On our way back to BC

Santa Rosalia is a bit of an anomaly in Mexico, founded by a french mining company in  1884 in order to exploit the deposits of copper in the area, the town was built out of lumber imported from the Pacific Northwest.  It gives the town a very different feel to anywhere else we have been where cement block is the building material of choice.

We left Santa Rosalia in the early afternoon for the 75 mile crossing to the mexican mainland.  The crossing was uneventful and we were able to sail halfway.  We spent a couple of days in the San Carlos area before moving on to the Marina Fonatur in Guaymas where we spent a week working on the boat and preparing it for 6 months storage.

Our cozy quarters in San Carlos

San Carlos has some very dramatic scenery

We have encountered very few mosquitos but there are lots
of flyingbugs called bobos.  They do not bite but they
swarm over your face and crawl up your nose and in your eyes.
 Scott pulled out the protective hat after accidentally swallowing
a couple of them!  In spite of the fact that they are a good
source of protein he chose not to repeat the adventure.

Some of the fish boats in Guaymas

Searover II is on the left, Ponga on the right is attempting to
get them off.  

Guaymas harbour is quite shallow and the channel into the haul out yard is not marked.  Our friends on Searover II ended up stuck in the mud on a falling tide.....luckily the tides here only change around 3 feet so they were never in any danger but they did stay stuck for about 8 hours.  In the end there was no harm and no foul just a delay in their haul out.

Here we are removing our forestay so we can fit
a bit better in the lift.  

The local taco stand

the dry storage yard at Marina Seca

Goodbye Kialoa, see you in 6 months

The bus we rode to Phoenix was very comfortable.  This is a
military checkpoint where all the passengers must get off the
bus and have their luggage checked for contraband.

Scott and his sister MaryAnn enjoying a walk in the fresh
spring greenery.  Note the long pants and shoes with socks!

 So when we were done getting the boat ready for storage we hopped on a bus to Phoenix.  The bus was modern and extremely comfortable.  No chickens at all!  From Phoenix we flew to Nashville Tennesse, where we are visiting with Scotts sister MaryAnn and her husband David.  The weather is a little cooler than we are used to and the scenery is so much greener!  On the 27th we will be flying in to Vancouver and then back to Saltspring.  So the adventure ends for now......

Oh the places we have been!

Since the end of January we have been cruising at a very relaxed pace.  We are where we want to be and it has been wonderful.  The part of Mexico where we are, on the southeast coast of the Baja Peninsula, is quite undeveloped and quiet with lots of excellent anchorages.  There are many reasons to linger. And since a picture is worth a thousand words........

Swimming with the sea lions at Los Islotes was a real
highlight for me.

Sometimes the water was so clear it felt like we were flying.

Taking a rest from hiking on the giant chair

The best kind of rodeo riding

Los Gatos is known for its cool red sandstone

The lovely protected anchorage at Agua Verde

On a fun canyon hike near Puerto Escondido

Loreto

The pelicans are fantastic!

Heading out for a hike at Bahia San Juanico

Dramatic scenery abounds!

How much luckier can we get?

Fresh fish for dinner

Mulege bomberos fire truck, yes they could probably use some
newer equipment.

sharing the anchorage with whale sharks!

Anchored in the harbour at Santa Rosalia, the abandoned copper smelter in
the background.

We observed an Easter reenactment of Jesus last day, the procession wound its
way through the town of Santa Rosalia, stopping at the stations of the cross
 and culminating in the crucifixtion at the top of a hill

Our next step is to cross the sea of Cortez, it is only 72 miles across from here, and then get the boat ready for storage and come back to BC for the summer.  See you soon!

A little teaser

Yes we are still alive!

We have been cruising in a part of Mexico that is very undeveloped and internet does not exist in most places.  Where it does exist it tends to be slow and unreliable.  We are slowly working our way north into the sea of Cortez enjoying a relaxed pace as we work our way towards Guayamas.  We plan to haul the boat out in mid April and then head back to BC for the summer.  We have been told it gets too hot here.  I was willing to try it but Scott is not and really it is wonderful in BC in the summer.  We are having fun, getting some great weather and seeing lots of cool places.

Just one of the beautiful places we have seen, 

La Paz

We spotted our first ever real live sister ship at the Marina
in La Paz, we have never laid eyes on another southern
cross 31 before.

La Paz has been a wonderful interlude, it has been a nice break from travelling to be living at the dock.  There is no pressure to make decisions about where to go next or when, we rarely check the weather and life has fallen into a rather relaxed pace.  

With the arrival of friends from Saltspring, Norah, Norbert and Glynis, followed shortly by my Mom and Auntie Anita and Uncle Tony, we started to party!  They had all come down to help me celebrate my 50^th birthday, and help they did.  Along with some of our new friends from the Umbrella Dumpers, we had a fun party with a piñata and cake and tons of wonderful food.  Special thanks go to everyone who came out!

