San Carlos to San Juanico, Isla Coronados & Puerto Escondido

San Juanico early morning...

After a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner at Shots at Marina San Carlos with all of our boating buddies, we headed to San Juanico the next morning, November 25^th. But first I need to comment on our Thanksgiving Dinner. One, it was great to be with our friends…felt a little like family. And secondly, the meal that was prepared for everyone was so delicious that we all wanted seconds or even thirds! There was Turkey with Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans with a light cream sauce, Stuffing, Cranberry Jelly, and a fresh baked biscuit on the side. And to make the dinner complete there was a sliver of Pumpkin Pie with a dollop of whip cream on top for dessert.

Waiting for Turkey Dinner...

Back to Friday, the 25th….We headed out of the Marina around 10:30 a.m. and made a quick stop in the anchorage to pick up an alternator that John and Boni on S/V Ingenium had borrowed but didn’t need after all. They rode out to us on their dinghy from their boat, handed us the part, said goodbye and zipped back to their boat.

Boni and John

The winds were light and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day! The winds weren’t exactly going the direction that was forecasted by WindyTy or Passage Weather, but eventually the winds were with us and we had a beautiful sail during the day, through the night and into the morning. The winds did not go past 17 knots. And the swells never reached beyond 1-2 feet. We did not have to run the motor once! The only time we turned it on was just outside of San Juanico Caleta because the winds pretty much stopped.

 

Just outside of the anchorage of San Carlos

Just outside of San Carlos

We entered the bay around 9:06 a.m. the next day, November 26^th, anchored and both took naps to catch up on sleep from not really sleeping much during our overnight sail.

Found this little Squid that washed up on the decks during the night.

We're not sure how this Scorpion got on deck!

As soon as we woke, Rick put the dinghy in the water and we all went to shore. Harley of course was the most anxious to get there. 

 

Rick taking Harley to shore

The next morning, S/V Dream Catcher with Margie and Chuck aboard, arrived and anchored near us. We had first met the couple while we were in San Carlos in the boatyard. So it was nice to see someone we knew arrive. Later that morning we went for a little hike. It was pretty warm out but such beautiful views from the top of a mountain.

Dream Catcher

Me and Harley looking at the beach from up on the cliff

An Osprey we saw protecting her nest up on top of a Pinnacle

The 28^th we met up with Margie and Chuck on shore and went for a nice long hike. It was a beautiful hike and it was fun getting to know Margie and Chuck better. Margie and Chuck are from Eureka originally and have been sailing for the past 20 years. So they have lots of stories, lots of sailing knowledge and are happy to share their experiences.  I really admire Margie; she is the confident, knowledgeable kind of sailor I’d like to be someday!

Margie, Chuck and Rick 

From the top of the mountain looking down on our boats in San Juanico Bay

Pink Sunset

Anchored facing this rock

The next morning, Margie dinghied over to our boat and helped us get our SSB programmed again. For some reason, we had lost all of our programmed channels from the previous season. While Margie was down below in our boat, S/V Espiritu, whom we had last seen in San Carlos arrived and also anchored nearby. Chris came by not too long after they had anchored in his dinghy to say hello.

 

Sunrise

On the 30th, the following day, me, Rick, Harley, Margie, Liz and Chris all went for a long hike and stumbled across a small ranch tucked away in the dry desert like terrain. The ranch was not fancy but very well kept up. The grounds in all of the animal stalls were clean and free of waste. They were also all groomed and raked. Spotless! We saw horses, mules and donkeys. We also saw a goat, some chickens and peacocks. There were greenhouses thriving with gardens of vegetables.

Saw this beauty on our way to the ranch.

Rancho

Cute little Goat

Mule meets Dog

So friendly

There was one man present on the property but the owner was not there whom we really wanted to see. We wanted to ask him if he had any vegetables or eggs we could buy.

As we wandered around the property, petting the horses and looking at the other animals and birds, the owner, Jose rode in on a horse while pulling another horse behind him. We all introduced ourselves and told him how much we loved his ranch. He unfortunately did not have anything to sell us, but did offer us what eggs were in the Chicken Coop.

 

Jose

Jose, the Ranch owner talking with Rick, Liz and Margie

We left the ranch and walked back along a dirt road to the beach where our dinghies were. On the way we bumped into another rancher on his horse. He was friendly as well!

Notice the crease in his shirt…Have you ever seen a cowboy with an ironed shirt? Pretty impressive.

That night the winds piped up to 24kts so we had a bit of a rolley night at anchor. Not much sleep.

 

Our last sunrise at San Juanico

The next morning we sailed over to Isla Coronados following Dream Catcher in their sailboat. It was about a four-hour trip.

Margie on Dream Catcher

A little cool as we arrived in Los Coronados

As soon as we arrived in Isla Coronados, I put the SUP board into the water, and Harley and I got on top and I paddled us to shore. As soon as Harley relieved her tiny bladder, we went back to the boat. No sooner did I get back to the boat, Margie invited us to go snorkeling with her. So Rick and I got our snorkeling gear together and swam over to the nearest reef to meet Margie. We saw some really cool fish as we swam around the reefs that were close to shore. After about 45 minutes, I started to get cold and was ready to get back to the boat.

