While resting in Puerto Escondido near the end of May, our brains begin the inevitable tack: from a cruising mindset to a storing mindset. At the Circle of Knowledge, the daily, informal cruiser gathering, June haul out plans are the topic du jour. Our own haul out date is coming up quickly. So Brian’s mind starts to whirl, contemplating the myriad of things we will need to do to prep Indigo for storage, a daunting task. MY mind begins to contemplate the food situation, and getting rid of it. Thus, a list is born.

Yes, I have a Food Spreadsheet
Rummaging through my food lockers, I tear into my 10-sheet, Food-On-Board excel spreadsheet, updating every carton, can and container still taking up shelf space. Then I start making lists of what I could make for dinner that will use up said noodles, rice, beans, canned chicken, etc. Then I make ANOTHER list of what we will have for dinner for the next week. I like lists. Almost as much as I like cheese.

May Thanksgiving
So I was super excited when our friends on Cuba Libre happened to invite us and Lorelei over for a Thanksgiving in May celebration with mutual friends on Bella Luna. Cuba Libre had a frozen turkey they needed to cook up before they hauled out. So their turkey problem became my food-inventory purging solution. Sweet. I made a huge coleslaw salad to get rid of some cabbage and baked brownies to use up some eggs. The result was a delicious Thanksgiving May Day enjoyed by all, complete with turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing. Thanks to Cuba Libre for hosting and cooking!

Haulout Potluck
A couple weeks later, three of us boats arrived into Marina San Carlos. We planned on hauling our boats onto dry land within days of each other. This means removing all food. So we held another Food-Purge-Potluck. This time, I made canned pear oatmeal crisp and tuna noodle casserole with about 5 different cheeses. (More like cheese casserole with a smidgen of macaroni and a trace of tuna.) I still had to give away two chunks ‘o cheese at the end. So I put together a box to haul back to the van for our camping trips; I gave 3 small bags away to a couple local dock guys; and I carried two large sacks to San Carlos Yachts who, in turn, donates it to the local orphanage. What a great way to jettison food.

Salami Anyone?
As I was defrosting the fridge, I found two packets of sliced salami that I forgot about. I walked over to a boat I’d never met and dangled my expensive and coveted salami packets right in front of these strangers. “Would you guys like…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence before their eyes widened and enthusiastically replied...
“Yes! Yes! We’ll take them! We’re Polish! Of course we love salami!”

Before we crossed the Sea, I happened to skim a decade-old government-issued marketing plan/coffee table book printed by Fonatur (tourist arm of the Mexican government) and SEMARNAT (environmental arm). Since the 70’s, Fonatur has actively developed key areas of Mexico for tourism. Under their purview, the sleepy beach village of Cabo San Lucas has turned into a miniature Las Vegas; Cancun, former swampland inhabited by merely a few fishermen, is now a world-renowned resort destination.  Critics may wring hands about overbuilding and environmental concerns, but there is no doubt the economy has benefitted by this influx of tourism money. (Here’s a link to an interesting article on Fonatur.) 

Escalera Nautica
Long before the term “eco-tourism” was coined, Mexico understood the extraordinary jewel that is the Sea of Cortez.  Years ago, they began developing several small marinas throughout the Sea to attract the yachting industry, also working with developers to provide nearby hotel facilities for water-loving land-based visitors. The Escalera Nautica, as it was marketed, or Nautical Staircase, was purposefully designed to facilitate boaters (people like us) to safely climb their way to the top of the Sea and back down. Just like their previously developed resort communities, they hoped by seeding key areas with marinas and visitor accommodations, that the tourism industry would snowball economic growth, provide jobs and enable infrastructure development.  Over the years, several small, 18-20 slip Fonatur marinas have been built according to this plan. Some are more well-run and visited than others, but all along, the objective has been to sell these marinas once established.

SOLD!
So I am happy to tell you that since our last visit, the former government-run Marina Fonatur at Puerto Escondido has been purchased by a private firm. It is now run, as of June I believe, by a company called Waicuri. According to brochures, their master plan is pretty ambitious. We’ve been told part of the contract is that Waicuri must complete a certain amount of development within two years. What those exact stipulations are, I’ve no idea…but here’s a couple major items on their overall agenda...

Sell Those Lots!
One goal is to sell those primo vacant lots! Puerto Escondido lies just 15 miles south of the “Magic Town” of Loreto, with its myriad shops & eateries, historical town square and an international airport to boot. Years ago, the foundation was laid here for a harbor-front housing community. Custom homes built on canal frontage surely should entice boating enthusiasts galore with the promise of a private dock in an amazing locale. With its background a spectacular mountain range, its foreground a beautiful and safe harbor, this place begs further development.

But for years, the grid of paved subdivision roads sits empty, like a cliché apocalypse movie. Cracked pavement. Tumbleweeds. Skittering lizards. Screeching hawks in the distance. Canals that go nowhere. Crumbling bridges. Street lighting poles hover over scrub-strewn, vacant homesites, waiting to be switched on… but not a single house built. An empty shell of concrete and rebar stands alone overlooking the docks, perhaps a condo or hotel started but abandoned. Outrageous price expectation? Poor infrastructure (sewer, water, electric)? Who knows why nothing sold.