We visited a saturday market that would make all Saltspring Islanders feel
right at home.

Me and Mom and my birthday Pinata

I had a wonderful 50th party, thanks to my friends and family
who could be here. 

During  Norah, Norbert, Glynis and Moms visit we took a Panga ride out to the islands to the north of La Paz.  Our first stop was the area where the whale sharks feed.  I have always wanted to see these amazing animals (the largest fish alive in the world).  They are breathtaking in size and grace and beauty.  Unfortunately my underwater camera packed it in that day so we have no photos, just our incredible memories.  We then headed to a rock called Los Islotes where there is a large sea lion colony.  Here the Panga tied up to a mooring ball and Mom, Norah, Glynis and I hopped in the water to snorkel.  There were all kinds of beautiful fish to see, but the real reason we were there was the sea lions.  They will swim right by with no fear, one of the smaller ones brushed against me as it passed.  The big ones are a little intimidating so none of us were sad to be more or less ignored by them.  Then we were off to Ensenada Grande, a stunningly beautiful beach where we had a ceviche and sandwich lunch.  Loreto, our guide for the trip, took us along the coast of the islands as we returned towards La Paz, showing us the interesting rock formations and beautiful beaches all along the coast.  As we crossed the channel towards La Paz Norbert spotted a massive pod of dolphins, so Loreto took us into them so they could play in the bow wave and wake of his Panga.  Then we spotted another pod of dolphins, these were larger and darker than the first pod.  As we were leaving this second pod Loreto spotted two humpback whales.  They were breaching and tail slapping and we were treated to an incredible show.  It was an incredible day. I have never experienced so many amazing animal encounters in one day before.

Getting ready to leave this lovely beach

aaaarrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

We were blessed with a spectacular humpback show.

Scott and Norbert enjoying the speedy panga ride.

After we bade farewell to our lovely guests it was time to get on with the boat chores.  We had a list of maintenance items to take care of and as we prepare to depart La Paz, Kialoa is looking clean and shiny and all systems are in good shape.  We plan to slowly work our way north into the sea of Cortez, looking for wonderful beaches and hopefully more whale stories!
                                                                                       

One of our projects while in La Paz was making a lifting
harness for the dinghy.  We can now easily store it out of the
water each night.  This acts as a theft deterrent and also keeps
the bottom clean, we have already had to scrape little
 barnacles off the bottom.

Cindy and Journey from Namaste decked out in
their team colors for superbowl.

at long last La Paz

San Jose del Cabo, the town square ready for xmas

We had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with the crews of Adagio and Namaste in Puertos Los Cabos,  a traditional meal of Pizza and barbequed Marlin.  That was my first time eating Marlin and it was fantastic!   It was a wonderful time with good people.  Christmas day we said see ya later to Josh over a few margaritas at “the container” and after he left to get his flight the rest of us headed to the beach to continue to celebrate the holiday.  Life is pretty good.

Saying good bye to Josh, I think the big grins are from the
margaritas.......

Christmas on the beach with Namaste and Adagio

Puertos los Cabos is just around the corner from the Sea of Cortez  which has a weather phenomenon known as “northers” at this time of year.  When the northers are blowing it is wise to just stay where you are as progress is slow and uncomfortable or not possible at all.  So we waited in Puertos los Cabos for our window.  It came on Dec 30 and we departed early in the morning, had a brief stop in Los Frailes to say hello to our friends on Sea Rover II, and also test our watermaker, it has an issue and we could not run it in the marina.  It still has an issue……People keep saying that cruising is just working on your boat in exotic  places and so far there has been some truth in that.  However it is much nicer working on your boat in Mexico than it is when your hands are freezing cold and you can barely hang on to the tools, a reasonable trade off in my opinion.

One advantage of a smaller boat is that the ospreys
much prefer to sit on the delicate wind instruments
of the taller masts!

Yup we got wet. Photo courtesy of Namaste.

Anyway we arrived in La Paz on the morning of Dec 31^st after motoring through the night.  When we turned the corner to head south into La Paz harbour the wind picked up and we got thoroughly saltwater splattered.  In fact we have never been so wet on Kialoa before.  It was just something about the shape of the waves because they were not even very big.  However once again it is much nicer getting salt spray when the water is 70 degrees!  We managed to tough it out!

New Years Eve, just goes to show you are never too old to
party in a parking lot!

There is a cruisers club at Marina de La Paz that sponsored a New Years Eve party.  They were celebrating on UTC time (aka Greenwich mean time) so midnight was at 5 pm local, perfect for us as we were tired from the trip up here and were sound asleep before 8pm.

shopping for fresh fruits and veg in La Paz

and the butchers

Scotts back/shoulder is still hurting him so we have been trying to get some help for that as well as slowly checking out the city of La Paz.  So far so good, it feels clean and safe and the people are nice.  We are booked into Marina de La Paz for the month of January and we are looking forward to visits from friends and family while we are here.