Arrived at Muertos

We arrived at Muertos after a long day of motoring, only sailed 3 hours out of 12. It will be good to get under way after a good nights sleep though, the weather forecast continues to be favorable for our trip south.

Caught a small Dorado outside of La Paz, but couldn't get it in the boat, it shook off the hook. Also two small Sierra, but we're not interested in them any more.

Just keeping you all updated...

John and Linda

Tracking NAKIA on the web

While we're at sea we'll be posting regular position reports to YOTREPS

To see where we are go to http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=WBD3734

John and Linda

Pictures, finally.

Hi Everyone,
We're getting ready to leave La Paz tomorrow morning and make our 3 day crossing to Chamela. Since we have such good internet access here in Marina Palmira we've decided to share some of our most recent pictures with you. They are posted most recent first - hope that's not too confusing, but that's how the blog is. (Muchas gracias to SolMate, Milagro, Slip Away, and Ceilidh for use of several of the photos posted here! )

We should arrive in Chamela (south of Puerto Vallarta) on Tuesday or Wednesday, and we'll be sure to keep the blog up to date during our passage.

John and Linda

View from the top of the hill over Marina Palmira. La Paz is out to the left, and the land in the background on the right is 'El Magote,' a peninsula that makes up the northern shore of Bahia de La Paz.

Sailing in the Sea of Cortez is not all light winds and fair weather as the skipper of See Ya, a Newport 30, found out on a dark and windy night just last week. He was entering the La Paz channel at 2 am when he strayed into shallow water and ran aground. High wind and powerful waves soon broke the keel and rudder and drove the boat onto the shore. The next morning several local cruisers worked to salvage anything valuable. The boat, uninsured, is a total loss.

The Sea Ya having her mast removed.

Here's the view from the top of Isla San Francisco. This is looking North. The Baja is on the left. In the foreground is tiny Goat Island where a dozen or so families make their homes. In the background on the right is Isla San Jose.

After sailing from Bahia Salinas we anchored off a special place called Moon Cove. The attraction there is an incredible arroyo made of white sandstone, shell fossils and volcanic rock. We spent a beautiful afternoon hiking in the arroyo and taking picktures. Here's a closeup of a scallop shell embedded in the sandstone.

John stopping for a drink of water near a cactus. The walls in this part of the trail are pure white sand.

Here's Linda showing off her rock climbing skills in one of the water fall coves.

Linda on the rocks again.

Linda and MJ taking a break on the 'Park Bench'.

More rock formation at Moon Cove.

Here are John and Stan showing that they can climb rocks too.

More rock formations at Moon Cove.

Here's John trying to figure out how to get over the hump.

More Sea of Cortez sailing. This time from Bahia Salinas to Moon Cove. This time we're using our big jib instead of the drifter. Linda's at her usual spot on the bow.

We took a walk around the abandoned town of Bahia Salinas on Isla Carmen. This was a salt production plant where they evaporated sea water on the low land and skimmed off the salt. It closed some time ago when another plant on the Baja opened up. All the buildings still exist and it's a fun little ghost town to explore.

The heavy equipment was left pretty much where it stood. Over time the caretaker started planting cactus in the forklifts.

Here's Linda steering one of the fork lifts. It's obvious why she didn't sit in the driver's seat.