POST

Wednesday March 18 -> Friday March 20, 2009

The sun is barely up on Wednesday and we decide to leave for Cabo Saint Lucas. We say our goodbye to La Paz; however, the marina office tells us we just might as well keep the internet modem and keys as our dock will be waiting for us on March 28 when Bella Donna returns to La Paz.

It is a brilliant day, as John would say; however, there is not enough wind to sail so we motor. It is too bad too because the sea is very flat almost glassy which allows Bella Donna to accelerate efficiently. We start the day with a following current and end up achieving well over 8 knots. We make good time till we reach the cut just before our destination for the first day, Bahia De Los Muertos or Ensenada De Los Muertos, Bay of the Dead or Cove of the Dead. In the cut the current turns against us and it is strong. So it takes us a little longer, but we don't care the day is beautifully warm and we are fishing. It is sad when we arrive well before sunset because we still have not scored fish. Maybe our lures do not know enough Mexican Spanish; our efforts are lost in translation.

Muertos is a lot more than I thought it would be. The anchorage has about half a dozen boats, other cruisers, anchored in it, but there is plenty of room for us. In the northwest corner there is a beach with about 20 pangas, small fishing boats, beached out of reach of the tide. Next to the pangas to the north is a sports bar and restaurant that used to be the Giggling Marlin, named after a famous place in Cabo. It is now called the El Caron. To the south of the pangas is a long streatch of beautiful white sandy beach. It is clear that some major construction is occurring beyond the beach. Night falls and we retire early looking forward to going ashore and exploring the next day.

The next morning coffee conversation is interrupted by the sound of a church bell chiming the hour, nine o'clock. The church is a small white building, with a big white cross on it, on top of a hill near the south end of the bay or ensenada. We go ashore around noon and decide to have lunch at El Caron which turns out to be fantastic. It is thatch roofed and completely open on two sides. Large flat screen TVs are replaying an American NFL football game. The staff speak adequate English but knowing some Mexican Spanish is helpful and warmly accepted. We ask about the development to the south and are told it is Bahia De Suertos, Bay of Dreams, a new housing development with a golf course.

By the time we are finished our lunch with margaritas and beer we decide to explore. In the dinghy we work our way south down the beautiful white sandy beach as John takes depth soundings, planing for the next visit, to anchor closer to the beach so we can swim easily from Bella Donna to shore. We navigate through a rocky shallow area where the deepest parts are just a few feet deep until we reach deep sandy bottom again at the south end. The gorgeous structures above the large white sand beach here looks at first like a hotel, but as we get closer it may just be a cluster of beautiful homes. We beach the dinghy with Deborah holding us in the small surf and while John goes ashore to take a look. When John returns he says the structures are all part of a once private estate. There are about half a dozen separate but loosely connected houses each with their own pool, pool bar and hot tub. The manager of the resort restaurant offers to give us a tour of the resort.

The main house, GranSueno, consists of two structures with a huge thatched roofed patio, pool, swim up pool bar and hot tub. One of the structures is a huge media room actually a small theater with plush seating guaranteeing sleep before the movie ends as well as a well equipped basement gym with one end open to the sky over another artsy waterfall. The thatched roofed space leading to the other structure has a 4 foot diameter granite ball with drinking fountain like column of water rising from the top washing down the ball to a small encircling pond with a narrow stream running towards the ocean side to the endless pool area. The space is filled with indoor furniture, couches and chairs, arranged into conversation areas. At the opposite end from the pool is a large circular artful waterfall with paved walkways around it leading to the the little church on the hill with the bell tower and the restaurant. The connected structure contains the main living area of the 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath main house, GranSueno.

We follow the walkway up a hill through some trees to the restaurant. The restaurant is actually a model train museum, Centro de Trenes. At one end is a large rich wood trimmed bar the rest of the huge 3 story high structure is filled with tables; at the other end there is a rich rustic polished wooden dance floor. The second floor is limited to a 360 degree balcony looking down upon the tables. The entire second floor balcony is filled with an overwhelmingly impressive model train sets, model towns, bridges, figures of people and landscape. The 3rd floor is actually a huge arching dome shaped ceiling constructed from brick. Thus you eat at your table under a three story cathedral ceiling of brick and a modeled circular country connected by railroads. This unique structure was once the hobby play/party house for the owner of the resort who used to call this home. The resort is located on Bahia de los Suenos, Bay of the Dreams, and know as The Villas of Casa de los Suenos, www.LaCasasDeLosSuenos.com and www.GranSueno.com. This entire resort is a great destination for wedding party and guests. The new homes being built are surrounding a new 18 hole golf course under construction as well.

