More fun times!!!!

Well we are getting ready to leave in the morning to head south, next stop Bahia Aqua Verde, which is 23nm south. Just wanted to tell everyone what we have been up to these last 4 days here in Puerto Escondido. Wednesday and Thursday Jerry and I just hung around on the boat going to shore with Skeeter to run and play. Jerry had Mark from SV Orchid over to help clean the bottom of the boat, the barnacles were starting to get pretty thick so it took him many hours, but it got done and we much appreciated it. Kate from SV Akupara was really sick for the whole time here so she did not get off her boat much, we walked up to the store with Dan a few times to stretch our legs and get some provisions. On Thursday the Hidden Yacht Club here in Escondido played Mexican Train Dominos which was fun to watch, I got there late so did not play but still fun.

The boys cooking!!

That night we invited Kelly and Becky over for Jerry’s famous and delicious Camarones a la Diablo.

Friday Jerry, myself, Skeeter and Kelly and Becky from SV Escape walked up the canyon, which is known as Steinbeck Canyon. Last February when Jerry and I were here we did the canyon, but it was bone dry, so we were hoping that there would be some pools full, but unfortunately there was still no water. This time Kelly took us farther than we went last time going through some harder areas and small holes. Skeeter was able to make it almost the whole way with some help from Kelly and myself. It was fun to see all the large pools, or what should have been pools up farther in the canyon. Becky and Kelly were here last October and said that the pools were all full, so it looked different for them with no water in them.

very little water left



another dry pool

 Then later that night SOMF hosted another little get together with SV Akupara, Kate was felling better so she got to come, SV Escape, Kathy and Steve from SV Lilly and Mark from SV Orchid for a fun night of appetizers and cocktail. I attempted to make empanadas that I had a recipe from a cocktail party book that I had, well after three hours to make a 30-minute dish they were ready and edible. To say the least it was another great party. Today was a lazy day, walked up to the store with Kate and Becky while Jerry helped Kelly put his bow pulpit back on. Then I made some spaghetti with the left over filling from the empanadas that I made the night before, and have to say it was much better today. Tonight we are having Kelly, Becky, Dan and Kate over for some burgers and margaritas, it has been so much fun going to anchorages with the four of them, unfortunately we are going to have to say are goodbyes soon cause we are all going to be going our separate ways. I am sure glad Jerry and I got the chance to meet such amazing people, but that is what this cruising life is all about, and we love it.




Kathy, Steve, Kate and Dan



Jerry and Mark


 

Dan and Becky



Kelly's spot on SOMF

We will be heading out of Escondido in the morning sometime, not sure when we will have internet again, but will be sure to update our adventure when we do.

Puerto Escondido

lovely sunrise from San Juanico

After we left San Juanico around 8:30am on Tuesday we arrived in Puerto Escondido 3:30pm.  It was an nice easy 38 nm motorsail south with the winds picking up to 12 knots in the afternoon.  As always we fished all the way but nothing, not even a bite.  When we arrived SV Akupara had already been moored for 2 hours, and we followed SV Escape into the anchorage.  After having Dan help us with the mooring ball, Jerry went to shore to pay and to get the internet code, and I kayaked over to SV Escape to start cocktail hour with Becky.  Kelly and Becky invited us and Dan and Kate over for fish dinner, it was the sierra that he speared back in San Juanico, and boy was it yummy.  There was some big news of the night, the night before Dan proposed to Kate, and she said yes...so congrats guys. 

Puerto Escondido Anchorage and Mooring Field

dingy ride back from shore

Today Jerry, Skeeter and I went to shore to meet Dan and walk up to the little store 1 mile up the road to get some provisions.  It is a beautiful anchorage, protected from most all wind directions which is good because we heard on the net this morning that there might be some heavy winds comming in the next couple of days.  So we are not sure how long we will be here, but we are enjoying every minute of it.

Caleta San Juanico

view of anchorage from SOMF

Well we ended up staying in San Juanico 4 day just because it was such a wonderful anchorage.  We arrived on Thursday the 4th after a kind of rough day of cruising.  We ended up hooking 3 skipjacks but released them all due to that kind not being very good eats and that they are really bloody, then we got two of our fishing lines really tangled and after trying to untangle them for about 45 min we gave up and cut the line to start over.  And of couse the swells were getting larger as we got closer to the anchorage and we hooked up a sailfish, a very large one at that, and when we slowed down the motor the swells hit us right from the beam, our two 5 gallon jugs of water broke in the aft cabin, and we ended up haveing to cut the line from the sailfish, so needless to say it was an exciting fishing day, but unsuccessfull for keeping anything.  We pulled into the beautiful anchorage around 3:30pm, dropped the hook and Dan and Kate from SV Akupara came over to help us put out a stern anchor because the anchorage was a bit rolly.  After all was said and done, Skeeter and I jumped into one kayak and Jerry in the other and went to shore to play some bocce ball on the beach with the other cruisers. 

The next morning after I made an awsome frittata, Skeeter and I went to shore on our kayak and Jerry started the watermaker to make some fresh water since we lost all of ours.  On Saturday after lots of snorkeling and diving we all went hiking on the trail around San Juanico. 



view from the top of the hill



That evening we had Kate, Dan, Kelly and Becky over to the boat for dinner, which they all caught and cooked, and some much needed "Pain Killer" cocktails that Becky had the recipe for from the Caribbean.  Kelly speared a grouper, and Kate caught another grouper while Dan caught a trigger fish...all I can say was we had a feast, oh yeah, I made a great salad.

