San Juanico ~ Not A Fav Place!

As beautiful and interesting as it is, San Juanico so far has a record of three out of three.
Three out of three days we have been there is has been windy and lumpy.
Windy and lumpy when we were there back in 2000 on "Thistle".
And windy and not quite as lumpy both days we were there on "Meerkat".
Yes, even lumpy on a cat...
Notice how the boat on the left is rocking and rolling.The lady on the boat on the right decided to hate me as I was hanging laundry out and she wasn't able to cook anything other than macaroni and cheese...
But then we met on the beach and it was all good.
It is a really pretty place just lumpy.
Great sunrises.Great geological formations.Great finding of obsidian chunks.Great views of the anchorage from great hiking trails.Interesting things on the beach.The cruiser shrine, which I have mixed feelings on...
Seems kind of trashy, but fun to leave our mark.
I tried to make it out of natural found items, but fishing line, as much as it is found it not natural...




Well eventually the lump got old, so we hiked over to La Ramada Cove to see what it looked like and how full it was.
Flat as a lake and empty!
So motored out of the lump, around the corner to Lake La Ramada Cove.We called the other boats and told them how great it was and suggested they come over, but none did and the next day said that night was the worst ever!
We swam naked, beachcombed and Jim found the find of the trip!








A big box of brand new lures!
On top of having a beautiful, calm anchorage to ourselves!

Fast Forward to La Paz

I don't want to put too many Sea of Cortez pictures in a row...
Too many people will want to go there!
So how about a little La Paz life?
Our awesome crew is here ~ Timay and Stanwich!
It was like Christmas in June when they un-packed!Parts, filters, Scotch, wine, books, receipts.
Yikes, we owe Tim a lot of money...

Our project lists are getting shorter.
And the boat is getting lower in the water.
There are now twenty-three 12-packs of Tecate on the boat.I kind of feel that if I keep shopping, we won't have to leave.
We won't have to do the Baja Bash motorsail North with Southerly component...

"Capricorn Cat" has also arrived and will be bashing motorsailing North with a Southerly component with us!
Wayne as usual needed a little help.
Would you keep these shorts?I didn't think so.
Most people would have tossed them eons ago.
Apparently he likes them, so in between shopping, stowing, organizing, cleaning, cooking and re-writing my project list, I sewed them up for him.

Puerto Escondido ~ Not So Bad After All...

Escondido had never been one of my favorites before.
I could never quite figure it out.
A hundred old boats anchored there for years on end.
Some never to move.
Some falling apart.

I just didn't get it.
It's now cleaned up and full of moorings.
This time I "got it"!
The moorings are there because it is deep water.
The boats move.
People go in and out.
Most of the boats are in good shape.
The islands and nearby cruising grounds are the best!
The mountains in the background are spectacular.
Loreto Fest was enjoyable and not political (as it was back in the old days...)We enjoyed some excellent California wine courtesy of Jeff of "Journey" (from Ventura).We played with Rick & Karen of "Eyes of The World" (from Ventura) and got to know Greg (not in the photo) & Deb of "Lion's Paw".We watched Jaime of "Don Quixote" fall in love with a kitten.And that kid in the green hat fall in love with Jaime.
We ran into Steve & BJ Curran (H&S Yacht Sales ~ Jim used to work with Steve!).We had beers at Loreto Fest.
We listened to music at Loreto Fest.
We met lots of new people at Loreto Fest.
I learned how to make paper at Loreto Fest.
I learned how to make crocheted purses out of plastic bags at Loreto Fest.
Well, actually I learned how to make plastic yarn out of plastic bags, because I don't know how to crochet.
And I learned how not to leave a boat in hurricane season...And we learned where 8:30 Cove is and had it all to ourselves!It was all good except the port fees.
We paid $231 pesos to anchor for one night...
About $17.50 US.
Mmmmm... we paid less than that a night for a dock in San Blas!
So that part I didn't get.
And apparently neither do they.
Because I won't pay that again.

Anchoring...

I could write an entire blog about anchoring...
There are the "yellers".
The "lemmings".
The "draggers".
The "under-anchorers".
The "under-scopers".
The "over-scopers and let's take up the entire anchorage ones".
The "anchor twelve timers".
And the "back up at 10 knotters".

