Wow, it’s May already! Time is flying by. We spent one week in La Paz stocking up on water, fuel and food. La Paz was a generally stressful place for us because of the wind and currents in the anchorage, and we LOST OUR ANCHOR! We spent two sleepless nights watching our boat “dance” around other boats and even had to use our dinghy to push Kite to avoid colliding with a large motor yacht. This was due to the wind and strong opposing current in the anchorage. On the third day, we changed location, and when returning from a day of provisioning, we watched in horror as Kite drifted in a circle with no anchor! A water taxi ran over our anchor rope and cut it clean off! We immediately got on to the boat and deployed our ’emergency’ stern anchor. Miraculously, we dropped our stern anchor right on top of the lost anchor so we were able to retrieve it. We decided to spend the next several days reconfiguring our anchor system from rope to 100% chain.
It was a good feeling to get that done, and on April 27th, we departed La Paz and headed north. What awaited us was nothing short of spectacular.
It’s not fun when you arrive at your boat and find the anchor rope cut. It was clear that a propellar caused the damage. Our first stop after La Paz was Playa Balandra. The area is well known for its crystal clear water and white sand shallows that extend throughout the large bay. It was touristy but totally worth it. We had some epic Avatar moments snorkeling there. We can’t find our Go Pro cord, so unfortunately we can’t post snorkeling footage at the moment. Sunset at Playa Balandra Fresh squeezed lime juice is a highly valuable item on a sailboat. Kite in all of her beauty.Approaching the west side of Isla Espiritu Santo. Amanda describes it as Moab, Utah meets the Caribbean. After three days in Balandra, we sailed north along the west side of Isla Espiritu Santo. We anchored at Ensenada la Gallina for one night and thankfully were protected from a strong south wind. We snorkeled around the entire island of Isla Gallina the next day and discovered that the bay was FULL of sea turtles! It’s tough to get photos of turtles. They pop their heads up for a very short amount of time. We continued on and stayed one night at Caleta Partida, a beautiful bay at the northern part of Isla Espiritu Santo. The water was so beautiful, and we enjoyed a short hike through a maze of cactus. Another beautiful sunset. Caleta Partida was our last stop on Isla Espiritu Santo. On May 1st, we sailed north to another spectacular island, Isla San Francisco. We rode out a horrible south wind on the first night and regretted our anchor location (the bay on the right in the picture). The boat was bouncing up and down on the wind driven waves all night long. We did not sleep that night. The next morning we moved the boat to the north anchorage, shown on the left side in the photo. The photo was taken along an amazing hike up to a viewpoint on the island. Turkey vultures perching on a majestic cactus. Beautiful views from the top of Isla San Francisco. A three hour sail north from Isla San Francisco brought us to San Evaristo, a small fishing village on the Baja mainland. The anchorage was dreamy with views of the towering Sierra Gigante mountain range. The local people here were so kind, and we also got to know some fellow cruisers. These fish were caught around Isla San Diego, just north of San Evaristo. We purchased a small red snapper for 40 pesos. We walked around San Evaristo and discovered an active salt mine and sea arch. The little restaurant in San Evaristo had so much character and the margaritas were only 70 pesos! We painted a shell to leave at the restaurant. They have hundreds of shells that visitors decorated over the years.
You are doing it! Cruising and ‘reading’ the world. Thanks for sharing your stories.
What a tough start to your Sea of Cortez journey! By the time this comment gets posted that will be behind you. The new “pages” of the Sea with colorful mountains, blues-bays and Avatar-like snorkeling experiences will help put those early La Paz troubles away.
Kite Cruising 
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