April 2005 Baja, La Paz to Honeymoon Cove

We left Maz and the mainland and headed across the Sea of Cortez with Semonship on April 18th.

We were traveling to Los Muertos, and then on to La Paz in order to head even farther north to Puerto Escondido. The crossing required an overnight passage. At 3am, Semonship lost their motor and we towed them to Los Muertos.

Since nothing could be done to fix it, we couldn't leave them there, so we towed them on to La Paz (where they are still awaiting repairs).

At one point, the wind came up on the passage across to Muertos. Semonship had the nerve to sail right past us! Canya believe it? A little cheeky since we still had to tow them into the bay!

We loved La Paz, but spent little time as we needed to get moving north.

We caught up with one of our buddies, Henry Koroll, who was playing with a band in La Paz.

Gary and Celeste, of Sol Surfin, entertained us as well.

All the usual suspects, Endeavour, Icarian, and us.

Semonship John along with Ralph and I. He's really not as strange as he looks.

Will the partying never end?

Tied up in Palmira, La Paz.

This is Los Gatos (the cats). We'd never seen such beautiful rock.

The water was clear. Here are more Bluewater buddies, Donna and Gerry from Scot Free II.

Deflated puffer fish beside Fortuitous.

More shots of the rock formations.

They looked like globs of chocolate whipped cream.

This is the view from the boat in the lagoon. Can't beat the waterfront property!

A close up of the mountains that surround Puerto Escondido.

We had a fabulous time at Loretofest(a cruisers musical festival and more!) We also had a great time at all the little anchorages on the way to Puerto Escondido, and others on our way back to La Paz.

This was one of our favourite performers.

This is one of the tourist shops in Loreto. They sell leather, sombreros, jewelry, tee shirts and you name it. It was quite a neat little town. We had just finished attending Loreto Fest in Puerto Escondido (a bay 15 miles from Loreto). We hitchhiked into town to poke around and then had dinner with some of our fellow cruisers. We’d like to go back to visit this town again as it was quaint and friendly…and I think there is a purse waiting there for me! Could hardly justify buying a nice leather purse, right now…where would I use it and what would I put into it??

Another terrific looking little shop.

While anchored in a lovely spot, called Honeymoon Cove. we were just suiting up to go snorkelling when we had a visitor.

No, this is neither Ralph nor I in the water! We were just putting on our ‘Teletubby’ suits (more later) when Ralph spotted this off the side of our boat! It is a whale shark…supposedly a plankton eater…but would you really want to test him/her?? Needless to say, we didn’t snorkel that day at all!! He looked to be about 20 feet long…half our boat length and a good deal bigger than either of us! Give me those little tiny fish, with the tiny little mouths…how much harm can they do??

Instead, we went for a hike up above so we could see if we could still see the whale shark. As you can see, he was plainly visible, and we watched as he cruised back and forth through the anchorage. That is our dinghy, in the distance, to try to give some idea of the size…quite intimidating, and extremely interesting…from land!! So, the draw for the next episode in the travels of Fortuitous will be a photo of “TeleRalph” and TeleCheryl”, suited up!

This is another view over Honeymoon Cove. As you can see, the vegetation is sparse, and prickly. It is quite difficult climbing here because of all the loose gravely terrain. Of course, there are also the rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas. No, this cruising is not for the faint of heart!!

This a view of Fortuitous from a hilltop overlooking Honeymoon Cove, on Isla Danzante, about an hour outside of Puerto Escondido. We just loved this bay with great snorkelling. We saw all kinds of tropical fish, small to quite large, including the whale shark. Because of the likelihood of jellyfish, we wear floral, lycra full body suits…yes, even Ralph…he has a whole other side to him that none of you are aware of!! Anyway, think floral ‘Teletubbies” with no screen on the chests…not very flattering. We’ll try to post a picture on our next website. The water was very clear, but a little cool at 22 degrees.

Sunset in Paradise. After seeing the whale shark,in Honeymoon Cove, we headed a little north to Bahia Balandra. After that, we started back down south, with overnight stops in Agua Verde, Los Gatos and finally Evaristo before arriving in La Paz. We cleaned up Fortuitous and got ready to head to Vancouver. It is time for us to visit all the friends and relatives. We can't really believe we've been on the road, so to speak, for the past 10 months...time has just flown!! We still are very much enjoying the cruising life and hope to continue for quite a few more years. There's just so much world out there to see...and sailing is such a damn slow way to see it!