Friday we head south; our destination is Bahia Los Frailes about 45 miles away. I sharpen all my fish hooks and deploy 3 lines behind Bella Donna immediately after departing Bahia de los Muertos. I then took a seat in the fly bridge where I could watch the lines and work on this blog. The day is very warm as I have to fight off sleep while working and glancing up occasionally to see empty fishing lines. We are 30 minutes from Los Frailes and still no fish. How am I going to tell all my Baja fishing friends we scored zero. A few minutes later I look off the port side of Bella Donna and see a single fish jump out of the water. As I comment about it someone yells "you caught a fish". During the nest hour and a half we catch 6 or 7 tuna; I just lose count. John notices a school of tuna making the sea water boil. Bella Donna circles in and out of the school and we quickly pull each tuna on deck and throw the line back in. At one time we were pulling two in at the same time. Trying to be compassionate we treat each tuna to alcohol to "put it to sleep". First it is vodka, then we try gin, in the end we try Captain Morgan Rum, do not tell Billy, which works best. We have found Mexican fish do not sleep but party on Tequila. At last we try to leave the school and pull the lines in. Before we can get the lines in we catch one more tuna. The long process of cleaning and filleting each tuna begins. Impatient sea gulls are following us so close it seems you could hand feed them fish scraps.

The grilled Ahi is delicious.

God Bless Bella Donna

Post

Sunday March 15 -> Tuesday March 17, 2009
These days are spent enjoying the CostaBaja Resort and the toys on board Bella Donna. It's either the pool, the gym or sailing HOBO in the Sea of Cortes. The weather is sunnier and warmer each day. I am constantly amazed at how pleasant the weather is in Baja; I expected it to be much hotter and humid like Texas or Florida. After sunset if the wind is blowing, which it has been doing to some degree daily; it is too cold for tee shirt and swim trunks, but in the middle of the day in the sun it is plenty warm. We enjoyed the pool at the hotel one day and payed to use the condo pool and gym near the bar restaurant another day. The water in both pools is only slightly warmer than the Sea of Cortes. Each day has been warmer and the cool wind has blown less. The forcast is for light winds and warmer temperatures for the next two weeks, wonderful. Each night we spend more time in the fly bridge in just shorts and a tee shirt.

Sunday morning we spent time on the fabulous internet connection offered on the dock. I was shocked when a SKYPE pop up came up on my screen; it was a call from Colin back in Montreux. The call has video as well as voice and it is clear as a bell. It was good to chat to Colin, Taylor and Kari while seeing them on almost real-time motion video. It was the first sunny day in Reno following days of significant snow. It was hard to imagine winter conditions while surrounded by swim suit weather.

One afternoon I launched my Adventure Island Hobie trimaran, HOBO, and headed out of the marina into the Sea of Cortes. Suddenly I realized my main sheet line was jammed under load and needed to be rigged. At about the same time I discovered I had forgotten my life vest. I have a inflatable vest that has an air cartridge with a cord to inflate it. It is so nice to wear while sailing because it is flat against the body and does not get in your way. Back to Bella Donna and out once more into the sea. I turn left and sail in a moderate wind blowing on HOBO's port aft quarter with the sea swelling behind me HOBO moves swiftly and accelerates as she surfs down the swells. As I approach the city of La Paz the wind starts to die so I turn about and start the up wind tack back. The nice swell that carried me down wind now crashes on HOBO's bow as cold sea water sprays over me. Going upwind and into the swell always feels like you are going faster than you really are. The wind holds as I approach the marina entrance. The sun is setting. It's good to be back home.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Thursday March 12 -> Saturday March 14, 2009

Today we head back to La Paz. Don, Nancy, Ed and Jan are flying home on Saturday; they need to catch a shuttle bus from La Paz to the Los Cabos International Airport. It is only a short distance to our dock at CostaBaja Marina. We want to explore the beaches where the 200,000 or so La Paz residents frequent; they are less than 6 miles from the city on the coast that turns south and heads for Cabo. The area is called Punta Diablo and the beach strip is Tecolote. There is about a half mile of beach bars, volleyball courts, jet ski rentals, excursion boats, fishing boats and souvenir salesmen; in other words the normal Cabo beach scene but less than Cabo.

