As of the last report, we were in Turtle Bay and Greg had a
toothache.
A local fisherman stopped by our boat to talk, and we asked him if
there might be a dentist here in Turtle Bay. He said, "Yes, we have a
good one". He offered us a ride to shore. So we jumped into the
panga
and headed to shore. Once we landed, we asked where the dentist might
be found. We were given directions and two young boys on bicycles
accompanied us to make sure we found our way. We arrived at the local
hospital/clinic. We asked about the dentist and were assured he was
very good. We were then informed that he would be back in town in just
6 days!
On March 12, having found no usable dentist, we upped anchor from
Turtle Bay & headed to Abreojos, we arrived the next day, March 13
at 9:00 a.m. Abreojos is a small open bay that provides a safe
anchorage when the winds are blowing from the northwest.
There is a very
small village here. We did not go ashore.
On March 14, we upped anchor from Abreojos & went to Bahia Santa
Maria. It was another overnight trip and we arrived March
15. This is a beautiful bay! There were three other sail
boats anchored here
when we arrived. They are all doing the "bash" back up
north. We
heard one of the boats telling another over the vhf radio, that the
Mexican navy had boarded them. We saw the navy ship anchored in
the bay so we were
not surprised when they came along side in an inflatable and asked to
come aboard Guenevere. They can be intimidating as they wear full
uniform, big heavy black boots, and carry machine guns. They
seemed very young
to me and reminded me of our sons, so we enjoyed talking to them and
they were actually very friendly and polite. They checked to see
that
our paper work was in order and then asked to look below. We
invited
them below and only one came below, looked around, told me my dinner
smelled good and that was it. They would not accept drinks or
dinner. When they heard about Greg's toothache, they offered to
go back to their
ship, the Uribe, and return with medicine for him. After they
departed,
we ate dinner and prepared to depart in the morning. We would
love
to go ashore and explore, but it won't be this time. There are
supposed
to be so many sand dollars on the shoreline that cruisers call it
Frisbee beach.
During this trip we had the lower port door hinge brake on us. This was
unexpected as they are VERY strong hinges. We quickly moved a hinge
from our bridge deck locker lid to replace the broken hinge. We then
replaced the locker lid hinge with a spare we kept aboard after we
anchored.
Still "rushing" to find a dentist, on March 16, we upped anchor at
Bahia Saint Maria & went to Man-O-War cove in Bahia Magdalena
(Mag Bay).
After a nine-hour trip, we arrived. It looks like we could almost
walk across a sandy beach and be right back at Santa Maria. Such
a
long trip south to the entrance of Mag Bay and then back north to the
cove where there is a small village. We have been looking forward
to
arriving here, as this is where the whales have their calves. We
saw none
while we were here, however!
 
We quickly put the dink down and went to town to see the port
captain. We were directed to the port captain's office and since there
was no sign on the door, we walked inside. No one was
there. We
did notice a whiteboard on the wall with the name and date of a boat
that left just after we left San Francisco. Apparently, it was
the last boat to
check in here on 11/04. We learned that the port captain was in
San
Carlos town and would be back the following day. A fisherman told
us
there was no dentist here in town but there was one in San Carlos and
he would meet us at our boat a 9:00 in the morning and take us by panga
to San Carlos. We agreed. In the morning, at 7:00 while
cooking
breakfast, we heard a panga pull up. It was the port
captain. He said
there was no dentist in San Carlos and if we would be ready in 10
minutes, he would take us to Constitution to the dentist. He took
off for shore and needless to say we hurried and readied our selves to
go. He drove
us to San
Carlos in his panga (these are very nifty boats used for fishing and
transportation all over Mexico). When we arrived in San Carlos,
25 minutes later, at the shore was Gregorio's wife waiting with their
car. They drove us about 60 miles to the dentist. It turns out
that
this was Gregorio's personal dentist and they had called ahead to make
an appointment.
The dentist didn't speak much English,
but his son was better and was quite computer savvy. He pulled up
Google translator and
we got along just fine. As he was leaving the following day for
10
days, he could pull the tooth or we could wait until he returned.
