Ha Ha the Baja

(As opposed to the Baja HA HA!)

Departing Bahia San Carlos well before O dark 30, we had good winds and managed to sail all but the last 10 of the 73 miles to Santa Rosalia. Being a little lumpy in the middle of the Sea, as it often is when there is enough wind to sail, we had green water over the bow which served as an indicator that indeed we had not fully fixed the leaky front hatch! We were impressed by the way the boat sailed, which is of course why we purchased her. It has been a very long time since we sailed with 3 layers of thermals under our offshore jackets!! A tads cool out there in the early morning. But we were happy..Our first long sail in a while!! We did manage to take a photo, but it’s a little too dorky to publish!

Santa Rosalia is a quaint little town with a French flavour; wooden buildings and narrow streets, renowned for its bakery and hot dogs! Peter of course came away with many little treats to munch on!

The old copper mine and paraphernalia are there to remind us of its history.

The harbour is small with an old and new marina and enough anchoring space for a few yachts.  Whilst the old marina is falling apart, it is cheaper and therefore full! 

The church was designed by Gustav Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower Fame) in 1884 and transported here over two years and erected in 1897. Similarities???

With moderate northery winds we made good time south over two days to Bahia Concepcion where the WOW factor began. Nice sandy beaches, hot springs and clear water, surrounded by stunning  mountains.

The girls on Lovely Lady organised a tour for us with Salvadore, hiking and swimming through very cold water in Cañòn Trinidad to look at cave paintings that were between 1500BC and 7000BC. Awesome!

On the way we stopped for a short introduction to ‘Bush Medicine’. There is a lot more to a cacti than a prick in the finger!!

The nearest town, Mulege, has an interesting history as it originally served as a maximum security prison before the Jesuits moved in. When the prisoners were released, they opted to stay in Mulege and bring their families to settle there. Mulege is on a river and surrounded by beautiful sandy beaches; understandably more of a favoured location than the desert! So most of the people here are related and have some criminal history in their past. The prison is now a museum, closed for repair at the moment due to the hurricane damage suffered last year. There are some great restaurants in the town and interesting stores to amble through.

The small streets accommodate all types of vehicles….

Getting in and out of towns now is a matter of hitching a ride with the Americans that reside in the vacinity..of which are many. Some are yachties; others have condos, with the remaining balance being RV travelers. It is a while since we have both relied on hitch hiking (well, except for the sailing!!!!) as a mode of transport.

 We have met some amazing people doing amazing things! Some are heavily involved in assisting the development of local towns. One American gentleman we met proudly showed off his three roomed dental surgery that also has a chiropractic clinic attached. Interestingly, he was a retired electronic engineer who now teaches locals how to make dentures! We can see how that works! Two Australian dentists and one from NZ come to Mulege every year for a month for clinic. Many Mexicans arrive on horseback to nearby ranches then get a ride into town for the clinic.

More wonderful sailing south has taken us down to Puerto Escondido, just south of the beautiful town of Loreto. Passing through Isle Coronados Channel was like coming into another world. Very protected seas from the surrounding islands and the sensational, craggy, Sierra de la Giganta mountain range.

Apart from seals and huge pods of dolphins, our wildlife experience so far has been minimal. Coming home from late night shopping in San Carlos just before we left, walking down our dimly lit dock, a bird suddenly letting out a squawk in front of us and flying up to sit on the nearest rail of a yacht, I just happened to glance down and noticed a piece of ‘rope’ slithering! Stopping Peter just in time, we took a few quicksteps back and watched the snake, along with the bird that by now was getting rather upset that we had interrupted his dinner! We tried hiding behind another yacht, but it was cold and we were hungry and the bird was not sure of what to do. As Peter just does not ‘do’ snakes, I tried to throw a nearby block of wood to scare the snake and maybe he would fall into the water. We assumed he was a water snake, even though he was long and thin! However, the snake was now mad at us and decided to try and come over our way. By this time we were standing on dock boxes! Finally, a nearby hose was the answer and to the disbelief of the bird, we hosed the snake into the water and made a safe passage with much haste to the boat!

Another encounter with the wildlife was rather amusing. Peter and Skip (Traveler) were chatting on the dock when a pelican happened to be cruising near by. A cormorant surfaced with a burst of water next to the pelican, which instinctively opened its mouth to grab…the cormorant by the neck. The cormorant shrieked; the pelican realising his mistake let go of the cormorant. Cormorant looks in disbelief at the pelican…’what do you think you are doing?’ Pelican sheepishly replies ‘I am very sorry, I thought you were a fish! Cormorant paddles off in disgust. Pelican watches cormorant then paddles off after him, snuggling up close. Cormorant glares at the pelican who once again apologizes profusely. The two of them paddle off together. Birds of a feather………….

During our short hikes, we keep one ear out for the 'rattle' and impending danger.  We did see one likely candidate but he was sleeping, so we did a quick exit!