That night was a windy one. It was so windy that Rick slept out in the cockpit just to make sure that the anchor was holding.

It was still windy the next morning, December 2nd, when we woke up. We were planning to move on to Puerto Escondido but not really sure about the winds. We decided to go for it anyway.

Harley glad the stormy weather is over so she can go back up on her perch and keep watch

Well, this turned out to not be a very comfortable sail! The winds were between 25-29knots most of the trip and on our nose. The seas were sloppy as well!

As we approached Puerto Escondido, the winds finally died down and we went inside the bay and picked up a mooring ball way in the back of the anchorage. That was sort of a mistake since we were pretty far away from the dinghy dock.  And the winds really seemed to blow where we were.

That afternoon we went to the Marina office, checked in and then went to the restaurant on the same level as the office and had a very good meal….an expensive one, but really good!

Rick enjoying a little paprika encrusted ahi tuna & a limonada while overlooking the Marina/Anchorage

Puerto Escondido anchorage in the daytime

Dusk at Puerto Escondido

To pay for a mooring here was very reasonable. The charge was about $10.00 US each night. That included the use of the restrooms, showers, laundry-room (one free wash and dryer).

Next day we got in the dinghy, bringing our large camping size backpacks with us. We had plans to get to Loreto by cab to do some provisioning. We were very low on food…all fresh fruits and veggies were gone.

So we had the Marina office get us a cab. And forty-five minutes later a van arrived and took us to Loreto, which is about 15 miles from Puerto Escondido. It was a fun cab ride because I was practicing my Spanish with the driver, Ramon. 

When we got to our destination in Loreto, Ramon dropped us off and said that he would meet us at the Super Ley Super Mercado around 1:30. He did not ask us to pay him for the ride yet. He said we could pay him later. Seemed pretty trusting to us! I offered to pay, but he declined. It was an expensive fare as well. It was 1000 pesos for round trip, which is $50.00 US. If we just did a one-way trip it would have been $60.00 US.

So we walked around Loreto on cobble stone roads surrounded by overhanging tree branches. We walked to the water and walked along the Malecon. Then back into town, had lunch and made our way to the Super Ley and stocked up on groceries.

This mission was founded in 1697. It's the oldest mission in Baja.

Beautiful Hotel…inside and out.

 

This boy won this bicycle in the Christmas Bicycle drawing.
 It was an event to raffle off bicycles to the children of Loreto

Cute little outdoor restaurant

We stood outside in front of the Ley and waited for Ramon.  At 1:26 p.m. a green van arrived, just like Ramon’s. Rick and I thought how punctual he was! So, we got inside the van with our heavy backpacks and off we went. But something didn’t seem right. Rick asked me if the driver was Ramon. So I asked the driver and he slowed the van way down and said, “no!”  I told him that we needed to ride back with Ramon! “Necesitamos Ramon!” So the driver eventually pulled over and called Ramon. Ramon arrived within a minute or two. We transferred vans and headed back to Puerto Escondido. Ramon seemed a little annoyed with us. He told us that we should have waited until 1:30p.m.  We apologized profusely! I guess I didn’t pay too much attention to what Ramon looked like, since all I could see was the back of his head. Which was a head of dark curly hair. That was the same kind of hair that the other driver had.  Ramon seemed to lighten up a little and I continued practicing my Spanish with him. He seemed happy to oblige. 

When we arrived back at the Marina, we paid Ramon and gave him a pretty good size tip since we had made an awful mistake back at the Super Ley.

It was a wet ride back in the dinghy to our boat! It was quite windy and choppy in the anchorage. Lucky for me I brought a poncho in my backpack and it helped to keep me a bit dryer.

The next day, December 4^th (Rick’s Birthday) was windy as could be and this was our day we had to leave. It was supposedly our weather window to leave, but the weather looked bleak. There were “Buffalo’s” (white caps) in the anchorage. We recently heard white caps being referred to as “Buffalo’s”. We are not sure why, but now that’s what we call them when we see them. I like to say it because I love Buffalo’s! I wear a nickel on a chain around my neck that has a Buffalo on it.

We thought we’d wait out the weather for a bit…maybe it would calm down.  So, we brought our towels and clean clothes to use the showers (which were FREEZING cold) and our laundry to the Marina. The wind was not calming down even after a couple hours of fiddling around at the Marina.

Around noon, we said the heck with it and untied from the mooring ball and decided to go to Agua Verde, which was going to be a 4 or 5-hour trip. After Agua Verde we planned to go to Isla San Francisco the following day. All that changed! As we got our further from Puerto Escondido the winds calmed down and we motor sailed with our Jib and double reefed main.  We had a lumpy ride and the waves getting up to 8’ were coming at our beam. When we got to Agua Verde we realized the waves would be pounding us in the anchorage as well so we decided to skip it and Isla San Francisco and just do an overnight trip all the way to Espiratu Santo…Bahia San Gabriel.

 

Enjoying the ride