Taking It Easy

Puerto Don Juan, Bahia de Los Angeles
& Isla Coronado

Looking NW thru Don Juan's "Window".

After sailing for 9 hours we have arrived in Puerto Don Juan, a lovely hurricane hole just south of Bahia de Los Angeles. There were several sailboats and one power boat anchored here.

The "bathtub" in foreground at P. Don Juan

The claming beach ( very shallow extending out 100's of feet much like Birch Bay, WA) with a wrecked fishing boat at the left end.

Anyone who lives aboard or cruises extensively has been asked at one time or another, “What do you do all day?” Well, besides the usual lecture about how mundane chores can take four times as long (or all day) on a boat, reading a lot and hiking, there is socializing - which is a very big part of boat life (one person actually told me that it was what cruising was all about). Sometimes people, especially single-handed sailors, start doing silly things to amuse themselves (more so when alcohol is involved). So those of us lucky enough to encounter Jim on Ann Marie spend some of our time watching puppet shows.

We were visited by Jim not long after anchoring. He introduced himself and immediately invited us to his puppet show which would be at 3 pm presuming he could find someone to assist him. He gave us just enough information to overcome our hesitation. The show would be in his cockpit, the companion way would be the stage and he assured us that his 26 ft boat could hold an audience of 12. And by the way, bring an hors d’oeuvre.

Roy Orbishark

We were the second dinghy to arrive and as such, I got appointed crew along with my friend Linda. We were now part of the Roy Orbishark Show. And, believe it or not, this was the 117^th performance! Jim is very eager to perform and has done so up and down the Baja coast, at Loreto Fest and locations in California. He does adult showings and shows for kids so there is something for everyone. I tell ya’, you never know what you’ll run into while cruising.



Jim the creator of the Roy Orbishark show.





The Puerto Don Jaun Audience



When the show started there wasn’t a straight face in the group. Roy (a shark) performs several of Roy Orbison’s greatest hits (which all tell a story) and is joined by a zany cast of characters including Tina (Turner) Tuna, Ray Stevens and Eelvis Presley. This was an audience participation show which put us into hysterics. I hope the pictures tell the rest of the story.





(RtoL) Linda from Warren Peace and Beth and Gaynelle from Cloud Nine enjoying the hors d'oeuvres.







"Dream Baby (How long must I dream)"  Sonia's favorite.





 

Tina Tuna





 

Sonia doin' her bell ringing during "I've got a woman mean as she can be".






Little Egypt wearin' nothin' but a button & a bow dancing on her pole
on a zebra skin rug.

 


Lil' Egypt after 7 kids.

 



Eelvis Presley in his rhinestone-studed costume.



We liked the show so much that when we ran into Jim again at Santa Rosalia we had to watch it again. Jim had been to every boat, every marina and numerous other places advertising his show. Jim is listed on You  

Santa Rosalia Audience

Tube and because Roy Orbishark is right after Roy Orbison, Orbison’s estate couldn’t help but notice and they contacted Jim and wanted him to stop infringing. When he told them that he only performed for free and any money raised went to charity they gave him their blessing. Good, because the world needs more crazy stuff like this!




 

Ogling puppets didn’t occupy all of our time. We went on a great hike with Steve and Linda from Warren Peace. Steve is all gung ho like Greg while Linda is nursing a problematic knee. First we hiked up a rocky ridge to get some good pictures of the anchorage. Then it was decided that we would make the “big hike” across to the other anchorage. Greg and Steve climbed up and over the ridge while Linda and I opted for the “down and around thru the valley walk”. We got to the same place at the same time.

The cardon cactus was in bloom. Some of these cacti may be over 200 years old and weigh up to 10 tons. A variety of animals pollinate it: bats by night, birds and insects in the morning. A thorny plant with bright red tubular flowers, which I think is ocotillo, was flowering and attracting hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds are the most frequently sighted birds on of our desert hikes. See what they are missing when we fed them through the winter and they don’t migrate.

