My San Juanico tradition was continued with an early paddle into shore before climbing the hill overlooking the bay. I was pushing it a bit because it was a longer walk than normal but I ended up with five minutes to spare. A pretty sunrise with some clouds over the Sea was my payoff. I enjoyed the meditative view awhile before climbing down and scrambling up the larger hill more to the west. This one is quite steep and each year I question my sanity taking on the risk of scaling it. Alas, I survived once again.
Back aboard we waited a bit for some wind to fill in before moving south to Isla Coronado. Just a short 18nm hop, hoping for some sailing but nope, soon enough the screecher was furled and we used the engines to push us on.
Isla Coronado is a breathtaking bay and as soon as things were settled, I felt the pull to head for shore. It was crowded, not shocking given it was a Saturday, but it was nearly exclusively Mexicans visiting (typically it is about a 50/50 split). In the palapa I started talking with two couples. The wives originally from Spain and the husbands from San Diego. They asked about chartering a boat from Loreto to Cabo and were shocked that it would take 5 or 6 days. That led to a conversation about sailboats only moving at jogging pace. A fun conversation was had talking about the changes they are seeing in Spain and the Southern half of Europe. Evidently it is like many places with no longer an “off” season and an overcrowded of tourists.
Eddie and Marcia have a tradition of watching the Kentucky Derby each year that started in the 80s when they road-tripped and couch surfed as a friend’s house. With Starlink we were able to place a bet on the race and watch it live. How wild is it to have high speed internet. Marcia set everyone up with our traditional fancy hats and a great time was had, even if we did lose. Just before the end of the race another boat swung by and invited us to the beach for a game called “Brisbee.” Huh, not one to turn down an invitation we told them we would be by shortly.
All told there are four boats represented for the competition. It was a fun Frisbee game where teams of two try to knock over the opponent’s beer can that is balancing on top of a PVC pole. With five teams, my team was the biggest loser, losing 4 to 15 while Lowell/Eddie made it out of the first round only to lose a close match in the finals. Good conversations in between rounds let us learn about out fellow sailors. One of the boats is 100% electric and it took eight days to cross from Mazatlán to the Baja due to becalmed conditions. I’m going to pass on that myself, but they do impress me with their zero emission lifestyle.
Back on Gato Loco, we had a relaxing evening watching the sunset before some “Santa Rosalia” style hot dogs for dinner with Mexican Elotes. YUM!
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