Home in Patzcuaro

Apparently about a  week has flown by without a post from me.  AND for good reason...lack of internet access.  Taking the computer in with us was the only way we could get on the internet.
Here I am in Patzcuaro and Bob is still sailing.
To backtrack:  I arrived home yesterday afternoon after a somewhat convoluted trip.  Because taxi fare is expensive from Puerto Escondido to Loreto, we found it about as cheap to rent a car.  On Saturday Bob drove me to La Paz where I found a decent hotel very close to the airport.  We had dinner and then Bob went back to Puerto Escondido to  the boat.  Apparently someone had used the dinghy in our absence leaving it much lighter in gas.  It could have been a mistake as there was another dinghy with the same engine..who knows?  No harm done so that is fine.
Sunday morning I was up and at the airport by 6:30 am but could not check in for an hour.  That gave me time to have breakfast and relax.  My flight left promptly and it was a painless hour and a bit to Guadalajara.  Another lady ( she was sitting beside me) asked me if I would like to share a cab to the bus depot in Guadalajara.   So we shared a cab and I was able to get a direct bus to Morelia within 10 minutes of my arrival at the bus depot.  It was about 3:30 pm when I arrived in Morelia and at that point I was tired so I took a cab to Patzcuaro.  The trip was somewhat less than straight forward but it turned out to be an easy trip home.
Patches and I were reunited later yesterday.  Patches, upon arriving at our house, ran upstairs to look for Bob.  He wandered around a bit and then I guess he decided that Bob was not to be found.
Back to last week:   Last week was spent in Puerto Escondido...Bob left there this morning and now is in Ballandra Bay.  He says that he will likely leave there tomorrow morning.  He plans to travel as far as Bahia Concepcion before he heads south and back to Mazatlan.
We certainly enjoyed the smooth bay at PE.  One night I woke up and I felt not a ripple and how weird is that when you know you are on the water.  Our week was spent enjoying drinks at the restaurant, walking to the other restaurant and enjoying their food, shopping to make sure that Bob has enough food to last him for a month, and just enjoying our life.  Oh yes and balancing the computer on the cabin roof to see if we could access the internet..no dice!
This past month turned out to be a real holiday for me.  Usually I do not feel as if I have been on holiday when I am on the boat.  The time was so relaxing and stress free that I looked forward to moving on to another anchorage.
 Once more we saw many beautiful sights, and met a number of very pleasant people.
So there you have my version of the 2013 Baja Trip which took place in April/May rather than May/June.
What I next report will be based on information that is passed to me from Bob.

Happy Hour in Puerto Escondido

April 29, 2013

This will be an ongoing blog as we are underway and anywhere we stop (until Puerto Escondido which is near the town of Loreto), there will be no Internet service.

On Saturday, April 27 we left La Paz and after a short sail (and we did sail part of the way) we arrived at Ensenada de la Raza, a cove on the island called Espiritu Santo.  On our way the winds died after about 2 hr so we ended up using the motor again.  It was so quiet at night in the ensenada…. no waves pounding on the beach and no wind.  The boat was absolutely still until about 2 am when a southwest wind started to blow…nothing serious.  And the moon!  The moon was so bright that at times it was like a spotlight shining through the ports.  White sand beach, brilliant moon against a backdrop that is reminiscent of the moon.  Quite a view.

We had planned a late start on Sunday morning but as the winds were coming out of the south and we were going north, the plan changed and we were off and sailing just after 8 am.  The winds were good most of the way, but we slowed to a crawl (Can one slow to crawl when one is only sailing at 4 knots?) after about ¾ of the distance that we planned to cover.  As we were only going to Isla San Francisco that meant we had sailed 17 out of about 22 miles.  Bob was happy as we averaged about 4 knots.

Isla San Francisco had 6 other boats last night but now (Monday morning), we are alone.  The wind is coming from the south so it is a bit rocky here; 5 of the other boats have gone to the other side of the island (we can see their masts) as the anchorage there will be less rocky.

Bob is waiting to see if the winds change (according to the forecast) before we leave for San Evaristo, or perhaps we too will move to the other side of the island.  Our plan was to stay here 2 nights, as Bob is wanting to use his new compressor to do some diving!  But right now we are waiting.