We
decided to continue on to Cabo since Greg is not in pain. The
dentist gave
us several prescriptions for swelling and pain. He charged us
nothing for his time.
Gregorio drove us to the farmacia, and looked sick as we paid $100 US
for the prescriptions. He then took us to a wonderful
market! Both families shopped and then we headed back to San
Carlos. He
brought us to his home and we had coffee and visited his family.
Then back to
the panga and back to our boat. We reminded him that we still
needed
to check in and he waved us off and said we had spent enough money
today.
As our next leg to Cabo will be a long one, we decided to stay another
day. In the evening, Gregorio pulled up in his panga, and asked
for a knife. We gave him one and he pulled up a tarp and there
was a beautiful yellow fin tuna. He whacked off a huge piece and gave
it do
us. It is delicious!
Because of the distance to be covered to Cabo and so we could arrive by
daylight, we made a decision to leave Man-O-War Cove at 0230 on March
19, just as the moon was setting. We have always said we would
not enter or leave port at night. So now we have broken our own
rule. We reinforced our original idea, when we got out in the bay
and saw how different everything looks and sounds at night. As we
were trying
to figure out the patterns of lights, a panga crossed very close in
front of our bow. I hope he saw us, because we did not recognize
his
lights. We will not do this again!!
As we got closer to Cabo, the weather got warmer and warmer.
Finally!! The watch crew began shedding clothes until there was
none left to remove.
We arrived at Cabo San Lucas at about 12:30PM, March 20. This is about
the end of our southbound trip for a while. From hear we head east and
north, AND IT KEEPS GETTING WARMER! We have now done 1, 559 Nautical
miles (1,794.07 statute miles).
Cabo is just what you can imagine. VERY expensive and
touristy. Never one to resist a challenge, we took a slip and
immediately went exploring to find out-of-the-way places.
Because of the many
Americans vacationing here, you can get about any "American" food you
desire
here. For some reason, I craved a hamburger and fries so we made
our first stop at Johnny Rockets. Greg wanted bar-B-Q ribs, so
for dinner we
went to the Hard Rock Café. This IS NOT Mexico! This
is
Disneyland for adults! Everyone speaks English and you would
think you were in the
states. We washed our clothes (at a private marina area complete
with our own swimming pool and patio!)
and walked through the malls and shops.
We had to check ourselves in at immigration and with the port
captain.
We walked about a mile to immigration and we were told that it was
vacation and since we were leaving in two more days, just come back and
check in and out at the same time. By the time we checked out, we
were
ready for a quite anchorage. Cabo is a 24-hour a day town.
It was
great to be right in the middle of all the activities, but we tired of
that fast. So, on March 24, we departed the dock and made our heading
toward Los Frailes.
Ahhhh we arrived in Los Frailes at about 5:30 PM. We have
finally had a warm weather sail and arrived in a beautiful bay.
The water
is so clear and only one other boat is at anchor here. On the
shore,
we see many tents. It is Easter vacation and many families have
come
here to camp.
At this bay, you see large rays jumping out of the water all of the
time. They jump and turn or summersault out of the
water. We watched for hours at this wonderful show put on by
these beautiful creatures.
We wondered why they do it, and then, just contented ourselves to watch
as the sun went down in a fiery red blaze. HOW BEAUTIFUL!
We have trailed fishing lines every time we make a passage and have not
caught anything! Greg decided to try hand line fishing.
Success!! We finally caught a fish-a blowfish! We let it
go. Another
strike! A parrotfish. Since it feeds on coral, we will not
eat this fish so
we let it go, also. Another strike! A blowfish.
We put away
the fishing line. The next day, two huge mega yachts motored into
the
harbor. They off loaded jet skies, wind surfers, kayaks, and a
motorboat the size of our boat.
We liked Frailes a lot. But, we had our one and only (so far) bad
experience with other boaters here. And they were from the good old
U.S.A. NOT Mexico!
We were anchored about ¼ mile off shore in a spot just where the
rocks and sandy beach meet. Shortly after noon, a powerboat came into
the anchorage and anchored between us, and the beach! As he let out his
anchor chain and drifted back he came to rest just a few feet (less
than 50) in front of us. I walked up to our bow and looked over at him.
