I mentioned that Puerto Don Juan is a natural Hurricane hole. Luckily as of yet we have not had a hurricane yet this season. We only have 2 mths to go, September being the heaviest hurricane month. (There is now a Hurricane watch for next week) The next blog could be about Hurricane preparedness.
There is a shoal area in the southeast corner that is popular with the locals for clamming. It is also used by boats to careen their boats to bottom paint. There are currently 2 abandoned fish boats that are left high and dry. I think I’ll stick with paying to have ours hauled out.
This beach also has many thriving sting rays. I did not want to clam and worry about a sting. Just last week a cruiser headed back to the States when a sting turned into a poisoned bone. He has had to have it operated on and it was quite infected.
Just when I thought it safe to go into the water! A new species of fish lives where we have decided to habituate. Whale Sharks. I have not seen one yet but one of the cruisers anchored in Don Juan went snorkeling with the large, large fish. They can grow up to 15 tons and a length of nearly 46 feet. They have thousands of tiny little teeth, a 5 foot wide mouth, and are reported as being nothing to fear. The name Shark however conjures up a different reaction for me. They eat plankton, krill and macro algae. They have very distinctive yellow spots and stripes over their large grey bodies. They habituate this area during the summer and head South to the La Paz area during the winter months. Like I said I haven’t seen one yet, I would like to but from a far and while I am in my boat. Jumping in the water is getting harder for me to do when I hear about all these things! Heat helps me forget quickly, thankfully.
Bahia de Los Angeles was our home anchorage for a few days so we could get fresh fruit and vegetables. This was not an easy task. There is no real schedule for the delivery trucks arrival. We had been told later this afternoon to next week. We finally went from store to store getting the best at each one. Interesting way to shop, but when you have all day who really cares. Time and patience there is plenty of these days.
LA Bay as Gringos call it, is an outdoor paradise. The fishing is unbelievable. In fact Ken has been banned from bringing anymore fish home until we can get through some of what we have. So his answer to this problem…….. Go fishing for other boats. After all not everyone has a freezer full. He has been so successful that we now have the food gatherers on the other boats coming to our boat to find out how he is getting the fish. Lucky “Canadian Salmon Lures.” Not the ones that they sell for down here. Maybe the ones for down here would catch Salmon up there better than the ones we used. Go figure. He has given away a few to fellow friends so that they to can start bringing home the bacon or fish. As one of the wives today said on the net, “I wish they would catch an Angus Beef”. I know the feeling with 2 meals a day of fish.
Another big fish story…… Last blog the fin whale was just in front of the bow. This week at 0300hr in the morning it was rubbing our boat. Actually moved the boat a bit after horking on it first. It spent the whole night between all the boats. Now that is a close encounter.
LA Bay is nothing pretty; in fact I wonder why so many Americans make this their cottage area. The population is a mere 600, they are 40 miles off the main highway, no ATM or banks. They just got a paved road and electricity last year. The place has decaying cars, boats, bed frames and other junk scattered everywhere. But something is very different. I finally figured it out. No ninos around. They are back in school now, but there are very few children. There are no roosters crowing, no chickens running around, in fact we have seen no livestock. This is very unusual for a Mexican town. All this being said it has its own charm. It is the only place in the area to reprovision. Costs are double. I can’t imagine how the people here handle the costs. The people however are like elsewhere, helpful and friendly.
Our plans were to continue on to the next island but with the Hurricane watch we will stay close by to get into Don Juan should need be. We are actually in Hurricane 101, getting ready. You can track the Hurricane Jiama at http://www.eebmike.com/. We are making water for other boats beside ourselves. It has been reported that you cannot make water after a hurricane. Just so everyone knows we are in the Northern portion of the Sea at Bahia Los Angeles. It is not expected this far north but ...................... The next blog will be all about our hurricane drill.

