Wow. Is it fall already? How did that happen? Seems like yesterday we were contemplating how to beat the heat up in Bahía de los Ángeles and now, all of a sudden, we’re down south again. Where did the long, hot summer go? It may be best to let the photos and videos do the talking (sorry, in advance, for the media overload) – but so you’re not going in totally blind, here are a few descriptors:
Extreme: The weather (heat and humidity, and of course, Lidia); the awe-inspiring beauty of the landscapes; the remoteness, and hence, the challenges of gaining internet access; how much I truly missed our people back home (waaaaaa!).
Captivating: The whale sharks; the other cruisers – love this little community of sailors; the stars at night; the fishing (watching Capt. Fishguts change lures with every change in boat speed).
Unexpected: The weather (not as hot as expected); the water clarity (not as clear as expected); the sheer number of bees seeking out water (before Lidia’s rains), and bitey and annoying insects (after the rains), like jejenes (no-see-ums), good ol’ mosquitos, standard house flies, and bobos (miniature flies that like to hover around your eyes and ears). I mean, we knew there’d be bugs, but, yeesh!
Baffling: The currents (lots of swirling, not translating in boat speed like they should, and contradicting what the tides were supposed to be doing); and the gronking – what WAS that noise? We’d hear it almost every night through the hull. At first we thought it was the thrum of an engine running, but then figured out that it wasn’t. Some say it is the sound of croakers, fishes we never saw in the Bay – not that they’re not here, they probably are, but… so curious. Rachel Carson, the late/great marine biologist/conservationist, wrote about croakers in her 1951 book, The Sea Around Us(pg. 60), so check it out.
Favs: Cribbage and movie matinees; Canelitas (cinnamon sugar cookies) with apple slices (not quite my dad’s apple pie, but it filled the void. Thank you, Barb of S/V Ellie, for the discovery!!); the staff at Guillermo’s (we should have paid them rent for all the time we spent there); snorkel-swimming for exercise – we saw so much underwater and also expended some calories; and a few stand-out anchorages (see photos/captions below) – Este Ton on Isla Angel de la Guarda, for its gorgeous water and brilliant colors; La Ventana for its hiking and views; and Punta el Pescador, for its snorkeling and visits with Ramón, the caretaker of the private “resort” ashore.
Most of all, we enjoyed the sailing. Who knew sailing on the Sea would be so splendid? It should be said that while on the way north we often had perfectly flat water and perfect wind speeds from the perfect direction, but our stay in BLA was marked by LOTS of sailing with wind on the nose. Headed to Pescador? Beat all the way. Time to go back to the Village? Beat all the way – again – dang it! There were plenty of days here when the wind was mellow and the sailing quiet and blissful, but there were also those sporty days that kept us on our toes.
Another big fav was spending time with other cruisers (see Lidia post and durfing vid below) – in particular, the company (hangin’ out at various anchorages, snorkeling, laughing), the euchre (sorry, Thad and Kristin), and the culinary acumen (cabrilla bites, cheese-and-bacon-stuffed jalapeños) of Vicki and Jason on S/V Volaré. Fun, fun times. Oh, and a heartfelt shout-out to Christine and Gary of S/V Tigress II for bankrolling our last couple of weeks in BLA. We owe you, plus interest!
We’ll miss this place, the local people and the transient ones, but we’ll be back next year! And no doubt we’ll continue to bump into many of the cruisers we’ve come to know and love over and over again in the coming months, either on the water or in our favorite Mexican ports and anchorages. Yay!
