as $25.
The
Malecon along the sea is a lovely walk and decorated with statutes, many of
which are very nice. There is, however,
one I love above all others. It is a man
in a paper boat looking out to sea. I
never look at him without smiling.
Then
there is Ibarra Pottery on Prieto between Republica and Torre Iglesias. Here you can buy pottery made by the Ibarra
family (Julio, Juanita and Vicki). It is
very unique and the shop even more so.
In the back, they have some talavera pottery from Pueblo at the best
prices I have found. I dearly love all
the Ibarras and will miss their smiling faces more than I can say. They say they will miss my business.
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| Vicki, Juanita and Julio Ibarra |
Lopez
Marine Supplies on the 5th of February has an amazing selection of
stuff. It is expensive but probably not
more so than any marine store.
Across
the street from the Mercado Madero is a store called the Mercado, a Michaels-type
shop full of all types of items for crafts.
Dr.
Tomas Rodriguez (Clinica Veterinaria Madero) has been a wonderful vet for
Daisy. His English is very good and no
reservations are needed to see him. He
has been cleaning Daisy’s teeth at less than 20% of the cost in the US and we
will miss him and his services. His
clinic is on Revolution between 5 de Febrero and Navarro.
Dr Toushmann
was a real find. An excellent doctor who
speaks great English and will even make boat calls. Telephone 612-157-0126.
And
finally there is Fito who has taken such wonderful care of our boat for the
past 5 years. Serenity will miss her
frequent washings and we will miss a friend.
Fito’s number is 612-117-5011.
(If calling from the States, add 011-52-1 to the number)
Saturday,
April 12, 2014 – fishing off the coast of Frailes.
We
spent our first night at anchor in Muertos, an anchorage we have visited many
times. We did not put down the dingy and
go ashore for dinner for some of the best chili rellenos in Baja. Instead we watched the sunset from the boat
and enjoyed a tender Costco NY strip steak and salad. There were about 7 other boats, all on the
move for the end of the season. Some were
going north to San Carlos and others, like us, south to the Cape to start the
long trip north.
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| Friendly little puffer fish at Muertos |
The
next day I was struck by how different the landscape is from what has
surrounded us for the last 5 years of cruising.
While there are still hills, they seem far more covered with vegetation
and the beautiful rock formations are nowhere in sight.
The
water temperature has changed significantly.
It was 73 in Costa Baja, 75 in the morning in Muertos and now 77. With warm water comes the fulfillment of
Earl’s desires – marlin!
Yesterday
about an hour out of Frailes, Daisy told us there was a fish on and all hell
broke loose. We had a beautiful
marlin. Earl was so excited that it was
impossible to following his conflicting and incessant orders. It took the rest of the trip to get our heart
rates down.
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| North approach to Frailes |
After a
pleasant night anchored at Frailes, we woke to flat seas. To my surprise –not- Earl wanted to fish
again, so off we went at 8. It is now
10:30 and we have had three marlin. One
we lost because Earl refused to believe Daisy, but the other two we handled
quite well. Unfortunately I did not get
photos of the jumps. These occur early in the process when I am trying to run
the boat, chase the fish, reel up the other line and tie on Earl’s belt. Nevertheless, I have a happy husband!
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| Beautiful marlin, beautiful blue water |
Monday
April 14, 2014 – going into San Jose Del Cabo
The
rest of the fishing was great. By the
end of Saturday, we were both exhausted after 4 marlin plus three lost. Then, after a good night’s sleep, we went out
at 9 am and soon got another great fish- probably our largest striped marlin to
date. It was also the wildest. Never have I seen a fish dance on its tail
like this one did. Once again, I was too
busy to get a photo. It never did calm
down. When the time came to retrieve Earl’s beloved lure and let the fish go,
there was a lot of drama. First the lure
came apart and had to be retrieved in two pieces while the fish varied between
being too far away or under our swim step.
Finally, the lure in our possession, it was not easy to let the fish
go. It somehow managed to get its bill
stuck between the slots of our swim step.
This one fish did us in for the day.
We fished without much enthusiasm for a couple more hours and then
returned to Frailes for another peaceful night.
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| Come to Poppa |
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| In it comes! |
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| This is the lure that caught all the marlin |
There
is a little wind today, but it is from the north and thus on our tail. The traveling is lovely. Earl pointed out that this could well be the
last time we’ll have the wind behind us.
Prevailing winds going north will be from the north and we will be
bucking. Time will tell.
We will
spend a few days in San Jose. Our
wonderful friends Sharon and Dave from Cipango that was tied across from us in
Costa Baja have a condo in San Jose and we plan on a fun day with them
tomorrow. Then we will have the next two
days to clean the boat, pick up provisions and meet our friends the Scarboro’s
at the airport. They will be going on
the first leg of our trip with us.
