Cruising with friends
It’s been a while since we posted because we’ve been exploring more remote anchorages. We’ve also been living in the moment since we were in such a holding pattern for a while. We spent 3 weeks in San Diego for my surgery and stayed with our friends, Safy and Marina and their adorable son Daniel. He is growing so fast and we appreciated the time we got to spend with him. One thing that hasn’t changed is his love for trains. We are so grateful to Safy and Marina for their generosity in having us for so long and I healed perfectly.
When we got back from San Diego, we hit the water sailing with our friends John and Marcy on Rochambeau who also did the Ha Ha. They are a lovely couple from Anchorage Alaska who have about 30 years of sailing experience. They bought their second boat in San Francisco on their way down the coast. Their first boat named Tlingit, is in Seward, Alaska. They invited us to visit them this summer to experience the beautiful waters of Resurrection Bay and the Kenai Fjords National Park.
Our friends on Træna, Patty and Tom, wanted to meet up with us, which we were very much looking forward to. We met Patty and Tom in Monterey on our way down the coast of California. They were also participating in the Ha Ha. We separated after Cabo because their plan was to cross the Sea and cruise the mainland south all the way to Manzanillo. They turned around to head north into the Sea of Cortez about the same time we arrived in San Diego. They were slowly making their way north into the Sea towards Puerto Escondido. We decided to go south about 40 nautical miles to meet them since there were places we missed on our way up.
We met Patty and Tom in Puerto Los Gatos with smooth red rocks and a beautiful sandy beach. A couple of fishermen caught extra fish, so we decided to have a fish fry on the beach. Another boat (Chris and Jim) on a catamaran called La Balona Too joined us. They are in their 80’s and still cruising the Sea of Cortez. They live in Encinitas, California just above Swami’s beach which is famously known for surfing. Peter and I walked past that spot many times while we were staying with Safy and Marina.
We enjoyed listening to their stories including how their son, Rob Machado is one of the top professional surfers in the world. Machado won 12 World Champion Tour (WCT) titles and was ranked among the top-10 competitors for 11 straight years. He captured three U.S. Opens, and his biggest highlight was taking the 2000 Pipeline Masters.
His most defining moment however was when he was 21 years old. He was surfing against his close friend, Kelly Slater, the future surfer legend, at the Pipeline Masters in Hawaii. They were locked in a duel and he had a perfect wave that if he cinched would have given him enough points to be the world champion. Instead he cut out of the face and glided over to his friend, Slater, (who was sitting on his board with his hand up) and gave him a high-five, letting go of the opportunity to win the title. It was a career defining moment that people are still talking about today, because it clearly demonstrated the culture of surfing over the competition. It was an honor to meet this champion’s parents, who also shared a passion for the sea.
After stopping in Bahia San Marta, Agua Verde and Punta Colorado for a week on the way north, we sailed to our home port, Puerto Escondido, to wait out another blow that was expected to be the strongest winds we’ve experienced yet—up to 35 knots. We definitely did not want to be anchored out with that amount of wind, even if the guide book said there was protection. Patty and Tom rented a car and we all drove to Loreto to drop off laundry and provision for our trip north.
Once we got going again, we had a lively sail to Puerto Ballandra just off of Isla Carmen on the northwest side. It was a day after the big blow, so there was still plenty of wind to move us along.
It was our second time to Ballandra which is a sweet cove and a perfect stop on our way up to Isla Coronados where we were set to pick up our friend Carrie flying in from San Francisco. On our hike we saw a big horn sheep walking up the path to the top of the ridge.
The following morning we sailed 10 nautical miles to Isla Coronados to meet Carrie who flew into Loreto and hopped on a panga to meet us. We arrived in Coronados by noon and Carrie arrived an hour later. We celebrated with a margarita, lunch and a swim! Then John and Marcy arrived and we continued the celebration on our boat with more margaritas and dinner! Patty and Tom decided to check out another anchorage on Carmen called the Vee Cove since the weather was favorable to do so. We would meet up with them as we continue north.
The next day we went for a long hike up the volcano on Isla Coronados to take in the delicious views and work off all the celebrating we did the night before!
When we got down, we were exhausted and very hot. We took the dinghy back to our boat for an immediate dip into the cool water which was incredibly refreshing. We invited our neighbors over for sundowners. It is always so nice meeting other cruisers and hearing their stories. We then had dinner on board Rochambeau where Marcy prepared a scrumptious dinner. It was a super good way to end a perfect day in paradise.
The following morning we headed about 25 nautical miles up to San Juanico with Carrie, following John and Marcy on Rochambeau. It was a very peaceful motor as there wasn’t enough wind to sail until about the time we got there.
We enjoyed our time on the boat, just the three of us, since it was too windy and wavy to put our dinghy in the water. We planned to meet the others in the morning for a snorkel and then on the beach for a long hike around the area the next morning.
We hiked over towards the ranch which has many mules, chickens, turkeys, roosters, a dog and a cat. It also has a huge organic garden from which we picked a variety of veggies for our dinner that evening. Patty planned to make all of us a lobster salad with all of the greens, carrots, peppers, radishes and onions from the garden. We also organized a mule trip for the next day to explore the larger terrain around the Bay and to see the cave paintings that are suppose to be over 10,000 years old.
Our guide had a lot of confidence in all of us and asked if we wanted the easy or the hard way back to the ranch. Of course, we chose the harder way because we’re the adventurous type! He said it would involve a very steep climb up a ridge next to the sea. Going up was steep indeed but much easier than going down! We had to hold onto the reins, the horn and the back of the saddle and trust that our mules knew what they were doing! It was a great lesson for me in letting go of trying to control things too much and just allow the experience to unfold.
After our ride on the mules we all went back to our boats. We were suppose to leave to head up to the next anchorage on our way up to Bahia Concepcion. We were exhausted from the day and decided to stay with Træna while Rochambeau met another boat called Fundango. We made a Vietnamese curry noodle dish with all the fresh produce we picked from the ranch.
The next day we headed up to Bahia Concepcion! We had a beautiful sail through the channel where we were able to get up to 9 knots of speed! Carrie would eventually catch a taxi from Santispac back to Loreto for her flight home.
It was so wonderful sharing this adventure with a friend from home. Mucho Gracious Carrie for sharing your adventurous spirit!