A Week on the Sea of Cortez

I took this photo from the deck of Sea Story this morning at 7 AM.  Sipping that first cup of coffee while observing sunrise on the Sierra Gigante is a pretty nice way to start the day....

Singlar Marina Puerto Escondido

After six days at sea, we pulled into Puerto Escondido yesterday, approximately 100 miles north of La Paz.  A couple of hours prior to our arrival here we had enjoyed a truly exhilarating hour of challenging sailing in strong winds with gusts to 28 knots.  Wheeooo!!  So by the time we tied up at the fuel dock, we were truly ready for our first Pacificos of the day...we had earned them!

A lovely day on a calm sea.

  Shortly after this photo was taken on Wednesday, a group of approximately 50 dolphins

surrounded the boat and followed us for about 20 minutes.  Delightful!!

Since leaving La Paz on Valentine's Day, we enjoyed six different anchorages along the way to Puerto Escondido. At Los Gatos, one of our favorites from last year, we once again encountered Miguel, our Mexican fisherman friend.  He recognized us as the cruisers from last March who had given him two gallons of gas in exchange for a nice fish. This year after recognizing Sea Story, he waved from his panga (fishing boat) indicating we should slow down....he had lobsters to sell!  So, after a little haggling, we paid him 200 pesos (approx $16.50 USD) plus two Tecate beers for six lobsters. What a deal...what a meal!! (PS... Tecate beer isn't our favorite, so it was no sacrifice!!)

Preparing the lobsters and melted butter!!

Ta-Da!!

The next day he returned with another great deal: a fileted fish in exchange for four D batteries. Another great evening meal! Perhaps Miguel has a great thing going with us tender-hearted (sucker?) cruisers, but we like to think it's a way for us to return a favor to those kind, hard-working Mexicans whose country we so enjoy.

This morning I did two loads of laundry here at the marina while Jerry washed down the boat with fresh water. Next on the agenda, groceries from Fernando's tienda, about a mile walk from the marina.  We know it's always better to grocery shop after a meal than before, so we detoured a few hundred feet to the quaint and charming Hotel Tripui for lunch.  Emma, the waitress remembered us from last March, and she kindly took our photo.

Lunch at Hotel Tripui

So, we have once again filled our fresh water tanks, recharged our batteries, caught up on emails, and restocked the bread, apples & tomatoes, and beer supply. There's a big three-day "norther" predicted for Tuesday-Thursday this week, so we'll be off very early tomorrow morning for the 40 mile trip up to San Juanico, a nice anchorage to dig in for whatever the weather brings for the next few days.

That's it for now.  More another day...