Bye-bye Bahía de los Ángeles

Wow. Is it fall already? How did that happen? Seems like yesterday we were contemplating how to beat the heat up in Bahía de los Ángeles and now, all of a sudden, we’re down south again. Where did the long, hot summer go? It may be best to let the photos and videos do the talking (sorry, in advance, for the media overload) – but so you’re not going in totally blind, here are a few descriptors:

Extreme: The weather (heat and humidity, and of course, Lidia); the awe-inspiring beauty of the landscapes; the remoteness, and hence, the challenges of gaining internet access; how much I truly missed our people back home (waaaaaa!).

Captivating: The whale sharks; the other cruisers – love this little community of sailors; the stars at night; the fishing (watching Capt. Fishguts change lures with every change in boat speed).

Unexpected: The weather (not as hot as expected); the water clarity (not as clear as expected); the sheer number of bees seeking out water (before Lidia’s rains), and bitey and annoying insects (after the rains), like jejenes (no-see-ums), good ol’ mosquitos, standard house flies, and bobos (miniature flies that like to hover around your eyes and ears). I mean, we knew there’d be bugs, but, yeesh!

Baffling: The currents (lots of swirling, not translating in boat speed like they should, and contradicting what the tides were supposed to be doing); and the gronking – what WAS that noise? We’d hear it almost every night through the hull. At first we thought it was the thrum of an engine running, but then figured out that it wasn’t. Some say it is the sound of croakers, fishes we never saw in the Bay – not that they’re not here, they probably are, but… so curious. Rachel Carson, the late/great marine biologist/conservationist, wrote about croakers in her 1951 book, The Sea Around Us (pg. 60), so check it out.

Favs: Cribbage and movie matinees; Canelitas (cinnamon sugar cookies) with apple slices (not quite my dad’s apple pie, but it filled the void. Thank you, Barb of S/V Ellie, for the discovery!!); the staff at Guillermo’s (we should have paid them rent for all the time we spent there); snorkel-swimming for exercise – we saw so much underwater and also expended some calories; and a few stand-out anchorages (see photos/captions below) – Este Ton on Isla Angel de la Guarda, for its gorgeous water and brilliant colors; La Ventana for its hiking and views; and Punta el Pescador, for its snorkeling and visits with Ramón, the caretaker of the private “resort” ashore.

Most of all, we enjoyed the sailing. Who knew sailing on the Sea would be so splendid? It should be said that while on the way north we often had perfectly flat water and perfect wind speeds from the perfect direction, but our stay in BLA was marked by LOTS of sailing with wind on the nose. Headed to Pescador? Beat all the way. Time to go back to the Village? Beat all the way – again – dang it! There were plenty of days here when the wind was mellow and the sailing quiet and blissful, but there were also those sporty days that kept us on our toes.

Another big fav was spending time with other cruisers (see Lidia post and durfing vid below) – in particular, the company (hangin’ out at various anchorages, snorkeling, laughing), the euchre (sorry, Thad and Kristin), and the culinary acumen (cabrilla bites, cheese-and-bacon-stuffed jalapeños) of Vicki and Jason on S/V Volaré. Fun, fun times. Oh, and a heartfelt shout-out to Christine and Gary of S/V Tigress II for bankrolling our last couple of weeks in BLA. We owe you, plus interest!

We’ll miss this place, the local people and the transient ones, but we’ll be back next year! And no doubt we’ll continue to bump into many of the cruisers we’ve come to know and love over and over again in the coming months, either on the water or in our favorite Mexican ports and anchorages. Yay!