Now though, from the looks of it, things are happening. We noted much construction activity out there in the canal areas – a backhoe, freshly graded dirt, stacked bricks awaiting placement, rebar in a new foundation, a mess of guys repairing a canal bridge, and new landscaping. Last time we visited, the canal was empty. This time we sighted several powerboats attached to brand-new, aluminum floating docks in the canal. Whether those owners have purchased lots or are just renting those private docks, I can’t say. But it’s a good sign. According to the Waicuri website, “condominiums, a beach club with restaurant, spa and gym for all the home owners, boutique hotel and much more!” are eventually on the docket. Well, that sounds a little ambitious. We’ll see.

Slips in the Ellipse? Can it be true?
Another ambitious project is to build 200 slips in the Ellipse. The Ellipse is a curved breakwater structure that once housed several mooring balls and was operated by a different entity. I always thought mooring balls here was a waste of space in such a small area. A dock system would maximize the number of boats who wish to be “attached” to land longer-term. As long as they still maintain plenty of inexpensive moorings in the large harbor, this could be a win-win for both cruising types. The PE harbor itself is already a relatively safe “hurricane hole” surrounded by mountains and completely cut off from the capricious powers of the Sea. The Ellipse’s breakwater offers double-protection from small, choppy wind waves that funnel down the harbor in a north blow. We think this marina expansion is great idea and would definitely consider keeping Indigo here longer term. But only if they provided shuttle service to town.

Click here to see an aerial mock-up of the proposed facilities…notice the slips in the Ellipse next to the harbor opening. I am skeptical this will be built anytime soon…but, you never know. They have already removed all but three of the boats that were moored here, many of which were left permanently unattended. I do not know what, if anything, is planned for the Waiting Room where many people actually live on their boats on a mooring full time.

Other small improvements have taken place. Here are the things we’ve noticed…

• The marina office is getting an interior facelift. By the way, the office folks are very nice and helpful. But don’t expect your records (boat documentation) to be on file from before June - everything has been expunged.
• Laundry is now FREE! One free load per boat per day. Staying for 2-3 days? You can combine your loads all in one session. The marina office notifies their cleaning attendant who will turn on the washers & dryers for you manually. Formerly $3 per load, this is a really nice bonus.
• The POOL works! That pool has been empty and forlorn for at least the two years we’ve been visiting. Now it is crystal clear and, although colder than the sea water, refreshing in the 90 degree heat.

Same ‘ole…

• The mooring prices are still the same, @$10 per day. We’re certainly not complaining…just glad they didn’t raise their rates.
• Internet sucks. Still. But the marina says they are “working on it”. The normally half-way decent internet at Tripui hotel/restaurant was also inoperative at the time we visited. Double whammy. So we had to rely on our phone. Except…
• Cell service is still spotty in Puerto Escondido. We’ve been advised to take a farther mooring near the “windows” for better line of sight with the Loreto tower, and folks in the Waiting Room have no trouble as their boats face the Bahia Candeleros tower. But this isn’t the marina’s fault; it’s not like I expect them to buy a cell phone tower! But if we could get halfway decent marina internet, we wouldn’t give a whit about cell cervice.
• The women’s bathroom shower stalls still have no exterior shower curtains, the interior walls are still crumbling, the internal shower doors are still catawampus and still no hot water. Good thing it was HOT outside and we didn’t care so much. This time. But this gripe is getting old. Showers should be at the top of the list of improvements.

​And then there’s the sad news…

• Carole’s tienda is closing as of December. The owner’s just don’t have enough business during the summer to remain in the black. This is a huge disappointment to ALL cruisers as it is the only place to obtain cold drinks, milk, chips, bread, cereal and a few fresh veges to sustain our trip onward. Not to mention her made-to-order hamburgers and the occasional homemade banana bread for sale. And I don’t know what’s going to happen to Taco Saturday. The undesirable alternative is to rent a car for $80 a day or take an all-day taxi to Loreto for just about as much or anchor in a tenuous location off the Loreto breakwater with no wave protection. The little store is so important to cruising customers - I wish Waicuri would just give them free rent during the lean summer months. Very sad.

I’ll Believe It When I See It
When it comes to big proposals like this in Mexico, we immediately take on a “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude. So many projects start and get abandoned just as quickly, it’s impossible to tell whether this one will fail or succeed. In perusing the Waicuri website, I recognize one of the developers as San Diego-based Hamann Construction, who I watched build the manufacturing facility I worked in several years ago. I am hopeful their expert involvement lends a positive tilt to the overall success. But, the best indication is that Waicuri IS beginning to make improvements. Let’s just hope they continue!

That ONE thing you don’t have a spare for is always THE thing you lose or break.

While using the kayak is easy everywhere else, getting from the mooring area to the dinghy dock in Puerto Escondido is just too far a trek for Big Red. So we blew up the dinghy. Intending to add gas to the outboard engine, Brian removed the gas cap. Just as he was contemplating how tenuous that little gas cap retainer cord looked, hoping it wouldn’t break…ploop…the chintzy, plastic yoke broke and our poor gas cap went tumbling into 50ft of water, gone forever. Shi#$%!! Shi#$%!!  Shi#$%!! …is all I heard coming from the dinghy.