We approach close to the busiest beach and turn into the wind and drop the anchor. This is a lee shore meaning Bella Donna is blown towards the beach and therefore is against the usual general good anchoring rule. However, we are just going to be here a little while, the anchor & chain on Bella Donna is very dependable, someone will be left on board at all time and besides the stern cockpit has a 180 degree view of the beach.

We take a long walk on the beach past the last bar and into an RV park. We immediately meet RVers and strike up a conversation. We learn about RV caravans that cross from the US border and spend 30 to 60 days traveling as a group and alone from time to time. The advantage of the caravan is clearing in and out across the border easily given all the paperwork and customized fees. Also one can learn the "how to" from people who "know how" to RV in Mexico.

Back to the busy beach area where bus loads of people from a cruise ship that is docked in town are finishing lunch with a few beers or margaritas on the beach. We decide to take our chances on Montezuma's Revenge and find a vacant thatch covered table on the beach. The cerveza is cold and the Mexican food is very tasty.

We have not caught a fish in days so we take a few big circles on our way home. Finally we have to pull in the lines in defeat. I remember the fish tackle man telling me I would have a hard time keeping his lures in the water; I don't think so.

Friday we hit downtown La Paz again. The usual street vendors that we walked away from with a "no gracias" days earlier find us eager; the women buy bracelets for themselves and grandchildren. As the shopping continues the men are wearing down. Soon after the men split and search for the English bookstore. We walked there last Sunday but it was closed. My theory is that such a store would have good English-Spanish dictionaries and Spanish language tools for us gringos. Sure enough we found the bookstore and it has good language books. We get a bonus as there are English news articles available for free that describe what has, is and going to happen in La Paz that may be of interest to gringos. Add to this a blog written for gringos concerning events in La Paz. I also found a great guide for spots along the Mexican coast to kayak for John.

The last night on Bella Donna was festive for those leaving. There was the usual Tequila shot challenge conducted to good music. The weather was a little cool but I don't think our group noticed.

The next morning was bright sun shinny and warm. After the departure of half of us Donna and I just spent most of the day relaxing. We went up to the hotel pool after lunch and relaxed in the warm sun. The hotel has been almost empty during most of our stay. We were a little surprised to hear someone say they were full starting today because of spring break. The lobby was full of arriving suitcases. Nancy called to say they made it to the airport and that it was very crowded with arriving tourists. So much for the recession and Bill O'Reilly's ranting about college kids should not go to Mexico.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Monday March 9 -> Wednesday March 11, 2009

Our goal is to leave tomorrow to hang out in anchorages around Isla La Ispiritu Santo and Isla La Partida, two islands north of La Paz. Both have been declared wildlife parks with no fishing allowed within a mile of the shoreline. Deborah leads an all women team shopping at Sam's Club to provision for the island hopping. We guys stay busy with technical issues on Bella Donna. We plan a lunch in town but when we miss the 12 noon and then the 2 PM shuttle the girls arrive and we all eat at one of the CostaBaja pool bar.

At about 4 PM John and I make a mad dash to town to get just a "few" things we need. From shuttle to cab to marine shop where we get coolant fluid and directions to the next stop, the fishing shop. It is ridiculous; we have not caught a fish on this trip and it will be hard to tell friends we caught nothing. Everyone is supposed to catch fish when they come to Baja. I tell the shop owner I want Tuna and Dorado (Mahi Mahi). He assures me that if I buy lures from him it will be hard to keep them in the water as the Tuna and Dorado will be fighting to hookup. At half the price of US lures, I buy a supply for our trip.

Back into the cab we decide to skip the bookshop; it can wait till we get back to La Paz. We head off to CCC, SehSehSeh, a grocery store for a "few" things the girls could not get at Sam's Club. This store specializes in merchandise desired by gringos. While the cab waits, we race around the store until the cart is full. We will not starve during our cruise to the islands.

The next morning while we prepare to depart the problems keep coming over the internet and telephone. John gets a tax bill for Bella Donna from the State of California. Since Bella Donna was in the Ventura Marina on January 1st it was sent a tax bill even though the tax is not justified by the rules. I spent the morning trying to help Kevin's Club in Houston renew its liquor license.