He was just getting down off of the fly bridge and when he saw me I
said in a normal voice (didn't have to shout), "too close".
For the non-boaters here, normal anchoring protocol is that the first
boat in an anchorage has the "right of way" if he asks, you must
re-anchor or move away. If he uses two anchors, so must you if you are
at all close to him.
He said back to me, "I'm only staying a few hours and I ain't F#$%
moving!" We are shocked! He is now so close to us, that his boat is
over our anchor, so we cannot even raise our anchor to move without
hitting him! As Greg stands on the foredeck looking at him, he shouts
to him, "You don't have to be an A$$ H*&#$ about it!"
Greg
raised his arms to the side and said, "Look at the size of this bay".
Frailes must be at least 2 miles wide! With the last comment he made,
Greg just remained
on the bow ready to fend off if his anchor or the waves pushed him back
at us. The skipper then made a few rude remarks about us, and
Greg
did NOT say what was on his mind! After about a half hour they did
move. It was a group of about 2 couples and 3 or 4 kids. During the
rest of the day, they would take their dink past us as fast as they
could to make a wake and try to disturb us. That night they played
their music VERY loud to try to disturb us. A waste of time as there
was another boat
(we felt sorry for) between us, and them. They shined their
spotlight
onto our deck for about an hour after dark, apparently to get a rise
out of us.
We have read stories and seen this action in boat training films, but
have never experienced this type of rude obnoxious people.
The name of the boat was something like "Flbait" or something like
that. I will put a photo of it here when I get the time.
We really want to stay in Frailes and dive, and explore, but we are
still being controlled by the fact that Greg still needs to see a
dentist, so on March 28, we up anchor and head for Los Muertos.
The turds
were still there at anchor, sleeping it off if it was my guess.
As we anchored in Los Muertos, and settle in for dinner, the winds come
up. They blow all night long and continually change
direction. We stand anchor watch all night and worry that the
changes in wind
direction may loosen our anchor. By morning the wind lets up and
we get an
hour or two of sleep. When we get up, we are the only boat in the
anchorage. The other boats have taken to sea during the
night.
We decided to go from Muertos, on March 29, to a small cove, Ballandra,
that the cruising guide tells us is about 18 miles from La Paz. During
the trip, there is no wind, so we are motoring along and Greg goes
below to catch a nap. Greg - after about a half hour I hear Jill
talking away. Am I hearing things? I have heard and experienced hearing
voices at sea, but always at night or when very tired. Maybe Jill is
singing, no, it is clearly a conversation going on, and about fishing
(NO fish so far DRAT!) So, I stick my head up and look out. There,
about 20 feet to port, and
keeping pace with us, is a fishing panga, with about 5 fishermen in it.
They are advising Jill how we can catch fish!
We had to motor through the San Lorenzo channel, between the main land
and an island (Espititu Santos) that we very much want to visit later.
But this channel is very rough. It only takes about an hour, but is not
nice to us.
Once past the channel, we found Ballandra anchorage.
We made a couple of passes, this day; it did NOT look nearly as nice as
the cruising guide made it out to be. It was also not as protected as
we had hoped.
So, we continued on for about a mile and looked at a small place called
Caleta Lobos. This place was great for us. I think a larger boat may
not have liked it as much as it was small. But it was very protected,
secure and calm with good sand holding.
Once we were anchored and secure Jill started dinner and I started our
chart work for the last 20 miles to the marina. Something was wrong! I
re-did the paper chart work AND the electronic chart plotter work. We
were only 8.5 miles, TO THE MARINA ENTRANCE! We could have easily made
it in before dark. But, as it was such a nice anchorage, we decided to
spend a quiet night before we had to enter the hussle & bustle of
the marina and shore based life.
After breakfast on March 30, we checked the tide and headed to La
Paz. When we were entering the channel to La Paz, we heard our
boat name called on the vhf. We looked around but saw no boats.