Spares Anyone?
If Brian had room for a spare engine, we’d have one. This “always be prepared”-mottoed man has darn near every spare part imaginable.. spare belts and ropes and hose connections and filters and hundreds of pieces of hardware and plastic thingys, normal boat stuff right? But we even have spare rigging, a spare windlass motor, an alternator, chain and cables in case the wheel assembly breaks and dozens more important items...just in case. Who brings a spare gas cap? Not even this guy. Why would anyone?

No gas cap, no dinghy.
You can’t run the engine without the gas cap or pretty soon you’ll end up with no gas (and with gas spewed all over you). More importantly, you can’t store the engine on the back of the boat (where it gets wet when you are sailing) without a gas cap. And just putting a plastic baggie with a rubber band over it probably isn’t the best idea. Plus, the incentive for NOT having to kayak the half mile to shore is pretty high. Brian went to the haulout facility in Puerto Escondido, but no joy. We didn’t want to pay for an $80 taxi ride to Loreto just to NOT find our obscure part, so Brian put on his MacGyver hat. What's the phrase...necessity is the mother of invention?

The Gas-o-Lipiec Cap
Thus was born the now trademarked Gas-o-Lipiec Cap: a fine custom piece of workmanship if I do say so. Brian cut some Plexiglas in a semi-roundish shape (he was sooo irritated he couldn’t make it perfectly round), covered it with a piece of rubber gasket material, drilled a hole through both, added a bolt and wingnut, then cut a small, rectangular piece of metal with a hole to act as a grabber/sealer on the bottom. He did all this in the cockpit with a hacksaw and a drill. Not bad for an hours work. All the while, every 2 minutes: “God, this would be so much easier if only I had my (insert tool) router/bandsaw/sander/drill press…” So glad we DON’T have room for THOSE spares.

Our ad-hoc cap worked as advertised. When we got to San Carlos, we inquired about spare gas caps. Ordering one would take a week. Well, we know what THAT means…a week is probably a month. Forget it. We’ll leave it “as is” for the summer and bring a new one back down with us next season.

Chores and Chillin’
We rested in Puerto Escondido for 5 days. Our weather there was great, though windy most afternoons. We did laundry (so I didn’t have to hand-wash on the boat); got fuel; bought a few staples at the tiny marina store (bread, chips, more cereal-we eat a lot of cereal, milk, onion, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes); ate several restaurant meals; partook in the COK (Circle of Knowledge) where you hopefully leave the circle more informed (rather than more confused); met more cruisers; I made brownies; got some decent internet where I finally wrote and uploaded several blogs; and most importantly, took real (hot and long) showers.

Sleeping Like Babies
We spent a couple more days in PE than necessary… but one of those days, well, we just didn’t feel like doing anything…so we didn’t. Plus, the unspoken truth is…we sleep 10-times better in Puerto Escondido than when we’re at anchor. I know you never should trust a mooring ball - it’s a false sense of security because they do fail. These balls are newly installed, only a couple years old now. But the distinct advantage to these particular moorings is their judicious spacing.
a)  We never worry about anyone parking right on top of us and swinging into our boat, as we always do at anchor. Even our stalker friend from the last blog can't be a space-invader here!
b)  We don’t worry about neighboring boats’ rode/chain combo or anchor not being strong enough and dragging in high winds (although we would worry in really high winds - during hurricane Odile, most disasters here occurred not due to breaking moorings, but due to the boat’s connector lines chafing right through).
c)  Extended spacing breeds good social etiquette: when I can hear your entire conversation like I am IN on the discussion…you anchored too close. This doesn’t happen in PE.

So, mooring in Puerto Escondido is the next best thing to being in a marina. Except it’s better because it’s QUIETER! No dock creaking, restaurant music blaring, squawking pterodactyl condo pets, tourist boat departures or daily bingo announcers. Just the music of the midnight stars. (Too cheesy? OK, maybe a little). In other words, we slept like babies.

Well, this blows…
We planned on leaving Puerto Escondido a couple days after Thanksgiving but the winds were not cooperative. Again. Another norther was coming… up to 30 kt winds Monday through Thursday. What? That’s only 2 good days of weather before it hits. You mean we are stuck here for a whole week? Sigh. I suppose there are worse places to be trapped. Better to stay here on a new mooring ball surrounded by 360 degrees of mountains than out in an open anchorage with nasty swell worrying about dragging anchor. So we stay put.

Constant Wind
It’s now Tuesday, Dec 1st. We…OK…I… am getting ancy. Constant 20+ kt winds are tedious. Puerto Escondido is THE place to be though, as at least 25 other vessels are here riding it out together. One lone boat called into the radio net from “out there” in the high winds and rough seas. Fearless or crazy? Apparently they got pooped…meaning a large wave flooded their cockpit full of water. The weatherman reported 7-8 ft seas at 7 seconds today. Whew. Glad we are in port.

So we sit. And we wait. The wind is howling. Indigo is in constant motion. Wind waves persistently rock the boat, splash against the hull and jerk our mooring ball. We are not rolling; thankfully there is zero swell from those 7-8ft seas inside this protected bay. But the boat swings a good 45 degrees… very quickly. It’s kind of like tethering to the end of a water-ski rope, moving in and out of a wake. If you were to look outside from below through the companionway, watching the mast of our neighbor boat appearing and disappearing from sight is dizzying. The dinghy is bouncing up and down in the waves, slapping and splatting and tugging mercilessly on its line. We removed the motor so as to not worry about it flipping over.

