Sea of Cortez - May 4 - May 12

Agua Verde anchorage followed Escondido. One of the advantages in the Sea is our passages are usually not long. Agua Verde is about 24 miles from Escondido. It was a beautiful anchorage. The mountains were in the back drop, the water was clear, the winds have calmed down and the sea is flat.

We spent 4 days at Agua Verde. We hiked, snorkeled and kayaked. The fish and colors of sea life were the most abundant we have seen. The town was quite small, however, the locals were very friendly. We had 2 little boys who took us to the local tienda and restaurant. Wally’s highlight here was that he gave each of the little boys 10 pesos each of which they took to the tienda and bought cookies. Before they took a cookie they offered Wally a cookie before they ate one. People are very giving.

Our highlight meal was lobster. The locals came and sold us their local catch. John made a delicious bar b q lobster.

From Agua Verde we went back to Los Gatos. We explored the south beach. There was so much marine life to see in the tide pools. We only stayed one night as the bees and the wasps were so bad.

Los Gatos to Ensenada el Coronal on Isla Partida, a distance of 56 miles. We had real choppy seas with the wind on our nose. Ensenada el Coronel is a long shallow bay going about 1 ½ miles into Isla Partida. This bay almost divides the island. We took a easy hike to the other side. The trail had mangroves along the way. The geological formations along the bay were beautiful. Many places it looked like clay lace. In addition there was much birdlife.

Onward to Puerto Balandra which is on the Baja Peninsula. This is a huge bay surrounded by white sand. The water is like a swimming pool all along the edges. We stayed the day and night there. During the evening strong corumel winds came in and the seas were so rolly. So off to La Paz.

We are currently in La Paz at Marina Palmira. We have had a wonderful month at anchor, however, it is nice to be tied up to dock and not worry about anchor watch, the winds, the sea, making water, making power. We will be in La Paz waiting for a weather window to do our last passage of the season back to Mazatlan.