Our first whale sighting – a humpback that first breeched near us then continued to slap its fins every time it surfaced. As we were on a collision course we thought we would give room and opportunity to our companion!

Having been told by several yachties of a great hike up the mountains to the waterfall, we decided that it had to be done. An hour’s walk before we actually got to the canyon was a little wearing in the heat (we are now in shorts!); then we started the climb. Although an easy scramble to begin with, there were some huge boulders to get over. We found a few cairns indicating the preferred path, (after we had climbed up an over the boulders) and of course the easy path on the way down!!! We were rewarded though with some magnificent views of the islands, the canyon itself and some very cool rock pools.

We decided to stay a week in Puerto Escondido and continue working through our never ending list of jobs. At least we have re-bedded and re-sealed the front hatch and fixed dinghy leaks.

We hear that the most beautiful scenery, anchorages and array of wild life is between here and La Paz and that summer is just around the corner so we look forward to embracing it and being able to swim and snorkel and put our thermals away!

Simply Charming San Carlos

On our return from our first visit to Mexico to purchase the boat in October 09, we decided to ship our personal effects to Mexico, which included our safety gear, some electronics, wet weather gear and other bits and bobs that one collects. This has been a lengthy and painful process in terms of dealing with customs in LA, with January 29 being the day it all came to fruition. We hired a ‘manly vehicle’ (Peter’s description) or ‘truck’, of which there are many in the USA. Huge, massive 4x4’s in Australian terminology! It took us 7 weeks to prove we were not a security risk, with customs kindly charging us a hefty $650 for storage for that time. Had we first been assigned a customs officer who had no personal grief with either the clearing agent or ourselves in our absence, the process would have been smoother. However, we now have all our bits and Peter has been busy installing them.

Even though our departure from San Carlos has been delayed, the upside has been having time to make several trips up to Phoenix to collect other boat necessities like anchor chain, finding a new anchor, dodging storms, installing a watermaker as well as a new windlass, having Oscar replace some of our rig, but most importantly, enjoying all that San Carlos has to offer!

Peter did a sterling job re-painting the stern by hand. Apart from changing the name, the stern was in such bad condition that it made the whole boat look in disrepair. So now with a scrubbed botty, painted stern, polished stainless and a new radar post, she is good to go!

We were rather happy to be in the marina when a series of serious storms lashed the Californian coast, with the tail end coming down here. It was the lowest pressure ever experienced in California. We had a maximum of 50 knots in the Bahia and sadly some yachts that were left on moorings unattended ended up on the beach. A sad sight. The local yachties were quick to get most off within the following days.

Marisa (a yachtie who lives in San Carlos) organized a ‘girl posse’ as an alternative to doing boat stuff. Some were great riders whilst others..well let’s just say that after not having been on a horse for 30 years there were sore knees! I was very happy to have been assigned a horse that was rather sleepy and took a lot of encouragement to get to a trot. There was much relief that I could (almost) alight on my own accord as opposed to a previous time, in a previous life, the bolting horse went one way, me another, resulting in a broken (now arthritic) ankle!

However, another sensational day riding through the Catch 22 ruins (many films have been made here)

and the mountains.

With the rugged mountainous terrain, there are some great hikes, one of which is Nacapule Canyon. After taking an hour to drive 6 km over and around the track which had been washed away in Hurricane Jimena last year, we found the newly graded one on the way back! (10 minutes to get back to town!)

Apparently the canyon was even more spectacular last year before the hurricane washed away some of the beautiful palms and the walk track.

Another great hike is up the Tetas, which overlook the marina. Doing this on one’s birthday is by folk lore (not sure whose) supposed to give you longevity, if that is what you want! What could be more appropriate for a 50th birthday treat? This pleasure was left to Sam and me. Whilst the track was marked at the start with yellow arrows, the persons doing this either ran out of paint half way up or decided not to climb any further!

Having found evidence of other hikers, Sam and I thought we were on the right track (possibly all have been lost up there??) but somehow near the top we must have missed something as we ended up having to climb on all fours up a rocky outcrop, not to mention scree slopes, and not near the saddle where we expected to be.

Sam and Bill from Blue Banana fame (BB wintering in Tunisia) decided to drive down from California to see us. It was just fantastic to catch up with such wonderful friends whom we last saw in Phuket. Being both both avid writers and story tellers, with humour to boot, there was much talking and laughter. Although we have done some land travel with these guys, to cruise with them would be a hoot.

One of the great local restaurants is the Soggy Peso (a tip from Marisa and Allan), which is also a wonderful anchorage at Bahia Algodones, 6 miles from San Carlos. Apart from the food, there is something that is good for the soul about eating with your feet in the sand!

As timing is everything, they were here to share in the christening of the new ‘Stolen Kiss’ which was done on a stunning day at sea. We hope that she brings us fair winds like her predecessor. It is perhaps a combination of luck and good judgment that you can sail 30,000nm with fair winds and relatively calm seas?

Unfortunately, our beautiful, relaxing sail could not last forever..well, at least not today!