Need more terabytes!
So, we watch a lot of DVDs when we’re stuck. We are certainly grateful for those who have given us the gift of cinema (you know who you are). Our latest hard drive transfer took an entire day to copy all the files and we didn’t even download half… need more terabytes!

We just watched the latest Hobbit flicks and hearkened back to a favorite 80’s movie The Goonies! But right at the moment we are more into TV shows. Here is our playlist: Just finished the 4th season of Game of Thrones, started Defiance and the 2nd season of The 100, in the midst of the final season of Justified, the 5th season of Alias, the 3rd season of Shield, the latest season of Walking Dead and the first season of Downton Abby (Terry, he likes it already, he just won’t admit it yet). We downloaded all of Battlestar Galactica AND Game of Thrones which we will watch all over again… ‘cause they are that good.

Baking Spree
What else is there to do when you can’t go anywhere and you have no internet? Use that oven! I came across my mother-in-law’s recipe for toffee bars and realized it is the perfect boat candy. I’d never made it but it looked easy - it requires just 5 readily available ingredients. I already knew it was delicious – this stuff disappears in the blink of an eye when she makes it. Ooooh this is going to be YUM-EEE.

MASSIVE FAIL!
I don’t think I’ve ever made something that looked this gross. First-off, my odd-sized pans necessitated jagged, broken crackers along each side. Then my brown sugar didn’t dissolve readily into the butter… the oil kept separating and would not smoothly combine. I think it’s because this particular Mexican style brown sugar is dry and granulated, not sticky and moist. So I probably over-boiled to get the two items to meld together. Once the toffee finally turned bubbly and thick I took it off the burner. Too late.

As soon as I began pouring over the saltine crackers, it was already cooling into rock hard candy. Not fast enough, my toffee formed a dog-poo-like lump that immediately congealed upon landing. The next pour over my second pan was even worse. Spreading the mixture was impossible - I only succeeded in disintegrating the poo into crumbles. Now it looked like dirty kitty litter! Putting them in the oven didn’t help smooth out my mess. Then the chocolate chips, dried out from severe summer heat, were a crumbly jumble, also refusing to melt down. Undeterred, I finished it off by adding pecans on top.

I have embarrassingly supplied photo-proof of this abominable creation below… my disgusting-looking Kitty Litter Toffee. Despite the lack of presentation skills (Gordon Ramsey would be appalled), it still tasted awesome and we ate every last crumb. So I suppose it wasn’t a total failure. Here’s the recipe… you should try it. Really!

Mom Gioia’s Toffee…AKA Christmas Crack (google to see what it should actually look like…it’s everywhere on Facebook)   Place a single layer of saltine crackers in a 9x13 pan. Melt 1 cup butter, mix in 1 cup brown sugar. Boil 3 min. stirring constantly. Pour over crackers. Bake at 400degree for 7 min. Sprinkle immediately with a 12oz bag of chocolate chips. Spread when melted. Sprinkle with chopped pecans or other nuts. Bam. Seriously good stuff.

MORE WIND?
Now it’s Thursday, Dec. 3rd. We are anxious to hear the weather today on the Sonrisa radio net, anticipating this darn wind to die off so we can leave tomorrow. Yay! Geary says the winds should abate and we’ll have a nice 10kts on Friday and half of Saturday. BUT… Saturday afternoon the winds ramp right back up again to 20-30kts! Wait. WHAT?? For 3 more days! WHAAAAT??? Are you kidding me?

El Nino Year?
Last year, before we left for Mexico, everyone was warning us about El Nino. “Oh, it’s going to be an El Nino year. You’re going to get crazy weather, big winds…” Bah, we said. And we were right. In November and December we dealt with the normal northers but they were well-predicted, lasted 2 days… 3 days tops… and then you get at least a week or more of great weather.

THIS year, it seems reversed. Everyone is disgusted with these non-stop norther patterns: an entire week of wind, 3-4 of which are really high winds, then 1, maybe 2 days of pleasant sailing weather. Worse than opposite. It’s been 25 days since we left San Carlos and I can remember only 2 entirely calm days. Two.

Now what?
It would take 3 long-haul, 40-mile days to get to La Paz. But we only have 1-1/2 days of good weather. So here goes our discussion...

Option 1. Travel Friday and Saturday. Hope we can get to San Evaristo on Saturday and hunker down for the week. It’s still 40 miles from La Paz but we’ll be closer if we get a good one-day window. Except… is everyone else thinking that? There are 25 boats in here, the majority of which are probably headed south at the same time. Will we be jockeying for anchor spots?

Option 2. Stay another week. Hanging out here isn’t exactly bad; it’s great protection, no swell. But dinghying to shore in this chop is, at worst, pretty rough, at best, annoying. We only go once every other day. No kayaking. No snorkeling. No exploring. We’ll need to rent a car for a day-trip into Loreto for groceries. And what if we end up with the same weather sliver again next week? We sure seem to be getting truncated traveling windows.

Option 3. Overnighter. Leave Friday and go 24 hours. A straight shot. Seriously, this is Cranky Crossing girl actually considering an overnight just to GET to our slip and be done with this wind already. But then again. It’s a full 24 hours. And we’re not even sure we’d get into La Paz before the wind picks up again. Plus, we’d have to motor to ensure we do it within that time frame.