I watched one boat that fit in to most of the above categories.
We will call them "Dum" for now...
"Dum" came in and first started to be a "lemming"...
You know anchor right next to us.
So we could pass the mustard by using a 4' boat hook.
Or by not even using a boat hook.
Then "Dum" proceeded to be a "yeller".
The man up on the bow was yelling at the wife to go forward 10 feet, go to port 27', back up at 10 knots while the chain is going out, do this, do that, blah, blah, blah.
They then proceeded to be a "over-scoper".
Putting out 250' of chain in 15' of water.
While backing up at 10 knots.
No time to let the anchor settle in before backing up.
Too much speed.
Too much chain.
Needless to say, they then turned into a "dragger".
Then after trying to anchor 5 times, they left the anchorage.
Ahhh... peace once again.

Another time, another place we watched a boat we will call "Vain".
He was a quiet yeller, not yelling at his crew, but yelling at other boats that were anchoring too close to him.
But then the wind came up and who drug?
"Vain".

The "under-anchorers" have a 12 lb anchor for a 47' boat.
The "under-scopers" put 38' of chain out in 37' of water yeah, that's going to work.

We, on "Meekat" are perfect have so many years of anchoring together we don't even talk.
Hand signals no, not that one work for us.
No yelling.
No embarrassment later when we meet the people on the boat next to us.
We could, however be considered an "over-anchorer".
We have an 88 lb anchor...
No dragging.
No bumping other boats.
Ask us about the time we hit bottom though...

Another Fav ~ Punta Mangles

I guess the whole Sea of Cortez is my favorite...

We had bypassed Punta Mangles on "Thistle" because we saw buildings on the beach and cliff.
Hmmmmm... should have stopped!
Because they are abandoned buildings, which are always fun to explore.

Where's Waldo Jim?













We shared the anchorage with Deb & Greg of "Lion's Paw" and Rick & Karen of "Eyes of the Squirrels World".
Had a great hora feliz on "Eyes" and then sent Deb back to be the net control on the Southbound Net a little buzzed and we got to torment her.

But before all of that, we explored the abandoned hotel project, adjoining houses and found some great shells on the beach!












We watched the fog come in.
What?
Fog?
Where are we, back in SoCal?
That was a little creepy, so back to the boats.

Checked out the cactus growing out of the rock cliffs.Then motored North the next day along the beautiful red and black cliffs.Watched Rick & Karen explore the caves.Ick, sea caves...
Remind me to tell you about the second time we went into Painted Cave...

Invasion of the Mega Yachts

Sounds like a bad movie, doesn't it?
It sure has happened here on the Pacific side of Mexico.
I can't even imagine what it is like in the Caribbean...
When we were here on "Thistle" in the old days, we saw one of these.
One time.
But it did have a helicopter.
Now they are everywhere, including in front of us and next to us.
They anchor in the hook at Isla San Francisco.
Ballandra.
Agua Verde.
And literally take over Ensenada Grande.

This is one we saw at Ensenada Grande a few years back.

They don't all have helicopters.


But they all have Florida porch lights and generators they run all night.
And jet skis.
Always jet skis.
Why is that?
You never see jet skis on a sailboat.
So my plan is to buy one of these.And get really, really good at flying it.
I will paint a little heli-pad on the top of the bimini.
Fly my little remote control helicopter off of my very own heli-pad and buzz the big boys mega yachts.
For fun.
For laughs.
If they have a sense of humor.
I guess I could do it with remote control jet skis too... but I think there is an un-written law somewhere that states you cannot have a jet ski on a sailboat.

Another Fav ~ Isla Coronados!

And I think many people's favorite!One of the few places we stayed at for more than one night in a row and also went to on the way up and the way down.
It's not very big.It doesn't have much on it.
I take that back.
It has shells, seagull's nests, a couple of palapas...
Sunsets over the mainland.













Beautiful water.Dolphins swimming through the anchorage.A meeting place with beautiful water.A bunny looking at a mouse.Incredible water.Beautiful white coral sand beaches.Beautiful water.Scuba ducks swimming and diving in formation.Did I mention beautiful, incredible water?