We left La Paz on Wednesday, May 25th. We had wrapped up an amazing two week visit from Brenden’s mom and we were heading north! Several factors were at play and we ended up moving pretty quickly from La Paz on up to Puerto Escondido. We were hoping to catch up with some of our friends who were already up north exploring, plus that region was notoriously off-grid so we couldn’t take too long moving through it because of my need for internet for work.
Caleta Partida | Sea of Cortez Summer 2022
So, we left that Wednesday from the anchorage in La Paz, fueled up at the Costa Baja Marina, and motored on up to Caleta Partida. We didn’t have any wind to sail- unfortunately that would become to status quo for this trip. But it was still gorgeous.
For the past 8-10 days in La Paz, the nighttime corumuel winds would pick up every afternoon/evening and blow through all night at 15-20 knots from the southwest. We’d heard that if the corumuels were blowing in La Paz, that you could count on an extra 10 knots on top of that out at the islands. So we selected our first night’s anchorage carefully and tucked in tight to the southeast corner of the bay in Caleta Partida.
Whether the wind pattern shifted already that first night and the corumuels didn’t blow, or they did and we just didn’t know it, we couldn’t tell! It was beautiful, calm, and peaceful in our anchorage that night. Perfect for me to sit quietly and contemplate the world- this was just a day after the Texas elementary school shooting, and I was struggling with lots of strong emotions.
I sat in the cockpit and watched the sun go down and the colors fade from the sky. Dozens of sting rays glided through the still waters, just their wing tips breaking the surface. Occasionally one would burst forth from the water and leap through the air to land back down with a loud “sthwap”.
Isla San Francisco | Sea of Cortez Summer 2022
The next morning, we lifted our anchor and continued our northbound journey on up to the cruiser-renowned Isla San Francisco. The corumuel winds were supposed to be calm that weekend, perfect for a visit to the open-to-the-southwest anchorage. We picked a spot we liked amongst about a dozen other boats in the bay. The water was so crystal clear that we could easily see our anchor dug into the sand 20 feet below the surface.
The kids had fun swinging off the halyard to jump into the water and spent about a half hour swimming and splashing around. But that ended quickly when both kids wracked up a couple minor jellyfish stings. So instead of just sitting on the boat for the rest of the afternoon, we packed up a few things into the dinghy and went ashore to walk the beach.
On Friday morning, we got up with the sunrise and immediately headed to shore for an early morning hike to beat the heat. We climbed to the top of the ridge and marveled at the view of the bay. We were experiencing an iconic spot that we’d been wanting to see for years and that wasn’t lost on us.
After taking a few moments at the top (minus Evan who didn’t want to walk the narrow path up to the highest point), we branched off the trail that we’d come up and headed further along the ridgeline and path to take another way back down.
We passed through a super interesting canyon on the way down and then walked over to check out the old salt flats in the middle of the island. But first, Brenden spotted a deceased sea turtle and we all gaped at the empty shell, the flippers and beak and other various pieces of its skeleton that were scattered around. It was amazing to see it but it did make us feel a little sad at its death. We pondered why or how it had come to be so far inland when it died. We’ll never know.
The salt flats, too, were really neat to see! We’d seen a bunch of them from afar when Tamara had been visiting, but these ones on Isla San Francisco were cool because we could walk right up to them to investigate. Kali picked a couple small pieces to take back for her rock collection. The sparkley pink shades of the salt was really gorgeous. We wrapped up our hike at about 10:30 that morning, lifted the dinghy and then the anchor to continue onward.
Timbabiche | Sea of Cortez Summer 2022
When we left Isla San Francisco, we planned a short 3 hour hop just up to San Evaristo. But as we approached Evaristo, we decided to just keep on going. We had decided that we wanted to push onward quickly at the beginning of the trip so that we could slow down and stay for several days at Aqua Verde near the end of the off-grid zone.
As we approached the anchorage at Timbabiche around 5pm, we hooked a fish! We pulled in a beautiful Black Skipjack Tuna, almost identical to the previous one we’d caught back on the mainland side near Matanchen Bay. The dinner plan changed the moment we got the fish aboard and I harvested the rich, deep red meat. On final approach to Timbabiche, we watched in awe as we were suddenly surrounded on all sides by large mobula rays feeding at the surface of the water all around us. None came close enough to see them down in the water, but many had wing tips that were easily 3 feet across!
