Sea of Cortez - Feb/March
February 22-March 8
We love Puerto Escondido Marina! It is such a clean, well managed marina with excellent staff. We are playing pickle ball, hiking, working on the boat, hanging out and dining with great new friends. The Nordhavn group consists of six boats (a few others have left to go up north). They are Seacret (Jeremy and Hilda), Last Arrow (Linda and Vince), Red Rover (Kevin and Alison), Gitana (Michelle and Hugo), Bella Luna (Rob and Deanna) and Rainbows End (Chris and Vicki). Two of the couples, Gitana and Last Arrow, are from British Columbia! The weather has been great, 70’s during the day, 60’s at night. We have been to a few great restaurants in the town of Loreto and we pick up supplies there as well. There is live acoustic music at our marina every Wed and Sunday. On the weekend of March 6-7th we boated over to nearby islands. There are so many gorgeous mountainous islands here to enjoy. Many of which have white sand beaches. We spent the day with our friends of Bella Luna on Isla Monserrat. We had dinner and mezcal tasting on their boat that evening. The next morning the four of us had champagne breakfast on our boat and headed to Isla Carmen for a marina sponsored picnic on the beach with ceviche, scallops, fish tacos and other fish specialties. All of the Nordhavn boats were there. Afterwards we headed around the corner to anchor for the night. All of the Nordhavn boats have dogs, and they all love running on the beach and playing chase and fetch. Seacret and Red Rover were both anchoring in this bay. We woke up the next morning and headed to Loreto in the boat to have lunch and grab some groceries. All of these excursions take about 1-2 hours. We boated to Danzante Island to anchor for the evening. The cliffs in our bay were absolutely stunning!
March 9th-22nd
My parents came for a visit the 11th-14th. American Airlines flies direct from Phoenix to Loreto which is interesting due to the town being a one stoplight destination! We haven’t seen them since last September as they haven’t travelled since pre-Covid. It was so great to see them! We cruised out to Honeymoon Cove on Dazante island the first night and enjoyed the beauty and many dolphins swimming around the boat. We cooked steaks and enjoyed good wine and conversation. Other fun activities included playing pickle ball, eating at two awesome restaurants in Loreto Bay (Azul) and Loreto (Mi Loreto). We showed them around Loreto and brought them to see the San Javiar Mission which is the oldest mission in Baja built in 1710. The grounds and mission were beautiful, worth the 45 minute drive up the mountain. There was an olive tree on the grounds that is over 300 years old!
Whale watching is a fun event down here either on the open sea or in a bay with a guide to get up close. We met two new friends, Claude and Marylou from Tahoe. They have a beautiful sailboat in our marina. We drove to the Pacific side to do a whale watching tour. A ponga boat took us out in a bay that is a breeding ground for grey whales. A mother and her baby got very close to our boat. Very exciting to see! Our guide stopped at the sand dunes so we could experience the beautiful sand for a bit. Stopped for tacos and Darryn pulled out the green food coloring for our beer being it was St. Patrick's Day. What a great day!
Our good friend Derek came to visit the 18th - 22nd. We had a great time cruising to Islas Coronados and Carmen. We enjoyed walking the beaches and hiking around the islands. On Coronados we did a three hour volcanic crater hike that was spectacular. The beach on Coronados is one of the best, white sand with Palapas and tables. We showed him the town of Loreto as well. Enjoyed the farmers market and the only brewery in town, El Zapilote. Enjoyed the live music Sunday night at the marina with wood fired pizzas and excellent margaritas.
We are taking Spanish lessons from our friend Hilda twice a week at the marina. Hilda was born in Mexico but grew up in Chicago, and now lives on her 76 foot Nordhavn. She is fluent in Spanish. We are working hard to learn Spanish and it is fun to practice on the staff here. We are also learning to love Mezcal and really good tequila. Not hard to do in Mexico! Its been so fun hanging out with our new Nordhavn friends and meeting the other boaters in the marina. Steven Spielberg’s 280 ft yacht is anchored near our marina but we haven’t had the luxury of meeting him or any of his guests yet!