Problems addressed we get underway midday. With barely enough wind to justify sailing we make a starboard tack into Bahia de La Paz. Our light wind is from the north, the same direction we want to go. Over time the wind increases and shifts to the east allowing us to sail more directly where we want to go, a lift in sailing terms, and sail faster. We do 6 knots on an apparent wind of 10 knots which is right where we should be, going 60 percent of the wind speed. Before sunset we drop anchor in the bay formed between Isla Del Espiritu Santo and Isla La Partida, one of the top anchorages in the area according to the guide books. It did turn out to be flat and calm allowing a great night's sleep, but the views were not spectacular. We conducted a spring break like party anyway.

The next morning the weather is very cool and the top priority is to find a warm water place to swim. We raise the anchor and head south stopping at each bay on Isla Del Espiritu Santo. John is doing the charter captain thing trying to find some warm water to swim in. We stop at Bahia San Gabriel, the most southern on the island. It turns out to be perfect. The dinghy and Hobo, the Hobie trimaran, are launched. Some dinghy to near the white sandy beach to swim. John, Deborah and Luci swim from Bella Donna to the beach. I jump into Hobo and explore the bay. Later all back on Bella Donna we enjoy a colorful sunset. At dinner later at the cockpit table a huge full moon rises over the volcanic island. I rate it as one of the best moon rises I have seen in my life. Life is good.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Wednesday March 4 -> Sunday March 8, 2009

The whales are still here. They will be leaving soon for the Gulf of Alaska. We hung around Cabo longer than we intended, we left Friday, as Donna recovered from eating a Mexican bug, probably at Mi Casa. The Mexican doctor who treated her said "Mi Casa provides me with plenty of customers, even friends fall victim; do not eat out; eat at home. The food tastes good but it may make you sick." We think his advice is a little excessive. The food tastes too good and so many people are eating it; your chances of getting sick are small. It took Donna until yesterday, Sunday, to feel like eating out again. We had lunch and dinner out yesterday.

Friday Donna felt good enough and the weather was perfect for a passage to La Paz. We left about 10:30 AM in the morning and stopped mid afternoon after just 20 miles in a new marina under construction in San Jose. This is just minutes from the airport. We stopped and circled many times along the way along with other commercial tourist boats to watch whales surfacing as they "shopped", searched for food, in the navy blue waters. Whales like to rise up and thrash the surface to stir potential food from hiding. es like to rise up and thrash the surface to stir potential food from hiding.

We docked in the breakwater but short of the actual marina docks at what is to be the fuel dock when the marina is finished. On shore just above the fuel dock is a fishing village that has clearly been there for many years. The homes and buildings of the village are old, weathered and show evidence, patching, of extensive repairs over many years. There are a couple of interesting cerveza, beer, tavernas in the village. At one end of the village is an extremely modern facility with several thatch roofed buildings and a children's playground. At closer look you see special fish cleaning areas with special designed concrete structures, running water, lights and sewage disposal. What I think has happened here is the community developers in order to get acceptance has developed the facility for its new neighbor. In my mind's eye I envision a fish market in the future on the resort condo side of the village.

We take a taxi to town which is a few miles away. The dirt roads of the fishing village quickly turn to landscaped paved and curbed roads through the future resort condo, home, hotel and golf course area. Again the paved road turns to dirt as we traverse a dry river bed where a bridge has not been completed, a bridge to nowhere. Eventually the dirt road connects to the older paved road of the town. We stop at the main tourist/shopping area. The most interesting experience here are the elderly Mexican people who are making a living by selling to tourists on the streets. A German tourist with a camera tells me there is a 90 year old woman near the old Catholic church who sells candy that he has been trying to photograph; I got her picture. She was beautiful, no teeth, deeply wrinkled face, her hair in a bun and wearing what looked like a Hawaiian moo moo. She did not miss a beat as she focused and fussed over her large tray of candy she was selling from.

As always the other high moment in a tourist area is a coffee shop. However, the best is a few blocks off the tourist area toward the business district. As always in Mexico the pastries and cafe are fabulous.