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Our trip further North into the Sea of Cortez took us through Canal de Salsipuedes , in Spanish, (Leave if you can!). For us we had nothing but a great ride. We were surrounded by dolphins and whales. In fact we had to stop our engines to let a Fin Whale pass. He decided to shut his engines off also about 5 feet from the bow of the boat. He swam there, lay there, whatever ……. Didn't move for about 5 mins, just staring at us. He or she, who can tell, was about 45 feet in length. Close to the size of our boat. This would be just the first of many close sightings.
We anchored at Isla Patrida. Isla Patrida is just one of many islands in the Midreff Island Group.
The Midriff Islands span the width of the Sea of Cortez, creating a chain of islands from the Baja peninsula near Bahia San Francisquito, across the Sea to the mainland near Bahia Kino. The Sea narrows here, so the islands are used like stepping stones to get across. Unfortunately the closeness also allows the Chubascos to cross over the sea in the night bringing its storms with it lightning and winds. I must say I prefer 15 foot seas to the lightning storms. Like Ken says if they are going to hit us there is not much we can do so why fret over them. True.
5 other boaters shared this anchorage with us. It was a little rolly but nothing like the anchorages further down on the Pacific coast. We were invited to the neighbouring boat Juniauta to share in the daily catch of dorado. I have actually decided not to eat a single meal of fish today. Most days are a two meal day of fish. Ken is not allowed to fish for awhile after catching another Dorado, several Yellowfin, a very large Grouper (enough for 10 meals) several small grouper, scallops, clams and last but not least oysters. He maybe can go snorkeling for scallops, we could always use them!
It was while here Ken was cohurst, shamed, convinced on becoming the net controller for the Southbound Net on Thursday evenings. He says it was no worse than incident command at your first 2 alarm fire.
Our next stop has been our favourite to date. Isla Estanque. Estanque means reservoir or pond. Pond it is. In this area we are now into 11 foot tides and currents. Something we have not experience since leaving home. It actually was fun playing in the eddies! Don't do this at home. Anyways ……… Isla Estanque is surrounded by reefs. You must watch the colour of the sea and watch your depth sounder to get in through the reef. Once inside, you have an all around protection anchorage. No swell or waves. Even when the chubasco winds gust at 30 knots as was the case one of the evenings we stayed there. The bands of gray, green, pink, white and red seen in the volcanic and sedimentary rocks make this area a beautiful anchorage. We were lucky enough to have this place all to ourselves.
We backtracked just a little to Bahia Animas. This pretty little cove was used by many fishermen coming and going. It offers good south wind protection under the Sierra Agua de Soda range.
We are currently in Puerto Don Juan. This is a hurricane hole and a very important place to scout out. Should a hurricane be forecasted all the boats in the cruising area will head to this spot. We have just arrived and have not explored the area yet. We did have a very pleasant night under stars with a little breeze but no swells or waves. We will have internet in a few days so I will try and download some pictures at that time.

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I know that I have totally changed the weekly blogs by having them on different days and sometimes more than one a week. I have been taking advantage of internet. Mostly pirated
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We continued North up the Sea of Cortez. We have now crossed the State line and leave Baja Callifornia South behind and enter into Baja California. This also means that we are now in PDT having the sun earlier in the morning but darker by an hour in the evening.

We are in Caleta San Francisquito. An army camp that fixes boats is in this cove.(I am sure the source of the internet signal.) We had to look up the wording on the boats to find out it was the army. They dress in black. Can you imagine 100F and dressed in black.

Caleta San Francisquito is considered a hurricane hole. It is a cove of the main Bahia San Francisquiteo. The mountains surround the cove, leaving the water inside like a pond. The water depth are only 15’ therefore no fetch can occur. The entrance has a reef with a small opening thus surge will not happen. We will keep this in mind if a hurricane is forecasted for an area near by. So far the hurricanes have been few and headed West to Hawaii. Let us hope we have a hurricane free season. The chubascos have also been lesser than norm. This however is leaving the coast dry. The rainy season has not happened as of YET. It is good for us boaters not to have to worry about thunder and lightning storms at night with their high winds and thunder bolts.
The Sea of Cortez as I have mentioned before is an area rich with sea life. One of the many mammals are the Fin Whales .It is the second largest mammal on earth, next to the Blue Whale, which is also living amongst us.

We have watched the large Fin Whale forage for food 500 meters from the boat while at San Marcos, but now we are in the area that they are the most plentiful.
Unfortunately with the wonder of seeing these things in nature comes the reality of their life. Just a short distance from where we are anchored is a very large Fin Whale that 2 weeks ago beached itself. This had me checking information to find out more about these beautiful creatures.
So here is your lesson on Fin Whales!

The Sea of Cortés contains numerous Fin whale concentrations in the Canal de Ballenas and the Canal de Salsipuedes,(where we are now) Puerto Peñasco and Puerto Libertad, San Pedro Mártir and Turner Islands, the south point of Tiburón Island, the area between San Pedro Nolasco Island and Guaymas . All these areas are biologically-rich, providing a steady food source for the whales to feed on. It is possible to see Fin whales actively feeding at the surface, rolling on their right side with their mouths wide open, scaring prey with white right lower jaw flashes while engulfing huge volumes of water. As they close their mouths, Fin whales appear like gigantic tadpoles as they remain on the surface expulsing water from their throats, filtering the small fishes and crustaceans that have been trapped in the baleen

These whales are usually seen traveling alone or with just a few others. Pods are rare to observe. The whales make very loud low frequency sounds that can travel over hundreds of miles in the water. They can have bursts of speed of 25 knots.

