Viva La Paz, Mexico

  After an infinity "on the hard" the joy of being in the cool water is awesome.  I'm now bobbing in the Marina de La Paz and it's pretty nice.  My routine after the max "one boat project a day" is to stroll down the 2 mile Malecon to my favourite lunch time spot for my daily meal.  It's the coolest spot in town in terms of "mucho calor".  Often I'm the only touristo and I can say this place really packs in after 1:00 PM with the locals bringing their families down for a special treat.  My favourite dish is the "Papa de Camaron" which is a shrimp stuffed baked potato accompanied by usual salsa, chips and tortias.  Wouldn't miss my "Margarita con rockos sin salt" for the world.  Need to watch the bar guy here as he can kill you with two of these mixes if he thinks you over tipped last time and of course I did mention the 2 mile stroll back OK I have learned.  I am big on eating down here.
Gary

Papa de Camarons - Last resterant east side of the Malecon

Burger Bar next to the boat yard - they were good

                                                                                     Life on the Malecon, haven't seen a real Merm yet

La Paz Mexico - Relaunch of the Bear 2014

Hi All
I have arrived in La Paz to recommission our beautiful Seabear V.  The Bear has been ``Up on the Hard`` for 8 months now and it was with great trepidation that I climbed the Mexican ladder to board her and enter.  The summer heat heat can be extreme here and I had heard of canned goods exploding,  bug infestations, fried and dried batteries all resulting in a gut wrenching reunion.  She welcomed me with open arms, virtually everything as I had left her with the exception of one can of coke blown in the enclosure that I had left them in.  Wow on me.  The yard I left the Seabear V in allows owners to live aboard as they complete repairs and bottom painting and the scene is usually a friendly one as you meet new neighbours and work side by side.  I was ``up`` for about 2 weeks, my how the time flies.  The yard moved out my new yacht friends into the water and placed a commercial fish boat on either side of me.  Well there goes the neighbourhood.  Dust, noise, music, dogs and time for me to leave.  Finally they painted me and I was placed in the water joyously bobbing along - ya that`s me just another bobber in the water now.
Gary

Espiritu Santo National Marine Park

Hey we’re coasting.  We have landed in the beautiful marine park Espiritu Santo, about 15 miles North of La Paz Mexico.  This is a very nice place.  Crystal clear aqua verde waters, gorlux mile long white sand beaches, awesome striated geological mountain formations and of course the frigate bird colony.  Colleen and I have been tied to docks for a big percentage of our travels to date, I’m OK with that, but actual cruising like we do at home is a welcome change from the in town poolside life style.  Drop the hook, crack a cool one, make a plan and then get ready to explore with the dingy.  This National Park offers no less than 14 sublime anchorages to enjoy, each with it’s own beach, we rarely see another boat in the same bay we are exploring and the day’s just seem to pass by with so little effort!  There’s snorkelling extraordinaire off of each point and reef.  Cook a big breakfast? walk it off on the beach, they are miles long and full of relics, aqua life and white sand.  Hike across the islands to the next bay, cool trails.  Huge cactus, scurrying life every direction, as we hiked across a raised and flat inland sea recently I started whistling “ For a Few Dollars More”.  I kept looking over my shoulder expecting Clint Eastwood to appear in the shimmer.   Say maybe the Don Julio tequila and the heat are getting to me.  Oky Doky

Gary

Seabear V at anchor

Agua Verde

Miles of beach

Web Images of Isla Espiritu Santo Click to view

The Bay of Dreams

Ensenada de los Muertos

Colleen and I have completed the “Southern Crossing” passage from Mazatlan to the cape of Baja California.  Winds were to calm for sailing but this seemed to open up the sea to us as we saw numerous sea turtles, each with his/her own requisite white Tern? riding proudly on it’s back.  Another thrill was flying Manta Rays, hey what’s with that?, well they seemed to be either in a feeding frenzy, or they think they are cousins of the Dolphin which brings up the Dolphins.  Spinners, loopers, poopers and whoopers, pretty much every fun lovin kind of Dolphin you can imagine came to play by us.  I like to put on some funky blues music when Dolphins appear, I think they get the vibe.  When Tuna go by they pass in a frenzied school of excitement, jumping in all directions, hundreds of them feeding.  Of course closer to land on calm days there always seems to be the Ma & Pa Pelican pair gracefully gliding in and out of the swells just like the mighty deep sea Albatross.  Flocks of birds, Terns, Bobbies, screaming Gulls and circling Frigates are ever present in the calms.  Colleen and I take this all in, individually in 4 hour shifts as the crossing was a non stop 40 hr passage to our landfall of Ensenada de los Muertos on the South Eastern Baja coast.