Aqua Verde | Sea of Cortez Summer 2022
We spent just one night in Timbabiche and didn’t even go ashore. We were tired from the long day of travel and we decided to just get up and get to Aqua Verde early the next morning so that we could hopefully relax there for a few days before continuing onward to find internet for my work week.
In Aqua Verde, there are 3 choices for anchorage and we tucked up tight into the most NW corner with a couple other boats. There was some bigger 30+ knot west winds predicted for that night and the next and we wanted to do what we could to ease the discomfort. Thankfully, our selected spot gave us good protection and over the course of our stay we had some gusty winds but nothing ever sustained over 15 knots. It was a nice comfortable anchorage for us.
Unfortunately, we had several boat issues pop up while we were in Aqua Verde that put a bit of a damper on our mood. First, right when we arrived, we noticed an acrid smell down in the cabin and some investigation led to the discovery that one of our two (remaining) house batteries was boiling! Not good. Brenden evacuated the boat to protect us from breathing the noxious fumes, though it was only Evan down below at that point, and then he set about cutting all power to the battery and then disconnecting it completely and re-wiring the last remaining battery to keep our systems functional. It was a tense few hours while we waited for the bad battery to cool down and stop boiling and off-gassing.
We met one of our new neighbors, a really nice couple aboard a big tri-maran named TripleFin. Jo and Paul, and their dolphin-spotting dog Gizmo, are conservationists. When they saw our kids, Jo was quick to paddle over on her kayak and invite us to a nighttime snorkel to learn about some of the area’s lesser known water creatures. They put on a whole slide-show lesson on the beach that night and we spotted lots of amazing nocturnal critters in the water all around us. Talk about a boat-schooling win!!
The next day, feeling secure enough in the battery situation to leave the boat, we took our dinghy ashore to see what the tiny village of Aqua Verde had to offer. Looking at the town from the water, there are about a dozen buildings that you can see and I didn’t even realize there was an actual village there. But we learned there are actually about 400 people that live there year-round, most of their houses off the beach and built up into the canyon behind the bay. There’s a goat farm, a tortillaria, a police station, one or maybe two tiny restaurants with a smidge of wifi available, and at least one small (but surprisingly well-stocked) tienda.
We ate lunch at the restaurant. They had about 3 tables, most of them occupied by a large-ish group of young locals hanging out but we were given seats and a table when we walked up. We asked for limonadas to quench our thirst from the hot walk around town and they were delicioso.
It was hard to tell who worked the restaurant and who were just friends killing time. They gave us a menu which had about 4 different lunch options, but we were told that the only item actually available were the fish tacos. So, we ordered fish tacos. And they were delicious.
Some other cruisers came in and joined us at our table for the afternoon: Kyle and Leah from SV Jubel. They were super nice and we chatted with them for probably almost a couple hours. They’re pretty young, no kids but they have a dog and a cat aboard. Kyle is a CPA and we talked a lot about their Starlink satellite internet experience and setup, and just cruising experiences and plans in general.
The next day was Monday and we went back to town earlier to grab some stuff at the tienda which had been closed the previous day. In the afternoon, I donned leggings and my long-sleeve rash guard to go for a snorkel. The kids and I all got minor jellyfish stings while swimming the first day so we’re converting to more coverage for swimming. It was a bit windy and the water choppy but I was having a ton of fun snorkeling by myself. Then, I saw it! I huge, gorgeous purple octopus in just 4-5 feet of water!
I floated above it for about 10 minutes before continuing on and eventually returning to the boat the tell them about the octopus. Kali wanted to see so I took her on the paddleboard and we were able to find it again. I believe there were actually two of them as there was the one I saw first that was sitting near a specific rock and not moving and then, underneath the ledge of that rock I could see what looked like another brighter red and tentacled arm. I can’t be sure, but I wonder if there was a female under the rock and the one I’d seen first was possibly a mate or potential mate. It was really cool that Kali got to see it!
But, when we got back to the boat, we got the news that the watermaker was malfunctioning. It made some loud noises and then flipped the breaker and died. So, with the watermaker down and out, and our battery situation on the rocks, we decided we would leave the next day and try to get a slip at the marina in Puerto Escondido to sort out the issues. Thankfully, we were able to get into the marina for a week (at a much better rate than their daily slip fee) and we’re on our way to sorting out the issues. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR WHOLE SEA OF CORTEZ SUMMER 2022 COLLECTION OF BLOGS.