What’s behind door number #4 folks?
By noon on Thursday, the wind lessened and the bay calmed down. We took a dinghy ride to the “window”, a low and narrow land bridge, to view the sea-state for ourselves. While breaking waves crashed on shore and the sea looked a little bumpy, there were no buffaloes. It was supposed to be 18kts today but we hadn’t seen much wind at all yet. Hmmm. Maybe we leave right now? Get a leg up?

From Punta Chivato, we raised anchor before first light, sailing south ALL DAY dead downwind in 18-20kts and semi-rough seas. The boat lifted on 4-5 ft white-cappy waves and slid down again 5 seconds later, rolling to and fro. I tried to take a video to show the boat rolling and surfing down the waves… but upon viewing, it just seemed like a walk in the park. Hmmph. Whatever. These waves were “almost-but-not-quite-buffalos”... I’ll explain in a sec. Needless to say, I was glad to be going with the waves, not against them.

Punta Pulpito
Punta Pulpito is so named due to the way the land juts out forming a long, low spit. At its point, the rock rises abruptly, almost 500ft high, into what looks like a preacher’s pulpit. Most folks bypass this cove, traveling from Concepcion directly to San Juanico, a long 53 mile trek, whether you leave from Santispac in the south or Chivato in the north. Pulpito, while small, cuts 8 miles off that journey. (Doesn’t sound like a lot… but it is for us, on average, almost 2 hours!)

As we rounded the corner of the pulpit, wind suddenly whipped around the point and blasted us before leveling off inside the small anchorage. We didn’t end up going to shore - too tired after a long day of wrestling the boat downwind for 10 hours. That low spit forming our little bay isn’t very high and the wind funneled steadily through it from the northwest onto our boat all night.

Pulpito’s shoreline is all rock; I didn’t see a beach easy enough to land a dinghy without puncturing our inflatable – but we didn’t try either…next time. Large rocks piled at the water’s edge seemed to abruptly plunge into the sea. With all those rocks, we were surprised at the anchor-friendly, sandy sea floor. We could ease the boat crazy-close into shore, while still maintaining 15ft depth. So the all-night winds weren’t a bother: wind waves were minimal, we didn’t get any swell and for some reason, we didn’t seem to wildly swing on anchor like we normally do in high winds.

Pulpito is now a favorite - it was well protected from the north with straight-forward access, sandy bottom and no lurking obstacles (rocks/reefs were well marked). We feel able to enter it at night if needed since we’ve been inside already, as long as it was unoccupied. Plus, no one seems to want to take advantage of this little gem; we had it all to ourselves. Maybe we’ll just skip San Juanico altogether next time.

Buffalos
The next day we sailed to San Juanico - a short, easy 8 miles. It was windy all damn day; good for sailing, not so great for shore side kayak excursions. The wind kicked it up a notch just after our arrival, like it was waiting for us to anchor before it unleashed its vengeance. So we remained aboard all day. Outside the protection of the bay the “buffalos” were roaming. "Buffalos" are what boaters here call large, white-capping waves… about the size of a buffalo. A mile distant, we could see their furry white mounds on the horizon, marching single file south. Imagine slamming your car into a 5-7ft high buffalo at 10 miles an hour? Again and again and again…and again…and again. Not fun. When the buffalos are roaming out in the sea, well… you just stay put.

A Day in San Juanico
Another minor rolly night in San Juanico due to wrap-around swell. Up at the crack of dawn the next morning, we contemplated getting the heck out of dodge. Not a sliver of wind, but the buffalos were still visible, doing their thing. So we opted to stay put another day. We enjoyed the wonderfully calm, albeit cloudy and cool, weather. We paddled amongst dramatic geological formations all along the north shore. We met and hiked the dirt road with “Sea Angel”. And I finally added my tree ornament to the famed cruiser’s shrine. (In June, we had to abandon the anchorage to run from the hurricane, so I wasn’t able to add our memento.) Thankfully, it was calm all day and the buffalos dissipated, smoothing out the bay for a good night’s sleep and an even better following day.  

On down to Isla Coronados – Nov. 24th
TODAY was our first day (since we’d left on the 8th) of “Mexico weather”.  Ahhh… a balmy, warm breeze… rippling seas… a ripe sun. Now THIS is Mexico we remember from last winter. Where have you BEEN? We pulled into the south anchorage at Isla Coronados into 16ft of clear, 75-degree azure water. Perfection.

Rounding the corner of the island we notice “Impulsive” raising anchor. Acquainted from the Ha Ha, we hadn’t seen them in a year. So we quickly threw the kayak overboard and paddled over to say hi before they left. They end up staying as we offered to assist them with a refrigerator problem. Eventually failing on that count (didn’t have the right hose nozzle for refrigerant), they still invited us to stay for dinner. We enjoyed a lovely, becalmed evening under a full moon. All conversation ceased while graced with a moon-lit dolphin drive-by!

Puerto Escondido: Halfway to La Paz…or thereabouts.
Wednesday Nov. 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. It was only a 4 hour trip to Puerto Escondido, but during that period it went from sunny and flat… to 5 kts, just windy enough to lazily sail in blessedly calm waters for an hour… to no wind again… to harsh, grey sky with wind building… to rain. RAIN? I don’t think we have ever had to stoop to sailing in rain since the Chesapeake. What is this weather coming to?

