Puerto Alcatraz

A visit to shore gave us a chance to stretch our legs, hike to the top of the hill for a panoramic view of the bay, and talk with a local family, who shared their bounty…la señora gave us four lobster tails that tasted all the better for being a gift that we shared with friends.

A whale of a tail

The winds have been up for the past two days, blowing a steady 25 knots from the north with gusts to 28. We pretty much settled into our anchorage off the village of Alcatraz until the winds calmed down and we could go out with our friends Scott and Cindy in their dinghy. The highlight of the day was motoring into the channel where the whales pass by and getting close to several. These two were coming directly toward us...we trusted they would dive underneath...and they did.

Coyotes and Ibis in the Mangrove Lagoon

A couple miles east of the little town of Magdalena, follow the tide into the mouth of the estuary, and you enter a wonderland of shore birds, twisting waterways, and steep sand dunes that transition into dark overhanging mangroves. We saw egrets, herons, kingfishers, ducks, grebes, curlews, ibis, others we weren’t able to identify. Even in our kayaks, we scraped bottom and had to get out and walk a couple of times. The water was deep by the time it got too thick to make our way through the hanging mangrove roots, however.

Bahia Magdalena

The small town of Magdalena has been a fishing cooperative since 1952. Friendly people, a few houses, a primary school, one restaurant, a couple of bodegas, a line of fish-cleaning racks and panga anchors, and the gulls and pelicans that come for their share of the cleanings pretty much make up the village.

Baby's Breath--Laguna de San Ignacio

We are anchored off the village of Abreojos in an expansive bay. To the south, is the Laguna de San Ignacio, one of the many lagunas and estuaries along the Baja coast where whales migrate to give birth and get their new babies ready for the return trip north to Alaskan waters. A panga took us to the protected area and we were able to pet a baby and its mother, and had "baby breath" all over us as the "pequeño" (little one) spouted in our faces!

Hauled out in Ensenada

For nearly two weeks, we were living on the boat in Ensenada, part of it in the water, tied up at the dock; part of it on board while the boat was on the hard. Part of it in San Diego (yes!) where Philip, Liz, and Miles hosted us again, we did some last minute shopping, and then took a bus back to Ensenada.

We have a new bottom paint job, a buffed and shiny hull, a new propeller cutless bearing, a new through-hull fitting in the forward head, and a new engine exhaust hose to replace the one that leaked coming down from San Diego (That was exciting! Nothing like going down to check the engine and finding seawater spraying out of an old hose! Marv was up to the repair task, however, as we shut down the motor, cracked off into the wind to sail [slowly] and let the engine cool enough so he could crawl over it. He securely taped the leak with "Rescue Tape" and we were able to continue on).

Ensenada was a windy, dusty city, with an excellent new art museum, some good restaurants off the beaten track, and friendly, helpful people. But it was good to move on.