Our next stop was just 40 miles north – Isla San Francisco. This island is also part of the nature preserve and we actually had some local rangers stop by our boat to collect our fees allowing us to go ashore. One of the most photographed anchorages in all of the Sea of Cortez is on this island. It is affectionately referred to as – The HOOK, as it does resemble a hook when you climb up the mountains and see it from up high. It is very protected and for us made a great stop to go hike and explore. On the way there we ran into our friends on Black Dragon who were on their way back to La Paz to drop their friends off. I have to say that this one of the prettiest places we stayed and lived up to all the hype it gets in all the guides we read.

Finding Black Dragon at Sea

Passing Black Dragon up close and personal

Phil driving the boat to Isla San Franciso

What Ryan normally does while we're sailing

There is always time, no matter where we are to make brownies.  They sure do taste good on a boat.

Hiking up the hill in The Hook - Zoom off

Same picture with the zoom on

Mom and Dad trying to catch up to the kids who are already at the top of the hill

The view from the top.  Sabbatical is in the center of the anchorage.  If only I had a panoramic camera I could have gotten the whole Hook.

Sabbatical in the Hook

Phil, Kelly and Ryan near the top

Kelly and Ryan making their way across the ridge line

Dad made it to the top

The other side of the island as seen from the top

One of the varieties of cactus living on the islan

Kelly and Ryan with the cairns they built to mark the trail we took down

Phil and the kids walking on the salt flats

The salt pond up close

Salt sure does look like ice

More salt sculptures

An ice pond

Phil and the kids touching the salt

Looking for more shells on the beach

Look what I found mom!

What is truly amazing is that there were not many boats in the anchorage but while we were ashore exploring we ran into a family from of all places – Manhattan Beach. Their daughters go to school at American Martyrs with the Phillips kids who live on our street. It is a VERY small world.

Caleta Partida – March 30 – April 1, 2010

Our first stop in the Sea was at an island called Espiritu Santo and the location was Caleta Partida. It is a beautiful cove with crystal clear water. The entire island is a nature preserve.

We were there for the full moon which I was able to capture.
We went ashore after spending a night with almost no swell. We tried to find the trailhead – which was clearly marked but there did not appear to be any “clear” trail. We met some other hikers who had tried for over two hours to find a trail with no luck. So instead we just had fun chasing the fiddler crabs back into their holes. We also took our dinghy through a narrow islet that separates the north and south sides of the island. At one point they were connected but one side of the volcanic crater that created this island collaped in creating this opening between the two parts of the island.  Traveling through this inlet is very sporty as it was close to low tide and with the four of us in our dinghy there was not much between us and the sand. We spent two nights here before heading north to Isla San Francisco – The HOOK.

Sabbatical at anchor

Ryan on shore looking for crabs

Ah, the trailhead

Okay, where does it start?

One of the locals

A fiddler crab

A fiddler crab up close

A big piece of driftwood

Kelly heading back to the dinghy which you can see in the upper left of the picture.  All of the bumps you see on the shore behind her in the lower left corner are fiddler crabs that have come back out after she passed.

Back in La Paz

We ended up back in Marina Palmira with Black Dragon and some of the other boats we have seen along the way. The stay here was pretty uneventful except for my one day shopping excursion with Tracey. We ended up finding a place to have our hair colored. After four months I definitely needed it. I can tell you first hand it is really an adventure trying to explain to someone what color hair you want when your Spanish is not great and the person listening does not speak English. In the end it all worked out and my family much appreciated that I no longer looked like Grannie.

Tracey getting blonder

Me getting darker

We did one more trip to tour La Paz and then we started getting ready to head north.

We had to say good-bye to Black Dragon as they were meeting friends and staying in La Paz longer than we wanted to. We reprovisioned and after meeting up again with the Pond family from Qualchan and the folks on RockStar for a quick dinner at Bandidtos - we left La Paz on March 30, 2010 bound for our northward trek into the Sea. We headed out at the same time as our friends on Qualchan. They were heading out for a one night stay up the coast before heading back into La Paz to reprovision. We got some great shots of them sailing as we were both heading north.

The art imitators in La Paz

Banditos - Ryan and Luke

Qualchan heading north out of La Paz

Qualchan moving away from us in Bahia de La Paz

The Push North to Mazatlan

It was HELL. We had 30 knots of wind on our nose and swells that were 8-10 feet for about 15 straight hours. We still made it into Mazatlan in a day and ½ but it was the worst overnight passage we had on the trip. We were all happy to get back to Mazatlan. We stayed at El Cid Marina which is an AWESOME resort. We also ended up being docked next to a boat that we had seen a lot but had not actually met – Black Dragon. We are all in love with the Dolling family from Black Dragon. Tracey, Steve and Foster (and Scupper the dog) are wonderful. We ended up spending a week with them in Mazatlan. I had my best shopping day ever with Tracey trying to find the bowls you need to make molcajetes.

Turns out that we decided to buddy boat across the Sea back to Bahia de los Muertos. We had a great trip across. We could not have had better conditions. There was a group of four sailboats all going the same way – us, Black Dragon, RockStar and Sapphire. We made it from Mazatlan to Muertos in 32 hours. We anchored in Muertos and spent a great couple of days on the beach there exploring one man’s resort (a former San Diego real estate developer – complete with giant model train collection) and the shoreline. The kids also had a lot of fun learning to sail in Foster’s sailing dinghy. Next stop back to La Paz to reprovision for the trip north into the Sea.

The Dolling family sailing to shore in Muertos on their dinghy

Kelly and me ashore in Muertos

Ryan just above the dinghy dock in Muertos

The walk into Muertos

Everyone, including Scupper is glad to be ashore

Lets hug a cactus but not too close

Climbing the awesome sand dunes in Muertos

(our camera makes everything look blue in bright sunlight)

We have conquered the hill

This picture does not do justice to layout of trains at this small resort on the south shore of Muertos

Kelly, Ryan and Foster playing with the slot cars in the resort at Muertos

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this one for my mom

A picture taken from the second floor of the resort looking back down to the beach

Kelly coming down the slide

Kelly in the infiinty pool

The gang resting back at the beach before making the big push back to the dinghy dock

Steve Dolling and Phil walking back up the beach past the pangas

The colorful pangas

One of the locals in Muertos we found trying to hide under the rock.