An American Thanksgiving
We were lucky enough to be invited to Thanksgiving dinner aboard “Impulsive” with “Scoots” and had a great time! Both sailboats were participants with us on the Baja Ha-Ha last year and are heading out with the Puddle Jump rally this March to Fiji and beyond to New Zealand. Brave souls. We wish them safe travels.

What did we eat for Thanksgiving? Nooo, not turkey tacos. These two boats are big enough to have real kitchens…with counter space…and actual appliances. So “Impulsive” impressively cooked a butterball turkey breast, brought all the way from Cosco in Puerto Vallarta. We also dined on mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetable casserole, artichoke dip and rolls. I brought coleslaw and layered bean dip. Let’s just say we ate ‘til we were stuffed and drank ‘til we were over-stuffed. But the best part was freshly-made pumpkin pie courtesy of “Scoots”. And no-kidding real whipped cream made with that high-tech thingy called an electric mixer! (No… I can’t have one of those…no room + not enough power = wooden spoon + my arm).

Stuck in PE
After that… we were stuck. Thanksgiving was the only non-super-windy day for an entire week. I have some awesome photos to prove how calm it was, for that one day…

Honeymoon Wave-Off
After Candeleros our goal was Honeymoon Cove on Isla Danzante, only about 7 miles away. The photos in the guidebook looked so spectacular I just had to go there. Only big enough for one mid-sized boat according to the guidebook, this cove via binoculars, was NOT occupied. What a coup! I was excited to grab this primo spot all for ourselves.

As we edged in closer it looked just as it had in the photos, beautiful crystal clear water, so inviting… we picked our way slowly, slowly, getting more and more closer to rocks…we got inside the rock-walled cove and immediately Brian yelled at me to back up. He didn’t like it, too close to the rocks, too many underwater rocks along the sides, just too tight, wind blowing from the wrong direction pushing us toward land instead of out to sea…my perfect Honeymoon anchorage, not gonna happen.

Sigh. I was disappointed. Visibly. Brian said I was mad. I was not mad - I agreed it was too tight. But I was irritated at the guidebook saying this was big enough for one boat when it wasn’t. I was irritated because every “single” anchorage we had tried to get into was filled to capacity with that one lucky anchorage-hogging boat, and this one was miraculously empty, the Valhalla of anchorages, and I can’t stay here. Maddening. My father-in-law says I only show pictures of me when I am smiling on the blog. Well, imagine me with grumpy-face all morning. I didn’t take a picture; it’s not pretty. Brian says, of all the things I could be disappointed about, it’s nice that that’s all it is, not being able to anchor in a cool spot. Of COURSE he has to put it all in perspective.

I gunned it and start motoring over to Puerto Escondido. Brian says, “Why don’t we sail”. I say no. He says “Why not? You’re just mad”. No, because it’s only 3 miles across the channel to the port and not worth it; we already have the sails put away; we are getting fuel here so there’s no need to conserve. We have never been here before and don’t know where we are going, it’s already noon, we have to travel at least another hour, then pick a mooring.  I still have to get my scanner and printer out to do paperwork (this is a 1 to 2-hr production since everything is packed away - once I get it all out for just one copy I need to use it for all it’s worth). Then we have to get the dinghy out, blow it up, hope the motor works, motor to the dock and hope the marina is still open to check in. “Oh.” Yeah, I’m just putting it ALL into perspective. No Honeymoon; no sailing.

May 19 Puerto Escondido Mooring Balls
We drove into Puerto Escondido (Hidden Port), unique due to its huge, yet virtually land-locked bay, accessed only through a small 200ft wide, 9ft deep channel.  There are a few slips here but no one can afford them at $2/ft/day =  $70 per day for us - ridiculous.  

We picked up a mooring for about $10 per day for our 34ft boat, well worth the fee for a good sleep. For our family who doesn’t know what a ‘mooring’ is, it is simply a chain tied to a large concrete block (heavy engine blocks are sometime used) at the bottom of the 50ft deep bay with a buoy that keeps the top portion of thick rope afloat. You simply grab and wrap the buoy line onto the boat cleat at the bow and the concrete block essentially becomes your anchor. Smaller, popular bays have moorings in order to pack more boats into the area.

These moorings were the best we’d come across - amazingly spaced a good length apart, and no stern-ties. Yay! Essentially mistake-proof. So you don’t have to worry about the wind pushing you into your next-door neighbor a mere 10 ft away like in Catalina… nor all the neighbors hearing you utter expletives as your wife overshoots the ball… or fails to pick up the stern line fast enough as you swing wide and side-swipe your neighbor’s dinghy (no, I haven’t done that, OK close). Those types have bow and stern buoys which require better timing and aim. Some even have bow and stern separately which require backing up or dinghying out to get the stern one tied, something we did once and never wish to repeat. Moorings can incite a special trepidation in our hearts… unacknowledged, never discussed, like He Who Has No Name, a disaster waiting to happen; but this time, we looked like pros.