Back to our stay in La Paz.  I had planned to write about La Paz, but forgot.

La Paz, and perhaps the Baja as a whole, is different than the mainland where we live.  Here is what I noticed.  First of all La Paz is much quieter.  In Patzcuaro there are many churches and they are either ringing their bells or exploding fire crackers (rockets) at 4 am in the morning!!   There was none of that while we were anchored in the bay.  In fact all we heard once or twice was faint sounds of music from onshore.

 The traffic is also much heavier in Patzcuaro mainly because of the combos.  On the whole I found La Paz drivers much more sedate.  That could be the influence of the gringo retirees in La Paz?  Who knows but it was pleasant to see streets that were not clogged with cars and combis.

For me the big shock in La Paz was the price of things.  Everything is more expensive in La Paz.  Perhaps it is the cost of the locals speaking English!!  We enjoyed some excellent food but always it was at least twice the price that we pay in Patzcuaro.

After all that is said, I do enjoy the ambiance of La Paz and would certainly recommend it as a place to visit, but my heart (including my dog) is in Patzcuaro.  Mid May I will be back in Patzcuaro listening to the church bells and the rockets, but enjoying a quiet breakfast at Lupita's Restaurant.

April 30, 2013

Yesterday afternoon the seas were very calm.  We were enjoying the serenity of the bay when, suddenly we were surrounded by sailboats.  5 boats came in about 4 pm.  One had a Canadian flag but it seemed the passengers all spoke Italian??! Later we realized, overhearing the conversation on 3 of the boats, that they were all speaking Italian.

Bob had his compressor running and went for a little tour under the boat and along the bottom.  He is happy with this new toy.  When we were in La Paz he was trying to buy weights but could not find any so yesterday he had difficulty getting to the ocean floor, and of course once there, just floated up again.

Last night the winds came up again about 11 pm and blew all through the night.  Once more things were banging, flapping and generally making a racket.  I did not have a good sleep, all intermixed with the snoring.

This morning we left Isla San Francisco at about 8:30 am.  Winds were from the south/southwest with following seas.  We were sailing!!  San Evaristo is only 9 miles from Isla San Francisco so we were there just after 11 am.  Most of the trip was good sailing but the last 2 miles went by slowly..which was fine as we were not in a rush.

San Evaristo is a tiny fishing village, and I mean tiny.    San Evaristo reminded us of Indian villages in Manitoba.  There are a few houses, and they are for the most tiny.  Of course there is the occasional palapa which reminds us that we are in Mexico.

Tomorrow we will continue on to Agua Verde, and may end up there for a few days as we are expecting north winds on Thursday and the forecast says that they will be 25 to 30 knots.  I would rather not be in that as they would be right on our nose.

We spent the day doing nothing but watch the village and the sea.  On both counts nothing really happened until about 7 pm.  Lo and behold the Italian trio of sailboats arrived.  At least tonight they didn’t anchor as close as they had yesterday.

It is cooler to night and I can see a fog bank in the distance but I don’t know what that foretells if anything.

Our plan is still to leave early tomorrow morning and listen to the forecast at 7:30 am while underway.  If it sounds okay then we will move on but if the north winds are arrived a day early then we will return to San Evaristo.

May 2, 2013

According to plan we left San Evaristo at about 7 am.  No winds all day until we were trying to take down the sail near Agua Verde…but how normal is that. 

Coming from the south to Agua Verde there are some reefs and ‘the books’ recommend you not go between them or between the shore and the most southerly reef.  While we took the long way around we saw 2 boats merrily hugging the shore going exactly where the books suggest that you don’t go.  I would think that they had made the trip at some other time, or ignorance is bliss.  Anyway for future reference we know that the more inside passage is okay.

It is hot these days and the nights are no longer cooling down as much.  Soon I think a sheet will do the trick.

What can one say about the Baja?  Yesterday as we motored north I had 8 hours to contemplate different things (only interrupted by making lunch and getting beer for The Captain).

The Baja has impressive scenery but it doesn’t vary much.   Barren mountains with very little vegetation, but the colours and the different strata are very beautiful in a rugged harsh way.

