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| Palapa Griega, San Carlos |
The next day we left at 0730 and motored six miles to
Ensenada Carrizal. The wind was much lighter, so we were able to do some jobs
such as taking the water catching gutters off our bimini and cleaning and
stowing the Hydrovane rudder. We had time for snorkelling and scrubbed Sal
Darago’s bottom. Afterwards, Jeremy took off the jackstays, preventer and deck
blocks and washed them.
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| Bonifacio's Cotton Club, San Carlos |
The anchor alarm went off twice during the night. All was
OK, thankfully. There is a fish camp nearby and some of the fishermen row out
of the bay in the early hours to catch fish before the winds start to blow.
None of them approached us. We left at 0700 and travelled nine miles to Caleta
Posada, crossing Bahia San Francisco. We were now very close to San Carlos, a
large yachting centre, but there was only one vessel at anchor. Another one
arrived soon after us. The crew from the ketch Kha Khan stopped by and gave us
useful information about shops and restaurants.
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| Caleta Lalo from the Mirador |
I cleaned the front cabin and Jeremy washed the topsides. We
went ashore in the dinghy, landed on the beach and walked along the red hot
sand for a Greek lunch in Palapa Griega. Afterwards, we walked about three
quarters of a mile to Leys Supermarket. Back at SD, we cooled off with a quick
swim and more bottom scrubbing.
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| The Soggy Peso, Bahia Algadones |
We weighed anchor at 0755 on Monday 23rd April
and headed for Martini Cove, only two miles away. This usually busy cove was deserted
at this early hour so we had it to ourselves. As it has limited swinging room,
Jeremy preferred to stay on board and keep watch while I donned my wetsuit and
went snorkelling. Sadly, the visibility was not at its best, but I still saw
plenty of colourful fish and found shallow passages amongst the kelp beds.
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| One of many caves at Ensenada Carrizal |
Later in the morning, we weighed anchor and motored three
miles to Caleto Lalo, which is below the Mirador, and round the corner from
Bahia Algadones. It was very calm. We rowed ashore, landed on the beach,
avoided scorpions in the car park and walked up to Coco Loco on the roadside.
They had drinks but no food, so we walked on to Bonifacio’s Cotton Club RV
Resort, where we had lovely tacos in their air conditioned restaurant.
It was a hot day and we were sweating when we reached the
Mirador. It was worth the effort as the views were stunning. On the way back we
stopped at Coco Loco and shared a coconut. One of the rope handles on the
dinghy broke as we carried it, giving Jeremy another job to do on our return to
SD.
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| Twin peaks of Las Tetas |
The next day we motored three miles to Bahia Algadones and
anchored close to the place where we anchored before. This time the weather was
calm, so we were able to go ashore and land the dinghy on the beach. We
searched for the film set of Catch 22 but did not find it. We consoled
ourselves with lunch on the beach at the Soggy Peso.
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| Scorpion near Marina San Carlos |
On Wednesday 25th April we left Bahia Algadones
and returned to Caleta Posada. This time we went ashore and up some steps
between some pleasant houses. It was a short walk to Marina San Carlos.
Tortugas restaurant just up the road was recommended for lunch and I was amazed
to find Shepherd’s Pie on the daily specials menu. Pino Colada was also on
special, so I had the former and Jeremy had the latter!
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| Happy lunch at Tortugas, San Carlos |
We returned to Marina Fonatur, Guaymas via Ensenada Carrizal
and Bahia Catalina. Jeremy changed the engine oil and filters and together we
washed and took down the genoa. The end of our sailing adventure was close but
not until we’d spent two nights in Fonatur Marina where we washed the mainsail,
folded and stowed both sails and removed and washed all deck fittings.
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| New home for Sal Darago |
Our final day on the water, Monday 30th April,
dawned damp and misty. We left Marina Fonatur at 0905, motored a mile across
the harbour and were in the travel lift at Marina Seca, Guaymas by 0940. The
rest of the week was spent washing halyards, cleaning lockers, stowing the
canvas from our bimini and our dodgers and generally preparing Sal Darago for
dry storage for the next ten months.
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| Sea of Cortez sunset |
On Sunday 6th May we called Jose and he arrived
in his taxi within 15 minutes to take us to Hotel del Sol, Guaymas. From there
our land trip to Tucson, El Paso, San Francisco and the Canadian Rockies began.
Watch out for future blog posts relating our experiences as landlubbers.
