San Juanico

Entertaining myself by stacking rocks!

So, on our way north through the Sea of Cortez (el Gulfo de California) we stopped at San Juanico. We had tried to get in here last year on a day when the wind was from the south and that was not going to happen. We ended up going around the corner to La Ramada and hiked over the hill to visit the Cruiser’s Shrine and leave our own memento to commemorate the occasion. The Shrine is just a tree at the waters edge so it gets regenerated every time a hurricane passes this direction. There was a hurricane last summer (Jimena) and it affected the shrine. Older items left have been rocks with boat names carved into the stone but the newer ones seem to mostly be last minute items hastily prepared and deposited; thus the older markers are still in place but the new stuff goes away. Our plaque last year was a piece of metal (about 2” x 3”) with our names on it as well as the boat name. I am very doubtful that I will find it here anywhere. (It turned out to be where we had left it!! See Sandy's blog for more info) One of the best things about this place is the shallow anchorage with its very turquoise blue hue. When you climb a hill and look down on it you are likely to gasp at the sight. We slowly putted through the boats already here and found a great spot closer to the beach in about 12 feet of water.

Very yellow rock wall

There is a small island in the midst of the anchorage and we slid in downwind from that like finding the perfect avocado… time to make guacamole! The wind the first night piped up but we got a fairly good nights sleep anyway because the boat was relatively stable and the anchor was clearly stuck to the bottom. I have always liked the idea of good ground tackle; it makes for a pleasant evening playing Mexican Train dominoes. In the morning Patty helped put the dinghy down and attach the motor so that anyone who wanted to could go to the beach and walk around some. We had only been aboard Faith for a couple of days but it is a good idea to get out and stretch when the opportunities come along. It is like renewing a friendship with your legs to get on dry land and not be compensating for the rocking, gentle or otherwise, of the boat. At this point (seven months into the season) I do not necessarily notice the small compensations and concessions that my body makes to the constant motion but I do notice when I am not having to adjust to the sway of the boat. In passing I should mention that I sleep MUCH better than a lot of folks when the boat is floating on a slight swell. It is akin to slumber in the best of hammocks! Here we are at 26˚ 22.070’ N, 111˚ 25.963’ W if you want to look at Google Earth to see “exactly” where we spent the last (few) nights. It is about as remote as anywhere you might want to be on the Baja side of the SoC (Sea of Cortez) albeit not the END point that some might prefer. In any event, on the first morning here I popped my head out of the companionway and there was a boat flying the Tucson Sailing Club burgee with the name Paradocs and I knew who had pulled in while we slumbered. No one was immediately in evidence but on the way into the beach we did a “drive by” spoke with the crew (guests) on the transom of the catamaran to confirm that I did, indeed, know the owners.

Cardon cactus atop a hill

They had just crossed over from San Carlos to San Juanico that night and had to heave to outside the anchorage from three in the morning until daylight. “Good plan,” I thought. The owners (Carl & Clare) were asleep, making up for the lack of snoozing the prior night. Here’s the thing; the night before had been boisterous outside the anchorage but we had been comfortable and happy with our ground tackle doing its job. Shifting onto other parts of this life at anchorage, when we went to the beach on the first day here there was the usual scattering to find shells and such. That is not something I do much of for some reason. Occasionally I will pick something up but if, when I show it to Sandy, there is little interest, I just drop it and continue down the beach. That is to say, I am no longer a collector… just a looker. One thing I have done for a long time is to stack rocks. I like to get at least four rocks atop each other to consider it a successful stack. If I can decorate with a few items from the beach to add a layer or two then it is truly a successful stack.

A red wall on the south side of San Juanico

It is not that anyone has to like my work, like the guys on the rocks at, say, Puerto Vallarta or San Diego, it is more about appreciating the balancing than anything else. A reflection of this is another of my past entertainments, which was balancing a salt shaker on the table. Okay, so that is a “TMI,” as is said! Hiking outside the normal confines of the anchorage is a fun thing and did manage to do that on our second day here. Last years anchorage (La Ramada) is just over the hill north from San Juanico and we followed a great trail to that beach. This is where the observant walker will find what I know as Apache Tears. These are essentially volcanic glass; when the top pops off the volcano there is heat and pressure enough to produce this jet black glass. One thing that HAD to happen here was that I needed to clean the propeller and the rudder (maybe the whole bottom after seeing it, yechh). At this point I should say that this year the water temperatures have been somewhat less than normal. My idea of a comfortable temperature is on the higher side of eighty. Okay, call me a wimp; I do not care in the least. I slowly, ever so slowly, got into the water and did the cleaning. It was probably only a minute or so before the comfort of the water was fully appreciated, but at least I finally got used to it and cleaning occurred as it should! The reward should be a slight increase in boat speed as we motor (yes, that’s right, given the wind direction we will likely have to motor-sail north from here) toward Santa Domingo just inside Bahia Concepciόn. Enough for now I guess.

