The excitement builds up as we approach the famous rock in Cabo San Lucas, the mark that a journey that I feared for long has been reached. The bottom of Baja. I was promised that from that point forward we would find paradise and more paradise. As beautiful as it is, the noise, obnoxious tourist activities, amount of boats do not make Cabo San Lucas a very pleasant place to be.
We had to keep a close eye for the jet skiers that use the boats anchored on the bay as parts of an obstacle course. Open from 8 till Sunset. We know someone who had the bitter experience of having one of these machines crash into their boat. It was costly and unforgettable since the skier lost his life.
The beach was beautiful, full of vendors dressed in white selling baskets, clothing, jewelry, braids and bobble head turtles and “chicle” (bubble gum). Restaurants and bars all along the beach with their “incredible” offers of Happy Hour, two beers for the price of one at double the price!! Thirst and the comfort of a sit under a palapa makes us play fool and we go for it.
The girls got beautiful dresses from one Mayan Lady! We were able to bargain a little and got each for $7.00, they were so happy!, they put them on and dance around the table.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Bahia Magdalena (“Mag Bay”)
It is time to sail further South, we could go straight South to Cabo or do the detour to “Mag Bay”. Some of our friends are in Mag Bay and every book suggest stopping there, would we miss something.. our last chance.. 1,2,3.. we are going in. I was a little disappointing after being a beautiful Santa Maria. Mag Bay was hit by the last hurricane and the town was destroyed. The church has been abandoned, only the doves and forgotten plastic flowers decorate the interior. The roof has been blown, the pews are there and the door remains open for curious tourist or devout people like us. Our boat coincidentally was anchored right in front of Jesus view. We were blessed.
The local kids held a baseball game that we had to join. It was a nice way to make our children interact with the local kids. Their bat was a piece of 2 x4. Matt and James, being carpenters felt that the bat could be improved. James started the project and Rob from “Keetya 1” finished it. It turned out beautiful. They held a short game that day and even Samantha had a chance to play.
We shared some of our candies with the local kids and they took us for a hike. We went as far as I felt comfortable with the kids. We got the nice view of the bay and all of our boats, took pictures and came down. I got a little uncomfortable with the kids. One of them kept asking me how many cameras I had in the boat, could I give her one, she told me about a sad Christmas and how much she could use a camera. I wish I could have spare some, but not in this trip.. Am I being a bad Christian? Was I being tested? Oh well. We still have the cameras.
There are two stores to provision, limited supplies, but that is always a good thing for us to save our money.
It is time to leave. We are ready, not much more to do or see anymore. Cabo is our next stop, in 2 days
The local kids held a baseball game that we had to join. It was a nice way to make our children interact with the local kids. Their bat was a piece of 2 x4. Matt and James, being carpenters felt that the bat could be improved. James started the project and Rob from “Keetya 1” finished it. It turned out beautiful. They held a short game that day and even Samantha had a chance to play.
We shared some of our candies with the local kids and they took us for a hike. We went as far as I felt comfortable with the kids. We got the nice view of the bay and all of our boats, took pictures and came down. I got a little uncomfortable with the kids. One of them kept asking me how many cameras I had in the boat, could I give her one, she told me about a sad Christmas and how much she could use a camera. I wish I could have spare some, but not in this trip.. Am I being a bad Christian? Was I being tested? Oh well. We still have the cameras.
There are two stores to provision, limited supplies, but that is always a good thing for us to save our money.
It is time to leave. We are ready, not much more to do or see anymore. Cabo is our next stop, in 2 days
Octopus for dinner
I cooked the Octopus we got in Asuncion from Angelina following the recipe she gave us; boiled the octopus for almost an hour
Sautéed tomatoes, onions, green chilies, added the cut up octopus a can of pureed tomatoes, salsa el Pato (Spicy!!) and voila. Interesting!. There must a better way to cook it, but until I find it I wont be cooking it again.
