Asunto

Loreto

Posted on January 23, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1030160

Loreto is a real gem of a town. The plaza around the old cathedral is immaculate,  with tree branches intertwining to create a canopy of shade.The cafe’s catered to locals and gringos alike and most were reasonably priced.

P1030159

Canopy of Trees in Loreto

P1030162

Cathedral

The tacos at Del Ray are not be be missed. We did most of our shopping at the Leys, but also stopped by the Pescador for those exciting gringo finds, like brown sugar. Across the street from the Pescador is a gulf food store with a fantastic selection of nuts and spices and even chocolate chips. While in the Loreto area we visited the town several times, once from Puerto Escondido in a taxi ($900 pesos round trip), once via dinghy while we were anchored in Los Coronados, twice when we had a rental car to pick up and drop of parents that were visiting and finally by car when we drove up from La Paz. Each time we rented a car from Fox rentals. The economy sized car cost us(in USD) $8/day plus $20 (for the basic mexican insurance, can’t get out of this) and $20 to have the car dropped off and picked up from Puerto Escondido.

P1030157

Someones really nice back yard

P1030155

Even the garbage cans were nice!

Hikes in Conception

Posted on January 13, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

Looking down on Bahia Coyote

Hiking in Bahia Conception is absolutely lovely. We loved our time here at every anchorage, especially Isla Reqeson. The pictures say it all.

Bahia Conception – New Friends

Posted on January 12, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1020955

P1020946

Ilsa Coyote Adventure

We had packed up that morning, all set to hitchhike into Mulege to check it out. I had even made a sign. We had just landed on the beach when we  saw another little playing in the water. Fynn was pretty excited to find another friend her age – turns out little Vega was only 4 days older than Fynn! Admittantly we were pretty happy to meet some other adults our age too. We had a great day with this family- they are travelling to Panama in the VW Westfalia – a family of kindred spirits. You can visit their awesome blog at tribehoppers.com Together we visited Mulege, enjoyed a feast of clams and took a wild ride in the dinghy out to Ilsa Coyote.

P1020960

Cuties

The sunrises and the sunsets in Bahia Conception

Posted on January 10, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

Bahia Conception

Posted on January 9, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1020864
Wow what a place! We have been here for 5 days already, and we love it.  Bahia Coyote is made up of several small bays and beaches and a multitude of little islands.  We anchored off of Santispac, which has the best protection from the NW, and have been exploring in Otto from here.
P1020831

Exploring with Otto

The first morning out we came across hundred of dolphins fishing bait balls. We puttered right up with them and Kolby jumped in the water. The visibility was so poor her couldn’t see them, despite there being only 10-15 feet or less away, but he sure could here them! He said it sounded like an orchestra under water. As we watched the scene we began to understand it. The bait ball could move faster than the dolphins, and would eventually escape their feeding. However the birds would find them again first and dozens of birds would drop hundreds of feet from the sky in a gravity defying dive to snatch a fish. It wouldn’t take long before the dolphins had raced over and started feeding, causing the birds to slowly stop their dives. Then the whole cycle would start over again. It was memorizing to watch.

P1020858

Sunset and dolphins off the stern

We have also gone in Otto to the lovely beach on Isla Coyote to explore it’s green lush shores, and puttered around Bahia Coyote, off of Playa Coyote in hopes of finding a whale shark. We have zoomed around the islands, played on the beaches and walked the roads. Fynn saw Dad go up the mast and wanted to try that too, so we strapped her in the bosuns chair and made it into a swing.
P1020874

Playtime

 We have also been doing a lot of boat jobs, like check that the radar still works – it does! Repair the water maker which burst an end cap off the membrane housing. So far that repair has been successful too! We have also done regular maintenance things, like replace the fuel filter on the engine and polish the back transom, which gets pretty dirty from the engine exhaust. We have replaced the steaming light on the mast, which broke somewhere between Vancouver and Mexico, and replaced the motor on the electric head, so finally that has stopped leaking. Throw in a handle of other small things and an outboard repair and we have been pretty busy. It is a good feeling though to get some of those nagging things off the list, but it would be even better if stuff would stop breaking. Somehow I doubt that ever happens.
Yesterday we had dolphins swim just past our transom and I got on the paddle board to play with them. Then today at low tide I collected a meal of butter clams from the beach, which I steamed in broth. Just delicious. We will stay here a while still, as there is more to see and do!
P1020888

Fresh clam dinner

P1020887

Yummy

San Juanico (Sea of Cortez)

Posted on January 2, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1020791

San Juanico  (Sea of Cortez) – Yes there are two San Juanico’s one on the outside of the Baja and one on the inside.  We hunkered down here to lick our wounds a bit. We went for a nice hike and met some guys from Quebec on a small sailboat called Two Step. He had purchased it recently in San Carlos and was sailing the Sea of Cortez with his girlfriend and two friends without much money or much of a plan. Pretty awesome. When we met them they were on the beach smoking the Roostertail fish they had caught as they didn’t run their fridge to save their batteries. We gave them about 15 gallons of fresh water and they happily gave us some fish. A good deal all around as Kolby hadn’t been spear fishing for a while.