“Ensenada de los Muertos” (Bay of the Dead) is a large sweeping white sand fringed beach, protected from the prevalent northerly winds and it is a popular landfall for cruisers to stop and collect some sleep after the passage.  Some local developers, realizing the potential of the bay have made a concerted effort to rename the bay “Bahia de los Suenos” (Bay of Dreams).  Nice thinking fellows!  The area is somewhat remote, about 1 hour from La Paz.  The fellows have built a nice beach club wanna be bar restaurant, a greenish greyish golf course in the sand and they have surveyed large lot sizes all along the beach evidenced by concrete corner monuments.  A very nice and private time share resort setup for groups resides on the southern tip of the beach.  Hey, dream on!

The bay is a popular fishing spot for the locals from La Paz as it has a nice ramp to launch their pangas and we saw may young men with their families enjoying the day and taking home some very nice sized fish.  

What’s not to love and why not dream eh?  - Gary

    

                                                                                                                 








Welcome

                                                       The Beach Club

                                                               PS The sharks were a commercial 

  Check it out -  Rancho de Costa - Bay of Dreams

Mazatlan's El Cid Marina and Resort

Masthead View

Masthead point of View

What's not to love?

Colleen and I have been on a one month sojourn to our home in Canada and have just returned to paradise. No shortage of action while at home - our daughter Heidi and Patrick bought a house,  we met and lived with her new dog, I completed tons of paperwork as well as a large machining job for a regular customer, I filled in the last of my hair with grey and spent some precious time with my good friend Mike.  Colleen also accomplished volumes, renting units, organising many things and the all important catching up with family.  Why do we do so much while at home?  Wow what a blur it's been.

Early AM at the bottom pool

We left the Seabear V at Mazatlan's Marina El Cid which fronts it's beautiful resort hotel c/w two pools, huge hot tub, beach palapas, various restaurants and bars - did I mention they provide us with beach towels and full usage of the facilities with our moorage which is currently about .66 cents a foot, make that $25.00 Cnd/day.  Costs  me $125.00 a week to drive my car around at home and it's now parked, how sweet is that!!  We met many like minded cruisers here during our two week stay before heading home.  Sadly they have mostly moved on, but we are meeting new and will cross wakes with our recent found friends again.  It's a small world out here.  It's always been my philosophy to "party while you can!"  so we shall party on.

View Marina El Cid

Mazatlan Carnival 2013

Oh My, Oh Goodness, Oh Geezzzz

Gotta love those shoes

Lucky us to have been present for the annual Carnival in Mazatlan Mexico this year.  Fellow cruisers arranged front row seating c/w a pre-parade dinner at a major hotel and we all felt very safe and secure throughout the evening.  This Carnival is the third largest in the world surpassed only by Rio and New Orleans. The theme this year was all time popular movies including "Mary Poppins" "Avatar" "Spiderman" and "Dirty Dancing" to name just a few, something for everyone, young and old.  The 6 mile Malecon was blocked off as a collection of 39 beautiful floats slowly meandered by offering an estimated 300,000 fellow revellers a view of some of Hollywood's finer moments.  Some of the lighted floats caused a huge uproar among the children, the special effects and the music adding to their excitement.  A big hit for the adult public was the passage of the Brazilian dancers, they really know how to shake that booty. Hey I am old but I'm feeling a bit younger now!  - Gary 

Action for the ladies

Great fun for all

Mexico's Galapagos Island "Isla Isabel"

Colleen and I have long been blessed to live near our often visited Mittlenatch Island in the Georgia Strait off of Vancouver Island.  We miss it.  Fortunately we have just visited the very similar protected bird sanctuary of Isla Isabel off of Mexico's west coast.  This tropical volcanic island is home to abundant frigate birds, white-tailed tropic birds, blue, red and brown footed bobbies, pelicans, gulls, terns and noddies.  Ya that's a lotta birds.  Large green iguanas along with many other varieties of lizards also abound.  The surrounding sea is alive with various marine life and fish, making the coral reefs some of the best snorkeling and diving in Mexico.  This Island was one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite spots and he filmed much of the area for his hugely successful TV shows of the 70's while aboard the "Calypso".  Colleen and I walked the caldera lake, climbed to the nesting peaks and strolled the sandy shores, we swam the waters and drank it all in - Nice place!

Location: Isla Isabel