Isla Espiratu Santo (Bahia San Gabriel) to La Paz

The beautiful water and beach of Bahia San Gabriel!

We pulled into the crystal clear waters of the Bay at San Gabriel on the Island of Espiratu Santo at 7:30 a.m on December 5^th.  There were about four other sailboats anchored in the Bay. We anchored, straightened the boat a bit, had some bacon and eggs for breakfast, then got the dinghy into the water and motored to the beach with Harley. On our way, we stopped to talk to a neighboring boat, Nomad from Anacortes Washington, who were on their dinghy just leaving the beach coming our way. We said hello and asked the best spot to land at the beach.

Taking in the beauty

Rick and Harley headed back to the dinghy. Playtime is over.

After we pulled the dinghy up onto the beach, we took a hike planning to walk to the other side of the island to Bonanza Bay. We made it half way there and we still could not see the ocean, so we figured it was way too far and turned around and walked back. While walking on the dried up desert terrain, Rick saw a huge crab, thought it was dead and went to flip it over with his shoe and low and behold it was still alive! The crab was a long way from shore! So it was quite a surprise when the crab started swinging his long front legs and pinching his claws.

Unexpected Crab!

We soon got in the dinghy and rode along the shore making a stop along the breakwater where there were tons of Frigate Birds perched in the trees. They were also soaring overhead hunting for food. They are known for robbing other seabirds for food and snatching seabird chicks from the nest. They can also be recognized by their black feathers and long, deeply forked tails and long hooked bills. The male Frigate bird has a red distinctive pouch that puffs up during breeding season to attract females. We just so happen to see lots of male Frigate birds doing just that.  It felt like I was witnessing something from the National Geographic Channel.

 

Checking out the Frigate Birds by dinghy

A male Frigate bird front and center.

After our little adventure we got back on the boat and took naps. We were very tired from our overnight trip. We each maybe slept two hours the entire night. The boat was rocking and rolling too much for adequate sleep.

 

Notre Isle at anchor…the only boat left.

In the afternoon we were invited over to Nomad for some snacks and ice tea. Nomad was a pristine 49’ Jenneau Sailboat. It had all the bells and whistles anyone could want on their boat. It had a brand new Iverson Dodger and Bimini with screens that enclosed the entire cockpit. The owners, Pam and Hank were very nice.  We are always amazed when people with such fancy expensive boats are nice to us in our 1976 Taiwanese built boat with dried grass for wind curtains. I do like our Rifiki because it’s a sturdy, heavy (30k pound) boat and I feel safe in it (most of the time).  

The next morning, Pam and Hank left, and Rick, Harley and I stayed. We ended up being the only ones left in the bay. Was their something they knew that we didn’t?  We went to shore with hopes of actually hiking all the way to Bonanza beach. No matter how long and how far it was! It was a treacherous walk for Harley! The sand was hot on her feet and every time she went to find shade from a bush or a cactus, she would get her paws filled with giant prickly burrs. She would stop and pull them out with her teeth. For the ones she could not remove, Rick and I would help her even though it left our fingers bleeding. They are the sharpest and most stubborn burrs, we’ve seen. 

 

Cruising around in the dinghy

Several miles later we arrived at Bonanza Bay! It’s a long white beautiful sandy beach that stretches two miles north to south. The water is a beautiful turquoise blue color and shallow due to a sand shelf that runs throughout the bay. There are millions of white smooth polished seashells lining the beach.   We spent most of our time swimming and then walking the beach looking at the shells, hunting for the perfect collection.

We only spent about an hour and a half here because we had a long walk back and wanted to get back to the boat before dark.

That evening was the windiest, rockiest night we have had yet! The winds were high (24kt plus) and the swells were big and constant.  Felt like we were riding a bucking bronco! We are glad that when we anchored we really backed down on the anchor to dig the anchor in firmly. The direction of the winds would have blown us right onto the beach if not for a good holding anchor.

After a long sleepless night, we woke to a still windy and rocky morning. We thought it would calm down if we waited before leaving for La Paz. We didn’t want to stay too long either in case the weather got worse. Again, we decided to go anyway. There was even worse weather coming the next day so we sort of had to get to La Paz by then to wait it out. It would be a safer place to be….more protected.

So Rick was able to pull the anchor up by hand despite the movement of the boat and the winds. We left Bahia San Gabriel around 11:00a.m.  It was a bit hairy leaving the Bay. The swells were HUGE and on our beam. They were so big that I actually cried at one point and asked Rick to take over the tiller for a moment.  I really felt like the waves were going to roll us over. Rick reassured me that WE WILL NOT TIP OVER! After a few deep breaths and changing our direction slightly so we were being hit so hard by the waves, I relaxed some. It was uncomfortable for a while, and I just got used to it.

A couple of hours later, the winds died down and the water was almost smooth as glass. 

We arrived at La Paz and found a slip at Marina Palmira by 3:00p.m.