On Sunday was another beautiful day of snorkeling, diving and playing on the beach, that evening we all had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs, I made a pasta salad and Becky made the most amazing ceviche, it was a great night of laughing, singing and playing with hermit crabs...yeah I said it, playing with hermit crabs. 

On Monday a lot of the other boats head south to Puerto Escondito, while Jerry and I stayed one more day in San Juanico.  On shore there is a cruisers shrine that has momentos from cruisers from years past, so of course we had to leave a plastic scull head with our names on it.

The next moring after the net Jerry and I pulled up anchor and headed south to meet up with everyone in Puerto Escondito.

Pictures!!

Well we are at San Juanico anchorage and SV Lily has the satellite Internet hooked up on the beach and with Jerry's strong Internet antenna we are able to post some pictures of our time in Bahia Concepcion.



Sunrise leaving San Carlos



There were 5 Dolphins with us for about 30 min

The crew hard at work!

Anchorage at Playa Santispec Bahia Concepcion

Petroglypsh during our hike up the mountain

View of Playa el Burro from the top of the hike

Are we almost there Becky?

more Petroglyphs!

Mision Santa Rosalia de Mulege establishid in 1705, but had to be rebuilt in 1770 due to flooding of the Rio Santa Rosalia.

One of the cruisers hangout during the World Series...El Candil ( Scotty's Bar)

This is what a volleyball game looks like after a long night of drinking!

Leaving Concepcion going to San Jaunico!

Well we are able to get the internet while going out of Concepcion Bay, so I thought I would give a little update and try to post some pictures of our trip this far.  We pulled up anchor at 6:20 am, so far there is very little wind and a few swells.  We were unable to pick up the weather from Geary this morning, but last we heard it might be from the south so we will see.  It should be a 10 to 12 hour trip to San Jaunico where the next anchorage is, SV Escape and SV Akupara left yesterday, so hopefully we will be able to get a good spot to anchor.

Sorry still not a good enough signal to post pictures.

What a party in Bay!!

Well it is Tuesday the 3rd of November and Jerry and I are back at El Cantil (Scotty's Bar) to have lunch and try to get on the Internet.  The signal is very weak so I am unable to post pictures but I wanted to let everyone know what we have been doing the last 5 days.  Beside the many many cervezas and shots of tequila while watching the Giants win the world series we took a hike with Dan and Kate on SV Akupara and Kelly and Becky on SV Escape who where also down from San Carlos to travel the Sea for a couple of weeks.  On the way up to the top of the mountain we saw many petrogliyphs of different designs from fish to human shapes.  The hike took about 1 hour each way, except for Kelly who pretty much sprinted up and down the mountain.  At the top was a great view of El Burro cove and you could see the three boat by Playa Pasada and out boat in Playa Santicpec.  After the hike we walked down a little tienda to pick up some provisions for the boat and had breakfast at Berthas Beach Club restaurant.  I went snorkeling with Dan and Kate a few more times, and played on the beach with Skeeter.  We went into Mulege on Saturday again to watch the game and walked up to the museum of the old prison but unfortunately was not open so we walked over the the mission to get some great pictures of Mulege.  So needless to say Jerry and I have been having a great time meeting lots of Giants fans during the game.  Last night we had everyone over to our boat to have cocktails and are getting ready to leave for San Jaunico anchorage tomorrow morning about 6 am.  Pictures will be posted when we are able to get a better Internet signal.

We made it to Bahia Concepcion!!

As I said in an earlier blog we made it to Bahia Concepcion, and I have to say it was yet another exciting SOMF crossing of the sea, we left around 3:15 am on Monday October 25th; around 5 am Jerry noticed that the engine temperature was starting to rise above 180 degrees. We slowed down the rpm’s and put up the sail to try to keep a decent speed, but to allow the engine to cool down so we could see what was going on. Once the temp cooled we would run up the rpm’s again to see if it was going to go up again. Jerry went into the engine room to check out the problem, and came up with the conclusion it was the engine cooling water intake. It was not getting the right amount of water from the outside up to the engine. Around 7:30 am we shut off the engine to let it cool, there was absolutely no wind, so we just floated around, after 2 hour we decided that the through hole was probably clogged with barnacle growth. I dove into the nice 81 degree water and dove under the boat with a screwdriver to try to unclog the vent holes. It took me a few times diving down, because I am not very good at holding my breath when I am under the boat it makes me very nervous, but I got it unclogged. After that the engine ran great no overheating at all, but we still want to go back down and scrap some more, we think that if that was overgrown then the through hole for the water maker might also be. We were able to finally get the fishing poles out, unfortunately we only hooked on small female dorado which we let go and something hooked on, but broke the line free. We had a great motor sail the rest of the trip going into Isla San Marcos around 6 pm right as the sun was going down. This is one of our favorite anchorages; there was one other catamaran in the anchorage. We dropped anchor and had some cocktails and dinner and got a great night sleep. The next morning we decided instead of hanging around there we wanted to get into Concepcion Bay because we had some friends there and I needed to make sure we would be there to watch the World Series. There was not much wind so we just motored down the bay. Right as we were getting ready to enter the bay we hooked up as nice 10lbs skipjack, but they are not really good eating fish so we let it go. We arrived in Bahia Conception about 3:30 pm after anchoring having some grub we lowered the dinghy and met Kate and Dan on SV Akupara at Ana’s bar right on the beach.




Wednesday morning I went to the beach with Skeeter and then met Dan and Kate to go diving. That night Jerry and I cooked up some clams with wine, garlic and butter for dinner and can I say Yum Oh.