Agua Verde Days

Thursday, Mar 22

Kayaks in front of the San Evaristo store after the norther.

Having waited out the norther in the great company of other San Evaristo cruisers we were delighted to wake up to a calm morning, so calm, in fact that by 8 a.m. kayakers had already arrived at the beach and were stripping down to get ready for some warm shore time. They must have had a long wait stranded somewhere, as the wind had blown up great foamy waves for 3 days.

 

Whales are hard to photograph so we put in 2 shots.

Weighing the hook at about 9:30, the last of our little Ague Verde bound fleet, we powered over calm seas to the turn at Punta Marcial. There Charlie called me up from a nap and lo, lolling along very close beside us we saw blue whales, a mother and calf. Again it struck me how far down the back is their tiny fin.

Arriving in Agua Verde we headed for the northern anchorage inside a spit fully occupied by birds.

  We had some trouble getting a good set on the anchor, but on the third try it held. The water was somewhat turbid after the big blow, but true to its name, a bright green, about the color of  floracine dye! We had a great swim, noting that our bottom is weedy again, only two weeks since the last cleaning. I don’t think Puget Sound bottom paint works here.

Susie, Diane and Dianne hold up crafty silverware in Prairie Oyster's cozy cabin.

Friday started with a great craft sharing in the cabin of Prairie Oyster with Dianne showing Diane Marsh and me how to wire beads from her astounding collection onto the handles of thrift store silverware. I did some knitting on the current hat.

After a while we got organized to walk to town via the beach route under puddingstone like overhangs. Very cool. The beach there had shells I hadn’t seen before, though the worn down pieces were common off San Evaristo’s salt ponds. These shells grow up to an inch in thickness. I picked up a conch that probably weighed half a pound. We wondered where they came from to have such rugged design. So far no living shellfish have been seen here.

Maria took about an hour to make our 48 tortillas, frying 

each one on a square of metal on her front burner.

Eventually we found ourselves heading toward the village, up a sandy arroyo plain with a few palms, acacias and other desert trees. Actually this settlement had about 300 residents, and many goats, chickens and even turkeys. There was notably more shade and water. Efforts to cultivate the landscape stand a chance here. We saw bouganvilia and wooden poles used for animal corrals, unlike in San Evaristo. I learned that recently the residents have started to farm a bit, raising their own vegetables.

photo

We visited Maria whose orderly two room house advertised tortillas. She informed us that she would make them to order so we ordered a couple of kilos and walked on to the store for more queso fresco, made in the village. To my surprise they had coolers full of veggies and meat as well. Good fortune, as we were out of meat except for machaca (dried grated beef). This town is about 25 miles from Route 1 by mostly dirt road making fresh food deliveries a more reliable occurrence than in San Evaristo.

After the hot walk back we scrubbed the bottom and made machaca burritos with our fresh tortillas for the crowd gathered on Salish Sea for drinks. What a day!

Charlie works hard to make sure we get the most out of our solar panels.

Also of note is the cutter jib cover I made in La Paz, jib hanked on and ready!

Saturday morning’s calm invited a little rowing around the anchorage to visit the birds, not a big variety of species but oystercatchers flew by noisily and a Brandts cormorant was out. We’ve been amazed by the convenience of watching pelicans right next to our boats. Instead of plunge diving into the water as usual, they scoop up little fish in their ballooning pouches and then drain out the water while the bill is tipped down. The gulls, especially young Heermans, hang around, swimming close to a chosen pelican friend in hopes of a stray nibble. The water had cleared up and we could see to the bottom. There are good fish to be caught here but so far Ian, the fisherman, has been skunked.

Now you see why it's called Agua Verde. Gratitude farthest boat. Salish Sea nearest.

Later we visited a third beach, this one on the south side on the cove. It had less litter and flotsam but great shells. I picked up pearl oyster shells I think with lovely pearly grey nacre. The pearl business collapsed years ago, but probably the oysters will rebound if left long enough.

Charlie meanwhile stayed aboard stoking the batteries and working on his Seaweed Blaster movie. Mark I was a hit with the San Evaristo crowd. Soon it will go viral no doubt, if he can just get it to the web!

Cemetery near the anchorage

At night we endured the grating of our anchor chain being dragged over rocks. Charlie did check the snubber on the anchor chain which normally dampens the pull and eliminates sound transfer. He thought it was connected, but it wasn’t.  Bad for sleeping. In the morning we climbed a rocky dry trail to “the other side of the mountain” just to take a look. The little cemetery at the bottom had few graves, none later than the early 60’s when quite a number of deaths occurred. There was a tiny settlement, or at least houses, visible in the next arroyo. Living here can be such a struggle.