It was a
friend calling from the marina on the off chance that we were close
enough to hear. By the time we arrived at our slip in Marina De
La Paz, we
had a group of friends waiting to help us with our lines. Judy,
aboard
Desire, slipped a piece of paper into my hand. On it was the name
and
address to a dentist. What a warm welcome! Many of the
boats we
have met along our way are now here in La Paz.
Mary and Mac, the owners of this marina have been here about 30 years
and I have just discovered that Mac is the designer of the wonderful
pangas that we have been admiring along our way.
Now that Greg's tooth doesn't hurt and we are ready and able to get it
looked at, he has chickened out. He wants to keep delaying even
making an appointment. We walk around town and take care of a few
errands and, suddenly, I notice that we are right around the corner
from the dentist's office. We must go make an appointment.
Greg will
see the dentist on the following week. On Monday April 4 Greg went into
the
dentist for the appointment. The dentist was GREAT! He spent an hour
with him. First took an x-ray and then went over what had most likely
happened. The tooth had already had a root canal so did NOT need to be
pulled! It was most likely a seed or popcorn husk that had lodged
between the gum and tooth. The antibiotics took care of everything. He
then did a complete cleaning and pronounced Greg "Good to Go". All of
this for
under US $50.00! And the place was spotless! The office was as modern,
or more so than a lot of offices in the U.S.
La Paz is a beautiful place. The weather is warm and sunny.
There are friendly people both boaters and locals. Prices are very
reasonable here. They have a club here for cruisers. The
club is also
used to raise money for charities, a free library, and mail service.
On one Saturday evening, we attended a "Chamber Music" recital by the
La Paz Orchestra. It was held at a local restaurant close to the
marina. We listened to 2 full hours of music, had a "Surf & Turf"
dinner
and beverages for about US $16.00 each. It was a lot of fun. Every week
at the same restaurant, Ciao Molina just outside the gate to Marina de
La Paz, on Wednesday nights any and all musicians in the fleet are
invited to a jam session. They also host dominos on two nights a week
and poker games a few times a week.
The next day, four boats got together and rented a van. We drove to an
art and cultural fair in a small town called Los Barriles.
We saw a few demonstrations by local kids and some wonderful dancing
and hand made artwork. We hopped in the car and then headed around past
Cabo San
Lucas and up to Todos Santos. Todos Santos is sort of like a small art
town with a LOT of shops and a "Hotel California". We stopped there for
a time to admire all of the treasures and have a nice dinner. Then back
in the car, and we arrived back at La Paz just around sunset.
The cruisers put together a three day bay fest. We attended
seminars, beach volleyball, Mexican train dominos, blind dingy races,
gps poker runs, a "see shell museum"
 - 
(put together by three children cruising
with their parents), dress like a pirate day, potluck meals, and
cooking competitions, open mic for local bands, and Captain Ron day
where
everyone was to dress like a character from the movie Captain Ron and
in the evening, we watched the movie outside under the stars.
We have to tell you, you see some of the most beautiful sunsets here in
the Sea of Cortez. I must have a hundred photos, each better than the
last!
It is easy to see why people keep coming back here year after year or
just never leave. Most boat repairs are easy to get done.
There are every imaginable service here and all at very reasonable
prices.
The cruising community is just incredible! We have seen them
instantly go to the aid of boats in need without even knowing the
owners.
The cruiser "phone" is channel 22 on the vhf radio. Most people
leave
this on all day long. And any request for help and/or information
is immediately responded to.
We are now waiting on our FM-3 visa paperwork to be completed. When
this is done, we will not be required to leave Mexico and come back
every 6 months in order to renew our visas. We are also having the teak
refinished. This is the first time since we have owned Guenevere that
we are not doing it ourselves. It's a bit traumatic and hard not to
jump up and take a more active part in it, but they do a fine job.
We were sitting in a local restaurant and spotted a friend of Jill's
walking by. What a small world! We had not seen him
for about three years. It seems that he and his wife are renting
a home here and
are looking for a house to purchase. We got together and had a
wonderful day catching up and also driving around La Paz looking at
areas we had not seen and looking at houses.