All this land was under water once and shells cover the land across the peninsula from one cove to the next. Linda is standing next to two solid blocks of fossil shells.

The hike was great, it really wasn’t that difficult, and I’m glad we did it but I was down to my last sip of water and my legs where about to buckle by the time we got back to the dinghy. Lunch revived me and I summoned up enough strength to join Greg for some claming. We harvested a nice batch of clams and oysters in next to no time.

We made it to the other side .
 
 
In Washington we are legally required to shuck oysters and return the shells where the oysters were collected. The reason being that oyster spat (babies) are believed to only take hold and grow on old oyster shells. The state of WA is spending lots of time hauling huge barges of oyster shell around and dumping them to improve oyster habitat. That’s not the case here. There were oysters all along the intertidal rocks but they were also strewn across the beach, attached to clam shells. This made it especially easy to collect them. However, these oysters have zigzag shells and they hardly open when cooked so it took a concerted effort to remove the occupants - you gain some, you lose some.

 

Oyster growing out of clam shell.




We saw another coyote down by the beach. It looked beautiful and graceful  as it walked along the shore from one side of the beach to the  other. When we saw them at an anchorage we never heard them. This might be a female hunting to feed her pups.



Greg and I both wanted to see Bahia de Los Angeles (LA Bay) since we both had friends in California who camped there every year in RVs. LA Bay has been a gringo destination for over 30 years and the little “village” is full of restaurants, little eateries and tiendas.

We had lunch with the crew of Cloud Nine. This fiberglass-hulled sailboat, captained by Roger Swanson (with wife Gaynelle to his right), has circumnavigated three times and was the first American sailboat to cross the Northwest Passage from east to west. Roger was kind enough to loan us a DVD documenting his voyage.

There is also a remarkable 30+ year old museum staffed by gringo volunteers and the descriptions are in English. This tiny little building had numerous full skeletons hanging from the ceiling, including a gray whale. One wall was devoted to a shell display which helped me ID some of the things I had been collecting. There were Indian artifacts and a display depicting the caballeros’ life style and tools. This is a definite DON’T MISS if you ever find yourself in this part of Baja.

Look for a future blog on LA Bay and the musuem.

We left LA Bay after only one night and headed to Isla Coronado. We had intended to anchor there but wind conditions weren’t conducive to that so we did a circumnavigation and headed back to Puerto Don Juan.


Looking north to the volcano on Isla Coronado.



Our visit to the Midriff Islands wasn’t as thorough as I had expected and we never made it over to the mainland to visit San Carlos and Guaymas, so we will just have to come back here again.

Flying South

It’s Thursday the 21^st and we are headin’ south to Loreto for “Loreto Fest 2011”. We were underway before the sun rose at 6:30 am from Punta Hornitos at the north end of Bahia Conception. I got up long enough to make coffee for the captain then climbed back under the covers with Cinnamon. As much as we like Mulege we decided to pass it since we didn’t need anything, leaving more time for some other new place. The sea was like satin under a glorious blue sky when I crawled out of bed at 9:30. No ones around but some pelicans, boobies and frigate birds. We were forced to motor until about 10 but we were able to take advantage of favorable current.  When a breeze began to develop we deployed the spinnaker and peace and quite reigned. After 11 am the main went up and we were making 5.5 knots over ground. The other day we hit a new record of 10.9 knots over ground. We didn’t think that was possible.

Punta Hornitos Anchorage.

Lots of sources had told us that there isn’t much sailing in the Sea of Cortez. We haven’t found that to be the case. We have rarely had to motor except when approaching or leaving an anchorage, or to make water. If you have the time, and can utilize the wind patterns, the sailing can be great. Most of our sailing has been with main and foresail but lately we have been able to use the spinnaker for long stretches.