San Evaristo Fishing Village

 Friday, March 16 to Thursday, March 22

A hamlet on the shores of the best harbor, or should I call it an anchorage?, between La Paz and Aqua Verde on the eastern coast of the Baja Peninsula, San Evaristo has been populated by fishermen for many generations. We sailed here knowing that it was a community stewarded by a couple from the US living here aboard a 27 foot sailboat, their home since 2008. They have committed themselves to a life in the community as guardians and supporters of the village.

We rowed ashore on our first evening at anchor, a beautiful calm warm afternoon when the setting sun lit the red mountains of San Jose Island across the channel. Walking the beginning of the dirt road to La Paz we found the old dump, home to two friendly dogs who immediately joined us for a beach walk the length of the anchorage. Lots of triggerfish skeletons and heads of young hammerhead shark below the high tide mark defined the diet of these villagers. Pangas on mooring lines and pulled up along the shore outnumbered the number of folks we saw from the water’s edge. As we later learned, the school has a population of 9. Under a big circular palapa we found white plastic bags of salt from drying ponds on the north side of town awaiting shipment to La Paz.

Our friends Ian and Diane had arrived before us with guests Carol and Roger aboard. They told us that the store was out of everything and had closed for the day. The next shipment was to arrive on Tuesday. Since we’d shopped in La Paz we didn’t need a store but wondered about the local people.

Bilingual book and cupcake party...

 reading with a kid felt so normal in

spite of ripped tarp keeping out the wind and sand under 

foot in the sometime restaurant 

The next day we met Steve and Charlotte, the godparents of San Evaristo, as they tried to cram 6 kids into their tiny inflatable dinghy to ferry them ashore from a boat visit. We took a couple of little boys who urged Charlie to speed. Our shore party wandered from the lighthouse atop the local cactus covered hill to the salt pans on the beach to the north of town passing the little school. We met the teacher, a local young woman who had gone to college and returned to teach in her home village.

A number of cruisers who come to this town find themselves returning yearly to see kids they’ve met, donate clothes, help out with school supplies and so on. While we were here a former school librarian from Seattle brought a dozen books with English and Spanish texts for the kids to read. We had a cupcake party and sat around reading with the children while their teacher attended some meeting in La Paz.

Charlie found soccer pals while we read on.

Having asked Charlotte and Steve to visit for an evening drink and to tell us more about their Willful Simplicity and eponymous life, we found ourselves hosting a nice gathering of crews from Salish Sea, Prairie Oyster, Willful Simplicity and Gratitude for what seems to be the customary cruisers’ surrogate for dinner. You eat wonderful fresh food carted over by your friends and have a beer or two. Then, as the stars and planets show up, everyone leaves well fed. No need to cook!

La Paz Layover

    

View of La Paz from the large, privately owned peninsula known as the Mogote.

March 12, 2012


As our friend Ian on Salish Sea has pointed out, you can get sucked into the La Paz vortex. In this life afloat we’re always home and often don’t really need to be anywhere between visitors. Somehow of all the places we’ve lingered, this town fits us best. The life on the docks is easy, with amiable fellow boaters, many of whom are Northwesterners or friends of friends. Befriended by Carol Dyer of Casa Tuscany we’ve connected with a wonderful group of ex-pats who live in town, several of whom have become my Bridge buddies. In addition there are lots of interesting local events like Carnaval that keep the town jumping. Just take a walk out to the Malecon for entertainment any time!  

Towering condos surround the pool at the Mogote development, viewed

from the city, a mysterious cluster of buildings and half finished shells 

reputedly stopped by financial difficulties. From inside it's a nice view,

 an expensive, artificial oasis in the desert.

The last two weeks have flowed by as easily as the captions relate.  I played a bit of Bridge, enjoyed lunch over on the Mogote’s big condo development and enjoyed another trip to Todos Santos, this time by bus. Last weekend Diane returned to Salish Sea to rejoin Ian. She fed us a grand dinner with the perk of a Boggle game. Everyone kindly played though it’s not a favorite except for me.

J-42 owners, Teri and Rob, kidnapped us in their dinghy for drinks.

Casakeeper Carol and the Outlaws, Kirk and KC start on the hors d's.

On Monday evening wild whooping Ahoys were heard on the dock as we dined below.  Our outlaw shipmates Kirk and KC had driven into town, scootered over from their camper, tracked down our slip, and were soon partaking of our best German sausages!  The next evening we had them and Carol for a much classier dinner, yellowfin tuna, a wonderful time.

We returned to Balandra Bay with Kirk and KC for an early season (read cool) snorkel. The fish were amazingly varied and coral healthy. Charlie patrolled the swimmers from the dinghy and took pictures. You can see Gratitude in the distance. Pelicans, cormorants and Caspian terns kept a wary eye on us.

Large breeding male in photo above intrigued Charlie.

Today we finished up the cutter jib bag project, my attempt to achieve deck storage for a smaller jib. Unfortunately it took two tries. Tomorrow we are happily headed back out to the islands and the northern Sea of Cortez for several weeks mostly on the hook.