Northbound we go!
Hi!! Who is still with us here, even though we dropped off the face of the earth?? (inter-web-ly speaking, of course. Thankfully the earth is not flat, despite what some counterculture groups these days might think. So, even if we tried to fall off the face of the earth, we would fail miserably.....and end up in Australia. Which would actually be a win, if I think about it more)
Ok....yep. No need to think this hard right now. Moving on....
Currently, we are in La Paz, provisioning and getting ready for spending the next month exploring the Sea of Cortez before we put BOAT up on the hard for the summer/hurricane season. Before I get into updates and ongoings from our last post, I MUST share this incredible moment from our crossing back from Mainland Mexico to La Paz.
The morning of our last day crossing, Jay woke me up to this incredibleness:
We were surrounded by about 5-8 whales!!! Which, despite the video making it seem far away, they were all right next to us!
Seas were eerily calm and incredibly flat, plus there was absolutely no wind. We dropped all our sails and just floated with these guys for a good hour, while we drank our morning coffee and just watched them.
I mean, seriously this was incredible!
Video doesn't do this justice by any means (none ever seem to). To have the incredible calm of the sea, and dead silence with only the sound of the whales puffing out of their spouts (with sound on you can hear in the above video, but they were much closer and much louder in actuality) It's.....surreal. I'm guessing they were having their morning stroll and snacking along the way. Some, way off in the distance, were smacking their tails against the surface, which I would assume is a hunting technique? (Quick internet search confirms this is one of the prevailing theories, smacking the surface to drive the fish down, where they can then dive to hunt the scared fish AND tail slapping is also considered a form of communication, like Morse Code!) Whatever the reasoning, it's cool to watch and can be somewhat startling as the sound it makes is VERY loud. Jay told me when he first heard it very early in the morning, he thought it was thunder, gunshots or a cannon in the distance. PIRATES!! Nope, just Whales saying hello to other whales :)
--
Ok-back to update since last post. Given our limited to closing weather window along with a myriad of other things we weighed out/results of what we were waiting on back in Zihua, we (and somewhat remorsefully might I add,) decided best not to continue south/thru the Canal and risk being in the Caribbean/heading to the Caribbean during hurricane season. Following what most other cruisers in this area do during the summer/hurricane season, we will be putting BOAT up on the hard/get some work done, return home for the summer and then come back in November continue on our journey! As I shared in previous posts, we have loved this so much that instead of making this a one-time trip, we are hoping that we can make this our lifestyle; working part of the year during off cruising season and then return to continue on with our travels in the fall. This is a HOPE at the very least at this time, now we just need to make the life adjustments to make it a reality :) As with most everything in our lives, this will be a constantly adjusting and I am sure, an ever changing plan. But a plan, nonetheless!
SO--with all that said, once we made this decision, we pulled anchor in Zihua and zipped up north to Tenacatita, where we knew some (new) friends who were anchored there. Plus, this was a great spot we truly enjoyed on our first visit, so we were excited to go back.
Cannot say this enough, the people whom you met along your cruising route make ALL the difference. I cannot tell you how much of a warm, loving, welcoming, free spirited, supportive and fun community of people we have met all along our route. Honestly! I am beyond excited to come back and hopefully see so many of the wonderful friends we have met when they return for the next sailing season here.
--
Tenacatita: Round Two
Day one: Mangroves Mondays with SV Nellie Jo, Footloose, Angelique of Vancover! Which, taking a different route then what we explored last time, brought us to a small palapa-lined beach, decent snorkling and beautiful view of the bay.
shore (and dinghy landing) at the end of the estuary in the mangroves
Of course, I had forgotten to charge the GoPro the evening prior, so no snorkling fish pictures this time. However, the visibility wasn't the greatest and there was quite a surge in the small area we were in, so fighting against current sweeping us out to sea or into the not-so-friendly-looking rocks was a bit challenging (read: the pictures wouldn't have been that great anyway.) However, we did see brightly colored fish of vivid blues and oranges, pufferfish everywhere! and beautiful sea anemones.
Not too shabby of a lunch view here
Day Two were went over to the small-ish town of La Manzanilla which was just across the way from our anchorage in Tenacatita (and a short and easy 20 min dinghy ride)
Morning breakfast consisted of the typical gringo elements:
Beach, beer, tortillas, pico de gallo and (not pictured) fruit, fruit and more fruit!
After meeting up with Nellie Jo, Footloose and Angelique of Vancover, we walked over to the nearby crocodile sanctuary to check out 'em crocs!
and some video of this enormous beasts:
...and saving the best one for last. This chill dude:
just a croc, blowing snot bubbles...!!
Funny enough, there are a few wooden bridges running over and criss-crossing thru the sanctuary.
Whelp, there were also HUGE termite nest scattered throughout this sanctuary and conveniently located inches away from said bridges. The bridges that separate US from hungry crocs.
this was one of the smaller of the many nest we saw, and inches from the wooden walkway I am standing on
AH, Mexico! Nothing like a thrilling 30 pesos self guided tour through a very active crocodile sanctuary and seeing an even more active community of termites munching on the wooden structures to really get your heart rate up!
Following the tour (and ensuring all original 8 people we started with upon entering the sanctuary were accounted for when leaving), we meandered around the town of Manzanilla
We also stopped and had a impromptu conch shell calling lesson. I didn't record, but Deena got a great video. Click HERE for SV Nellie Jo facebook page -it's worth a good laugh as Jim is being a great sport and eager student!
Ah good day!
--
Last day in Tenacatita before we got ready for our passage to San Blas and final leg before we crossed back over to Baja, we had the great fortune of a small pod of rays come for a visit.
They spent the good majority of the late afternoon floating by the 5 or so boats anchored near us, being neighborly and such.
--
Passage from Mainland to Baja
As I shared, we are currently in La Paz after crossing back over to Baja from Mainland Mexico (we were told there wasn't much north of Mazatlan, and better to go back to Baja side.)
The four day three night passage was mostly uneventful, motoring sailing straight into the wind (even when we did try to fall off the wind to shut off the motor the wind would switch; like it knew our heading and was messing with us, GAH!) However, despite bashing north, we had a much easier than most passage (from others who did the same trek recently) we picked a good window with calmer seas, score!
Second day out, Jay caught this beast
We decided to keep and eat as we *thought* it was Tuna. However, after cooking it, definitely NOT tuna. Flesh and texture the same color as tuna, but WAY fishier and not at all delicious.
Anyone have any clue what this is/was? I asked one of the local guys here at the marina , who told me it was likely a "macaral" but I am not sure if he was referring to actual "mackerel" (this was a conversation entirely in spanish and I didnt push to clarify if he actual meant "mackerel" ) Oh well, live and learn--will not be cooking this one again.
--
So, next up? Onward northbound we go. Heading out today for the Sea of Cortez, with our first stop being Isla Espiritu Santo and the many anchorages near there. From there, we will slowly make our way up, island hopping in the Sea. Once we hit Mulege, we will then make the cross back to Guaymas where we will haul out end of May.
Until next time!
ps: If I haven't added a blog post, you can always check out our MEDIA page where I frequently will add pictures and video in real time.
--
Last Passage Distance:
Ixtapa Island to Barra to Tenacatita: 134.17nm
Tenacatita to Punta de Mita to San Blas: 171.64nm
San Blas to La Paz: 351nm
Cumulative Distance to Date: 2,556.74nm