There is not a distinct breeding ground area. Females usually give birth every 2 – 3 yrs to a single calf. Twins are very rare. Calving occurs in the winter after a gestation period of 11-12 months. Breeding also occurs in the winter, and it has been observed that the whales sometimes associate with Blue Whales, and occasional interspecific mating apparently occurs.

Fin Whales feed on krill and various small schooling fish. They can consume six tons a day. It puts what we fish into perspective.

It is not totally understood why a whale will beach itself, but the scientists believe that the sick, and elderly animals will perform this last act. Unfortunately sometimes the mammal has misjudged where his dinner is taking him. (This is rare)
I can attest that a beached whale has a very distinctive smell to it as it rots! I did take a picture. When I get to an internet site that is not pirated and have better signal strength, I will add the picture to this blog.

We will be heading over to Isla Salsipuedes. Its an 18 mile trip. We plan on spending awhile there as there are many anchorages on this one island. One can never tell however.

As the sun rises the land has hues of mauve, rose and orange. It is a desert. The afternoon sun leaves it a brown landscape, barren. It must be explored carefully to show the growth that exists.

The water around it has various shades of blue, navy leading up to turquoise over the shallows and reefs. It is in these waters that a whole world of its own exists. Needlefish surround the boat being chased by a small yellowfin. Whales are in the distance. Manta Rays everywhere. Visiting this island is like walking into your own fish market. You just need to decide what type of seafood you would like to have for dinner. We do not have a spear gun. It might be on our shopping list soon. Other boaters however around us do. You snorkel and pick your dinner, as easy as that. I keep waiting for the soundtrack of jaws to start playing.

I still have some fear for the fish but its hard when you see aquarium fish in beautiful coral. The little ones are ok. I just keep waiting for the hammerhead ones.

We befriended a couple Donna and Gary aboard the sailing vessel Magic Carpet. I want to be like Donna when I grow up. She has spent her whole life on boats and in the water. We visited the sea caves where we ran into the two of them. A panga of fisherman had come to the entrance of the cave. They were diving for something. As Donna swam over to them she started swimming backwards yelling through her snorkel gear. She was being chased by a Morey Eel. It left teeth marks on her fins. After that the Mexicans were onto the eel like dirt. It makes great soup so they told us.

Donna took Ken and I and showed us how to look for Sea Scallops. Ken dove and swam and recovered dinner for 2 hours. Chocolatie clams were also on the menu. It is a lot of work for what you get but nothing is fresher.

Crabs of various types live around here. In Canada we would have just put down our crab traps with the famous chicken parts. Fishermen here also have similar traps. Our licenses do not allow for fishing for these things. Ken and I tried to catch a few with tongs. They scurry very fast. We learnt a trick yet to be proven to work but we will try. Put a piece of chicken in pantyhose, hang it for awhile. The crab will go to the pantyhose and get their claws stuck into it thus leaving dinner dangling for you. Who knows, it’s worth a try, what else will I going to use pantyhose for.

We had planned on spending just one day on San Marcos but it turned into 7. It is nice not having a schedule. We are back in Santa Rosalia reprovisioning for the trip North.

