Good times on Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida

3-20-13 – Ensenada Grande, Isla Partida, Baja California Sur, Mexico

View from the South peak overlooking Caleta Partida

After the adventure of getting our CONANP island permits, as described previously, I am happy to report that in the last seven nights out at the islands they have been checked exactly once.  Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida are everything the Mexican mainland from Mazatlan South is not.  There are no beach palapas with happy hour, no beach vendors selling you stuffed giraffes, so far no surf landings at the beaches and almost nothing on the islands except nature.  After so many months of beach palapaing and having little restaurants to go to for dinner or a tienda just around the corner to pick up whatever was needed these islands are downright remote.  Remote in that, we are still only 25 miles from La Paz kind of way, but still remote in the, we need to provision for the entire stay kind of way.  This became all too apparent when we peered into the beverage locker and saw the last four Modelos looking back, a situation we have yet to deal with on our trip.  Let me tell you, it was scary.  So what do you do with no beach palapas and happy hour margaritas you might ask?  Mostly just slow down and enjoy the places we have been anchored.  Have a sundowner on our personal little white sand beach overlooking the anchorage, hike up the many arroyos for a killer vista, snorkel with the sea lions at Los Islotes and look down at our anchor buried in white sand 20 feet below.  (oh yeah and sit out a night of 30 knot gusts, hoping nothing cuts loose and puts us on that beautiful white sand beach only a hundred yards away.) 

s/v Willow and our "private" beach in South bay of Ensenada Grande

We have had the pleasure of spending the last six days hanging out with our friend Wendy on s/v Willow as we hop anchorage to anchorage, sharing stories of our sleepless nights listening to the wind, comparing weather notes and sharing the occasional sundowner or huge yellow tail she procured from a Mexican fisherman who only wanted a little female company. Much to his dismay it sounds like 100 pesos and a jacket was all he got out of the deal.

View of the anchorage from shore

Bahia San Gabriel from the North peak, Autumn Wind is the
middle boat of the three in a line

Elizabeth on our hike across Isla Partida from Ensenada Grande

The hikes have been adventurous.  Some more like rock climbing expeditions than hikes.  Since we are at sea level and the islands go up, they all seem to be climbs of varying difficulty up to a peak, an amazing vista, and then a slow climb back down to the beach.  They have proven to be great picture opportunities and a great way to view the desert landscape.  We’ve done two hikes from the South bay of Ensenada Grande.  One leaving the beach by the little tourist camp on the beach and following the arroyo to the other side of the island to look out over the cliffs ending in the Sea of Cortez and another, more of a climb than hike, to the memorial cross way up at the top of the hill overlooking the anchorage.  (not the fisherman’s cross, the other one, way up there)  You’ll have to climb up there to read the plaque and get the whole story for yourself. 

View of Ensenada Grande from the memorial cross to the East

Swimming with the Sea Lions

We took a morning excursion out to Los Islotes to swim with the sea lion pups, and moms and big daddies. The little pups were exciting, just like little kids, they seem to run everywhere with no real purpose except to get there, and then run back.  The bulls just hung out protectively waiting to fend off anything that seemed ominous.  It was pretty cool and not something you will get to experience everyday. Especially in the “everything needs to be protected with rules” USA.  Note to all those heading that way:  it seems to be worth getting there in the morning, say 9:00 A or so on a weekday so you can pick up one of the three mooring balls on each side of the island, depending on the wind direction.  Stay for a quick swim and then get on your way.  We were told that they were for the pangas and the ranger would fine you if he caught you on them.  Might be true, may have been a pangero who wanted to use the mooring for his paid clients who knows.  But I’m sure we can all get along if we just try a little.

Elizabeth chasing down a sea lion pup

More sea lions playing

Thanks Jim and Betty on s/v Flibbertigibbet!

Back to those lonely Modelos.  A welcome surprise arrived last night in the form of a Flibbertigibbet.  As we sat down to pan fry up some more yellow fin tuna for dinner; like I said it was a huge fish Wendy procured, and even after our shared dinner she still gave us enough for two more meals, and by the way fresh tuna that hasn’t ever seen the land it’s so fresh is hard to beat; we heard our friends all the way from the California Delta, Jim and Betty on their new Mexico boat Flibbertigibbet call on the VHF looking for us.  It was probably a little less random than it sounds.  They knew about where we were going to be and we knew they were heading out this way around this time.  They had a special delivery of a fresh 12 pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA for us; brought all the way from California with them on their latest drive south to visit Flibber, loaded onto their boat and hand delivered to a little anchorage on Isla Partida.  Now that’s thoughtful.  As they would later put it: “we knew everything was going good for you guys when we asked you if you needed anything from the states and all you wanted was some good beer”.  So the lonely Modelos now have 12, or 10, maybe 8 after tonight, friends.  Yes the cruising community is pretty cool.

Sundown at Ensenada Grande