Saturday we sail north. The forecast is for light, less than 10 knot, winds from the south and southwest. However, the winds we are experiencing are much stronger, gusting over 20 knots, from the southwest. The seas are flat so sailing conditions are perfect to make La Paz. We planned to stop in Bahia De Frailes but anchoring to a lee shore is no good. We did sail into and out of the bay where some say the Dorado fish are so numerous at times you could get out of your boat and walk on them. Today the only thing we see are sting rays flying out of the water and performing back flips before splahing upon reentry. We sail on overnight to La Paz, but we have to slow down; we never arrive at night.

Sunday in La Paz is all about church, family and outdoor fun; most of the places to shop are closed.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Sunday March 1 -> Tuesday March 3, 2009

We arrive in Los Cabo International Airport, a short about 3 hour flight from Sacramento. We have arranged for transportation to the Cabo Marina with a highly recommended driver named Arturo. Customs and Immigration is quick and quiet. Soon we are dumped out into a sea of taxi drivers slash condo timeshare salesmen. Arturo has instructed us to turn right but where do we turn right? It is very unclear. The hungry crowd of salesmen are now in our face. I search the crowd for anyone looking like Arturo's picture he emailed us. There he is, I think, just as our eyes meet he positions his face just inches from mine. I reflexively say "Are you Arturo?" He says in perfect English, "Yes I am Arturo." Just as he is about to show me the way to his taxi I spot the familiar face of a tall man in the crowd, Captain John. He is standing in the crowd outside a door to the right. My instincts tell me I had been had; this man's name is probably not Arturo; he was about to put a condo timeshare deal on me that I could not refuse. I graciously thank the would be Arturo and indicate I see my ride. Moments later the real Arturo appears behind John looking like the imposter's brother.

I highly recommend Arturo; his large late model white air conditioned van had enough space for 7 of us and our luggage. He served us cold cervesa, Corona and had a large screen laptop positioned to entertain us with gorgeous pictures of sites in the area where he could drive us. There were beautiful waterfalls in the mountains and the best beaches, playas. As we quickly entered Cabo on the expressway we crossed a bridge and Arturo said, "look down, this is where the Baha 500 car race ends."

Sitting in the fly bridge of Bella Donna in Cabo Marina, it is quite warmer, more like summer, that 18 days ago when last here. There are the pleasant smells of the port, puerto. It is a mixture of sea, Mexican food, tequila among other things. The activity of the city is settling into an expected mellow Sunday afternoon pattern. In the tropics the sunset is very quickly followed by darkness; the twilight period of the sunset at a higher latitude is much longer.

Monday morning starts slowly as we are now in Mountain Time relative to the US. The morning starts much like those I remember on Hermosa Beach when I lived in Southern California. Both are essentially deserts on the ocean. The morning is spent making a provisioning trip to Costco. It is fun to see how progressive Mexico really is; you hear so much about how poor people are here and you get here to find how really well the people live. One thing is how easy medications are to buy; there are very few prescriptions. Even though no one in Costco's pharmacy speaks English I was able to communicate well enough to get the "prescription" medicine I left on my bedside table at home.

Provisions put away we are off to lunch at a great courtyard restaurant several blocks from the marina called, Mi Casa. It is great primarily because of the margaritas, very large, grande. Lunch leads to shots and the afternoon suddenly turns into a typical Cabo first day experience. Some of us, Nancy in particular, do not remember everything.

After the "quick" lunch we walk back to enjoy the marina just in time to enjoy the sunset in Bella Donna's fly bridge. Bed comes early.

Tuesday is better than Monday. The sky is crystal clear, not a cloud in sight. After a relaxed breakfast in the cockpit we leave to anchor and swim off the beaches next to the harbor where the hotels are. Before anchoring we decide to join the whale watching chase tourist boats following a mother and its baby. For about an hour we chase and take pictures. About half a dozen times the whales come high out of the water and sometimes close enough to clearly see their eyes and glistening tail fins.

We try anchoring in front of the hotels but the spring break crowd has begun. There are so many small boats and jet skis buzzing around Bella Donna we think swimming may be hazardous. We have a nice lunch watching all the scene.

After lunch we move down to a beach with a huge hotel that looks like it is owned by a Saudi Arabian oil sheik. There are many horseback riders on the beach, but no spring break people. The swimming is fabulous.

Just before sunset we sail to Land's End, the Cabo where Cave Rock, Lover's Beach and Divorce Beach. Then back to Cabo Marina and Bella Donna's fly bridge to have an after sundowner and watch the tourist booze cruises come in.

God Bless Bella Donna