P1020775

San Jaunico Bay

San Juanico is a lovely sweeping bay with sharp jagged point bursting from the water. We will stop here on our way back towards Loreto to explore it better, but the forecast is calling for calm winds tomorrow, so we will leave early to make the 53 nm to Bahia Conception.

Happy New Year?

Posted on January 1, 2016 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1020795
Dec 31 and we are heading northing towards Bahia Conception. The winds are light as we leave Puerto Escondido – around 10-15 knots and Kolby is motor sailing at a good pace of 8 knots. The winds continued to build as we progressed north, we are on a solid heal now as we head up wind. Inside Fynn and I try to play a bit and read books, but mostly we cuddle and sing songs. Sometimes we slide down the floor or look out the window at the water rushing by.  There is now 25 knots of wind and we are getting headed pretty badly once we passed the top of Isla Coronados. The seas are getting rougher too, so we decide to head into Punta Mangles, 8 nm closer than our goal of San Juanico. Asunto is handling the conditions beautifully, she feels smooth and study as she cuts through the waves. Sailing under the full genoa and a reefed main, Kolby is starting to have difficulty tacking the boat by himself. On the last tack before Punta Mungles the genoa backwinded and slammed the radar so hard it came crashing down, lucky landing on deck. I run up to steer the boat while Kolby retrieves the radar. Back in the cockpit we can see that the radar mount has been broken in half, leaving the jagged metal up on deck. Fynn sits on the top of the stairs – she knows she isn’t allowed in the cockpit in these conditions, and she cries a bit up there, but not so bad anymore. Mostly she is asking for me to come back inside. As Kolby and I bring the boat around and are trying to trim the genoa by coming up to luff it a combination of wind and wave put us on such a deep heel that the decks are submerged. I hadn’t ever seen Asunto so far over so I freak out (a bit) and Kolby takes over the wheel, as I go and snuggle with Fynn. 10 minutes from the protection of Punta Mangles we here as snap. ‘ Come up here- something has happened!’ Kolby yells. I run up again- the genoa is sagging, something is wrong! ‘Quick furl it in!’ As is furls in the sail bulges at the bottom and immediately starts to work its way out at the top. Luckily it didn’t take us long to get into the lee of the point and drop the anchor. Clearly we had to drop the sail, and quickly, before it continues to unfurl and shred itself. Dropping the sail was not so easy.
P1020774

Total chaos- projects, sailing mess and kiddo

I set up Fynn down below with a movie- not wanting her anywhere near this situation. The sail was furled in at the bottom and unfurled at the top, making it into an hourglass. As we had to unfurl it before we could drop it, we had to manually walk the foot around the forward stay to unwind the hourglass. This sounds simple, but we were still getting 15 plus knots winds and the foot of the sail would whip around in the wind, it could certainly break bones if not kill you if you got in the way. Once we had it unfurled it was quick work to drop it, and even quicker work to see what had happened. The shackle had come off from the head of the sail to the furore – it was gone completely. Otherwise the sail was fine, a bit of wear but I would sew that no problem. The cover of the halyard had also frayed, so Kolby stitched that back together while I sewed the luff bolt on the sail. It was dark before we finished so we lashed the sail to the deck and waited for daylight to hoist it. We collapsed into bed, exhausted.
P1020802

Snapped the mount in half

January 1 – Our first thoughts were to hoist the sail before the wind picked up. It took us awhile to remember it was January 1 – we hadn’t even thought to toast the new year last night. The sail hoisted without a hitch and were headed off the cover the last 8 nm to San Juanico.

Baking

Posted on December 31, 2015 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

P1020594

I have been doing a lot of baking- bread, muffins, cookies, granola bars… Fynn loves to help – but the galley gets a bit messy!

Let’s go fly a kite

Posted on December 30, 2015 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

The upside of all this wind – and I’m not sure it I have made it clear, but we regularly have seen 20 knots for days before the wind settles for a day or two – is that we are able to fly our kite off the back. Enjoy these photos from the sky of Caleta Partida and Aqua Verde

Aqua Verde Hike and a mummified turtle

Posted on December 26, 2015 by in Adventures and Misadventures + Mexico

At anchor in Aqua Verde

 

Dec 26- a calm morning despite the forecast of winds up to 30 knots. At 10 am we met several others on the beach to hike over to some caves.  Since our desert hike escapade I have grown weary of hiking as I seem to pay for it later, carrying the weight of Fynn on my back and the baby bump in the front.
P1020725

Hiking the beach

P1020726

Mummified turtle on the beach

This hike was pleasantly different. Fynn was hugely energetic and walked a large portion of the way there – maybe even two of the three kilometres. The path was easy- we followed it up over the ridge behind the house on the beach, which lead down to an old cemetery. From there we followed a washed out river bed to the beach, then continued left along the beach until we reached the base of the cliff. From here you can see the caves, and we scrambled up the path to have our lunch in the caves.  When we had feasted on the view and our snacks, we took the road back, a hotter and less lovely way home.
P1020729

Petroglyphs

P1020738

The view from the caves

P1020737

Still trying for that perfect family shot…

The wind had picked up when we got back to Asunto and it would blow a steady 20 knots plus for the next 36 hours.
Other blog posts
Blog Categories

Copyright © 2024 · All Rights Reserved · Asunto

Adventure Theme by Organic Themes · WordPress Hosting · RSS Feed · Log in