PUERTO ESCONDIDO TO LA PAZ 2025

April 25, 2025

Bahia Salinas

Puerto Escondido at Dawn

I got up early Friday morning to take photographs in Puerto Escondido at dawn. The light was exceptional and I managed to capture the majesty of the peaks behind the caldera where we were moored.

We left the mooring field as the wind began to fill in around 10:00 and motored out around the point. Winds were light, but we managed to sail to the northern tip of Danzante by 11:00. Then we motored for 45 minutes around the southern tip of Isla Carmen. We got in another 45 minutes of sailing up the eastern shore of Isla Carmen before Fred decided it was useless to tack away from the island when the wind was dying, anyway. We took down the jib for the second time and motored straight towards Bahia Salinas.

Sailing Around the Northern Tip of Danzante

It always seems to take forever to motor up the east side of Isla Carmen. It was a perfect day for a motorboat ride. The sky was blue, the sun warm, and the water flat. We made good time and I stayed above deck, enjoying the scenery. We pulled into the anchorage at 15:30 and dropped the hook in 20 feet off a white sand beach.

Anchored in Bahia Salinas

April 27, 2025
Agua Verde

We spent Saturday at anchor in Bahia Salinas. It was partly cloudy and kind of windy and didn’t inspire us to fish out the dinghy wheels and go ashore. We spent the day doing little projects around the boat. I gave the exterior of the pots and pans a thorough cleaning and then winched Fred up the mast so that he could replace a spreader boot. We spent a long time trying to find the source of the smell of melting plastic, but never came up with an answer. Fred cleaned the corrosion off the connection to the starter, once again, and also cleaned some battery terminals. We found the sock I had lost weeks earlier inside of the engine compartment.

My Missing Sock

The wind kept blowing out of the north all day, although the waves had been coming from the south the night before, causing the boat to roll quite a bit. I had remembered the bay as calm with beautiful blue green water, but it was not as pretty, this time. There were a lot of birds fishing and five other boats came in to shelter from the north wind. Bahia Salinas is large, so it wasn’t at all crowded.

Sunday was forecast to be quite windy and we planned to sail east of Montserrate to Agua Verde. It wasn’t as windy as the prediction when we got up, but there was a breeze and we pulled up the anchor about 8:30 and quickly set sail. Before long, we hoisted the spinnaker. While wind up to 20 knots was forecast, we never saw more than thirteen. The forecast looked like the wind might die by noon, but it never dropped much below ten.

Before the Gybe

We sailed outside of Montserrate quite happily until we decided to gybe over and head for Agua Verde. We didn’t make the gybe and the spinnaker wrapped around the forestay. The spinnaker sheet had gone under the bow and I couldn’t pull it out. Unfortunately, we had left the jib halyard shackled to the bow pulpit and the jib halyard wrapped inside the spinnaker. We tried to drop the spinnaker, but it wouldn’t come down. We struggled with it for the next two and half hours, sailing far past Montserrate before we could gybe and head for Agua Verde. The spinnaker tore near the foot and that made the tangle ever more severe.

Spinnaker Fail!

Ultimately, we had to tie a line around the ball of sail and secure it to the deck so that we could take the sheets off and unwrap them as much as possible. Then we reattached the sheet and Fred passed the whole mess around the forestay while I unclipped and reclipped the sheet after each pass. We got it mostly untangled, but still couldn’t pull it down because it was tangled in the jib halyard at the top. Eventually, we had to tie a long piece of nylon cord to the jib halyard so that we could pull it down with the sail. It was quite a relief when we finally got the twisted mass onto the deck and stuffed back into the bag. We gybed over, set the number two jib (after we freed the jib halyard and pulled it back through the clutch), and headed for Agua Verde. We anchored among twelve other boats in the north bight of the anchorage by 17:00.

Fred worked on untangling the spinnaker while I cooked salmon, fettuccine with pesto, and broccoli for dinner. We treated ourselves to a glass of red wine and some chocolate with caramel and sea salt for dessert. I wrote while Fred did the dishes.

April 30, 2025
Mangle Solo

Piecing the Spinnaker Back Together

We spent Monday in Agua Verde. We felt we deserved a relaxing day after the previous day’s battle with the spinnaker. Fred also needed time to repair said spinnaker. He got started on that before 8:00. The damage was limited to one area, but that area had multiple tears. Fred didn’t have any white spinnaker repair tape, so he made some out of two inch nylon strips and double sided sticky tape. Once the spinnaker was taped together, he then sewed the tape to the sail. By 9:15, the sail was mended and we could stuff it back in the bag.

The Repair(s)

We went to turn the engine on to charge the batteries and discovered that the starter wouldn’t turn. Fred had a spare and replaced it. It turned out that the solenoid was so corroded (it wasn’t even a year old) that it was making a connection all the time. This had burned out the starter and accounted for the hot electrical smell that we had been unable to locate. To prevent this from happening a third time (It had happened in 2024, too.) Fred fashioned a plastic hat to protect the starter and solenoid from the dripping heat exchanger cap.