Sautéed tomatoes, onions, green chilies, added the cut up octopus a can of pureed tomatoes, salsa el Pato (Spicy!!) and voila. Interesting!. There must a better way to cook it, but until I find it I wont be cooking it again.
Snorkeling and tide pooling!!
The snorkeling on the reef of Santa Maria is beautiful, but the water is still cold so Trini and I found more practical to observe the fish from the dinghy. After all the water is extremely clear. Matt, Samantha and James experienced the real thing and James was actually very productive, he got a couple of Grouper fish and a Pompano. We share we other cruiser anchored in this bay and ate some for dinner.
When the tide goes down.. it goes down! Leaving beautiful flat beaches where you get and instinctive feeling of running, jumping cart wheeling or anything. I felt like a kid who wanted to play. I couldn’t let such a wonderful play escape!. On the other side, by the reef the scenery was amazing as well, but this time there were fantastic rocks to play hide and sick, to make houses and pretend play for Trini, to play in the tide pools and hide in the caves. Not to mention a good place to learn about the life of the small creatures such as sea snails, crabs and sea anemones. James caught and brought to us an electric Ray. We got to touch it, he got the shock. We like having our good friend James with us..he.
When the tide goes down.. it goes down! Leaving beautiful flat beaches where you get and instinctive feeling of running, jumping cart wheeling or anything. I felt like a kid who wanted to play. I couldn’t let such a wonderful play escape!. On the other side, by the reef the scenery was amazing as well, but this time there were fantastic rocks to play hide and sick, to make houses and pretend play for Trini, to play in the tide pools and hide in the caves. Not to mention a good place to learn about the life of the small creatures such as sea snails, crabs and sea anemones. James caught and brought to us an electric Ray. We got to touch it, he got the shock. We like having our good friend James with us..he.
Rafting up with Pyxis
We reached another anchor with the company of our friend James from vessel Pyxis. For the first time we rafted up with another boat. It was a lot of fun for the girls. Adding ten more feet to the port of our boat seemed very convenient. It is nice to be able to visit someone without having to ride the dinghy, get cold and or wet. The highlight of the raft-up was for Samantha who was able to balance on the ropes going from bow to bow.
Dinghy ride to the estuary
Past the water break we found the entrance to the estuary, I felt we were going through the Amazon, not that I have been there, but it could be the closest I get. As we go in we encountered the lobster fisherman having breakfast all in a tent, they waved, we waved and ask how long do we have to travel through the estuary before getting stuck in the sand with a low tide. We keep going and we see two heads moving across the water from one fishing camp to another, I expect to see seals, but they were dogs. A very cute site!
We were extremely impressed with the construction of the fisherman camps, very clean, very poor, but with all the necessary amenities to still enjoy the sunset, the bear on their porches and a great day of fishing.
We were extremely impressed with the construction of the fisherman camps, very clean, very poor, but with all the necessary amenities to still enjoy the sunset, the bear on their porches and a great day of fishing.
Bahia Santa Maria
Left at 3 AM on the 31st. Matt got up, hoisted the anchor, started the motor and took us out of Asuncion. I manage to fall back to sleep after all the noise the operation entitled and Matt’s own addition. I got up at at 5:30 to see the sunrise and keep him company. After the girls woke up I made pancakes for breakfast and fed them. We had some left over to share with our fellow cruiser James who left this morning as well. The problem was he miss the throw so the seagulls benefited from his loss.
It has been the roughest sailing so far, The girls got a little seasick, the boat inside was completely unattended today. It was simply impossible to be inside. Things were sliding from port to starboard, the covers opened and plates and silverware were flying out to the floor. I think we broke our movie player.. For dinner, I managed to make some bean quesadillas and a butter-ham sandwich.
It has been the roughest sailing so far, The girls got a little seasick, the boat inside was completely unattended today. It was simply impossible to be inside. Things were sliding from port to starboard, the covers opened and plates and silverware were flying out to the floor. I think we broke our movie player.. For dinner, I managed to make some bean quesadillas and a butter-ham sandwich.
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