Puerto Ballandra

After finishing our shopping at Loreto, we had a nice sail over to Isla Carmen, only 8 miles away. Puerto Ballandra is a picture perfect cove with room for plenty of boats. The picture was slightly clouded by thoughts of our friend Jon, who died of a massive heart attack shortly after sailing out of this cove 3 years ago. Fair winds, Jon, you will continue to sail on in our memories.

The next morning we enjoyed a long hike with the crew from Optical Illusion and Nord Sail One. We followed a beautiful wooded arroyo across the island and climbed to a ridge overlooking Bahia Salinas.


Afterwards John hosted us for happy hour aboard Nord Sail One, a truly magnificent motorsailor. In the picture, John is explaining to Bill and Mark the unusual sailing cockpit; this feature allows the boat to be sailed from topsides instead of from within the pilot house.