Wandering around the abodes of San Carlos is interesting and colourful. Mexicans live their life with colour, music and attitude reflecting their joy de vivre (which is probably also why AA is so well attended here!).

Murals are very much part of the landscape

and the houses a mix of both Spanish and Moorish architecture. No surprises there.

The views that these houses afford are sensational…

With many of the gardens reflecting the environment….

With palapas to enjoy the view..(the thatch making us feel like we are in the tropics!)

Some even have a little more than their house numbers for identification. No guesses where the money came from for this casa!!

Within a week we should be out at anchor in the Bahia then it’s off to the Baja to enjoy the wonderful anchorages with, we hope, glorious weather. We have 5 weeks to do 250 miles to La Paz. That is almost ‘doable’!

Looking for a new boat? Maybe Mexico…..

For those of us who like a challenge, buying a boat in Mexico provides endless possibilities! With the exchange rate favourable, it is certainly an opportunity to purchase a boat at a good price. We generally found yachts (we were only looking at these) in the Americas much cheaper than similar yachts in Australia, SE Asia and Europe. New Zealand provided some opportunities, but not the type of yacht we wanted.

Adopting the view that anything is ‘doable’, purchasing a yacht in Mexico can be very straight forward.

As in many other countries, the actual payment and transfer of ownership has to be done outside Mexico, usually in the US. All the yachts we saw for sale were US registered; some were represented by brokers in the US and others by local brokers. As with many emerging economies, Mexico is blossoming, with many local people getting into the boating industry, the latter of which is extensive with many marinas and services which support it. Having said that, it can be difficult to get necessary boating hardware into Mexico and it is well worth your time to talk to as many people as possible about the various options available in this regard. Once you understand how the system works, it is not as confusing or as difficult as it first appears.

The yacht we purchased, a 1989 Hylas 47, we found for sale on the internet via a Florida broker. On agreement of a price, we placed a fully refundable deposit on the yacht (into an Escrow account) to ensure that no other offers would be presented until we could get to its location to look at it. Although the offer and acceptance was finalised in July, we could not get to see the yacht until early October, with the pending settlement happening at the end of October. Such a long time frame is not uncommon and suited us as it got us through most of the hurricane season. The offer was subject to the usual conditions of satisfactory viewing and sea trials. The Hylas was located in San Carlos, Senora, which presented a lengthy flight from Australia. A reputable surveyor (it is well worth making sure you have the right one) is located in San Carlos, who actually works with small boats and not just ships. We had the option of asking for a ‘walk through’ survey prior to our arrival, but as Peter was a boat builder, he was happy with what the broker had said about the boat and the pictures that were a genuine representation of the boat as she was. It was comforting to get pictures with the date on them! As she was a Hylas, we knew of their reputation which also helped.

Although we kept passing over a Mexican location as ‘too hard’, we kept coming back to the Hylas as the favoured yacht on the market in the Americas at that time. Further research confirmed our choice. Although Florida appeared to be the mecca for yacht sales, the climate is very harsh on boats, and those that have been left for considerable time suffer water and moisture damage. It appears that the same holds true for the Caribbean. Having left our previous yacht in SE Asia during the wet season, we understood the implications of tropical and sub-tropical climates.

On completion of the sale, as the new owner you have 6 months to complete a Temporary Import Permit, (TIP) which gives the yacht 10 years in Mexican waters. The marinas offer to do this for you, but we completed the exercise at the required bank nearby with no fuss or difficulty for a small fee of 60 USD. We found out the hard way what happens with the payment of duty if you try and import electronic equipment before you aquire your TIP! Duty is currently 15% and it is another adventure sorting out this process at the Mexican border.

We would also advise obtaining a multiple entry visa into the USA before departing Australia (as opposed to the Visa Waiver Program). We elected to get one which lasts for 5 years as we intend to spend time cruising around the Americas and the USA for few years before heading back to Australia. One thing for sure is that you will spend time travelling to and fro from the USA picking up necessary items for you and the boat.

For those potential buyers not so keen on sailing or motoring their newly acquired vessel to Australia, there is the option of having it shipped from La Paz or trucked/shipped from San Carlos.

Besides the exchange rate and climate in Senora (being relatively dry and on the northern extremity of the hurricane belt) other advantages include the workmanship available. Anything can be fixed or machined. We found a stainless steel welder who was second to none and certainly the most professional of any we have seen. Although we accept that we will pay higher prices than the locals (as in SE Asia), prices were still cheaper than Australia and the US.

It is always a steep learning curve when undertaking a new venture in an unfamiliar culture, but there are many fellow yachties and local people who offer endless advice and assistance. Everyone we have encountered so far have been so welcoming and willing to assist. San Carlos has an extensive American community living here so English is widely spokenand it is a great place to ease yourself into Mexican culture and learing a new language.

Now that we have explored the possibilities of cruising the Sea of Cortez, we are not in a hurry to sail back to Australia as it is reputedly the best cruising ground in the world! We look forward to seeing for ourselves.