The Western Flyer

Boat maintenance out of the way, we dug out the dinghy wheels, installed them, and took the dinghy in to shore. The Western Flyer, the boat immortalized in John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez, was anchored in Agua Verde. The boat, fresh from a $6 million restoration, was visiting for an exhibition and there were food and artist vendors set up on the shore. We checked out the vendors but nothing tickled our fancies. We walked into town to buy some cookies and produce and then went to the Puerto Bello restaurant for a beer before returning to the boat. Pelicans were noisily fishing in front of the restaurant and we enjoyed watching them and then lingered to take photographs. We had snacked on chips and guacamole and then had ramen with chilorio for dinner.

Pelicans Fishing in Agua Verde

What little wind was predicted for Tuesday was forecast to come in the morning. The engine started right up, but we only used it to get out from behind the reef before raising the sails and tacking out of the bay. Plan A was to stop in Santa Marte, but the anchorage didn’t look inviting, there was a huge power boat taking up the prime spot, and neither of us was too keen on trying to sail through the reef. We evaluated the situation and decided to continue on to Puerto El Gato.

Sunrise inAgua Verde

We soon lost our wind and had to drop the jib and motor to El Gato, arriving about 17:00. There was a large tour group camped in tents on the shore. They had arrived in a number of pangas. We had no sooner got the anchor down when a fellow arrived in a small boat and asked us if we would like some lobsters. We were both keen on the idea and he headed off to the reef to dive for our dinner while I relaxed in a chair on deck and enjoyed the scenery. We had ordered two large lobsters, but ended up with one large one and three small ones. They cost us five hundred pesos and a beer.

Puerto El Gato Lobsters

Rock Formations in Puerto El Gato

I made Spanish rice with mixed vegetables and melted some butter and garlic while Fred cleaned and boiled the lobsters. They were delicious and we felt very decadent.

Morning at Puerto El Gato

I got up at 5:15 on Wednesday, hoping to catch the morning light on the red rocks of Puerto El Gato. I got some nice shots, but the sunrise never lit the rocks. I sat outside for half an hour until my feet got cold. Later, I went back outside to bask in the sun and warm up.

There was no wind on Wednesday, either, but we decided to make the next short trip to Mangle Solo, an anchorage best visited when conditions are benign. We didn’t even bother to put up the sails. No wind was forecast and we never saw more than six knots. We left at 10:45 and arrived in Mangle Solo about 15:30. We saw two goats on the shore while we were anchoring.

Wings at Mangle Solo

Fred Amongst the Cardon

The Chirping Cardinal

I wanted to go ashore to explore, so we launched the dinghy. It was easy landing the dinghy on the beach with almost no surf. We strolled around, examining the cardon cactus and locating the bird we could hear chirping insistently. She was a female cardinal. I am always surprised to see cardinals in exotic locales. Once we located the cardinal, we crossed the sand spit and checked out the lagoon. It looked stagnant and scummy. The beach on the outside was much more inviting.

Back at the boat, Fred fired up the internet and I sat down to write.

May 6, 2025
La Paz

The Beach at Mangle Solo

From Mangle Solo, we motored the fifteen miles to Isla San Francisco. There was no wind. Our friends, Chris and Alexandra from Blue Wind, were already anchored there when we arrived. Alexandra came over in her kayak for a chat. There were thirteen boats in the anchorage and, unfortunately, a few of them had brought jet skis. Isla San Francisco is beautiful, but it has become so popular with charter boats that I am inclined to avoid the place. There are almost always tents set up on the beach for guests from big power yachts and there is a constant parade of charter catamarans in and out of the anchorage. This time, there was a lot of radio chatter between one of the captains and the beach. The reason became apparent when one of the big yachts actually put on a fireworks display.

The swell grew larger as the evening progressed. We spent a very uncomfortable night at anchor.

There was no wind on Saturday and we had no desire to stay and roll around with all the charter boats. We set off early, hoping to sail at least part of the way to our next anchorage. We had discussed going to Bonanza with Alexandra. Coromuel winds were forecast, making the west side of Islas Partida and Espiritu Santo untenable. When morning came, the forecast was for winds from the southwest, which made even Bonanza unattractive. We decided to head for Balandra.

Motoring to Balandra

We had good wind, at first, and sailed a long tack towards the back side of Isla Partida. The wind dropped as the morning wore on. Finally, we were forced to tack over, drop the jib, and motor to Balandra. The seas were pretty flat, but it was a long trip. We arrived about dinner time and anchored behind the rocks near where Fred usually anchors. Unfortunately, there was a catamaran anchored in his favored spot and we rolled more than usual for that location because swells were wrapping around the point. The wind blew eighteen to twenty knots all night and well into Sunday morning.

Anchored in Balandra

We had nowhere to go and couldn’t even talk to the marinas about a slip on Sunday, so decided to spend the day in Balandra. Fred worked on the boat and I practiced the guitar and worked on a beading project. It was a relaxing day and we were relieved that no giant power yachts were anchored there.

