Hi from Loreto

We´re in Loreto for a few hours to reprovision and get some fuel. We were unable to bum a ride from Puerto Escondido to Loreto by land, so we went by boat. The anchorage is sketchy, so we have to shop then bolt.
Anyway, Sheila made it back to Seattle ok. Her bus from La Paz broke down in dramatic style, smoke and all. The driver managed to nurse it to a town where they could get some tools to work on it and get it running again. Fortunately, she had plenty of time for her flight, and eventualy made it back with about 4 billion sea shells, all intact.
The water here is getting clearer and the sea life is really amazing. I´ve been a snorkling fiend, but we can watch the fish from the boat just as easily. Manta Rays leap out of the water, dolphins feed in the bays, and large schools of fish move like clouds through the water. FANTASTIC!
So we plan to keep working north to Santa Rosalia then on to Bahia de Los Angeles. But we are going to hit as many anchorages as possible along the way. We are also planning on doing a hike where you have to ford a river and swim up some canyons! We probably won´t have email access until Rosalia in two weeks or so, so we hope everyone is doing well!

The Arroyo

Sheila, Sherrell and I all stood patiently on the side of a dusty highway
at 7 am waiting hopefully for a bus. Life is sometimes surreal. We told
the port captain that we needed to catch the bus to La Paz (in our broken
Spanish) and he called the bus office in Loreto where the station is to
request that the driver on such and such day look for us at this juntion
and pick us up. Often these things work better than you might expect.
But when you haul all your junk 2 miles out into the dusty unknown slowly
baking in the morning sun, you have to wonder if your Spanish skills were
really up to the task. Perhaps somewhere there was a taxi driver circling
around looking for us, or maybe they are trying to deliver a pizza to us.

I´m pretty sure the port captain told us to make sure we were there before
8am in case the bus was early. And I´m pretty sure we got the day and
place right. But an hour later we were getting hot and beginning to
wonder.

Just as we were discussing what time we should give up waiting, the big
fancy bus rolled up the hill, pulled over, and picked up Sheila and
Sherrell and off they went.

I had previously arranged to go hiking into the Arroyo (canyon) nearby
with another couple. They wanted to go eary, 6am. But they still hadn´t
shown. I figured they bailed, but halfway back to the waterfront they
appeared, and we got to hiking.

The arroyo was a deep cut inside massive steep mounts called the Giants.
It was filled with carved rocks, trees, birds and a few pools of water.
As we climbed further up into the arroyo we had to climb through rock
caves and caverns that we could barely fit our bodies through. We kept
climbing until we reached an impass. It was hot and we didn´t feel like
exerting oursleves climbing the next set of cliff like boulders. So we
just took in the view.

Reddish rocks, green trees and lots of birds (humming birds, bright red
cardnals) were all over the place. Sometime when we find a place to hook
up the computer we´ll get them posted!

For now, though, Sherrell will be back tomorrow and Sheila will be at home
in Seattle. We plan to head further north and enjoy some island time!

Arrived Puerto Escondido

Well we took Sheila on a whirlwind tour from La Paz to Puerto Escondido by
way of Isla Partida (2 days), San Evaristo (1 day), Agua Verde (3 days),
and then a hot springs and finally here. She is no longer a land lubber
and she has a new understanding of why we spend most of our days dealing
with logistical challenges.

We saw dolphins, tropical fish, coral, sea birds, goats, and lots and lots
of sun. Agua Verde was very beautiful, we enjoyed swimming, hiking and
watching the fish swim around our boat. The water was a clear aqua color
and the visibility was about 35 feet.

Sherrell is going to travel with Sheila by bus down to La Paz leaving me
by my lonesome for a couple of days. Naturally I have a list of crap that
needs to be fixed while she is gone.

We heard the first Hurricane of the season has already struck El Salvador.
This is the first E. Pacific Hurricane to move eastward in recorded
history. Normally this time of year they move out towards sea. It could
be an interesting year for hurricanes, so the further north we go, the
safer we'll be. If you look closely on a map, you might be able to spot
the biggest town near us, Loreto.

Two Photos

There's lots of sea life all around.  Just here in the anchorage we've seen dolphins jumping out of the water and chasing fish.  Dolphin & Pelican

 

Here's a photo from the anchorage in Isla Partida.  Check out the aqua-marine colored water.  The visibility north of La Paz reaches up to 120 feet in the summer.  It is currently about 40 feet near La Paz.  It's fun to watch all the animals just swimming around beneath the boat like our own personal aquarium.  Island Near La Paz

 

Hypothyroid

After going back and forth between our labs in Seattle and Mexico, we finally were able to compare test results against the feline norm.  As luck would have it, our $1000 procedure 3 years ago to treat her HYPERthyroid condition worked too well.  Now she has a rare condition where her thyroid isn’t working as well as it should.  Apparently nothing severe happens to hypothyroid cats, she needs to undergo some treatment with medication.  Due to her age of 14 years, the vet said it wasn’t urgent, so maybe well wait until we are back to the mainland of Mexico before putting the kitty on drugs.

 

On the lighter side of things, our free inflatable is still an inflatable and our patches are holding.  The weather is nice and hot and only a week to go before Sheila hits Mexico and we can get underway.