Agua Verde

From Timbabichi we continued north along this mostly unroaded and undeveloped coastline. We put out the hook in Bahia Santa Marta, but a rising SE wind caused us to flee in the late afternoon and head around the corner into Bahia Agua Verde, the most famous anchorage in the area. Vicki and I had paddled a sea kayak into Agua Verde, 30 years ago.

Timbabichi

After the norther blew itself out, we continued northward. We had a nice beat to windward up the San Jose Channel, but the wind died as we reached the north end of the island. We continued, motorsailing along a stunning coastline. We ended up at a charming bay called Timbabichi.

San Evaristo

We finally made it out of La Paz, and had a nice downwind spinnaker run, to boot! Our destination this time was San Evaristo, a village of maybe 100 souls at the end of a long, bad road, 40 miles north of La Paz by sea. This is one of the best anchorages in the area, and we were glad to get there, as yet another norther was forecast to hit the following morning. The norther lasted two days, so we had lots of time for hiking. The mountains and desert are so beautiful here. We feel like we are sailing in the Grand Canyon.

Whale shark

One of the best things about being back in La Paz is having another opportunity to swim with a whale shark. Thanks to Bill on s/v Iron Maiden, the outboard is running again, so we took the dinghy out beyond the Mogote this morning. Within 15 minutes, we had spotted a whale shark, this time without a panga nearby.

But as soon as Vicki got into the water, a panga spotted us and came over to put his passengers in the water too. The first whale shark swam away from both boats, but we soon located a second one that was not in a hurry.

After Vicki had her fill, she came back to the dinghy and I jumped in with our underwater camera (Olympus Stylus 1030SW). This whale shark was only about 20 feet long (they grow up to 20 meters in length!), but due to limited underwater visibility, I could only get good photos from up close, about a meter from the whale shark. Here are a few, showing the whale shark's mouth, gills, pectoral fin, and left side. Unfortunately I couldn't get a decent shot of its tail - you are supposed to stay at least two meters away from the tail, for obvious reasons.

Can't seem to escape La Paz

After our wonderful hike at El Rincon, we dinghied back to El Cardoncito, where the wind was starting to blast down the canyon and heel the boat over on its anchor chain. So we tied up the dinghy and went below to eat lunch and read. After a couple of particularly strong gusts of wind, I looked out the hatch to see that the dinhy had been flipped over, putting the outboard motor underwater!
We did the best we could to rinse it off, to flush out the saltwater, and to try and re-start it. What a mess - an entire garbage bag of oil-soaked rags. No luck getting it re-started, so we decided to head back to La Paz to find a mechanic. Unfortunately, it is Semana Santa, (Easter week), one of the biggest holidays in Mexico, so we might have to wait a few days to get help.

El Cardoncito

We had a nice sail north, but with a late start and a forecast for strengthening north winds we decided we wouldn't go all the way to Isla San Francisco. Instead, we changed course for Caleta Partida, considered one of the best anchorages on Espiritu Santo. When we arrived, there were at least 25 boats in the anchorage! So we took a look at El Cardoncito, a 1-boat cove just north of Caleta Partida. It seemed nice and protected, so we set the anchor in 15 feet of water over a nice sand bottom, went ashore for a short hike, and had a peaceful evening at anchor.
The next morning, the north wind started to build, as predicted. We dinghied over to Caleta Partida, and took a wonderful hike up a narrow slot canyon called "El Rincon" (the corner). There were fiddler crabs and herons on the beach.


On the way up the canyon, we saw some of the endemic wildife: large rabbits (sorry, not fast enough for a pic), small squirrels, and large colorful lizards.





There was a great view of Caleta Partida from the top of the ridge. On the way back down, I almost stepped on a turkey vulture snoozing on a shaded ledge!

Heading north into the Sea of Cortez

We plan to leave La Paz in the next day or so, heading north toward Loreto, Bahia Concepcion, and Santa Rosalia. We will probably be out of Internet range for at least a week, so there will be no blog posts until we can find a connection. Bye for now.