The wind blew just as hard on Sunday night. It was still blowing on Monday morning when we left for La Paz. We sailed out of the anchorage and made one long tack out into the bay. The breeze dropped after we tacked back towards land. Pretty soon, we had to drop the jib and motor down the channel. We anchored in our usual spot in front of Marina Don Jose.

Sunset in La Paz

We might not have had a slip, but we could still go ashore for dinner. We arrived at El Chino’s Tacos at 19:00 when they opened. We each enjoyed a bowl of their wonderful beans. I had one carne asada taco and one cabeza taco. Fred decided to try the cabeza, but didn’t like it. “Cabeza” means “head,” but isn’t made from brains. It is actually the meat from the steer’s cheeks. It is very tender, but has a flavor somewhat like tongue (which I also like.)

It was quite dark and a bit chilly by the time we rode the dinghy back to the boat. There was a breeze, but the anchorage was still calm in comparison with Balandra.

Fred went ashore, right away, on Monday to drop off his laundry, take his starter to be rebuilt, and see about a slip. We wanted to wash the boat and fill up with water before Terry arrived. Unfortunately, no slips were available. I cleaned the interior as best I could, but the exterior remained salty.

Terry arrived in the early afternoon and we went back to shore to meet her. We all had a cool drink at the Dock and Fred went to pick up his starter and laundry while Terry and I gossiped about old friends. When Fred returned, we dropped off the laundry and Terry’s luggage at the boat and then headed into downtown La Paz so Terry could buy pajamas. We started at the Sears. Fred headed off to look for stereo speakers.

Terry with Wings

Fred had still not found the electronics store when we came out, so we decided to try an auto stereo shop, instead. We walked in a big circle before we finally found it. They claimed they didn’t have any speakers with cases, but Fred spotted one Bose speaker on a high shelf. It turned out to be half of a pair of lightly (possibly never) used Bose speakers. We negotiated with the owner and finally bought them for all the cash we had, which was less that 2700 pesos. This was quite a good deal.

We then walked back to the bank near the Sears so that Terry could get some pesos and we could replace what Fred and I had spent. Then we took an Uber to Rancho Viejo for dinner. It was only about 19:30 when we got back, but we were all tired. We got Terry situated and then, one by one, we fell asleep.

May 10, 2025
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle

Our mission on the sixth was to go to the grocery store. We had a leisurely morning and then set off to walk to the Chedraui Select. Fred stopped to buy inner tubes for his dinghy wheels at a motorcycle shop along the way. We ducked into a pharmacy to see if they carried the medication Terry had left behind in Los Angeles, but learned that it was not available in Mexico. She had left it behind, before, and figured she’d be all right, this time.

By the time we got to the grocery store, Terry was feeling a bit woozy. She hadn’t really eaten anything and, more importantly, hadn’t been drinking enough liquids. It was fairly warm, although cooler than usual for May. We installed her on a bench to rest and went to do their shopping. The store had almost nothing in the way of produce and not much in the way of the meat that Fred wanted. Ultimately, we decided they would have to go to Walmart the following day and we left without buying anything except an electrolyte drink for Terry. We took an Uber back to the boat.

Pelicans Roosting in La Paz

Fred spent the afternoon trying to get his new speakers to work. We found and corrected the problems affecting the interior speakers, but it eventually surfaced that the jack on the stereo that fed the amp for the exterior speakers had gone bad. Fred would need a new stereo.

We wanted to go out for a nice dinner, so went to La Estrella over by Marina Cortez. I devoured a huge salad and Fred had a stuffed fish dish. Terry still didn’t feel like eating and barely touched the shrimp cocktail she ordered. Still, it was a lovely location on the beach and we had a nice dinner. Perhaps fortunately, the ice cream shop was closed by the time we left, so we went straight back to the boat.

I left early the next morning to take an Uber to the airport. At that point, none of us were sure if Terry would be well enough to sail. I felt kind of responsible and it was hard to leave, but I had a plane to catch.

The plane to Mexico City went smoothly, but then I had to spend nine hours in the Mexico City airport. Unfortunately, the new 737 that they used to fly from Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta had small overhead bins. Even some of the carry-on suitcases didn’t fit. I was once again forced to gate check my travel guitar. This always makes me angry because they give priority to suitcases which could easily be checked, leaving no space for fragile items that, while small and light, are more than 21 inches long. Making the bins smaller just seemed like a ploy to make people pay exorbitant baggage fees. It cost me $82 to check my duffle bag.

It was midnight by the time I got to Puerto Vallarta. The airport taxi service wanted 1285 pesos to take me to La Cruz. Since that’s about three times what it costs to get to the airport, I balked. I tried the next window. She quoted me 1265, but I managed to get her to drop it to 1000. I was tired and didn’t feel like dragging my bag across the street, which would no doubt have saved me a bundle. It was still 1:00 by the time I got home and I was happy to be there.