Volaré at La Ventana
Beach landing at La Ventana with Vicki and Maya, the dog
Interpretation on our La Ventana hike
One of the natives
A view from the top of La Ventana
More interp
Drone! (Jason’s)
A lovely land/seascape
FL crew with FL and Volaré in the anchorage
La Ventana selfie
Pano from the top
Maya navigating the trail
Rand navigating the trail
A moonscape
Off for a birthday (Jody’s) snorkel at the Lock and Key islands off La Ventana
Maya, worn out after the day’s events
Birthday euchre in La Ventana
S/V Dazzler in La Gringa
Eclipse day in La Gringa
Enjoying the shade and eclipse in La Gringa with Vicki and Jas
S/V Tappan Zee at anchor in the BLA Village
Crew of Tappan Zee, showing off Tom’s party pants (a mosaic of patches over a worn pair of jeans – no jean material was visible)
Pastels at sunset in the Village
BLA museum with Annie, Laurie, Dave, and Tom
Rand and Annie taking it all in
Very cool whale skeleton
A different view of the same skeleton
The cat and Annie contemplating life
FL crew at the museum
Rand walking the grounds of the museum
Isla Mitlán anchorage. BITEY!
Catch of the day as we leave Mitlán
S/V Tao at anchor in Ensenada Alcatraz
Pano of Alcatraz
Panga fishers doing what they do en route back to La Gringa
Pano of the La Gringa headland and the volcano on Isla Coronado (Smith)
Volaré ghosting into La Gringa
The La Gringa welcome
A match race
Volaré at rest at sunrise in La Gringa
Whale shark back in the BLA Village
The grounded barge outside Guillermo’s Restaurant
Maya inspecting the beach at Punta el Pescador
The little island in Pescador
El Pescador selfie
Vicki and Jody at Pescador
Ken of S/V Island Drifter along for the hike
Captain Rand atop the little Pescador island
Starfish skeleton
Capt. Rand at the helm of CD as we cross to the beach proper in Pescador
Wandering the beach where a private resort sits and Ramón care takes (sorry no photo of Ramón)
A storage palapa
Beautiful shells can be found along the broad, long beach at Pescador
Jas minding the dinghy
A rocky point off Pescador
Flock of pelicans
Back to the BLA Village
Tao also headed to the Village
A poor little sea lion with fishing line wrapped around its neck
Afternoon thunderstorms over the Village
Looming storm over BLA
FL crew on the interwebs at Lizett’s market
Rand worky worky worky
S/V Tigress II at anchor on a still morning in the Village
S/V Linger Longer and Volaré also in the Village
Big grouper captured in Puerto Don Juan (still in the freezer)
Anchored in the gap between Isla Pata and Isla Bota. BITEY!
Capt. Rand sailing CD back in Pescador
Selfie at Pescador
Headed to Volaré for din din in Pescador
Cards on Volaré with Kris and Kirk of Linger Longer
Another one of Simon’s UCSD kayaking groups in the BLA Village
The first bonafide walkabout in the Village
Church doors
Another church door
Church storage and cacti
A little dog that followed many of us cruisers around. We called her Maria. She followed us the day of our walkabout.
Capt. Rand attracting dogs again
A seemingly fancy home, but as with many here in Mexico, it is unfinished and deserted
Big neighborhood cactus
Wall art in the Village
More murals
A random fish carcass stuck on a fence in the Village
The Village cemetary
The Village wrecking yard
On a stroll down the road that runs along the bay
A rare sighting
Rand taking a pano
More wall art
Rand grabbing an internet connection in the Village
Tomás and Deva of Guillermo’s
Gerardo, also of Guillermo’s
Osprey bomb in Puerto Don Juan
Lovely friends, Greg and Maria of S/V Tao
A morning cribbage ass-whoopin’
The origami cranes given to us from Tao
Catch of the day en route to Este Ton on Isla de la Guarda
Este Ton – GORGEOUS!
Capt. Rand enjoying Este Ton
Volaré next door at Este Ton
Este Ton 🙂
Dolphin fun en route to Refugio on the north end of La Guarda
Sea lion rookery on Isla Granito near Refugio
Ahhhh…
En route to Ensenada Pulpito. 30kts, triple-reefed main, scrap of genny – giddy-up!
Looks mellow, but it wasn’t
This might better reflect the conditions
Sunrise over Isla Estanque on the southeast side of La Guarda
What a great array of photos! thanks for all the work you put into this (and all of your other reports).
So glad you’re enjoying everything. It’s fun pulling it all together and reliving each experience. Hope you’re well!
Videos and photos were the best! We loved being part of your amazing trip.
Love having you along virtually. Can’t wait to SEE you in person in November!!