Cruising Adventures of the Red Witch

November 25, 2024  Our first priority in La Paz was to order our new solar panels.   We had priced them out and sourced them at different locations before getting here, but we were unable to pre-order them before going into the store to pay for them.   Once they were ordered we focused on other things on our to do list, which included getting Falcon to the beachside playground.   He did so well on the slides, and got to go on a "big kid" swing for the first time, and he loves to swing.   We also went for several walks around areas that we knew from the last time that we were here.   One of these included a walk past the Airbnb where Falcon was born.   Almost everyday we visited the El Magote beach, which we knew so well from many long walks previously.  

November 22, 2024     The next day, Friday, November 22, 2024, we motored to the anchorage of Ensenada el Cardinal on Isla Partida.   We stayed here for Saturday.     Jason got the bottom of our boat cleaned off, and we enjoyed the lovely beach and some swimming.   On Sunday morning we pulled up anchor and headed on towards La Paz, but we ended up anchoring again after about an hour because we were having to motor into south-westerly winds, which were dramatically slowing down our progress.   We anchored for about two hours and let the wind calm down, before we pulled up anchor once again and carried on making much better progress.    Falcon loved the motoring through the channel into the La Paz harbour.   He went from one side of the cockpit to the other, waving to all of the Pangas that went by saying, “Hi Panga”.   When we got into the La Paz harbour we motored over to the area where we had been anchored two years ago.   The...

  November 21, 2024     From Aqua Verde we travelled south to the anchorage of San Evaristo.   We had planned our arrival with being there for protection from a north wind-blow that was forecasted, and although it was a decent anchorage with a small fishing village on the neighbouring beach, it was only the strong winds that kept us there.   We went over to the beach one day and walked the length of the beach past the pangas that were at anchor and tied to shore.   Panga is the name for the style of boat that is used widely by locals and fishermen in Mexico.     We enjoyed tacos at a small restaurant and made use of their internet.   Here we discovered that out Starlink was to be delivered to the marina in La Paz that same day.   We had been planning to take our time from here to La Paz, but we did not want to make the marina hold our package for us.   Marina de La Paz does the cruising community a huge service by...

November 18, 2024    The next day we kayaked ashore to the beach of the anchorage and went on a hike to a cave that we had heard about.   We hiked up and over the closest hill and through the grazing grounds for goats.   Down in the next valley we passed an old cemetery, and then we came out into a very lush growth of palm trees.   Having come down over the rocky, dusty, cactus-filled hill, this lush stand of palm trees was very surprising.   We followed the unmarked trails, some being animal trails, and others having human prints, through the beautiful area of palm trees and out to the start of a long beach.   We walked along the beach to the far end, and then searched around to find the trail up to the caves.   We thought that we had found the trail, and we could see the cave, but the trail was too steep and loose to take Falcon up, so Jason scrambled up by himself.   Once he got part way up, he discovered the actual trail and followed it b...

November 17, 2024    Our next anchorage further south was Agua Verde.    We had stopped here on our way North in the spring of 2023, but we had only stayed the night, and had not had a chance to explore.   This time we were here for some westerly winds, and although they were not overly strong because of the lay of the land there were some very strong gusts that whipped around from multiple directions creating some interesting dynamics.    During this, we decided to kayak to the next beach over from the bay that we were anchored in, to where there was a small fishing community with a small store and a couple of beach restaurants.   Although it was not dangerous in any way, it was a lot of work getting back home, and in retrospect not worth the trip.   On our paddle over to the village the wind was behind us getting us easily out of our bay, but then it was also funnelling out of the next bay so that we had to fight the gusts to get into shore...

November 16, 2024   We took Kiki (our tender) to one of the beaches on Isla Coronados that was a particularly picture perfect beach.   Pure white sand stretches out into crystal clear blue water giving the appearance of white fading to turquoise and then out into a darker shade of blue as the water gets deeper.   It is a protected and shallow bay and the water was beautifully warm.   We set up our shade structure, but aside from sitting down to eat lunch, we did not make use of it as we spent the rest of the time in the water.   We all had a wonderful time soaking up the sand, the warm water, and the beautiful beach.   That evening a local freediver on a kayak pulled up to our boat.   He had been diving for scallops and asked if we would like to buy some.   We bought a kilogram of the largest scallops that I have ever seen and had a delicious feast for dinner that night.  

November 15, 2024     We had a nice time at the Isla Coronado anchorage; we had calm, lovely weather and got to enjoy some really good beach time, as well as a hike.   The island has an old volcano cone on it and we did part of the hike, which is part of the Bahia de Loreto National Park.    We made our way through the sand-dune lowlands, then up into the rocky midlands, and finally up and along the boulder-ridden slopes below the mountain itself.   We did not go up to the summit because Jason was having to carry Falcon the whole time and since we do not have a proper hiking backpack it was not the easiest for loose footing and steep climbing.   We did get a beautiful view, and at the same time, we were very happy to get back to the beach to swim for the afternoon, as it had been a windless morning and a hot hike.