Once you manage to tie up, not having to worry about your anchor dragging is nice. But moorings can and do drag in higher wind or surge. And often unmaintained by their apathetic government agency owners, lines or chain can break or rust away. We have friends who weathered hurricane Odile here in this very port. Several moorings broke and those boats went flying through the anchorage missing our friend’s boat by inches. So we still keep our anchorwatch on even when attached to a mooring. The good news is we have first-hand info that all the moorings here have been replaced with heavy chain, according to one cruiser who saw them being installed after Odile. Knowing we are on a new mooring is a sleep-inducing god-send.

Fancy dining
After checking into the office, we promptly walked next door to the only restaurant in the tiny marina: a high-class, white linen, frou-frou restaurant called “Porto Bello” where we paid approximately the same price for dinner as we had for 5 nights mooring. $50 is nothing for a dinner in the states, but this was the 2nd most expensive restaurant we had eaten at since we arrived in Mexico. You have to TRY to eat that expensively here.

We felt out of place in our boater clothing, flip flops and scrubby hair, but we also felt the restaurant was out of its element. While delicious, we were befuddled as to why such a fancy establishment was there, and how it did any business. This was not a Newport Beach yacht-club marina crowd. Cruisers are notoriously cheap. We were the only ones in the joint. A fish taco stand with cheap local beer would have been a much more frequented establishment. How bizarre, how bizarre. Well, my mango crème brulee was worth it.

May 20th – Shower Day
Got up late… didn’t even bother listening to the weather…what a treat. Slept great, quiet and still all night. It seems here it’s calm at night and during the morning and evening, but the wind always picks up in the afternoon. We walked to the Tripui Hotel about a half mile away along the road leading out to Highway 1. They have a restaurant with internet and so we obviously had to check that out.

Today we happily got to take a shower - for the first time in 15 days. A real, bonafide shower… with actual water pressure…and as much water as I wanted to waste… and as hot as I could get it. I washed my head at least 3 times, just for good measure. While we have enough water for showers on deck every couple days, I just can’t wash my head good enough, not with all my hair (Brian doesn’t have this problem). Our pump-pressure shower bag is good but nothing beats real pressure from a real shower to get all the salt out …and whatever else is stuck in there from swimming in salt water with microscopic critters. Don’t EVER shine a light at night down in the depths of the sea. You will see creepy crawly things not visible during daylight. I try not to think about what organisms could get stuck and die in my hair.

May 21st - Steinbeck Canyon
Today we made the trek to Steinbeck Canyon. We walked at least a mile and a half out to the main highway, and then a dirt access road continues for another ½ mile toward the mountain. The trail began at what appeared to be the construction site for a man-made reservoir. We crawled down into the arroyo from an expansive bed of rocks tented with chicken wire fencing. A few construction workers milled about.… moving rocks with wheelbarrows, placing them by hand. Old school.

We started up the trail, climbing over and around rocks as big as my old 4Runner. As we made our way upwards, the walls loomed high overhead and the canyon floor became smoother, ground down by eons of rushing water. We came to small, clear pools and miniature, gentle waterfalls, dropping into the next pool then disappearing underground and reappearing from nowhere again downstream. Beautiful and peaceful. This is supposedly where Steinbeck went hunting for bighorn sheep during his trip up the Sea.

We came to a rock wall about the height of a person and a half. The only way to get up it was to climb, and with barely any handhold crevasses. Brian made it up. While I like climbing on rocks, I am no rock climber. And my shoes were too flexible and the toes too fat to fit in any of the dinky toe holds without sliding and crashing on my behind, so we stopped. I am sure it was even more pretty over on the other side of that 80-degree wall… it’s always greener on the other side.

We hiked back along the smooth, weather-worn rock pools, around the gigantic boulders, back up the man-made arroyo. Along the access road we scared a big bull cow chewing his cud. He turned around suddenly and looked irate, like he was about to charge.  We stopped and stared at him and he stared at us.  No one moved for about a minute… and then he promptly went back to chewing. We had spooked him with our loud shoes crunching on the dirt.

We walked back down the road to Puerto Escondido and again sampled the Tripui restaurant for lunch, exhausted from walking at least 5 miles. Exercise for the week = done and done.

Circle of Knowledge
That afternoon we entered The Circle of Knowledge. This is an unofficial get-together of cruisers from 2-5pm every day next to the tienda. Beer-drinking, ice-cream munching and bullshitting is the name of the game involving 5-10 people, upwards to 20 on a particularly busy day. We walked through the circle the first day here and it was a bit intimidating maneuvering through this group of people just to get to the store, like you are walking a gauntlet. This time, we pulled up a chair and joined this famed Circle of Knowledge… otherwise known as the Amoeba of Awareness, since it’s rarely a perfect circle… to get some schooling.

This is where we got all the local info: where to get internet, rent a car, best grocery stores, anchorage and weather info, etc.. And everyone starts asking you questions….where you are headed, where you’re from, how come you’re so young to be retired, etc, etc. Everyone seems to be very nice… and helpful; the complete opposite of Marina de La Paz with its majority population of grouchy liveaboards.

