Trying To Chill In The Summertime Sea

5/11/12 – 5/23/12 Puerto Escondido to Bahia Concepcion: After leaving Escondido on 5/11/12, we’ve been moving slowly north, stopping at Isla Carmen, Puerto Ballandra and Caleta San Juanico before moving into Bahia Concepcion where we visited Playa Santispac, until the aggressive (man eating??!!) saltwater catfish drove us out. We are presently anchored in a little cove called Playa Coyote. Our days have settled into an easy routine of early morning boat moves (if we move at all), anchor,  a few chores, swim and explore in the afternoon, then back down below to read and siesta until it’s time to think about dinner.

There has been no internet or even Mexican cell service in these parts, so our only contact with anyone else has been on the morning Sunrisa Net, a ham radio net, where we can get the latest weather and other information from cruisers. Apparently the world is spinning quite nicely without us! The weather has been heating up markedly. We hit 100 degrees yesterday (not the first time), and the water temp has been in the mid 80’s.

Speaking of the Sunrisa Net, yesterday (5/22) was Terry’s first time serving as net controller. Yes, he was the Jefe Grande, and in spite of a little nervousness, he did a fine job. He had to open the net, ask for priority or emergency traffic, take check-ins from other cruisers, break for the daily weather report from Geary next door to us in Playa Burro, and basically keep track of all the transmissions and direct the flow. He’ll be doing it every Tuesday morning for the rest of the summer.  It’s hard to express how important these cruisers nets are. They are run by volunteers, mostly cruisers, and are often the only way to communicate with the outside world and get essential weather information, which is especially important now that we are in hurricane season. By Terry doing his part weekly, we feel like we are contributing in our small way to this effort.

Oh, and in other news – we have an air conditioner!!!! I remember the sage words of advice we were given when we were just starting out, in Ilwaco, WA waiting to meet up with Endeavor clear back last August. A cruiser returning from Mexico to the Pacific NW, told us to BE SURE and get an air conditioner if we planned to spend the summer in the Sea. So we bought a small window unit when we were in Puerto Vallarta, and Terry figured out a way to install it so it blows down into our salon from an overhead hatch. We’re still experimenting for the best schedule to run it on, but in this heat, it has made a big difference. We have to be conservative in using it because of the power it draws, but if it helps us sleep better during these hot nights, it will be well worth it. Sleep-deprived crew are not pleasant company!

Well, we want to dinghy into the little restaurant here with wifi that opens at 3 pm where I can post this blog. I guess I’ll have to wait to tell you about hitchhiking to Mulege, the funeral I found myself inadvertently attending, and the puppet show we’ll be seeing on Friday.

By the way, you can reach us by email at KE7FZH@winlink.org. When we have no internet, this is our only way to get email. It comes to us over our SSB radio, and we can respond as well. Don’t send pics or any other graphics, text only. We love hearing from you!

Hidden Harbor and the Streets of Loreto

05/08/12: Reluctantly, we weighed anchor in Los Candeleros (Ensenada Blanca) and headed north the seven or eight miles to Puerto Escondido (Hidden Harbor), also known as Puerto Loreto. We needed some fresh fruits and veggies pretty badly. After fueling up with diesel, we went on into the inner harbor and grabbed a mooring buoy.

This is a nearly land-locked harbor, considered an excellent refuge during a hurricane. I’d hide in Hidden Harbor in an instant to wait out a blow. The harbor itself consists of an anchorage called “The Waiting Room”, (the pic above on the right), another moorage called “The Ellipse” (center in the pic), and a large buoy anchorage called “The Inner Harbor” (upper left). This is a place where you get up close and personal to the Sierra de la Giganta mountain range. There is no town here, so the harbor and marina belong to the Municipality of Loreto, and according to Wikipedia, Puerto Escondido is the home of "Coco" Nogales, who is Mexico's only known big wave surfer. Hmmmm, this Hidden Harbor has no waves. I’d wonder if someone has confused this place with Mexico’s other Puerto Escondido, but then, who am I to argue with Wikipedia? I suppose we’ll never know for sure.

We went into the marina, had a look around and a drink, then dinghied back to Harmony so we could sit and stare at this for several hours:

 

5/9/12 – 5/10/12: I have long wanted to visit Loreto. I’ve heard so much about it, and it will also be the location of a retirement home to be built by our Anacortes friends Craig and Kelly. We took a cab for the 14 miles or so to Loreto and were enchanted by it’s cleanliness and charm. We took in the Mision de Nuestra Senora de Loreto Concho, established by the Jesuits in 1740, and considered “head and mother of all the Spanish missions in Upper and Lower California" and is the beginning of El Camino Real. We did a lot of strolling around the quiet streets soaking up the ambiance….”As I walked down on the streets of Laredo…” oops, wrong town, sorry Johnny Cash.  Anyway, after a tasty and cheap lunch at Café Ole, Gina, Sydney and I did a little browsing in the shops (I got some earrings) and then on to El Pescador, a local supermarket. Their produce was pretty sad, so we found a little neighborhood tienda that was much better and happily stocked up.