Over ten years ago I attended a women’s sailing seminar about spinnakers. When I left I was close to terrified of the things - they rounded up, they fell into the sea and other horrible things. Once we got ours figured out it’s proven to be fairly simple to deploy. It does get tangled occasionally when coming out of its sock and Greg utters some harsh words but it’s not often.

Many of the people that we have met this winter are heading home now; their 6 month visas are expiring. Almost every one is putting their boat on the hard on one side or the other of the southern sea (San Carlos mostly). We have had several people tell us how hard the summer climate here is on their boats. The wood dries out and splits and the rubber parts degrade. One sailor has spent most of this winter repairing what got damaged during the boat’s time on the hard. Humm, maybe two boats isn’t such a good idea after all.

Days go by and we don’t see another boat on the water other than an occasional panga; this wonderful place is all ours. Today however, we saw three other sailboats - a real traffic jam.

I’ve decided that the national cottage industry in Baja is cooking. You can’t walk down any major street and not encounter at least three taco stands (carts, booths or cubby holes in a building). It’s hard to imagine how they make any money since there are so many of them. Some are very well known however and have large clienteles. The most well known in Santa Rosalia is a hot dog stand - deep-fried hot dogs wrapped in bacon and smothered with the usual Mexican condiments as well as cheese whiz, and the optional chili or mixtos. It’s a turkey hot dog so it’s healthy. I thought the best part was the ice cream shop right behind the hot dog stand. The hot dog was 25 pesos, about $2. My double ice cream in a waffle cone was 24 pesos, another 2 bucks. Greg who wasn’t as gluttonous (his words - but he had two dogs to my one mind you) had a single scoop for 12 pesos.

Our last day in Santa Rosalia Greg suggested we walk south of town and have lunch at some little eatery. We checked out a restaurant looking over the ocean and weren’t inspired by any of the 70+ peso items on the menu. The fact that no one else was there wasn’t encouraging either. On the side of the building though, was a busy little taco stand. We were surprised when our two fish tacos were accompanied by a very flavorful cup of shrimp and fish soup. Lunch for two: 24 pesos - 2 bucks! Greg can’t get over it. It’s just more proof of how cheaply you can live in Baja.

Leaving Santa Rosalia looking back at the remains of the mine and foundry.

Greg deployed a trolling line as soon as we were under way this morning. As we were ghosting along in the late afternoon I decided to check the lure to make sure it wasn’t fouled with sea weed. We hadn’t seen any action so I was surprised when the line acted funny as I pulled it in. To my surprise we had caught a 23” barracuda. Greg had just spoken with a fishing guide at Santa Rosalia that had given him a sample of smoked barracuda which he said was delicious, so we were excited to get one. I marinated it in a soy mixture and Bbq’d it. Yumm. We ate the whole thing (of course Cinnamon got some raw fish and liver as I filleted it).

This is Easter week end and it’s a VERY big holiday down here. We anchored in La Ramada, just north of Caleta San Juanico, aside a small gringo sport fishing boat. A short while later trucks started arriving and a camp was set up on shore. I felt like I was back in La Paz when I awoke to loud music at 1 am. So much for having paradise to ourselves.

La Ramada anchorage.

Saturday 23^rd. By Friday afternoon I couldn’t stand the loud Mexican polka any longer and I insisted that we find another anchorage. We found another wonderful spot less than three miles away at the south end of Caleta San Juanico - all to ourselves.

The sandstone rock formations, interspersed with volcanic rock, are some of the most incredible we have seen in Baja. The rock walls have layers of vastly differing composition with caves and overhangs. There are rocks that have beautiful soft red, brown and gold concentric rings.



South end anchorage of Caleta San Juanico.

There is a group of rock islets that is a nesting area for several pairs of osprey and looks like a great snorkeling spot. The rocks along the waterline are alive with vividly colored crabs.



Osprey feeding.




Osprey nest (upper left).





We are definitely approaching summer down here. The temps are in the 90’s and the humidity has jumped, almost over night, to 60% and the “pool” temperature is rising.

Just takin' it easy as we sail along.