Rat-a-tat-ouille
Our first question to The Circle: what the heck was making that noisy racket every evening? Sitting below the first night, we heard a staccato “rat-tat-tat”. Sometimes it was 4: “rat-tat-tat-tat”. Evenly spaced intervals, no pausing, like a jack-hammer. Not loud, just loud enough to annoy. It sounded like it was coming from inside the boat. Rat-tat-tat. Then again on the other side of the boat, like an echo, rat-tat-tat. Then again, back and forth, over and over. It was driving us crazy. We looked all over the boat, inside lockers… is it the bilge pump, the refrigerator? No. We went outside, tried to listen and see if it was another boat. We assumed it was mechanical. It had to be, it was too precise, no hesitating between tats, always the same number of tats, either 3 or 4 tats. It eventually stopped later at night, but started up again every evening.

We eventually gave up; it had to be someone’s generator noise or such traveling through the water into our hull. Come to find out through the Circle of Knowledge … that the noises we were hearing are FISH! Again with the noisy fish! Apparently they tap on your hull, picking algae or other goodies that are growing on there. I guess we need another bottom cleaning. We thought they were pulling our leg at first - it CAN’T be fish, it’s just so jack-hammer-like. Apparently not. If it’s not slapping fish, it’s rat-a-tat tatting fish.

May 22nd Shopping Day
We rented a car from Alamo for the day. There is only a tiny tienda at the marina, so going into Loreto for groceries is highly inconvenient. You either have to take a taxi for $26 each way or rent a car for about $75. Since we wanted to take our time, we opted for the car.

Nopolo
We took a side trip to Nopolo, a retirement village/golf/resort area we’d passed on our earlier road trip, just 7 miles south of Loreto. Driving along these little streets are perfectly paved, with real sidewalks, and little California type houses everywhere in the older part of Nopolo. Near the Hotel on Loreto Bay, which is a big resort with a beautiful golf course, there is a miniature condominium village with cobblestone streets. Little shops line the road with condos overhead…an architect, contractor, tour operator, boutique clothing, and a small coffee shop called Corazon where we had what we like to call “second breakfast” of pan frances (French toast), bacon and eggs and a white chocolate raspberry scone that was to die for.

We meandered through the condo area along quaint cobblestone paths, lined with cacti, flowers and rock gardens, only wide enough for walking or golf carting. I don’t see where these people park their cars; there are no garages. This must be like The Villages in Orlando it seems, and ironically it’s called the Villages of Loreto. Super cute, I felt like I was in a retirement village in La Jolla.

Loreto
After perusing the resort beach and golf course we headed to Loreto, casually driving around town to see what we could find. We parked downtown and toured the small Mission de Loreto, then noshed on pizza and salad at Pepegina's Pizza. Probably the best pizza crust in Mexico. While we were there, Brian was on the phone much of the time while we got a good cell tower signal. The owner noticed he was talking the entire time we were eating; she scolded him in Spanish “no more talking on the phone, it’s muy malo”. I had to explain in my limited Spanish that it was OK, we live on a boat and haven’t talked to our familia in many days. She understood and I also got out of her directions to the store.

Pretty much everything I needed was available at Leys grocery store, except oatmeal packets. And eggs - I couldn’t find eggs. Weird, I had heard about this problem from another boat. So I asked a young kid and he brought me to the vege section to wait while he went in back and talked with someone. Then after seemingly 3-4 minutes, he came out holding 2-18packs of egg trays. Too big. Oh, lo siento, puedo tener doce? Solomente doce? I just want 12. He comes out and brings me 2 packs of a dozen eggs after several more minutes. Are the chickens laying them back there? Does he have to bribe the egg manager to let him in? I feel bad and take both even though I only want one. I didn’t want to have him have to go back in again and put it away. Dumb, I know, but I just wanted out of there.

Shopping complete, we drive the 15 miles back to Puerto Escondido. By this time, it’s after 6pm. On a boat everything has to be done before sunset - darkness creates exponential difficulties. We load everything into the dinghy, including our two gas cans for the dinghy motor and generator (which we loaded with Premium fuel at Pemex). Whew…long day.

May 23rd Internet and Taco Saturday
Today we got up dropped off the keys to the car at the marina and headed to Tripui yet again for breakfast, or more importantly, to use their free internet. We stayed 2 hours putting up blogs until it died… on purpose?… maybe we overstayed our welcome.

Back at the marina we attended the famous Taco Saturday (that just doesn’t sound right). The tienda cooks pork tacos and you pick your toppings - limed and roasted poblano peppers, fresh radishes, onion, cilantro, tomato. A little bit of awesome. And we sat there and met more cruisers.

Traveling back to Indigo, we swung by a boat named “Tardis” to convey how much we liked their boat name.  We had been watching the TV show “Dr. Who” on Netflix, and the “Tardis” is the telephone booth time machine that The Doctor travels in, saving the world from disaster. They invited us to come back on board later and gave us a tour and a ton of downloaded books and videos on our terabyte drive. We now have loads of TV shows to keep us occupied, including of course, the entire Dr. Who series. Thank you Doctor!

May 24th, Last day in civilization
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Puerto Escondido. But we will be leaving tomorrow after extending our stay one more day due to higher winds. The weather looks perfect for the next week.
So today we readied the boat for sailing: Filled the jerry jugs with diesel at the fuel dock. Cleaned the boat. Dinghied into the marina for one last perfect shower. Dumped our trash. Met some more cruisers. Ate at the fancy shmancy restaurant again just because we could. Put away the dinghy and outboard. One last good night sleep. Off again tomorrow to enchanted islands…