Puerto Escondido

Los Gigantes!!

Last year at about this same time we had wandered through Puerto Escondido on our way north. In fact, we dropped off crew at the airport and had rented a car for the trip into town because the taxi rides here are a staggering equivalent to US$40 each way. That is about what it costs per day to rent a car and they will bring the car to you so you are already saving money if you need to go to town to provision! Of course, Loreto is a great town but it is not a place we need to go everyday. This year we are waiting for Patty and Hank to join us so we are just hanging out doing “boaty” sorts of things and passing the time visiting with the many friends we have met along the way as they come through the bay on their way north.

As it happens, last year I had not really made up my mind about this place. Was it a good place? I have been here many times now but I just could not make up mind about it. The first time I was here I had actually anchored across the channel at Isla Danzante in Honeymoon cove and dinghied over to make the walk up to the little tienda at Tripui RV Park. There were a few choices of things to buy; limited veggies, beer, canned goods, chips and the like but truly not much there at the time. That was eleven or so years ago. It looked, at the time, like there would someday be development but it was a failed port with boats anchored in the fantastic bay. A French company had attempted to build a Med tie mooring basin and there were signs that they had tried to build a hotel or some such but it was just a place where some derelict boats hung out on the anchor along with some nicer boats. There was not much here on that visit.
A few years later I was here and anchored in the “Cement Pond” of the old Med tie basin. I dragged anchor that night and made the walk up to Tripui for supplies only to find that there was not much there. There was an active Port Control (API) office at that point but the rest of the place was pretty much as it had been a few years prior… not much going on. A couple of years along and another visit showed that the port was becoming more active. A bunch of boat stands sat idle in a yard but the Fonatur / Singlar office was open and they were about to begin construction of a marina building or two. Way back then (2005 or 6) I had not seen the Singlar marinas and did not yet know that they are all exactly the same. The buildings are nicely done with the same lay out no matter where you are. The showers are good (although the water is almost never hot) and the people running the marina have a great attitude. Often they have some sort of internet arrangement and a way to contact the outside world via phone or some such along with a Laundromat and small pool. The one at Puerto Escondido also has a small store and a restaurant that gives an option for some goods and services. There is even a boat yard with regular haul out services available. The boats here are allowed to anchor out if preferred but most of us now use the excellent mooring ball system that has been upgraded and maintained extremely well. It is just about as good as being at a dock. In fact, in some ways I like it better for the privacy it also affords us.

Looking toward the "Window" at sunset.

As I started all this chat off with the, “I had not really made up my mind,” about this place last year I believe I have now decided that this is an incredible place to hang out. It is quiet, the weather has been wonderful, the mooring is as near perfect as you can get; what is not to like? Of course last year the one issue for being here was that the windlass had started to pack it in and we had put the anchor down instead of grabbing a mooring ball. I cannot say why we did that, but we did. Hauling chain by hand is never a “good thing”! It might have been that since we were not going to be here a long time we opted for the lower rate to anchor since the daily rate for the mooring is a bit higher for the first week rather than the rate if purchased by the week or month… I just do not recall precisely. Anyway, Escondido is a solid place to be for awhile and I have actually had time to relax for this period. Naturally, when we got here there was a boat project and it got completed swiftly. Our friend Dan, on Rosinante, was here and had a car available so we were able to pop into Loreto a few times with him to take care of getting a new alternator, do the laundry, buy a few items for the larder and generally enjoy the town. He later moved the car up to Santa Rosalia and departed this morning for El Burro cove in Bahia Concepciόn, yet another great place to tell you about some other time. The new alternator was part of the cascade failure that occurred when we were in Isla San Francisco but did not realize it until we on our way north again from La Paz (after replacing the refrigerator, the main power switch and the controller for the inverter/charger, not to mention fixing the aft head). So life is GOOD again. When that happens I get to read some and just sit and watch the day go by on the mountains to the west of the anchorage. It can be very satisfying for the soul.

This is a rare moment this year in other ways as well. The weather has been a perverse mix of too much too often this season so to be in a place where the breeze comes up for welcome cooling off during the afternoons and the night-time temperatures are as near perfect as you can get is almost too much to be believed! I will have to add more later but I think that you might be getting the idea that this will be a place we will return to. Maybe next season we can make it in time for Loreto-fest (which actually takes place here in Escondido)!