Old equipment The Church

Well here we are again in a marina. The cost of 4 days is the same as 7 so we decided to stay the 7 days. This would give the Captain time to do the oil changes to the 2 engines and genset. It would also give us more time to explore this wonderful little town.
When Ken does his oil changes it means the floors in the galley become big gaping holes. Sometime with choice words I do not want to hear. I decided to do some sight seeing.
Santa Rosalia was formerly a French copper ore mining town. The town dates back to the 1880’s when the French owned Compania del Boleo (owned by the Rothchild family) and built it under a 99 year concession with the Mexican government. Nearly all the buildings downtown are constructed with wood imported from British Columbia. Most the French style colonial homes with their verandas still stand. El Boleo began mining Santa Rosalia’s copper ore in 1885 and built the brick smelting forges and landmark stacks, a vertical funicular for ore cars, a 25 mile rail line to the docks and the wooden homes for the workers. Gypsum and manganese from Isla San Marcos were smelted here also.
The Company also assembled a prefabricated, galvanized – iron church designed by Alexandre Eiffel for the 1889 World Fair in Paris. The church hasn’t got the character that most Catholic churches seem to have, but to this day it is still used.
I found the more I dug into information about Alexandre Eiffel the more intrigued I became. He was an engineer renowned for his tower in Paris but played a very significant role in the New World. He started a company and created things such as the railroad bridges in Peru, Custom House in Chile, Gasworks in Bolivia and much more, but his most important venture ended his career. In the late 19th century he had argued strongly in favour of building a transoceanic canal across Nicaragua but a few years later he obtained the contract to build the locks for a corrupt plagued French company across Panama. Implicated in irregular contracts, Eiffel was sentenced to 2 yrs in prison and fined a large amount. Though his conviction was overturned, he never returned to his career as a builder.
Down to the docks I went with camera in hand. Here the remnants of the once viable railway were apparent. But I came across something far more interesting. A fisherman and a couple of companions were fixing their nets.
Puedo ver? May I watch?
Si.
The next thing I knew this man had me using the tool to fix his net. I did not find it easy at first but caught on to the method. They laughed as I fumbled through. They asked where I was from. I find that as a Canadian we get great respect. I told them that my Grandfather use to do this work. Mi abuelo utilizar para realizar este trabajo. I am not sure if I said it right but they nodded with smiles so I hope they understood. Its funny but this trip continues to bring up images of my childhood with my grandparent. I don’t mind one bit as they were very special people.
I returned to the boat and Ken was finished.
We continued through the week to learn and see more. Unfortunately we learnt that the El Boleo reportedly mistreated the Mexican workers, by 1903 more than 1400 died of silicosis and labour strikes continued for 50 years. The company left once the ore petered out in 1954. It continued to operate under the Mexican government until 1987.
The town had been divided into 2 sections the upper working class in the wooden homes on the East side and the poorer class living on the West side. The town however seems to be thriving and to date is the most unique town we have seen in Mexico. It has not been wrecked by tourism.
We are planning on departing tomorrow heading back to Isla San Marcos and the sea caves. We will then continue North towards Bahia Los Angeles. We will probably be out of internet range for about 3 weeks so the blog will be done by Single Side Band .

Picture of the Old Factory

I really enjoyed Bahia Conception. It is so clear you can see the bottom at all times. I could have stayed there for weeks. The temperatures were hot and the water was 90 degrees so it wasn’t as refreshing as it could have been. The consensus was to move on. A shame really as we barely explored the area. Our next stop was 38 miles away Sweet Pea Cove on Isla San Marcos. This island lies 10 miles SE of Santa Rosalia. It is still a productive port for gypsum used for making drywall/ sheet rock.
The island is surrounded by reefs, sea caves and islets making it a great place to snorkel and kayak. It was quite windy while we were anchored here so a much welcomed breeze was present.
To our excitement we watched several humpback whales surface very close to Sea Ventue (boat we have been traveling with). Manta rays were jumping everywhere and circling the fishing boats.

Manta Ray facts:
1) Mantas have about 300 rows of tiny, peg-like teeth, each about the size of the head of a pin. The crown of each tooth has a blunt surface with three weak ridges. These teeth are often indistinguishable from the denticles (scales) inside the mouth and are not used for feeding.
2 ) It is believed that they may jump to remove parasites from their skin, or as part of the mating procedure
3) The Manta Rays are Vertebrate. The spine’s made of gristle, like in a shark.
4) Manta rays are an active swimmer, occupying all parts of the water column, particularly mid water and near surface - whereas bottom dwelling and more sedentary species of rays would be more susceptible to capture by trawl operations.
5) The manta ray is the largest member of the ray family. The ray's eerie behavior of circling small fishing boats has earned it the name of "devilfish," though the manta ray is one of the most docile creatures in the sea.
6) Manta rays share their respiration system with several other sea giants such as the whale shark and basking shark. The manta was named after the Spanish word ; "manta," which means blanket.
Manta patties are delicious. The meat is boiled then left out to dry, at this point it is mixed much in the same matter as crab cakes.
This was a very interesting island and we may be back to experience the sea caves.
We are now moored at a marina in the very unique town of Santa Rosalia, BCS.

Santa Rosalia is a former French copper ore mining town. A very unique pueblo, compared to any place we have seen to date in Mexico. The streets are lined with old balconied houses, made from lumber not cement. The lumber came from British Columbia. I wonder why they don’t try to market down here now. The history of the town dates back to the 1880’s. We have done a little exploring but the bulk will be done Mon. when the museum is opened.
We have had fun eating at the sidewalk taco, hot dog stands. Chuyitas famous for its bacon wrapped hotdog stand is by far the best hot dog I have ever had. I will not be back however as all the hard work to keep weight off would go by the wayside.
I will finish the blog here as the next blog will be all about Santa Rosalia.