Agua Verde (Green Water) is a lovely bay with a minute village.  Yesterday we went to the little store and apparently there is a restaurant, which we will search out today.  The store is very basic but I did buy potatoes and jicama.

Yesterday evening we saw a panga with about 7 people (local family) going around to all our boats.  When they came to our boat, we found that they were selling lobster/crayfish.  They had a spokesman (young man) and Mom, Dad little girl and a baby.  The lobster was the right price…4 for about $8.00!!  I cooked them all last night and we enough to make a lobster salad today.    The kids all tried out their English on us and of course I used my Spanish.  All in all a sweet experience.

May 2, 2013

The strong north winds did not materialize.  In the afternoon, for a short while, we had some winds, which resulted in a little rolling.  Bob had moved the boat in the morning so we were in a better spot.  As the day went by boats left and others took their spots.  As we are only 24 nm from Puerto Escondido, where Loreto fest is being held. many of the boats are on their way to the Fest.  We have decided that we will hang out here for another day unless there is a large change in wind direction.  The Fest attracts in so far as we would see people that we know but on the other hand there will be a lot of people, which does not appeal to me.

Today went by quickly.  I cleaned the boat and Bob topped up the fuel.  We did a tour of the bay in the late afternoon and that was it for the day.

At about 6 pm we had visitors from Moon Tide.  I recognized the name, but did not know from where, and then they told us that they were the people that had been robbed while they had their boat in Caleta de Campos.  I had read about the robbery in the Yahoo southbound group news.  About 8 years ago we spent a winter in Caleta de Campos, which is why the robbery caught my attention.   This robbery surprised us as nothing like that had happened there for many years.  Of course no one has been apprehended.  The feeling was that the robbery was committed by out of town guys.

May 3, 2013

Last night I slept on deck for a while as Bob had brought his snoring level to an all time high.  It was very pleasant and I was asleep in minutes.

Today we decided to stay in Agua Verde another day.  Tomorrow we will head to Puerto Escondido and stay there for a week.  It seems easiest, as I will catch a bus to La Paz on May 11 and then fly to Guadalajara from La Paz…then bus it home.  A lot of trouble but there are no direct flights to Morelia from La Paz.  When I get to Guadalajara I will check for flights to Morelia, but so many flights go to Mexico City and then you get another flight…yikes.

This morning a lady from the village came around collecting garbage for a feel of course.  That made me happy, as now we do not have to take it to shore with us. 

This afternoon we plan a big outing…. dinghy to shore and see if there really is a restaurant here.  More about this exciting adventure later!!

May 4

We left Agua Verde about 9 and motored to Bahia Candeleros.  There is a resort in this bay so we had lunch there.  It is a gorgeous place…pricey but who cares as we have spent no money for the last week.

Then neighbours from Agua Verde suggested that there was a Happy Hour at the resort…so off we went and spent a very nice few hours at the resort.  Lots of sailing talk and generally a fun time.

Then just when we got back to the boat the wind started to blow and blew until about 5 am….35 knot gusts.  It was a noisy night but not too bumpy as there were no waves to speak of.   When the gusts first started I was feeling quite nervous but other people spend lots of time (the bay is lovely), so I convinced myself that it was noisy but not dangerous. But I did not sleep much.  Apparently these west winds are quite common here so I am presuming that they will be here tonight.  If so we will go to Puerto Escondido tomorrow morning.

Today was a lovely day for us.  In the morning we went to the resort and had their breakfast buffet.  All kinds of good stuff like fruit.  It is tough to keep fruit for any time so we settle for apples but they are mushy after a few days.  Then in the late afternoon we joined a group from other boats for Happy Hour.  The evening was quiet but at about 9 pm we had some wind but it did not last long.  A quiet night so both of us slept well.  

May 6, 2013
And here we sit in Puerto Escondido having a drink overlooking the bay.  The seas were calm and because of that we dared to tow our dinghy.
I  will soon have some photos to upload.  Tomorrow or Wednesday I should have everything in order to upload photos.
This has been such a serene time for us...so unlike sailing along the mainland.  Being able to sail to a new anchorage in a few hours is a dream.
Tomorrow I will try to get everything in order to make my way home.  Bob will continue on for anywhere up to a month.