As soon as the above two tasks are finished, we will head out of here
and start making our way further up into the Sea in search of some of
the finest anchorages and gin clear water this side of the South
Pacific.
We have received a few questions, by email; regarding our travels and
think others might have the same questions so we will attempt to answer
them here.
Questions -
Do we speak Spanish?
We don't speak Spanish. We carry a Spanish/English dictionary to
help us and have been practicing common words. We could take
classes
here. There are many offered, but we feel at this time that
practice is what we require and we are getting that. Not many
people here speak
English and as we get to smaller villages, even less English is spoken.
Is it HOT there?
Today, April 24, at about 7:00 AM, it was about 70 degrees; now at 7:00
p.m. it is 89 degrees. It will get much hotter here and
further north, we are told that during the summer it can get up as high
as 130 degrees. We are learning about siesta. If you have
to walk
about town, you do it early in the day and then, as the locals do, rest
or read during the hot part of the day. Here, most businesses
open at 10:00 a.m.
and
close at 1:00 p.m. and open again at 4:00 p.m. Shade is very
important here and every one has shade covers on their boat. When
you visit other boats, you are invited aboard to get out of the direct
sun.
Swimming is a very popular sport and spray bottles help to keep you
cooler. Most cruisers wear hats.
Can you drink the water?
Yes and no. It depends where you are. In Cabo, we had no problem
drinking water with ice. In small villages, we drink only bottled
water or bottled drinks. We get small limes with our bottle and
run the
cut lime around the top before drinking and usually add limejuice to
our drink. It is very refreshing. The marina here in La Paz
is
now stating that the water is "probably" ok to drink and some people
here do drink
it. We are using it after it has been filtered. So far, so
good. We
are equipped with a water maker and when we are not in port, we make
our
own fresh water. We are eating fresh fruits and vegetable in
restaurants now and have not had any problems. We think that the longer
you stay, you get used to the water.
Why do we go into the marinas?
In every area where there are services there are marinas.
Sometimes you can chose to anchor, but most times if you need the
services, you must come into the marina. That is where there is
fuel, water,
and food and a place to properly dispose of trash, and pump out holding
tanks. Here in La Paz, you may anchor out or tie to a mooring.
They then provide a dinghy dock for a small price per day so you can
drive in
(with
your dink) to take care of needed things. If you use the dinghy dock
and take a shower each day, the cost is almost the same as just docking
your boat (for smaller boats). So, why not just tie up and relax?
Anytime you have your boat anchored, you must be aware of changing
conditions and we have had parties and gatherings interrupted when
people have to return to their boats to secure them. You don't
get as much rest
at night at anchor because you get up to check the anchor throughout
the
night and also make sure other boats do not drag anchor onto you.
If you are at the dock, to go shopping you:
Walk to the store, get your stuff and return, (walk, bus, or taxi
depending on the size and weight of what you bought), put it in a dock
cart, (provided by the marina), walk it to the boat, put it aboard, and
put it away.
If you are anchored out, to go shopping you:
Put your dink in the water, (the first time can take up to an hour of
work), drive in to the dinghy dock, pay the daily dock fee, (secure you
dink and anything in it), walk to the store and return (same as above),
put the items in the dink, drive the dink back to the boat and hope the
water is calm! Or you have a wet ride and wet supplies, then lift the
stuff up into the boat and put it away, then secure the dink. If it is
the last time you will use the dink it can take about an hour or so to
store back aboard the boat.
Also, there is a social interaction in the marina that you do not get
at anchor. We LOVE to anchor out, but we also like to be in the marina
from time to time. It's good to see both sides of things; you can't
appreciate the one if you have not experienced the other.
We see boaters all along the way choosing to anchor out for a variety
of reasons. We feel it takes much longer to get things done when
we are at anchor and information gathering is much slower. We
like to
take advantage of the security of the marina and then leave to discover
beautiful anchorages.
Next report bobos, no-see-ums, and bees
Our last Position
When we send an E-Mail from Guenevere, our system automatically reports
our latest position. If we have sent an email with the last day or so,
you can
call us up on a map and see where we are! To do this just click
on the a link I have placed below...
Position
Report - Where we are now
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